Today, it was quiet (nap) time and Carmen didn't really want to go down. I let her not sleep as long as she stays quiet in her room for at least an hour. Usually I hear her playing for a little while, then come in and find her asleep somewhere. Sometimes it's in her bed, sometimes it's on the floor. So cute!!!
Anywho, today I was really tired and decided I would nap during her nap time, too. We were laying in her bed reading and she leaned over, sang a little song, kissed my face, put one of her little blankets on me, and went outside and drew pictures of the kittens. I had a good hour-long nap.
IT WAS SO CUTE.
I called Dad and told him about it, and he said, "It's good to know someone's taking care of you while Mark's at work!"
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
2-year-olds are hilarious
I love talking to Carmen and hearing her talk. We had a blast on the Oregon coast with all of her Dewey cousins and aunts and uncles.
Mark's sister, Karen, has a sweet husky named Koda. Carmen fell in love with him and figured out how to get along with him. They snuggled a lot and did a lot of chase, and the most common phrase I heard from Carmen was, "Ohhhhhhh, he give me kisses!!!!"
On one of our last nights there, we had the following exchange:
Carmen: Koda's my doggy!
Me: Actually, he's Karen's doggy. Karen is Koda's mommy.
Carmen: *thoughtful pause* No, he's my doggy. We'll buy him!
Ben (Karen's husband, happens to be walking outside at that moment): SOLD!!!
They had offered to trade their dog for our two-year-old. I'm sorry to say the offer wasn't the least bit tempting. ;)
Another time, we were doing a final load of laundry before packing all of our stuff to go home. We got some clothes from Mark's parents, and Mark's dad decided that this might be a good time to sneak off and take a shower. Carmen walks past my in-laws' bedroom and goes, "*gasp!* Grandpa Larry is naked!"
I nod my head a little and try to talk about something else, hoping she's done with her announcement for the day. Sometimes they'll stop if you don't draw attention to it. But this is an exciting deal to her. She continues. "Mommy, Grandpa Larry is naked! HE'S NAKED, MOMMY! Grandpa Larry's NAAAAAAAKED!!!"
Finally, my father-in-law manages to stand up for himself and he squeaks out, "Carmen, I'm not completely naked! I'm wearing a towel!"
"Oh, he's not completely naked, Mommy. Grandpa Larry's wearing a towel!"
"Thank you." and he scurries off to the bathroom without further incident.
You just can't hide anything from a 2-year-old.
Mark's sister, Karen, has a sweet husky named Koda. Carmen fell in love with him and figured out how to get along with him. They snuggled a lot and did a lot of chase, and the most common phrase I heard from Carmen was, "Ohhhhhhh, he give me kisses!!!!"
On one of our last nights there, we had the following exchange:
Carmen: Koda's my doggy!
Me: Actually, he's Karen's doggy. Karen is Koda's mommy.
Carmen: *thoughtful pause* No, he's my doggy. We'll buy him!
Ben (Karen's husband, happens to be walking outside at that moment): SOLD!!!
They had offered to trade their dog for our two-year-old. I'm sorry to say the offer wasn't the least bit tempting. ;)
Another time, we were doing a final load of laundry before packing all of our stuff to go home. We got some clothes from Mark's parents, and Mark's dad decided that this might be a good time to sneak off and take a shower. Carmen walks past my in-laws' bedroom and goes, "*gasp!* Grandpa Larry is naked!"
I nod my head a little and try to talk about something else, hoping she's done with her announcement for the day. Sometimes they'll stop if you don't draw attention to it. But this is an exciting deal to her. She continues. "Mommy, Grandpa Larry is naked! HE'S NAKED, MOMMY! Grandpa Larry's NAAAAAAAKED!!!"
Finally, my father-in-law manages to stand up for himself and he squeaks out, "Carmen, I'm not completely naked! I'm wearing a towel!"
"Oh, he's not completely naked, Mommy. Grandpa Larry's wearing a towel!"
"Thank you." and he scurries off to the bathroom without further incident.
You just can't hide anything from a 2-year-old.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Creatures of Habit
In high school, my AP Psychology teacher didn't assign seats. After the first few weeks of school, we all pretty much sat in the same seats anyway, because we are creatures of habit. We like familiarity. There were a few times during the year when either I or my best friend, Ross, would try to sit somewhere else, and we thought it was exceedingly hilarious when another student would get indignant and go, "Hey, you're in MY seat!" We were tempted to respond with something cheeky, like, "There are no assigned seats, remember?" ... but we were unpopular enough as it is, and returned to "our" seats if someone didn't like us mixing things up. =p
Anyway, I've noticed that I've quickly formed some habits after moving to Austin. My friend Jocelyn started working in the day care at the local Gold's Gym so I gave her a ride home yesterday. I went on autopilot and started heading back to my place instead of her apartment. It's amazing how quickly habits form: We arrived in Austin in the afternoon of July 8, our stuff got here July 19, and we got our garage on August 1. We finally got Internet at the end of July. ("I see you scheduled for this day because we said it was available, but we actually can't do it for another 2 weeks." ... yeah, I know how it goes. -_-) So to me, it feels like life here officially began about two weeks ago. Three and a half, if you start from when our stuff got here and I actually met a few neighbors.
Do you go to the gym? Have you developed workout habits there? Do you feel possessive of some of the cardio machines there? Is there one you always work out on, and when you get to the gym and someone else is working out on it, you feel kind of awkward, like, "Oh, great, now I have to go work out on a different machine. One I don't love so much." And maybe ... or maybe not ... you can't decide whether you should take the machine right next to yours, or space yourself away from the stranger who is unknowingly using your machine?
Okay, so I think too much when I work out.
In American Fork, there was a particular elliptical machine I always used - the one on the end. I don't like the treadmill because my knees get achy. Here in Austin, I quickly found a machine I've used just about every time I've worked out. It's the fourth one in, because it's exactly where the fan on the wall hits my head and helps me cool down while working out. It's also right in front of the TV, so I get to .... watch .... ESPN .... because ........ Well, no, there's nothing great about the TV my machine is in front of. I just read books anyway. ;)
Do you guys have funny habits about things you use in public places, too? Like is there are particular chair at the pool you always leave your stuff by? Is there a machine at the gym that's "yours" too? Or am I just crazy?
I wouldn't mind just being crazy. ;)
Anyway, I've noticed that I've quickly formed some habits after moving to Austin. My friend Jocelyn started working in the day care at the local Gold's Gym so I gave her a ride home yesterday. I went on autopilot and started heading back to my place instead of her apartment. It's amazing how quickly habits form: We arrived in Austin in the afternoon of July 8, our stuff got here July 19, and we got our garage on August 1. We finally got Internet at the end of July. ("I see you scheduled for this day because we said it was available, but we actually can't do it for another 2 weeks." ... yeah, I know how it goes. -_-) So to me, it feels like life here officially began about two weeks ago. Three and a half, if you start from when our stuff got here and I actually met a few neighbors.
Do you go to the gym? Have you developed workout habits there? Do you feel possessive of some of the cardio machines there? Is there one you always work out on, and when you get to the gym and someone else is working out on it, you feel kind of awkward, like, "Oh, great, now I have to go work out on a different machine. One I don't love so much." And maybe ... or maybe not ... you can't decide whether you should take the machine right next to yours, or space yourself away from the stranger who is unknowingly using your machine?
Okay, so I think too much when I work out.
In American Fork, there was a particular elliptical machine I always used - the one on the end. I don't like the treadmill because my knees get achy. Here in Austin, I quickly found a machine I've used just about every time I've worked out. It's the fourth one in, because it's exactly where the fan on the wall hits my head and helps me cool down while working out. It's also right in front of the TV, so I get to .... watch .... ESPN .... because ........ Well, no, there's nothing great about the TV my machine is in front of. I just read books anyway. ;)
Do you guys have funny habits about things you use in public places, too? Like is there are particular chair at the pool you always leave your stuff by? Is there a machine at the gym that's "yours" too? Or am I just crazy?
I wouldn't mind just being crazy. ;)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
We're in Austin!
It's been two months and I've been too lazy to post a blog update. Why? Maybe my pictures aren't interesting enough; I don't know! But now I'm going to buckle down and sum up the past few months. My immediate family came down to Utah at the beginning of July to celebrate the Fourth with my grandparents and cousins in Richfield.
Carmen had a lot of fun goofing around with her cousins. This is Portman, who is about a year and a half older than Carmen.
We went to some horse races and left after about an hour because 1) my uncle and his family didn't come like they said they might and 2) it was really boring. In an hour they had a single race (maybe two?) and the guy droned on and on about nothing to fill up the space. And it was kind of toasty, but at least the stands were in the shade! Carmen was happy to see the horsies.
In the evening, we went to a rodeo in Salina. Carmen also enjoyed watching it (and it was Mark's first rodeo, too!) and we had to keep her away from the fence when they brought the bulls out and stuff ... because you never know where they'll go ...
We bought some fireworks from the grocery store. Carmen *loved* the fireworks. This is how she reacted whenever she wasn't with one of us when the fireworks went off. She'd run back to us going, "Wow, wow, it's loud!"
After returning from Richfield, the moving began ... and I think I'll save that for another post to be posted SOON ... you know, in less than two months. ;)
Carmen had a lot of fun goofing around with her cousins. This is Portman, who is about a year and a half older than Carmen.
We went to some horse races and left after about an hour because 1) my uncle and his family didn't come like they said they might and 2) it was really boring. In an hour they had a single race (maybe two?) and the guy droned on and on about nothing to fill up the space. And it was kind of toasty, but at least the stands were in the shade! Carmen was happy to see the horsies.
In the evening, we went to a rodeo in Salina. Carmen also enjoyed watching it (and it was Mark's first rodeo, too!) and we had to keep her away from the fence when they brought the bulls out and stuff ... because you never know where they'll go ...
We bought some fireworks from the grocery store. Carmen *loved* the fireworks. This is how she reacted whenever she wasn't with one of us when the fireworks went off. She'd run back to us going, "Wow, wow, it's loud!"
After returning from Richfield, the moving began ... and I think I'll save that for another post to be posted SOON ... you know, in less than two months. ;)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Murphy's Wedding
I don't think I quite got around to posting about my brother-in-law James' wedding last month. I blame it on the fact that writing things in Notepad on the netbook make me feel like I've done my due diligence. ;)
I haven't edited it at all in the past month, so maybe it's not well-written and maybe there are holes in it, but we all know that no matter how long we procrastinate, we usually end up never getting around to it if it's not at the top of the priority list. And since we're moving in a few weeks and I want to spend time with friends and play with Carmen, blogging is one of those things that is just not going to get done, or it's one of those, "Just spit everything out and get it over with" sorts of things. So I'm sorry this isn't going to be very eloquent or entertaining ... just my initial thoughts on life's fun events. :)
My sister-in-law wrote another post about the wedding here:
http://potatogirl-in-michigan.blogspot.com/2011/05/james-shauri-wedding-movie-night.html
Here's what I wrote last month. Maybe I'll add a few of the pictures we managed to take.
Remember how I said my brother-in-law was getting married in Boston this year? I've been really impressed by all the work my now-sister-in-law put into everything. She wanted to get married in Newport, Rhode Island (it's where her family took a lot of summer vacations ... her grandfather grew up there or something.) and NOBODY LIVES THERE so we were all a little nervous about everything working out.
But it was absolutely lovely.
On Friday night, they rented out this little theatre and had a night full of entertainment and silly videos. There were different categories of videos with four or five videos in each category and we got to vote for our favorites.
And you need some self-deprecating honesty ...
A few highlights from the night:
-Some of James' friends read "James' journal" which was supposedly part of WikiLeaks. (Clever.) They had James down to a T ... the sensitive guitar guy who had trouble finding the right girl. ;) Some day I'll try to get the full text, but there were several times where they read, "I played my guitar for a bunch of people. All the girls fell in love with me, and all the guys were jealous." and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to go to Syria!!" and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to stamp passports in Matamoros, where there are drug lords and gang firefights!" James and his wife are shipping out to Baghdad, Iraq this fall. Yep. He's an exciting guy. It was hilarious.
-Nate, James' older brother, did a karaoke performance with himself. In his video, Nate said he has a fond memory of singing Les Mis karaoke with James back in the day. He wanted to reenact it. Then it showed a close-up of his face and he started singing the Valjean/Javier confrontation: "Valjean, at last, we see each other plain ..." THEN the REAL Nate came out on stage with a microphone and started singing Valjean's part! IT WAS SO COOL WATCHING NATE SING WITH HIMSELF. Everyone was screaming and cheering and it was AWESOME.
-Mark and our nephews, Eli and Adam, sang "We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Eli and Adam did typical little boy stuff (like dropping the music, fighting over some of the props, etc.) and it was just delightful.
-There was a video called "How Shauri met James" and showed an elementary school-age girl stealing a baby out of a stroller. Shauri is about 7 years older than James. ;) Ben and Karen are 8 years apart (I think?) and they make our 5 years' difference look small. Nate could marry any girl over 20 and I don't think any of us would blink. LOL.
-There were a bunch of things involving Baghdad. They did some kind of "Cat in the Hat in Baghdad", speculated on how well Shauri could pull off a burka, had Shauri hire someone to marry James in her place in Iraq and he ended up marrying Osama bin Laden (so outdated! it's like they made this movie BEFORE last week!)
-Another category was mockumentaries. There was an, "I'm sorry we couldn't make it to your wedding" video from these people who live in Australia. It said, "Sydney is kind of far from Boston" and showed this globe map and drew this long dotted line from Sydney to Boston, Indiana Jones-style. My favorite mockumentary was "Come to Boise! from the Boise Chamber of Commerce" and this couple had their young daughter talk about all the wonderful things there are to do in Boise, now that all of the cool places have left. "Boise is the city of trees! Look at all the trees! One, two, three, four ... FOUR TREES!" "Boise is rich in history. This Little Caesar's has been here SINCE THE NINETIES!" and then she's in the backyard and she goes, "I'm sure this rock has been here for a VERY LONG TIME!"
-"Really, this is just a popularity contest, but vote anyway!" they said. "Whoever wins gets the satisfaction of knowing they're awesome!"
There was a tie for best mockumentary, so the next day at the wedding reception each group had a minute to convince us that their video was best. The Boise people did some kind of funky dance around the room and we all clapped and cheered and screamed. I can't remember what the other guys said, but they trashed Boise a lot (it's too easy!) ... but the problem is, HALF OF US ARE FROM BOISE AND/OR LOVE BOISE ... so the Boiseans won. "Boise sucks!" the losers retorted.
I think I love Shauri's friends and family.
Okay, so here's the drama part. Everything took place in Newport except for the wedding itself, because the nearest temple is in Boston. We all drove to Boston for the sealing and most people had a hard time tracking down the temple because the address is weird. I couldn't find it on Mom's GPS and Dad couldn't find it on his phone's GPS, so we called the temple and they gave us a second address to try. It worked.
So we all got to the temple and waited for the bride to arrive. And waited. And waited. Apparently, her limo driver got lost and James spent a lot of time outside on the phone trying to get her to the temple. We didn't mind the wait ... it was fun chatting in the waiting room. We had SO much fun we kept getting noisy and the temple workers had to come in and remind us to use our quiet temple voices. ;)
After the bride arrived, we discovered the wedding license had been left behind in Newport. An hour and a half away. Several phone calls were made and they managed to fax a copy of the license to the temple.
Two hours later, James and Shauri were able to be sealed. The ceremony was beautiful and simple, and the sealer (who I think was the temple president or something?) told some wonderful stories and shared his great humor with us. "Who can I trust to hold on to the marriage license? ... I keep telling them in Salt Lake that they need to get rid of the Murphy's licenses." Lots of people love James and Shauri - half of the people in the sealing room were standing, and there were more people sitting down than there were chairs. It was a really, really sweet experience.
Shauri's not my daughter and James isn't even my brother, but I bawled through the whole ceremony.
Finally!
Then it started to rain.
Luckily, they had access to a large Boston Red Sox umbrella!! I mean, obviously. ;)
Part of the "theme" of the wedding was, "Sometimes love takes an unnaturally long time." Everything was pulled off so well, that of COURSE everything not under your control (like the temple address and limo drivers getting lost) will go wrong. Murphy's Law. I don't think anybody really minded, and we can all laugh at this sweet story. So what if everything else during the day got delayed and shortened and wasn't exactly how Shauri had planned it? Not her fault. And really, it makes for a great story.
I love you.
Welcome to our crazy family. ;)
More pictures and stories to follow ... about the things we did around James and Shauri's fun activities! (From here on out, they are to be called by their celebrity nickname, "Shames.")
I haven't edited it at all in the past month, so maybe it's not well-written and maybe there are holes in it, but we all know that no matter how long we procrastinate, we usually end up never getting around to it if it's not at the top of the priority list. And since we're moving in a few weeks and I want to spend time with friends and play with Carmen, blogging is one of those things that is just not going to get done, or it's one of those, "Just spit everything out and get it over with" sorts of things. So I'm sorry this isn't going to be very eloquent or entertaining ... just my initial thoughts on life's fun events. :)
My sister-in-law wrote another post about the wedding here:
http://potatogirl-in-michigan.blogspot.com/2011/05/james-shauri-wedding-movie-night.html
Here's what I wrote last month. Maybe I'll add a few of the pictures we managed to take.
Remember how I said my brother-in-law was getting married in Boston this year? I've been really impressed by all the work my now-sister-in-law put into everything. She wanted to get married in Newport, Rhode Island (it's where her family took a lot of summer vacations ... her grandfather grew up there or something.) and NOBODY LIVES THERE so we were all a little nervous about everything working out.
But it was absolutely lovely.
On Friday night, they rented out this little theatre and had a night full of entertainment and silly videos. There were different categories of videos with four or five videos in each category and we got to vote for our favorites.
A few highlights from the night:
-Some of James' friends read "James' journal" which was supposedly part of WikiLeaks. (Clever.) They had James down to a T ... the sensitive guitar guy who had trouble finding the right girl. ;) Some day I'll try to get the full text, but there were several times where they read, "I played my guitar for a bunch of people. All the girls fell in love with me, and all the guys were jealous." and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to go to Syria!!" and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to stamp passports in Matamoros, where there are drug lords and gang firefights!" James and his wife are shipping out to Baghdad, Iraq this fall. Yep. He's an exciting guy. It was hilarious.
-Nate, James' older brother, did a karaoke performance with himself. In his video, Nate said he has a fond memory of singing Les Mis karaoke with James back in the day. He wanted to reenact it. Then it showed a close-up of his face and he started singing the Valjean/Javier confrontation: "Valjean, at last, we see each other plain ..." THEN the REAL Nate came out on stage with a microphone and started singing Valjean's part! IT WAS SO COOL WATCHING NATE SING WITH HIMSELF. Everyone was screaming and cheering and it was AWESOME.
-Mark and our nephews, Eli and Adam, sang "We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Eli and Adam did typical little boy stuff (like dropping the music, fighting over some of the props, etc.) and it was just delightful.
-There was a video called "How Shauri met James" and showed an elementary school-age girl stealing a baby out of a stroller. Shauri is about 7 years older than James. ;) Ben and Karen are 8 years apart (I think?) and they make our 5 years' difference look small. Nate could marry any girl over 20 and I don't think any of us would blink. LOL.
-There were a bunch of things involving Baghdad. They did some kind of "Cat in the Hat in Baghdad", speculated on how well Shauri could pull off a burka, had Shauri hire someone to marry James in her place in Iraq and he ended up marrying Osama bin Laden (so outdated! it's like they made this movie BEFORE last week!)
-Another category was mockumentaries. There was an, "I'm sorry we couldn't make it to your wedding" video from these people who live in Australia. It said, "Sydney is kind of far from Boston" and showed this globe map and drew this long dotted line from Sydney to Boston, Indiana Jones-style. My favorite mockumentary was "Come to Boise! from the Boise Chamber of Commerce" and this couple had their young daughter talk about all the wonderful things there are to do in Boise, now that all of the cool places have left. "Boise is the city of trees! Look at all the trees! One, two, three, four ... FOUR TREES!" "Boise is rich in history. This Little Caesar's has been here SINCE THE NINETIES!" and then she's in the backyard and she goes, "I'm sure this rock has been here for a VERY LONG TIME!"
-"Really, this is just a popularity contest, but vote anyway!" they said. "Whoever wins gets the satisfaction of knowing they're awesome!"
There was a tie for best mockumentary, so the next day at the wedding reception each group had a minute to convince us that their video was best. The Boise people did some kind of funky dance around the room and we all clapped and cheered and screamed. I can't remember what the other guys said, but they trashed Boise a lot (it's too easy!) ... but the problem is, HALF OF US ARE FROM BOISE AND/OR LOVE BOISE ... so the Boiseans won. "Boise sucks!" the losers retorted.
I think I love Shauri's friends and family.
Okay, so here's the drama part. Everything took place in Newport except for the wedding itself, because the nearest temple is in Boston. We all drove to Boston for the sealing and most people had a hard time tracking down the temple because the address is weird. I couldn't find it on Mom's GPS and Dad couldn't find it on his phone's GPS, so we called the temple and they gave us a second address to try. It worked.
So we all got to the temple and waited for the bride to arrive. And waited. And waited. Apparently, her limo driver got lost and James spent a lot of time outside on the phone trying to get her to the temple. We didn't mind the wait ... it was fun chatting in the waiting room. We had SO much fun we kept getting noisy and the temple workers had to come in and remind us to use our quiet temple voices. ;)
After the bride arrived, we discovered the wedding license had been left behind in Newport. An hour and a half away. Several phone calls were made and they managed to fax a copy of the license to the temple.
Two hours later, James and Shauri were able to be sealed. The ceremony was beautiful and simple, and the sealer (who I think was the temple president or something?) told some wonderful stories and shared his great humor with us. "Who can I trust to hold on to the marriage license? ... I keep telling them in Salt Lake that they need to get rid of the Murphy's licenses." Lots of people love James and Shauri - half of the people in the sealing room were standing, and there were more people sitting down than there were chairs. It was a really, really sweet experience.
Shauri's not my daughter and James isn't even my brother, but I bawled through the whole ceremony.
Finally!
Luckily, they had access to a large Boston Red Sox umbrella!! I mean, obviously. ;)
Part of the "theme" of the wedding was, "Sometimes love takes an unnaturally long time." Everything was pulled off so well, that of COURSE everything not under your control (like the temple address and limo drivers getting lost) will go wrong. Murphy's Law. I don't think anybody really minded, and we can all laugh at this sweet story. So what if everything else during the day got delayed and shortened and wasn't exactly how Shauri had planned it? Not her fault. And really, it makes for a great story.
I love you.
Welcome to our crazy family. ;)
More pictures and stories to follow ... about the things we did around James and Shauri's fun activities! (From here on out, they are to be called by their celebrity nickname, "Shames.")
My Carmen is engaged!!!
My Carmen is engaged! Well, not the little Carmen who is mine in the genetic sense, but my big Carmen after whom my little Carmen was named! We met up with her briefly this past January when Renai was getting married, and Carmen had been dating this nice guy named James for a while. He's going to be a nuclear engineer for the navy (!) and she says they'll probably get married some time next year.
In Texas.
Woot.
CJ (what I called her when we were growing up) moved to Phoenix from Texas some time in elementary school. I can't remember if she had lived in Dallas or what, but it was one of those places where they've all got hillbilly accents. ;)
I was kind of a dork in elementary school (who wasn't?) and had a hard time making friends. One day in sixth grade, a new girl was entering our Honors Lit class and I overheard another girl from our class (Carrie Rice, your name will forever live in infamy in my family) saying things to the new girl like, "Oh, that's Kamis. She's weird, she's a b*tch, nobody likes her, don't bother talking to her." WHAT KIND OF SIXTH GRADER TALKS LIKE THAT?! I was thinking, "Oh, how great, another person I barely know gossiping about me right in front of me. I used to think you were cute, too." The next thing I know, the new girl is turning to me and saying, "Hey, Kamis!" and we've pretty much been best friends ever since.
We played Donkey Kong and The Sims together, and swam and played make-believe on some big plot of land her stepdad owned, and went to the Renaissance Fair and basically had a fabulous friendship together. That's why I named my firstborn after her ... she was the most fun, amazing friend I've ever had. No drama. No fights. No nothin'. Just plain awesomeness. In fact, one day my mom pulled me aside and said, "I really like your friend CJ. You are always so happy and so nice to your siblings after you play with her." I feel so lucky to have her as a friend!!
So yeah. I'm very excited for her. Too bad there are no navy posts in Texas.
Some time, after I finish my Disneyland story, I will write a post about some of the people I secretly adore. There are lots of them. :) I guess this also means I need to go back and see if I managed to write anything about Renai's wedding and hanging out with CJ in January ...
In Texas.
Woot.
CJ (what I called her when we were growing up) moved to Phoenix from Texas some time in elementary school. I can't remember if she had lived in Dallas or what, but it was one of those places where they've all got hillbilly accents. ;)
I was kind of a dork in elementary school (who wasn't?) and had a hard time making friends. One day in sixth grade, a new girl was entering our Honors Lit class and I overheard another girl from our class (Carrie Rice, your name will forever live in infamy in my family) saying things to the new girl like, "Oh, that's Kamis. She's weird, she's a b*tch, nobody likes her, don't bother talking to her." WHAT KIND OF SIXTH GRADER TALKS LIKE THAT?! I was thinking, "Oh, how great, another person I barely know gossiping about me right in front of me. I used to think you were cute, too." The next thing I know, the new girl is turning to me and saying, "Hey, Kamis!" and we've pretty much been best friends ever since.
We played Donkey Kong and The Sims together, and swam and played make-believe on some big plot of land her stepdad owned, and went to the Renaissance Fair and basically had a fabulous friendship together. That's why I named my firstborn after her ... she was the most fun, amazing friend I've ever had. No drama. No fights. No nothin'. Just plain awesomeness. In fact, one day my mom pulled me aside and said, "I really like your friend CJ. You are always so happy and so nice to your siblings after you play with her." I feel so lucky to have her as a friend!!
So yeah. I'm very excited for her. Too bad there are no navy posts in Texas.
Some time, after I finish my Disneyland story, I will write a post about some of the people I secretly adore. There are lots of them. :) I guess this also means I need to go back and see if I managed to write anything about Renai's wedding and hanging out with CJ in January ...
Monday, June 13, 2011
Random Acts
So, I pretty much have the coolest husband in the world. I have a strong desire to give and to serve, but there's also this stingy thorn in me that makes me think, "Okay, what is the cheapest way I can help this person out?"
On our honeymoon, we had stopped in Brigham City to eat some food and put gas in our car. On the way to the freeway, we saw this guy holding up a cardboard sign that said, "BOISE" and just as we were passing him, I thought, "Oh, we're driving to Boise right now! We could totally pick him up!" Apparently, Mark had the same thought, because instead of getting on the freeway, he made a U-turn and asked if I would be okay with picking the stranger up. Of course it was contingent on how comfortable we felt with him once he got in the car ...
Turns out he was on his way to Boise to see his girlfriend (or fiancee, I can't remember). He didn't have a car and she was up there and they'd just had a fight or something and that morning they had been talking on the phone and he told her he was going to find a way to go see her. I don't exactly remember the whole story (it was 5 years ago!) but he thought he was being terribly romantic and was really excited that someone had stopped to give him a ride. It was an enjoyable trip.
A few years later, on our way back from one of our annual trips to the Oregon Coast with Mark's family, we saw another guy on the side of the road. He had a big suitcase tied to a board with wheels and a dog. Don't ask me how we managed to fit him into our 2-door Honda Civic ... but somehow we managed it. I remember cutting my hand on a nail that was sticking out of the board (glad I was up-to-date on my tetanus shots! ha ha ha!) and he was kind of a crazy conspiracy theorist. He was a car repairman who had lived all over the country and had just finished living in Hawaii. "It was time for a change of pace, something new. So I want to go to Idaho Falls." Really? After Hawaii, Idaho Falls is where it's at? O.o;
So we dropped him and his dog off at some gas station in Idaho Falls and he merrily went on his way. After that, we kind of agreed we weren't going to pick up hitchhikers again. I was pregnant.
Last month, we went house-hunting in Austin. A girl at one of the apartment complexes recommended we eat dinner at a place called Chuy's, where they have great Tex-Mex food. I'm not exactly sure what "Tex-Mex" is, because it seems to me like it's more like real Mexican food than the "Mexican" food found in other places in the US ... Wikipedia doesn't help me too much. Apparently the other Mexican food is "New Mexican" food, which explains why the Mexican food I grew up with ion Arizona seemed different from what I found in Matamoros/Cabo/Puerto Vallarta/Mazatlan, and why "Tex-Mex" felt more like Mexican food than what I thought was Mexican food ... for some reason, I grew up thinking "Tex-Mex" was Taco Bell compared to real Mexican food.
I still can't figure out whether Tex-Mex or New-Mex is more Mexican. I LIKE BOTH.
Anywho. Chuy's was really tasty and I was super-excited that we had a bunch of leftovers to take home. On our way back to the freeway, we passed a hungry homeless guy with a sign. I don't make a habit of carrying cash on me because credit cards are more secure and do a better job at recording my spending habits. Anyway. I happened to have a $5 and Mark suggested we give the guy our leftovers, too. I knew he was right, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking, "siiiiigh! I was so looking forward to eating my leftovers, too! Why can't we give him something off the dollar menu at Wendy's or something?!" The guy's eyes lit up and he blessed us when we gave him the money and the food.
We are so fortunate.
And, finally, last week we went to Disneyland for my birthday (still promise a post full of drama, intrigue, and car trouble! or at least one of the three!) On Saturday morning, we went to Subway to buy some sandwiches to eat for lunch. Disneyland is awesome in the fact that they let you bring in food and don't force you to buy theirs. :) Anyway. I met a nice skinny homeless black guy while crossing the street who asked where I was from. "Does it snow in Utah? They say if you can't handle the cold you shouldn't move up north. I wouldn't be able to handle it, considering what I've got." and he smiled and waved towards the scraggly sweatshirt he was wearing. He wished me a nice day and we parted ways.
Inside Subway, I looked at the menu, thinking, "I know I like both turkey and ham sandwiches, and the ham sandwich is one of their $5 footlongs, so I'll save a buck and get a ham sandwich." Mark and Carolyn were a little behind me and when Mark walked in, he said, "Let's get a turkey sub for the guy I saw you talking to at the light. He just started talking to me and said he'd really like a turkey sandwich." I kind of tried to get Mark to give him the ham sandwich instead (because I wanted a turkey sandwich, too, and had already ordered the ham sandwich!) and realized it was a really silly argument ... so we got the guy a footlong turkey sub and went on our way.
Anywho. I'm thankful to have such a generous husband who makes me laugh at myself when I have petty thoughts like, "Aw, but ... leftovers!!!" and "but I want the turkey sub!" Really, it means so much more to them than it does to me. There is so much we can do to bless the lives of others. Sometimes it's something personal like service, and other times it's something material like food. We have much to spare.
On our honeymoon, we had stopped in Brigham City to eat some food and put gas in our car. On the way to the freeway, we saw this guy holding up a cardboard sign that said, "BOISE" and just as we were passing him, I thought, "Oh, we're driving to Boise right now! We could totally pick him up!" Apparently, Mark had the same thought, because instead of getting on the freeway, he made a U-turn and asked if I would be okay with picking the stranger up. Of course it was contingent on how comfortable we felt with him once he got in the car ...
Turns out he was on his way to Boise to see his girlfriend (or fiancee, I can't remember). He didn't have a car and she was up there and they'd just had a fight or something and that morning they had been talking on the phone and he told her he was going to find a way to go see her. I don't exactly remember the whole story (it was 5 years ago!) but he thought he was being terribly romantic and was really excited that someone had stopped to give him a ride. It was an enjoyable trip.
A few years later, on our way back from one of our annual trips to the Oregon Coast with Mark's family, we saw another guy on the side of the road. He had a big suitcase tied to a board with wheels and a dog. Don't ask me how we managed to fit him into our 2-door Honda Civic ... but somehow we managed it. I remember cutting my hand on a nail that was sticking out of the board (glad I was up-to-date on my tetanus shots! ha ha ha!) and he was kind of a crazy conspiracy theorist. He was a car repairman who had lived all over the country and had just finished living in Hawaii. "It was time for a change of pace, something new. So I want to go to Idaho Falls." Really? After Hawaii, Idaho Falls is where it's at? O.o;
So we dropped him and his dog off at some gas station in Idaho Falls and he merrily went on his way. After that, we kind of agreed we weren't going to pick up hitchhikers again. I was pregnant.
Last month, we went house-hunting in Austin. A girl at one of the apartment complexes recommended we eat dinner at a place called Chuy's, where they have great Tex-Mex food. I'm not exactly sure what "Tex-Mex" is, because it seems to me like it's more like real Mexican food than the "Mexican" food found in other places in the US ... Wikipedia doesn't help me too much. Apparently the other Mexican food is "New Mexican" food, which explains why the Mexican food I grew up with ion Arizona seemed different from what I found in Matamoros/Cabo/Puerto Vallarta/Mazatlan, and why "Tex-Mex" felt more like Mexican food than what I thought was Mexican food ... for some reason, I grew up thinking "Tex-Mex" was Taco Bell compared to real Mexican food.
I still can't figure out whether Tex-Mex or New-Mex is more Mexican. I LIKE BOTH.
Anywho. Chuy's was really tasty and I was super-excited that we had a bunch of leftovers to take home. On our way back to the freeway, we passed a hungry homeless guy with a sign. I don't make a habit of carrying cash on me because credit cards are more secure and do a better job at recording my spending habits. Anyway. I happened to have a $5 and Mark suggested we give the guy our leftovers, too. I knew he was right, but in the back of my mind, I was thinking, "siiiiigh! I was so looking forward to eating my leftovers, too! Why can't we give him something off the dollar menu at Wendy's or something?!" The guy's eyes lit up and he blessed us when we gave him the money and the food.
We are so fortunate.
And, finally, last week we went to Disneyland for my birthday (still promise a post full of drama, intrigue, and car trouble! or at least one of the three!) On Saturday morning, we went to Subway to buy some sandwiches to eat for lunch. Disneyland is awesome in the fact that they let you bring in food and don't force you to buy theirs. :) Anyway. I met a nice skinny homeless black guy while crossing the street who asked where I was from. "Does it snow in Utah? They say if you can't handle the cold you shouldn't move up north. I wouldn't be able to handle it, considering what I've got." and he smiled and waved towards the scraggly sweatshirt he was wearing. He wished me a nice day and we parted ways.
Inside Subway, I looked at the menu, thinking, "I know I like both turkey and ham sandwiches, and the ham sandwich is one of their $5 footlongs, so I'll save a buck and get a ham sandwich." Mark and Carolyn were a little behind me and when Mark walked in, he said, "Let's get a turkey sub for the guy I saw you talking to at the light. He just started talking to me and said he'd really like a turkey sandwich." I kind of tried to get Mark to give him the ham sandwich instead (because I wanted a turkey sandwich, too, and had already ordered the ham sandwich!) and realized it was a really silly argument ... so we got the guy a footlong turkey sub and went on our way.
Anywho. I'm thankful to have such a generous husband who makes me laugh at myself when I have petty thoughts like, "Aw, but ... leftovers!!!" and "but I want the turkey sub!" Really, it means so much more to them than it does to me. There is so much we can do to bless the lives of others. Sometimes it's something personal like service, and other times it's something material like food. We have much to spare.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Happy Birthday to Me!
We went to Disneyland for my birthday. Our vacation was an unexpected adventure, which I will write about later (what is it with life and not having time to type?!), but anyway ... we got home and I noticed a big package on our doorstep. Mom said she'd mailed me a birthday present, so I assumed the package was from her.
I went into the backyard to quickly water our garden before going to bed, and I heard this mysterious ripping noise coming from inside the house.
"Mark! Don't open my birthday present!" I shouted.
"What? How do you know it's your birthday present?"
"Because Mom said she sent me one. Does it have my name on it, and is it from my mother?"
There was a slight pause, then a sheepish, "Um, yes."
"Okay. THEN STOP OPENING MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. Thank you."
Hahahaha. I love my hubby.
And don't tell anyone ....... but I open his mail, too. ;)
I went into the backyard to quickly water our garden before going to bed, and I heard this mysterious ripping noise coming from inside the house.
"Mark! Don't open my birthday present!" I shouted.
"What? How do you know it's your birthday present?"
"Because Mom said she sent me one. Does it have my name on it, and is it from my mother?"
There was a slight pause, then a sheepish, "Um, yes."
"Okay. THEN STOP OPENING MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT. Thank you."
Hahahaha. I love my hubby.
And don't tell anyone ....... but I open his mail, too. ;)
Monday, June 6, 2011
Looking forward to Texas
I promise to have a real blog update some time soon, but I somehow managed to accidentally delete all the pictures from Carmen's birthday party and I've been too embarrassed to post since then. I've also been busy doing things like apartment-huntinrg in Austin, playing lots of video games, watching Sadie, planning vacations, etc. I have another blog I write in that's more like a personal journal in which I ramble about my life and thoughts and opinions and stuff, so this blog kind of gets last priority.
Anyway, in case you haven't heard, in May, Mark got a job offer in Austin! They originally wanted him to start June 6 (haha, no way!) and we managed to get them to push back his start date to July 11th. We went apartment hunting over Memorial Day weekend and found a great two-bedroom apartment to live in. It's about 1.3 miles from Mark's work, about a mile and a half to the gym, and about 2 miles to go to Mark's work via the gym. Score! It's also a mile from the mall and across the street from the backside of Wal-Mart. Could life get any better? Maybe only if Costco were next to the mall. ;)
After going to James' wedding in Rhode Island last month, I've decided I could never live out East. It never really occurred to me before that there could be a place I wouldn't enjoy living. But I guess I truly am a Westerner. Out East, it's too flat and there's too much traffic and the people are rude and the culture is different and they don't drink tap water ... but their accents are awesome! There's a lot of neat history. It's a fine place for a vacation. But I no longer wish to live in Boston or Baltimore or Washington, DC. I like it here, with the mountains and the wide open spaces and the genuinely friendly and easy-going people (who may or may not drive like retards, but hey!) and the non-accents. I was once told that people from Colorado don't have identifiable accents and that tends to be what the national newscasters sound like. SWEET.
But when we were in Austin, there were some definite accents going on. It's not as bad as what I hear out of people from eastern Texas ... I guess it's because they're close to Louisiana and Mississippi and those other Southern places where they've got REAL strong Southern accents. So cute, but ... yikes! What if my kids grow up with Southern accents?! Would that be better than a Utah Valley accent? Anyway. I've been having Carmen practice saying "y'all" and I've been trying to get myself to replace "you guys" with "y'all" in my head so I sound less out of place. ;)
We also almost moved to Austin instead of Seattle when I was a junior in high school. How different life might've been ...
A few things that make me really excited about moving to Austin:
-I've always been a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. Now I will never feel under dressed around my friends! But I wear flip-flops, not cowboy boots ... hopefully that will be okay. ;)
-I love the genuinely friendly "I just met you but we're gonna be real friendly and pretend we're already friends" attitude everyone has. It's like I'm surrounded by a bunch of people a bit like me!
-I can finally admit I like some country music without shame!!
Mom and Dad like to tell the following story:
When my little brother Logan was a baby, he would turn the radio knob until it was just off a rock station and you could hear the beat through the static. When I was a baby, I'd always turn the knob to country. My parents were convinced I was either a) not theirs, or b) genetically mutated. My self-proclaimed childhood theme song was "She's A Wild One" by Faith Hill ... you know, the one that goes, When she was 3 years old on her daddy's knee/He said, You can be anything you wanna be/She's a wild one runnin' free.
-I still think the accents are adorable.
-FRONTAGE ROADS
Things that scare me:
-I keep feeling like we're going to end up staying and my kids will grow up Texan.
-It's far away from my family (in Seattle). It's far away from EVERYTHING.
-I grew up in Phoenix, where it is also hot ... but dry. Will I be able to handle the humidity? The epic hair battle continues.
Speaking of hair, I've been growing it out for a while and now it's about halfway down my back! I love it!!
Anyway, in case you haven't heard, in May, Mark got a job offer in Austin! They originally wanted him to start June 6 (haha, no way!) and we managed to get them to push back his start date to July 11th. We went apartment hunting over Memorial Day weekend and found a great two-bedroom apartment to live in. It's about 1.3 miles from Mark's work, about a mile and a half to the gym, and about 2 miles to go to Mark's work via the gym. Score! It's also a mile from the mall and across the street from the backside of Wal-Mart. Could life get any better? Maybe only if Costco were next to the mall. ;)
After going to James' wedding in Rhode Island last month, I've decided I could never live out East. It never really occurred to me before that there could be a place I wouldn't enjoy living. But I guess I truly am a Westerner. Out East, it's too flat and there's too much traffic and the people are rude and the culture is different and they don't drink tap water ... but their accents are awesome! There's a lot of neat history. It's a fine place for a vacation. But I no longer wish to live in Boston or Baltimore or Washington, DC. I like it here, with the mountains and the wide open spaces and the genuinely friendly and easy-going people (who may or may not drive like retards, but hey!) and the non-accents. I was once told that people from Colorado don't have identifiable accents and that tends to be what the national newscasters sound like. SWEET.
But when we were in Austin, there were some definite accents going on. It's not as bad as what I hear out of people from eastern Texas ... I guess it's because they're close to Louisiana and Mississippi and those other Southern places where they've got REAL strong Southern accents. So cute, but ... yikes! What if my kids grow up with Southern accents?! Would that be better than a Utah Valley accent? Anyway. I've been having Carmen practice saying "y'all" and I've been trying to get myself to replace "you guys" with "y'all" in my head so I sound less out of place. ;)
We also almost moved to Austin instead of Seattle when I was a junior in high school. How different life might've been ...
A few things that make me really excited about moving to Austin:
-I've always been a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. Now I will never feel under dressed around my friends! But I wear flip-flops, not cowboy boots ... hopefully that will be okay. ;)
-I love the genuinely friendly "I just met you but we're gonna be real friendly and pretend we're already friends" attitude everyone has. It's like I'm surrounded by a bunch of people a bit like me!
-I can finally admit I like some country music without shame!!
Mom and Dad like to tell the following story:
When my little brother Logan was a baby, he would turn the radio knob until it was just off a rock station and you could hear the beat through the static. When I was a baby, I'd always turn the knob to country. My parents were convinced I was either a) not theirs, or b) genetically mutated. My self-proclaimed childhood theme song was "She's A Wild One" by Faith Hill ... you know, the one that goes, When she was 3 years old on her daddy's knee/He said, You can be anything you wanna be/She's a wild one runnin' free.
-I still think the accents are adorable.
-FRONTAGE ROADS
Things that scare me:
-I keep feeling like we're going to end up staying and my kids will grow up Texan.
-It's far away from my family (in Seattle). It's far away from EVERYTHING.
-I grew up in Phoenix, where it is also hot ... but dry. Will I be able to handle the humidity? The epic hair battle continues.
Speaking of hair, I've been growing it out for a while and now it's about halfway down my back! I love it!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
James and Shauri's wedding, Part I
I have no idea how many parts this will be, but I think if I don't start writing things down now I'll never get around to it.
James is Mark's next-older brother. I first met him shortly after Mark and I started dating, and the first thing I thought about him was that I thought he was super-cute. He's the random skinny blond-haired, blue-eyed kid in the family. He hardly looks like his siblings, but he looks EXACTLY like his parents. It's kind of like how my sister, Marissa, and I don't look very much alike (until we smile together) because we've inherited opposite traits from our parents. :)
James is really smart and speaks about a bajillion languages (okay, maybe it's just Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish, but it SEEMS like a lot), plays the guitar and had his own band in high school and used his college money to make a CD, currently works for the foreign service and is going to Baghdad with his wife in September, travels like crazy, and writes poetry.
Last February, I met Shauri when we visited James in Matamoros. She happened to be going to Mexico city and had a layover of sorts in Brownsville/Matamoros. I don't exactly know how to describe this, but ... she's sort of the person I imagined myself becoming. She served a Spanish-speaking mission in Anaheim and somehow managed to graduate from school without getting married and landed herself an awesome job that lets her travel ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Instead of graduating and traveling the world, I got married my freshman year and had my first kid shortly after graduating (or, at least, when I *should've* graduated if they hadn't cancelled all of my finance electives TWICE.) Often times, life doesn't turn out how you envisioned it.
Anyway. Shauri was amazing and awesome and slightly intimidating to me because I barely knew her and already idolized her. James talked to Mark once and was like, "Should I pursue it?" and Mark was like HECK YES DO IT MAN. Now I'm thrilled to have one of my idols in the family. Don't let her know. ;) I guess I'm also a little sad because now I KNOW I'm not the coolest daughter-in-law anymore. ;) ;) ;)
Okay. So James lived in Matamoros, then went to Washington, DC to study more Arabic before going off to Baghdad. Shauri lives in Ann Arbor, MI, in James' sister's ward. She gets to travel all over the place because she kind of does video PR stuff for companies. It sounds like most of her family lives in Ann Arbor, too. So, of course, between James' family living on the west coast, Shauri's family living in Michigan, and James living in Washington DC, Shauri opts to get married in ... Rhode Island. Makes perfect sense, no?
Mark's family goes to the Oregon coast every summer. Larry (Mark's dad) has gone in on a house with some of his siblings, so we all stay at the "coast house" every summer. Apparently, Shauri's family went to Rhode Island a lot when she was younger because her grandpa grew up there. Or something. So it's a gorgeous place and would be an AWESOME cool place to have a wedding. They went all out and out of their way to make the wedding an awesome experience for all of us. It was like a destination wedding ... a nice change from your stereotypical Mormon wedding.
*whistles innocently and looks away* Who, me?
Awesome fact #1: Kids under 2 fly free, and Carmen turned 2 the Wednesday after we returned from Rhode Island. Thank you, James and Shauri, for choosing the first weekend in May so we could save $400+ on airline tickets. ;)
I was a little nervous about the toddler-on-a-plane thing, but Carmen and I have traveled together a LOT. We've driven to Seattle several times and Mom's purchased plane tickets for us so we can visit her. Plus, this time, we had Mark with us so hopefully the two of us would be able to entertain her enough on the flight.
Our flight to Rhode Island had two parts - first a short flight to Phoenix, then a long flight the rest of the way. Our first flight was pretty empty, so we actually had a whole row of 3 seats to ourselves. Carmen did a *fabulous* job entertaining herself and charmed the pants off everyone in the plane. It's fun to have people compliment your kid after you land. "Awww, you're such a cute little girl, you were so good on the plane!" to which Carmen nonchalantly goes, "Yeah." and elicits more coos from people. Hahahahahahaha.
Our second flight was completely full, and we were lucky to sit next to a woman who said, "I remember what it's like to fly with a toddler." and, "You can sit by me as long as you bring her with you!" and would occasionally ask us if we needed to get up and walk around or go to the bathroom. Carmen fell asleep on Mark's chest for a while and it was a lovely 6-hour flight.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My parents tried matching their arrival time to ours, since we rented a car together. We got off the plane and saw them standing next to the gate entrance, and for a while it felt like we were in some kind of pre-9/11 time warp.
Don't you miss being able to see your loved ones right at the gate?
Things went smoothly with retrieving our luggage and finding the car rental place, even though the car rental place was like ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT. We took a bajillion moving platforms across the airport and finally made it. Dad was smart enough to grab us one of those Smart Cartes, because otherwise ... there's no way we could've figured out how to get our luggage out. Whoever invented the wheel was a genius.
Random side note: There was a guy with two kids who was also going to the car rental place, and he was wearing his kid's little backpack that was shaped like a Storm Trooper head. I wanted to tell him "Happy Star Wars Day" (it was May 4th) but he looked kind of cranky and I didn't want to annoy him.
ANYWHO. All of our luggage fit perfectly (and barely!) into the back of the SUV we rented and I wanted to be a good person and return the Smart Carte. Dad wanted to leave it in the parking lot and let the airport people take care of it. I took it back inside and got a lucky quarter from the cart return (hooray!) and on my way out, I passed by a lady who was on our flight. She stopped me to tell me she thought my daughter was an absolute doll and I thanked her.
Seriously, it felt so good. It was a nice vacation. I'm so happy.
I think it makes a big difference when we leave on time, get there on time, and get enough sleep. The beginning of a vacation is the easiest part. :D
We managed to find our hotel and got in touch with Mark's parents (who were staying in Boston that night because they wanted to revisit their old stomping grounds at Harvard) for what we would be doing on Thursday. More about that next time, in Part II!!
James is Mark's next-older brother. I first met him shortly after Mark and I started dating, and the first thing I thought about him was that I thought he was super-cute. He's the random skinny blond-haired, blue-eyed kid in the family. He hardly looks like his siblings, but he looks EXACTLY like his parents. It's kind of like how my sister, Marissa, and I don't look very much alike (until we smile together) because we've inherited opposite traits from our parents. :)
James is really smart and speaks about a bajillion languages (okay, maybe it's just Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish, but it SEEMS like a lot), plays the guitar and had his own band in high school and used his college money to make a CD, currently works for the foreign service and is going to Baghdad with his wife in September, travels like crazy, and writes poetry.
Last February, I met Shauri when we visited James in Matamoros. She happened to be going to Mexico city and had a layover of sorts in Brownsville/Matamoros. I don't exactly know how to describe this, but ... she's sort of the person I imagined myself becoming. She served a Spanish-speaking mission in Anaheim and somehow managed to graduate from school without getting married and landed herself an awesome job that lets her travel ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Instead of graduating and traveling the world, I got married my freshman year and had my first kid shortly after graduating (or, at least, when I *should've* graduated if they hadn't cancelled all of my finance electives TWICE.) Often times, life doesn't turn out how you envisioned it.
Anyway. Shauri was amazing and awesome and slightly intimidating to me because I barely knew her and already idolized her. James talked to Mark once and was like, "Should I pursue it?" and Mark was like HECK YES DO IT MAN. Now I'm thrilled to have one of my idols in the family. Don't let her know. ;) I guess I'm also a little sad because now I KNOW I'm not the coolest daughter-in-law anymore. ;) ;) ;)
Okay. So James lived in Matamoros, then went to Washington, DC to study more Arabic before going off to Baghdad. Shauri lives in Ann Arbor, MI, in James' sister's ward. She gets to travel all over the place because she kind of does video PR stuff for companies. It sounds like most of her family lives in Ann Arbor, too. So, of course, between James' family living on the west coast, Shauri's family living in Michigan, and James living in Washington DC, Shauri opts to get married in ... Rhode Island. Makes perfect sense, no?
Mark's family goes to the Oregon coast every summer. Larry (Mark's dad) has gone in on a house with some of his siblings, so we all stay at the "coast house" every summer. Apparently, Shauri's family went to Rhode Island a lot when she was younger because her grandpa grew up there. Or something. So it's a gorgeous place and would be an AWESOME cool place to have a wedding. They went all out and out of their way to make the wedding an awesome experience for all of us. It was like a destination wedding ... a nice change from your stereotypical Mormon wedding.
*whistles innocently and looks away* Who, me?
Awesome fact #1: Kids under 2 fly free, and Carmen turned 2 the Wednesday after we returned from Rhode Island. Thank you, James and Shauri, for choosing the first weekend in May so we could save $400+ on airline tickets. ;)
I was a little nervous about the toddler-on-a-plane thing, but Carmen and I have traveled together a LOT. We've driven to Seattle several times and Mom's purchased plane tickets for us so we can visit her. Plus, this time, we had Mark with us so hopefully the two of us would be able to entertain her enough on the flight.
Our flight to Rhode Island had two parts - first a short flight to Phoenix, then a long flight the rest of the way. Our first flight was pretty empty, so we actually had a whole row of 3 seats to ourselves. Carmen did a *fabulous* job entertaining herself and charmed the pants off everyone in the plane. It's fun to have people compliment your kid after you land. "Awww, you're such a cute little girl, you were so good on the plane!" to which Carmen nonchalantly goes, "Yeah." and elicits more coos from people. Hahahahahahaha.
Our second flight was completely full, and we were lucky to sit next to a woman who said, "I remember what it's like to fly with a toddler." and, "You can sit by me as long as you bring her with you!" and would occasionally ask us if we needed to get up and walk around or go to the bathroom. Carmen fell asleep on Mark's chest for a while and it was a lovely 6-hour flight.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My parents tried matching their arrival time to ours, since we rented a car together. We got off the plane and saw them standing next to the gate entrance, and for a while it felt like we were in some kind of pre-9/11 time warp.
Don't you miss being able to see your loved ones right at the gate?
Things went smoothly with retrieving our luggage and finding the car rental place, even though the car rental place was like ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT. We took a bajillion moving platforms across the airport and finally made it. Dad was smart enough to grab us one of those Smart Cartes, because otherwise ... there's no way we could've figured out how to get our luggage out. Whoever invented the wheel was a genius.
Random side note: There was a guy with two kids who was also going to the car rental place, and he was wearing his kid's little backpack that was shaped like a Storm Trooper head. I wanted to tell him "Happy Star Wars Day" (it was May 4th) but he looked kind of cranky and I didn't want to annoy him.
ANYWHO. All of our luggage fit perfectly (and barely!) into the back of the SUV we rented and I wanted to be a good person and return the Smart Carte. Dad wanted to leave it in the parking lot and let the airport people take care of it. I took it back inside and got a lucky quarter from the cart return (hooray!) and on my way out, I passed by a lady who was on our flight. She stopped me to tell me she thought my daughter was an absolute doll and I thanked her.
Seriously, it felt so good. It was a nice vacation. I'm so happy.
I think it makes a big difference when we leave on time, get there on time, and get enough sleep. The beginning of a vacation is the easiest part. :D
We managed to find our hotel and got in touch with Mark's parents (who were staying in Boston that night because they wanted to revisit their old stomping grounds at Harvard) for what we would be doing on Thursday. More about that next time, in Part II!!
Monday, May 16, 2011
More Carmenisms
Carmen used to call her friend Braxton "Bobby". He would get really upset every time she said his name. "I'm BRAXTON, not BOBBY!"
Two-year-olds learn quickly as they master making sounds with their mouths and learn to formulate sentences. "Bobby" has now evolved into a name that sounds a bit like "Button" with an occasional "x" in it. This weekend, Braxton's family went to Grandma's house and I had the opportunity to feed their cats. Carmen loved coming over and seeing Kanga and Roo. This morning, after dropping Mark off at work, she said, "Bra-tin's house! Roo house!" because she remembered the names of the cats that lived there. <3 I love having a two-year-old!!
She also used to use the phrase, "I hold you!" to ask us to pick her up and carry her downstairs or wherever we're going. This morning, her grammar evolved again. "I hold you me!" she said.
On Friday night, we had another game night at our house. Jorgen came over and while they were saying goodbye to each other, I said, "Hey, Carmen, can you say, 'I love you, Jorgen'?" and she parroted, "I love you, Jorgen!" This is the first time she's said, "I love you" to anyone! Cute!!
Today, I was cleaning the kitchen and I turned around and saw Carmen standing there with her eyes closed and her arms folded. "Father, thank you thank you, sippy." she said. Sadie said, "Carmen's saying a prayer!" ... which I thought was really cute. When we say prayer at dinner, we ask Carmen which parent she wants to have say it. Lately, she's been saying, "I do it!" and then folds her arms and starts mumbling gibberish. It's kinda funny, because sometimes she actually says words and other times she just mumbles cute stuff.
Anywho. I've been kind of sick since Carmen's birthday on Wednesday. I hope to write more in the future, but life just got really busy.
Mark got a job in Austin and we're moving in July.
HOLY COW.
Two-year-olds learn quickly as they master making sounds with their mouths and learn to formulate sentences. "Bobby" has now evolved into a name that sounds a bit like "Button" with an occasional "x" in it. This weekend, Braxton's family went to Grandma's house and I had the opportunity to feed their cats. Carmen loved coming over and seeing Kanga and Roo. This morning, after dropping Mark off at work, she said, "Bra-tin's house! Roo house!" because she remembered the names of the cats that lived there. <3 I love having a two-year-old!!
She also used to use the phrase, "I hold you!" to ask us to pick her up and carry her downstairs or wherever we're going. This morning, her grammar evolved again. "I hold you me!" she said.
On Friday night, we had another game night at our house. Jorgen came over and while they were saying goodbye to each other, I said, "Hey, Carmen, can you say, 'I love you, Jorgen'?" and she parroted, "I love you, Jorgen!" This is the first time she's said, "I love you" to anyone! Cute!!
Today, I was cleaning the kitchen and I turned around and saw Carmen standing there with her eyes closed and her arms folded. "Father, thank you thank you, sippy." she said. Sadie said, "Carmen's saying a prayer!" ... which I thought was really cute. When we say prayer at dinner, we ask Carmen which parent she wants to have say it. Lately, she's been saying, "I do it!" and then folds her arms and starts mumbling gibberish. It's kinda funny, because sometimes she actually says words and other times she just mumbles cute stuff.
Anywho. I've been kind of sick since Carmen's birthday on Wednesday. I hope to write more in the future, but life just got really busy.
Mark got a job in Austin and we're moving in July.
HOLY COW.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Found my cat ... again.
I'm glad my life isn't boring. @_@
I found Tiber today. HE'S ALIVE!!!!
My brother-in-law got married on the East Coast on Friday (more about that later) and we left on Wednesday. On Thursday, my neighbor who is caring for our cats called me in a panic and said, "I went to your house today to feed your cats, and I CAN'T FIND TIBER." I told her not to worry, and I'd take care of everything when we got home if he didn't turn up. It's not her fault my dumb indoor cat likes to play escape artist.
We've been praying a lot this week for Tiber's safe return.
Now, THE STORY.
This morning, as we were all heading off to run a bajillion errands, I thought I heard a cat meowing outside. I had to drop off the recycling, buy groceries, and pick up all of the snacks for Mark's work, so I knew I didn't have much time to investigate. We got all of the errands done that we needed to do and I dropped Sadie off 10 minutes early, woohoo!!
When we got home, I heard the cat STILL meowing and wondered what was wrong. I walked over to the fence to figure out where the noise was coming from, and I said, "Tiber? TIBER?! Is that you?!" and the poor cat kept meowing and meowing. I looked between the slats in the fence and still couldn't see anything, so I figured he must be stuck back there somewhere.
I felt a little awkward about trespassing into someone's backyard, BUT THERE'S A CAT BACK THERE, I THINK IT IS MINE, AND I MUST RESCUE IT. I strapped Carmen back into her car seat and drove one street over to see if I could figure out what backyard he was in. The house was ... um ... trashy ... and the backyard was a total junk yard (3 cars, a big shed full of crap, an air conditioning unit, random barbed wire, it was yuck.)
The meowing was coming from the discarded air conditioning unit and I peeked inside and there was this little squished gray cat in there. "TIBER!" I screamed. "Tiber! I'll get you out of there! Just wait and I'll find a way!" and he yowled and meowed and squirmed ... but there was nothing for his claws to catch onto and the a/c fan kept spinning and he would slide back to the bottom every time he tried to climb up. Plus, he was pretty squished down there and he could hardly move. I tried tipping it over and tearing it apart, but I didn't have enough leverage to do much. Plus, I was squished up against the fence (which backs to our townhome complex) with these random piles of barbed wire ... I tried knocking on the door to let the home owners know my cat was stuck in their yard, but nobody was home. I was shaking and my adrenaline levels were through the roof.
I ran back to my house to get the tool box in case I could disassemble the unit and get him out. I also called Cat to see if she could help me (and then I was going to call the cops as a last resort) and we found a neighbor to hold the baby monitor while Braxton slept.
We managed to get the air conditioning unit tilted over enough that Cat could pick up Tiber by the scruff of his neck. I had a wool emergency blanket in the back of my car (yay, emergency preparedness!). We wrapped Tiber up in that because he was matted and dirty and covered in urine and Cat held him while we drove home. She gave me several cans of wet cat food that her cats won't eat and I gave him a bath.
We got home just as the Jehovah's Witnesses arrived and Dana agreed to come back later, after I'd taken care of my cat.
Carmen and I took Tiber upstairs into the bathroom and I stripped down to my underwear (woo-woo!) and wrestled Tiber into our bath tub and sprayed him down with the shower hose. The water was completely black and he was NOT HAPPY but was too weak to scratch me or jump around much. I shut the door to the bathroom, told Carmen to not let Tiber out, and grabbed some towels, a bowl for water, a can of food, and Carmen's baby wash. I went back into the bathroom, let Tiber eat for several minutes, then washed him up a few times. Finally, the water came off clear and I didn't want to torture him any more. I squeezed out what water I could and dried him off a little bit and let him eat and shake himself out.
Wet cats look so pathetic and skinny.
Now he's dry and looks pretty normal. Still traumatized, still probably hungry. I'll keep my eye on him for the next few days to see if he's acting funny or sick. He doesn't look like he's in any pain, just lonely and hungry. He has a little gash in his thigh, which I shaved and cleaned out and put Neosporin on. I'm going to call the vet to see if he has any advice of anything more I should do for him. Really, there's no point in taking him IN to the vet if the vet's going to do exactly what I did.
I'm so glad he's okay.
It would've been so horrible for him to ... for him to have died in that awful air conditioner. Ugh. Why do people let their yards turn into junkyards?
Stay tuned for even more dramatic wedding stories!! Murphy's Law is alive and well!!!
I found Tiber today. HE'S ALIVE!!!!
My brother-in-law got married on the East Coast on Friday (more about that later) and we left on Wednesday. On Thursday, my neighbor who is caring for our cats called me in a panic and said, "I went to your house today to feed your cats, and I CAN'T FIND TIBER." I told her not to worry, and I'd take care of everything when we got home if he didn't turn up. It's not her fault my dumb indoor cat likes to play escape artist.
We've been praying a lot this week for Tiber's safe return.
Now, THE STORY.
This morning, as we were all heading off to run a bajillion errands, I thought I heard a cat meowing outside. I had to drop off the recycling, buy groceries, and pick up all of the snacks for Mark's work, so I knew I didn't have much time to investigate. We got all of the errands done that we needed to do and I dropped Sadie off 10 minutes early, woohoo!!
When we got home, I heard the cat STILL meowing and wondered what was wrong. I walked over to the fence to figure out where the noise was coming from, and I said, "Tiber? TIBER?! Is that you?!" and the poor cat kept meowing and meowing. I looked between the slats in the fence and still couldn't see anything, so I figured he must be stuck back there somewhere.
I felt a little awkward about trespassing into someone's backyard, BUT THERE'S A CAT BACK THERE, I THINK IT IS MINE, AND I MUST RESCUE IT. I strapped Carmen back into her car seat and drove one street over to see if I could figure out what backyard he was in. The house was ... um ... trashy ... and the backyard was a total junk yard (3 cars, a big shed full of crap, an air conditioning unit, random barbed wire, it was yuck.)
The meowing was coming from the discarded air conditioning unit and I peeked inside and there was this little squished gray cat in there. "TIBER!" I screamed. "Tiber! I'll get you out of there! Just wait and I'll find a way!" and he yowled and meowed and squirmed ... but there was nothing for his claws to catch onto and the a/c fan kept spinning and he would slide back to the bottom every time he tried to climb up. Plus, he was pretty squished down there and he could hardly move. I tried tipping it over and tearing it apart, but I didn't have enough leverage to do much. Plus, I was squished up against the fence (which backs to our townhome complex) with these random piles of barbed wire ... I tried knocking on the door to let the home owners know my cat was stuck in their yard, but nobody was home. I was shaking and my adrenaline levels were through the roof.
I ran back to my house to get the tool box in case I could disassemble the unit and get him out. I also called Cat to see if she could help me (and then I was going to call the cops as a last resort) and we found a neighbor to hold the baby monitor while Braxton slept.
We managed to get the air conditioning unit tilted over enough that Cat could pick up Tiber by the scruff of his neck. I had a wool emergency blanket in the back of my car (yay, emergency preparedness!). We wrapped Tiber up in that because he was matted and dirty and covered in urine and Cat held him while we drove home. She gave me several cans of wet cat food that her cats won't eat and I gave him a bath.
We got home just as the Jehovah's Witnesses arrived and Dana agreed to come back later, after I'd taken care of my cat.
Carmen and I took Tiber upstairs into the bathroom and I stripped down to my underwear (woo-woo!) and wrestled Tiber into our bath tub and sprayed him down with the shower hose. The water was completely black and he was NOT HAPPY but was too weak to scratch me or jump around much. I shut the door to the bathroom, told Carmen to not let Tiber out, and grabbed some towels, a bowl for water, a can of food, and Carmen's baby wash. I went back into the bathroom, let Tiber eat for several minutes, then washed him up a few times. Finally, the water came off clear and I didn't want to torture him any more. I squeezed out what water I could and dried him off a little bit and let him eat and shake himself out.
Wet cats look so pathetic and skinny.
Now he's dry and looks pretty normal. Still traumatized, still probably hungry. I'll keep my eye on him for the next few days to see if he's acting funny or sick. He doesn't look like he's in any pain, just lonely and hungry. He has a little gash in his thigh, which I shaved and cleaned out and put Neosporin on. I'm going to call the vet to see if he has any advice of anything more I should do for him. Really, there's no point in taking him IN to the vet if the vet's going to do exactly what I did.
I'm so glad he's okay.
It would've been so horrible for him to ... for him to have died in that awful air conditioner. Ugh. Why do people let their yards turn into junkyards?
Stay tuned for even more dramatic wedding stories!! Murphy's Law is alive and well!!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!
In case you missed it, they found Osama bin Laden yesterday and killed him.
Favorite quotes from my friends' Facebook feeds last night:
"A prince gets married, the bad guy is dead. It's a real Disney weekend."
"R.I.P Osama Bin Laden - World Hide And Go Seek Champion (2001 - 2011)"
"I think Obama is postponing his statement on purpose so he can air instead of Trump and The Apprentice :) Sneaky comeback."
"BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump demands Bin Laden death certificate. ;)"
{Kamis's own personal thought: Obama killed bin Laden about as much as Al Gore invented the Internet. It doesn't make this any less cute, though. ;) }
"Osama is dead. Praise Allah... oh wait."
"somewhat disappointed that it wasn't an alien invasion"
"Bin Laden's last spiteful act against the United States: giving up the ghost on Obama's watch to get him reelected."
"Carmen Sandiego, Waldo, and Osama bin Laden in epic hide & seek showdown - WHO WOULD WIN?"
"With Bin Laden dead, who am I supposed to hate? I feel aimless. This is like when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004."
"Fun fact: 66 years ago today, Hitler was confirmed dead."
"Was watching Return of the Jedi with Zacky, when Emperor is dropped, then the twitter feed of the Osama news came. Good things happen when you watch Star Wars."
Obviously, this isn't the end of terrorism by any means, but it is a good day in the world. It's good to find a reason to celebrate. :)
Favorite quotes from my friends' Facebook feeds last night:
"A prince gets married, the bad guy is dead. It's a real Disney weekend."
"R.I.P Osama Bin Laden - World Hide And Go Seek Champion (2001 - 2011)"
"I think Obama is postponing his statement on purpose so he can air instead of Trump and The Apprentice :) Sneaky comeback."
"BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump demands Bin Laden death certificate. ;)"
"Osama is dead. Praise Allah... oh wait."
"somewhat disappointed that it wasn't an alien invasion"
"Bin Laden's last spiteful act against the United States: giving up the ghost on Obama's watch to get him reelected."
"Carmen Sandiego, Waldo, and Osama bin Laden in epic hide & seek showdown - WHO WOULD WIN?"
"With Bin Laden dead, who am I supposed to hate? I feel aimless. This is like when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004."
"Fun fact: 66 years ago today, Hitler was confirmed dead."
"Was watching Return of the Jedi with Zacky, when Emperor is dropped, then the twitter feed of the Osama news came. Good things happen when you watch Star Wars."
Obviously, this isn't the end of terrorism by any means, but it is a good day in the world. It's good to find a reason to celebrate. :)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Cub Scout Skit
On Tuesday, we had our Cub Scout pack meeting and Mark and I did a skit. We played all of the characters and had little props to denote who was playing whom. The knight was always the knight, and most everyone else got switched around. The boys loved it when Mark donned a tiara and played the princess at the end.
I was the knight because I love saying, "What?! DIE!!!!" and stabbing Mark. He loves keeling over and sprawling across the floor.
... What does this say about our marriage?
Skit:
Knight: I’ve come to marry the princess.
Gatekeeper: Hold on, I’ll have to ask the king.
(to king): There is a man without, my lord.
King: Without what?
Gatekeeper: Without the gate.
King: Well, give it to him.
Gatekeeper: (Hands knight the gate) Here you go.
Knight: What’s this! Die. (stabs the gate keeper.)
(to king): I’ve come to marry the princess.
King: I’ll have to ask the queen.
(to queen) A man wants to marry our daughter.
Queen: Well, I’ll have to ask her.
(to princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (To king) She says no.
King (To knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs the king)
Knight: (To queen) I’ve come to marry the princess.
Queen: I’ll have to ask her.
(To princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (to knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs queen)
Knight: (to princess) I’ve come to marry…you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Knight: No.
Princess: Then no.
Knight: What! Die!
(Kills princess)
Ah! What have I done? (kills himself)
School-age boys have a morbid sense of humor. We have mad acting skills.
I was the knight because I love saying, "What?! DIE!!!!" and stabbing Mark. He loves keeling over and sprawling across the floor.
... What does this say about our marriage?
Skit:
Knight: I’ve come to marry the princess.
Gatekeeper: Hold on, I’ll have to ask the king.
(to king): There is a man without, my lord.
King: Without what?
Gatekeeper: Without the gate.
King: Well, give it to him.
Gatekeeper: (Hands knight the gate) Here you go.
Knight: What’s this! Die. (stabs the gate keeper.)
(to king): I’ve come to marry the princess.
King: I’ll have to ask the queen.
(to queen) A man wants to marry our daughter.
Queen: Well, I’ll have to ask her.
(to princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (To king) She says no.
King (To knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs the king)
Knight: (To queen) I’ve come to marry the princess.
Queen: I’ll have to ask her.
(To princess) A man has come to marry you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Queen: No.
Princess: Then no.
Queen: (to knight) She says no.
Knight: What? Die! (Stabs queen)
Knight: (to princess) I’ve come to marry…you.
Princess: Do you like my ring?
Knight: No.
Princess: Then no.
Knight: What! Die!
(Kills princess)
Ah! What have I done? (kills himself)
School-age boys have a morbid sense of humor. We have mad acting skills.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Icing on the cake
Okay, so I called the Subaru guys again and they said they'd have to call a Nissan dealership to get a quote on the price of the part. I decided to call a different Nissan dealership and talk to the parts department to find out how much the O2 sensor costs, and ask questions about the differences between the sensor you can get from Auto Zone and the one you get from a Nissan dealership.
Anyway. The oxygen sensors you can get from an auto parts store can fit a number of vehicles, and the certified and whatnot Nissan parts are made for specific models. But here's the kicker ... I called the Nissan dealership in Sandy and they told me the part was $130, not $200. The guy also told me industry standard (or something) time for replacing the oxygen sensor is 6/10ths of an hour. That is on par with what the Subaru guys told me 3 months ago. The guy in the service center told me the MOST he would possibly charge someone for replacing the O2 sensor is $110 if it was really hard to get to and they had to tear the car apart to get to it. (I don't really know where the "front O2 sensor is" but ... whatever.)
So I'm trying to figure out what to say to the Nissan guys in Orem. I'd really like the guys here in American Fork to fix my car because I've got a service coupon with them. A few years ago, this door-to-door salesman-type guy came to our house. We paid $90 to get 6 free oil changes at a local car dealership (this Subaru place) and it also had a list of other free services we could get (free emissions with safety purchase, some free labor, 10% off additional labor, free check engine light scan, etc.) and we figured it sounded like a good deal since most places charge about $30 for an oil change. If I gave them the oxygen sensor and used my 30 minutes of free labor I can get this fixed for $130ish. NOT $400. (which is the $518 estimate Butch gave me minus the $105 for the diagnostic fee.) Or I could go to Sandy and get everything fixed for about $200 because I wouldn't get any free labor.
I just hope the American Fork Subaru guys won't think I'm a pain in the butt because I keep calling them today about the oxygen sensor thing. I'm sure they're about ready to strangle me ... BUT I WANT TO SAVE A BUCK AND I'D RATHER STAY IN TOWN.
Could I just use my coupon and then slip them an extra $20 to say "thank you"? lol.
ETA: The Subaru guys said they don't have the computers necessary to replace my oxygen sensor and clear the codes. So off to Sandy I go! (forget you, Orem.)
Anyway. The oxygen sensors you can get from an auto parts store can fit a number of vehicles, and the certified and whatnot Nissan parts are made for specific models. But here's the kicker ... I called the Nissan dealership in Sandy and they told me the part was $130, not $200. The guy also told me industry standard (or something) time for replacing the oxygen sensor is 6/10ths of an hour. That is on par with what the Subaru guys told me 3 months ago. The guy in the service center told me the MOST he would possibly charge someone for replacing the O2 sensor is $110 if it was really hard to get to and they had to tear the car apart to get to it. (I don't really know where the "front O2 sensor is" but ... whatever.)
So I'm trying to figure out what to say to the Nissan guys in Orem. I'd really like the guys here in American Fork to fix my car because I've got a service coupon with them. A few years ago, this door-to-door salesman-type guy came to our house. We paid $90 to get 6 free oil changes at a local car dealership (this Subaru place) and it also had a list of other free services we could get (free emissions with safety purchase, some free labor, 10% off additional labor, free check engine light scan, etc.) and we figured it sounded like a good deal since most places charge about $30 for an oil change. If I gave them the oxygen sensor and used my 30 minutes of free labor I can get this fixed for $130ish. NOT $400. (which is the $518 estimate Butch gave me minus the $105 for the diagnostic fee.) Or I could go to Sandy and get everything fixed for about $200 because I wouldn't get any free labor.
I just hope the American Fork Subaru guys won't think I'm a pain in the butt because I keep calling them today about the oxygen sensor thing. I'm sure they're about ready to strangle me ... BUT I WANT TO SAVE A BUCK AND I'D RATHER STAY IN TOWN.
Could I just use my coupon and then slip them an extra $20 to say "thank you"? lol.
ETA: The Subaru guys said they don't have the computers necessary to replace my oxygen sensor and clear the codes. So off to Sandy I go! (forget you, Orem.)
Car drama
Okay, so I want to rant about my car drama. A few weeks ago, I brought my car in to get the check engine light fixed. Now you get to hear the rest of the story.
It wasn't the transmission. It was the battery. They charged me $105 for the diagnostic fee and $100 for the battery (which I knew only cost $50 or $70 at the auto parts store, but by Thursday evening, I just wanted to have my car back.) I was just a little bit mad, because when Butch (the car repair guy) called me, he said, "Well, it looked like it was a transmission error, but it also could have just been a low voltage problem." which made me tell him that, yes, we've been having problems with our car battery lately.
But the thing is, we brought our battery in TWICE and got both the battery and the alternator "tested" and they told us it was "just fine." I guess there are a few tests you can run on a battery, and ours passed the basic test but quickly failed the real "load test".
My check engine light came on again 2 days ago so I called the same old guys again to let them know I needed to bring my car back in. Butch told me if my light came on again in less than 30 days they'd fix it and I wouldn't have to pay another diagnostic fee. (GOOD, because your fee is $20 more than the other expensive dealerships! I was trying to avoid going to you.) Do any Google searches on check engine light scans and they'll tell you it's pretty much a scam. You can get your check engine light scanned for free at Auto Zone ... but they won't do any of the repairs for you and it's not a "real" diagnosis because error messages can mean any of a number of things. Google is your friend.
Anyway. I've been trying to remain positive about this whole experience but too many things are rubbing me the wrong way.
I'll back up and try to tell the whole story.
Two or three months ago, I went to Auto Zone to have them pull the error code. The first guy said, "It's your right O2 sensor." and went back inside. No print-out. We called the Subaru dealership here in AF (aka "the place where I have a service coupon for half an hour of free labor") to ask how much it would cost to replace our Nissan Sentra's "right O2 sensor" and they said it was a $100ish part and about 30 minutes of labor. I went online to look up the price of the part and the cheapest I could find was like $96. Okay. Whatever. The Subaru place also had the part in stock, and we had an appointment scheduled for Monday.
When I bought Les Mis tickets, I killed my car battery and the check engine light did not turn on again. So I called the dealership and cancelled my appointment, figuring I was saving myself $100 in case the O2 sensor did NOT actually need to be replaced and the error was a fluke. Our car battery had died a few times before and we'd brought it in to get it checked and that's how I know how much our battery costs. We brought it in AGAIN and they AGAIN said it was fine. (argh?)
The check engine light came on again after I got back from Washington, so we took another trip to Auto Zone to have them pull the code. I wanted to see if it was the same error message. This time, some girl came and read off the error code and she did NOT say "it's the right O2 sensor" but gave me a printout of the four things it could possibly be, the most expensive of which was replacing the O2 sensor. The part was also $105ish (maybe it was $120?) and I was like, okay, now we'll take it to the Subaru place and have them "officially" diagnose the O2 sensor and replace it.
But it wasn't that easy. The Subaru place is NOT a Nissan place and apparently this O2 sensor thing is special and needs to be handled by a Nissan dealership because my car's computer won't talk to their computers. (BUTTFACES.) So a few months ago they were more than happy to replace my "right O2 sensor" for $100 plus labor, and now they're telling me I have to go to the Nissan dealership because they can actually test things and determine which sensor it is and whatever garbldeygook.
Here's what makes me most uncomfortable:
I took my car in to the Nissan place 2 weeks ago after the Subaru guys told me they couldn't diagnose my error message. The Nissan guys ignored the "O2 sensor" message and jumped on the transmission thing, even though the car was also telling them it might be a battery thing. These are all issues I was aware of. So at the end of the day, they merely replaced my bad battery and ignored the O2 sensor thing. Yesterday, I brought my car back to the Nissan place (free re-diagnosis of the "check engine" light) and Butch came out and told me it was the O2 sensor ... and it would cost $500 to repair.
I had to get home to take Sadie to school and didn't have time to deal with this discrepancy. $500 to replace a $100 part, where the Subaru guys said it would only be half an hour of labor? To me, this only adds up to $150. I'll ask you about this later, Butch.
I only know this: There is no way you're getting $500 from me.
I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a few months ago, the Subaru guys said they would replace my O2 sensor, and now that I've asked them to do it again they're reluctant. I called Butch and asked him to break down the cost and he said the part costs $200. Which I think is total crap because THREE PLACES say the part costs $100. He said his $500 estimate was wrong because he included a second diagnosis fee, but that still means he's charging me $200 for labor. The only explanation I can get is that they have the special computers that will calibrate the stuff in my car. BUT STILL.
I feel like I'm being fleeced, and I'm angry. I feel helpless. I also hate making phone calls. They give me panic attacks. I wish they didn't make me so nervous, because they have no REASON to make me nervous. I call this one of my "mind/body disconnects".
I'm sorry this was so long. I don't know what to do. : / Supposedly these Nissan guys are the "only" ones who can help me, but I absolutely do not trust them.
It wasn't the transmission. It was the battery. They charged me $105 for the diagnostic fee and $100 for the battery (which I knew only cost $50 or $70 at the auto parts store, but by Thursday evening, I just wanted to have my car back.) I was just a little bit mad, because when Butch (the car repair guy) called me, he said, "Well, it looked like it was a transmission error, but it also could have just been a low voltage problem." which made me tell him that, yes, we've been having problems with our car battery lately.
But the thing is, we brought our battery in TWICE and got both the battery and the alternator "tested" and they told us it was "just fine." I guess there are a few tests you can run on a battery, and ours passed the basic test but quickly failed the real "load test".
My check engine light came on again 2 days ago so I called the same old guys again to let them know I needed to bring my car back in. Butch told me if my light came on again in less than 30 days they'd fix it and I wouldn't have to pay another diagnostic fee. (GOOD, because your fee is $20 more than the other expensive dealerships! I was trying to avoid going to you.) Do any Google searches on check engine light scans and they'll tell you it's pretty much a scam. You can get your check engine light scanned for free at Auto Zone ... but they won't do any of the repairs for you and it's not a "real" diagnosis because error messages can mean any of a number of things. Google is your friend.
Anyway. I've been trying to remain positive about this whole experience but too many things are rubbing me the wrong way.
I'll back up and try to tell the whole story.
Two or three months ago, I went to Auto Zone to have them pull the error code. The first guy said, "It's your right O2 sensor." and went back inside. No print-out. We called the Subaru dealership here in AF (aka "the place where I have a service coupon for half an hour of free labor") to ask how much it would cost to replace our Nissan Sentra's "right O2 sensor" and they said it was a $100ish part and about 30 minutes of labor. I went online to look up the price of the part and the cheapest I could find was like $96. Okay. Whatever. The Subaru place also had the part in stock, and we had an appointment scheduled for Monday.
When I bought Les Mis tickets, I killed my car battery and the check engine light did not turn on again. So I called the dealership and cancelled my appointment, figuring I was saving myself $100 in case the O2 sensor did NOT actually need to be replaced and the error was a fluke. Our car battery had died a few times before and we'd brought it in to get it checked and that's how I know how much our battery costs. We brought it in AGAIN and they AGAIN said it was fine. (argh?)
The check engine light came on again after I got back from Washington, so we took another trip to Auto Zone to have them pull the code. I wanted to see if it was the same error message. This time, some girl came and read off the error code and she did NOT say "it's the right O2 sensor" but gave me a printout of the four things it could possibly be, the most expensive of which was replacing the O2 sensor. The part was also $105ish (maybe it was $120?) and I was like, okay, now we'll take it to the Subaru place and have them "officially" diagnose the O2 sensor and replace it.
But it wasn't that easy. The Subaru place is NOT a Nissan place and apparently this O2 sensor thing is special and needs to be handled by a Nissan dealership because my car's computer won't talk to their computers. (BUTTFACES.) So a few months ago they were more than happy to replace my "right O2 sensor" for $100 plus labor, and now they're telling me I have to go to the Nissan dealership because they can actually test things and determine which sensor it is and whatever garbldeygook.
Here's what makes me most uncomfortable:
I took my car in to the Nissan place 2 weeks ago after the Subaru guys told me they couldn't diagnose my error message. The Nissan guys ignored the "O2 sensor" message and jumped on the transmission thing, even though the car was also telling them it might be a battery thing. These are all issues I was aware of. So at the end of the day, they merely replaced my bad battery and ignored the O2 sensor thing. Yesterday, I brought my car back to the Nissan place (free re-diagnosis of the "check engine" light) and Butch came out and told me it was the O2 sensor ... and it would cost $500 to repair.
I had to get home to take Sadie to school and didn't have time to deal with this discrepancy. $500 to replace a $100 part, where the Subaru guys said it would only be half an hour of labor? To me, this only adds up to $150. I'll ask you about this later, Butch.
I only know this: There is no way you're getting $500 from me.
I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a few months ago, the Subaru guys said they would replace my O2 sensor, and now that I've asked them to do it again they're reluctant. I called Butch and asked him to break down the cost and he said the part costs $200. Which I think is total crap because THREE PLACES say the part costs $100. He said his $500 estimate was wrong because he included a second diagnosis fee, but that still means he's charging me $200 for labor. The only explanation I can get is that they have the special computers that will calibrate the stuff in my car. BUT STILL.
I feel like I'm being fleeced, and I'm angry. I feel helpless. I also hate making phone calls. They give me panic attacks. I wish they didn't make me so nervous, because they have no REASON to make me nervous. I call this one of my "mind/body disconnects".
I'm sorry this was so long. I don't know what to do. : / Supposedly these Nissan guys are the "only" ones who can help me, but I absolutely do not trust them.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Epic Game Nights at the Dewey House
We were playing Bang! tonight and I had the world's most epic turn. The Sheriff turned over the Fistful of Cards and it was the one where you draw from the discard pile and discard to the draw pile. I had one of the cards in front of me where you get to draw three cards, and one of the cards I drew with that was another card that lets you draw three cards as well ... then I had an Emporio, where everyone gets another card. By this time, I had gone through the entire discard pile and we had to figure out what to do. We decided that meant the mine was mined out and we would start playing normally now (because you could end up with this weird loop of using a Wells Fargo and Emporio and stuff over and over, switching between the draw and discard piles).
By this point, I had approximately 6 bajillion cards in my hand and I was kind of disappointed I didn't have a Volcanic (where you can shoot as many Bangs as you want instead of the usual one.) I Panic'd several cards from people, and at some point I stole a card from the Sheriff ... and it happened to be a Volcanic! I shot Carolyn a few times and killed her, then got to the Sheriff and used up the rest of my Bangs and a Duel ... and ended my turn with 3 cards in my hand (which is how many hit points I had ... it didn't matter, because I was the guy who can hold any number of cards in my hand. But it was interesting. The next guy killed the Sheriff and the game was over.
BUT DUDE IT WAS AWESOME.
Carolyn looked at the discard pile when I was done with my turn and counted up 31 cards. In my turn, I got 31 cards discarded, not including the fact that I had drawn through the entire discard pile in the <i>first half</i> of my turn.
Oh man.
Game nights at our place are EPIC.
By this point, I had approximately 6 bajillion cards in my hand and I was kind of disappointed I didn't have a Volcanic (where you can shoot as many Bangs as you want instead of the usual one.) I Panic'd several cards from people, and at some point I stole a card from the Sheriff ... and it happened to be a Volcanic! I shot Carolyn a few times and killed her, then got to the Sheriff and used up the rest of my Bangs and a Duel ... and ended my turn with 3 cards in my hand (which is how many hit points I had ... it didn't matter, because I was the guy who can hold any number of cards in my hand. But it was interesting. The next guy killed the Sheriff and the game was over.
BUT DUDE IT WAS AWESOME.
Carolyn looked at the discard pile when I was done with my turn and counted up 31 cards. In my turn, I got 31 cards discarded, not including the fact that I had drawn through the entire discard pile in the <i>first half</i> of my turn.
Oh man.
Game nights at our place are EPIC.
Monday, April 18, 2011
You know the phrase "retarded cat" is redundant, right?
Random thoughts of the day:
A few things I love:
It's so much fun watching Carmen pick up new words and express her interests and thoughts. Every day, we pass the Mount Timpanogos temple on our way to Sadie's school. I've pointed it out a few times, and today on our way back Carmen pointed out the window and said, "Temple!!! Look!" (Sure, it was "tampoo" but still!) It reminds me of my friend's kid who was watching Star Wars and said, "Hey, it's Moroni!" when he saw C-3PO. Ha ha!
I also like how instead of asking to be picked up, Carmen says, "I hold you!"
Carmen loves the song "Popcorn Popping" and knows two parts: "me" in "Spring has brought me such a nice surprise" and "Soooo!" in "It wasn't really so".
This morning, we stopped at the Wal-Mart by Sadie's school before dropping her off. Carmen recognized the direction we were going, and when we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Carmen turned to Sadie and waved and said, "Bye bye, Sadie!"
I went to the gym last week and when I came back to pick Carmen up from the day care, the ladies said, "Carmen had a rough time this morning. There was a baby crying and she really wanted to comfort it, but every time she would snuggle the baby and try to pick it up, the baby would cry even harder. We had to tell Carmen to leave the baby alone and told her to sit away from the baby, and Carmen sat there and pouted and glared at us." I'm sure that actually it was quite comical.
I love kids' empathy. They are the biggest sweethearts in the world!!!
Also, our cats are hilarious. Every time I open a closet door, Ravis comes BOUNDING across the house and DIVES into the closet. So I shut the door on him, and a few minutes later he starts meowing. I open the door and he's got this confused look on his face, like, "What just happened?" and he comes out of the closet. So our cats are both retarded AND gay.
Some things I love about having a 2-year-old:
~Fewer diaper changes (looking forward to when she's ready to potty train!)
~Able to feed themselves
~Able to talk and express themselves
~HILARIOUS when they talk
~They understand you
~They are independent and can move and climb onto things and do things for themselves. Sure, they can get into things, but exploring is so important for learning!
~I even love temper tantrums. It gives us a chance to learn how to appropriately express emotions and deal with them.
I'm also looking forward to when Carmen gets even older. We found a "letter" Sadie wrote in her kindergarten class, and it says, "Dear SADIE To SADIE From SADIE." Guess what word Sadie knows how to write? ;) It's adorable!!
The first year is pretty hard because it seems like it's all maintenance. But then it pays off for the rest of time!!!! Awesome awesome awesome!
A few things I love:
It's so much fun watching Carmen pick up new words and express her interests and thoughts. Every day, we pass the Mount Timpanogos temple on our way to Sadie's school. I've pointed it out a few times, and today on our way back Carmen pointed out the window and said, "Temple!!! Look!" (Sure, it was "tampoo" but still!) It reminds me of my friend's kid who was watching Star Wars and said, "Hey, it's Moroni!" when he saw C-3PO. Ha ha!
I also like how instead of asking to be picked up, Carmen says, "I hold you!"
Carmen loves the song "Popcorn Popping" and knows two parts: "me" in "Spring has brought me such a nice surprise" and "Soooo!" in "It wasn't really so".
This morning, we stopped at the Wal-Mart by Sadie's school before dropping her off. Carmen recognized the direction we were going, and when we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot, Carmen turned to Sadie and waved and said, "Bye bye, Sadie!"
I went to the gym last week and when I came back to pick Carmen up from the day care, the ladies said, "Carmen had a rough time this morning. There was a baby crying and she really wanted to comfort it, but every time she would snuggle the baby and try to pick it up, the baby would cry even harder. We had to tell Carmen to leave the baby alone and told her to sit away from the baby, and Carmen sat there and pouted and glared at us." I'm sure that actually it was quite comical.
I love kids' empathy. They are the biggest sweethearts in the world!!!
Also, our cats are hilarious. Every time I open a closet door, Ravis comes BOUNDING across the house and DIVES into the closet. So I shut the door on him, and a few minutes later he starts meowing. I open the door and he's got this confused look on his face, like, "What just happened?" and he comes out of the closet. So our cats are both retarded AND gay.
Some things I love about having a 2-year-old:
~Fewer diaper changes (looking forward to when she's ready to potty train!)
~Able to feed themselves
~Able to talk and express themselves
~HILARIOUS when they talk
~They understand you
~They are independent and can move and climb onto things and do things for themselves. Sure, they can get into things, but exploring is so important for learning!
~I even love temper tantrums. It gives us a chance to learn how to appropriately express emotions and deal with them.
I'm also looking forward to when Carmen gets even older. We found a "letter" Sadie wrote in her kindergarten class, and it says, "Dear SADIE To SADIE From SADIE." Guess what word Sadie knows how to write? ;) It's adorable!!
The first year is pretty hard because it seems like it's all maintenance. But then it pays off for the rest of time!!!! Awesome awesome awesome!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thank Goodness for Warranties
A few weeks ago, the "Check Engine" light came on in our car. Sigh. I wish cars would take care of themselves 100% as long as you rotate your tires, change the oil, do regular maintenance, and get in no accidents! Sadly, life doesn't work out that way.
I've been putting off taking the car in, and when I took it to Auto Zone to have their technicians read the error message, they said, "It looks like it's something with your O2 sensor or the fuel injectors ... maybe it's not a big deal. It will just affect your gas mileage and you'll probably fail emissions so you'll have to get it fixed then."
I realized I had a coupon for a free check engine light scan and some free labor at a local car dealership, so I brought it in this morning. It's Spring Break so I don't need to take Sadie to school. When they looked at the error message, the car mechanic said something along the lines of, "It's a brand-specific error message and we can't do anything with it. You need to take it to a Nissan dealership to have it looked at."
They gave me the number for the Nissan dealership in Orem and they were able to take me in right away! Part of me wanted to grumble inwardly, but ... seriously? There are people out there who can fix my car and it's spring break! There's nothing else I need to be doing and we could turn it into an adventure! Carmen could play around the mall, which is approximately six bajillion times better thanstudying in your shower playing around alone at home.
The Nissan guys were pretty nice and it sounded like whatever was going on with our car was probably covered under our warranty. (A word to the wise: you probably don't need to buy an extended warranty on your vehicle. This is how most car dealerships make tons of extra money. We were foolish car buyers impulse-buying a car at 9:30 pm. DON'T DO IT.) Aaaaaanywhooooo.
A few hours later, I got a phone call from the Nissan guy. All I really understood was, "Error messages all point to ... probably transmission ... whole thing might need to be replaced ... covered under Nissan's extended warranty for their CVT transmissions ... things we need to do ... keep your car ... drive it for 150 miles ... requirements for warranty service ... with your permission ..." and I was like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh .... keep it until tomorrow? Okay, I'll just need a ride home ... Of course you can drive it ... it's covered? That's great ... Uh-huh ... thanks." and I hung up, kind of in a daze.
Well. Transmission. Yuck.
So let me tell you a little something I learned about our transmission a few years ago! You may have noticed I called it a "CVT" transmission. It's not standard. The less-technical explanation is that a standard transmission is where you switch gears and stuff (first gear to fifth gear). Even in automatics, you can feel the car switch gears as you speed up. If you watch the RPM thing in your car, you'll see it go up to someodd thousand RPMs, then the car will switch gears and the RPMs will go down. With a CVT, you never see that happen because instead of switching gears, it's like a cone. It's really cool, because our car actually gets better gas mileage the faster it goes.
Like, we get better gas mileage going 80 mph than we do going 65 mph. Weeeeeeird.
Apparently it's obnoxious to work with and repair and replace (because it's a newish technology?) so all Nissans with a CVT transmission have an extended warranty on the transmission. So I think the repair would've been covered without the dumb extended warranty we fools got when we bought our car. ;)
So I guess we're carless until tomorrow. Oh, well, I don't need to do any grocery shopping and it looks like the weather's going to be nice this week so I won't miss the car too much no matter how long we need to go without a vehicle.
I'm so glad we bought this house. We're a mile from Mark's work, a little less than a mile from the library (which is on the way to Mark's work), across the street from the gym, and near several parks.
Seriously. Ideal. Love it.
I've been putting off taking the car in, and when I took it to Auto Zone to have their technicians read the error message, they said, "It looks like it's something with your O2 sensor or the fuel injectors ... maybe it's not a big deal. It will just affect your gas mileage and you'll probably fail emissions so you'll have to get it fixed then."
I realized I had a coupon for a free check engine light scan and some free labor at a local car dealership, so I brought it in this morning. It's Spring Break so I don't need to take Sadie to school. When they looked at the error message, the car mechanic said something along the lines of, "It's a brand-specific error message and we can't do anything with it. You need to take it to a Nissan dealership to have it looked at."
They gave me the number for the Nissan dealership in Orem and they were able to take me in right away! Part of me wanted to grumble inwardly, but ... seriously? There are people out there who can fix my car and it's spring break! There's nothing else I need to be doing and we could turn it into an adventure! Carmen could play around the mall, which is approximately six bajillion times better than
The Nissan guys were pretty nice and it sounded like whatever was going on with our car was probably covered under our warranty. (A word to the wise: you probably don't need to buy an extended warranty on your vehicle. This is how most car dealerships make tons of extra money. We were foolish car buyers impulse-buying a car at 9:30 pm. DON'T DO IT.) Aaaaaanywhooooo.
A few hours later, I got a phone call from the Nissan guy. All I really understood was, "Error messages all point to ... probably transmission ... whole thing might need to be replaced ... covered under Nissan's extended warranty for their CVT transmissions ... things we need to do ... keep your car ... drive it for 150 miles ... requirements for warranty service ... with your permission ..." and I was like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh .... keep it until tomorrow? Okay, I'll just need a ride home ... Of course you can drive it ... it's covered? That's great ... Uh-huh ... thanks." and I hung up, kind of in a daze.
Well. Transmission. Yuck.
So let me tell you a little something I learned about our transmission a few years ago! You may have noticed I called it a "CVT" transmission. It's not standard. The less-technical explanation is that a standard transmission is where you switch gears and stuff (first gear to fifth gear). Even in automatics, you can feel the car switch gears as you speed up. If you watch the RPM thing in your car, you'll see it go up to someodd thousand RPMs, then the car will switch gears and the RPMs will go down. With a CVT, you never see that happen because instead of switching gears, it's like a cone. It's really cool, because our car actually gets better gas mileage the faster it goes.
Like, we get better gas mileage going 80 mph than we do going 65 mph. Weeeeeeird.
Apparently it's obnoxious to work with and repair and replace (because it's a newish technology?) so all Nissans with a CVT transmission have an extended warranty on the transmission. So I think the repair would've been covered without the dumb extended warranty we fools got when we bought our car. ;)
So I guess we're carless until tomorrow. Oh, well, I don't need to do any grocery shopping and it looks like the weather's going to be nice this week so I won't miss the car too much no matter how long we need to go without a vehicle.
I'm so glad we bought this house. We're a mile from Mark's work, a little less than a mile from the library (which is on the way to Mark's work), across the street from the gym, and near several parks.
Seriously. Ideal. Love it.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
What I've been up to ...
When I was 16, I picked up cross stitching as a creative hobby. I'm not exactly sure why I did it, but I've done approximately a bajillion cross stitches since then. It's funny that I can look at a site with a bunch of counted cross stitch kits and I can be like, "Did that one, did that one, did that one ..." and I've got these serious-looking callouses on my fingertips that prove my studliness.
Interesting ... the photo looks more impressive than the cross stitch itself! I didn't realize the water on the bottom is actually starting to look like ... water.
It's been a while since I've actually finished a cross stitch. Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm only thinking that because I had several cross stitches I hadn't done the finishing touches on and I've been working on finishing those instead. Several weeks ago, I pulled all of my mostly finished cross stitches out of the closet and bought frames for them. Now I have more of my handiwork hanging around the house. :) I guess I ought to take photos of them and post them here or something. Unfortunately, two are in Camren's room and she's sleeping right now. I bought a puppy cross stitch in November to make for her because she looooooooves puppies.
Here are a few of the BIG cross stitches I've finished in the past couple of years:
I tend to fidget nervously when listening to lectures, so I would cross stitch to stop myself from drawing hearts and stars all over the margins of my notebook.
I ought to take pictures of some more of my cross stitches before I send them off to people. I made a cross stitch for my father-in-law last year and forgot I wanted to send it to him until I found it in my pile of cross stitches when I decided to frame everything ... oops! Don't tell him. It's still gonna be a surprise. ;)
This is one I started in February:
It's been a while since I've actually finished a cross stitch. Maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm only thinking that because I had several cross stitches I hadn't done the finishing touches on and I've been working on finishing those instead. Several weeks ago, I pulled all of my mostly finished cross stitches out of the closet and bought frames for them. Now I have more of my handiwork hanging around the house. :) I guess I ought to take photos of them and post them here or something. Unfortunately, two are in Camren's room and she's sleeping right now. I bought a puppy cross stitch in November to make for her because she looooooooves puppies.
Here are a few of the BIG cross stitches I've finished in the past couple of years:
This is a Greg Olsen painting I worked on while finishing up the Finance Jr. Core at BYU in 2008:
And this is a cross stitch I did while taking my last 2 classes at BYU:
I'm a sucker for bright, colorful stuff.I ought to take pictures of some more of my cross stitches before I send them off to people. I made a cross stitch for my father-in-law last year and forgot I wanted to send it to him until I found it in my pile of cross stitches when I decided to frame everything ... oops! Don't tell him. It's still gonna be a surprise. ;)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Combs won't last very long with kids
You don't expect much from a dollar store comb. Only the bag these combs came in advertised them as "unbreakable".
This fact makes me giggle.
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
Well, I'm back from my vacation in Sammamish! It's fun to go out and see my family, but at the same time it's wonderful to be back home. I have my own bed, my own food, my own neighborhood, my own schedule ... Carmen loved staying up late partying with her uber-exciting aunts and uncles. She also loved sleeping in and napping right before dinner. We're still slowly adjusting her schedule back to normal. ;)
I really appreciated Elder Cook's talk in Conference on Saturday morning. I have to wait until the transcriptions come out online before I can do a lot of analysis on the talk, but I loved how he talked about how valuable mothers are and acknowledged all kinds of mothers (those who work, those who stay at home, and those who are single, etc) and praised them. I felt appreciated and loved, even though motherhood tends to be undervalued (read: unpaid!!) I liked how he talked about telling a nonmember about women serving in the Church and she said, "The last thing women need is another unpaid job."
I've loved and valued work and education so much in my life that it's sometimes hard for me to keep things in perspective. When Carmen was a baby, I had a hard time feeling like I was much more than an unpaid robot. She'd lay there (and cry most of the time ... she was very colicky) and my job was to simply be there and hold and comfort her and feed and change her until ... I don't know. Until she needed something else. I felt like I had very little to offer her different from what anyone could offer her.
Now, however, life is great! Ever since she started noticing the world and crawling and walking and wanted to know things, I feel like I've been able to do a lot and I'm thrilled to be a mom! (So things got much better after 5 or 6 months, then after a year, then after 15 months, then after 18 months, and now she's turning 2 next month! WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TIME?!) She is so expressive and loves to talk and we share such sweet moments together.
It's been wonderful to watch Sadie every morning. I love watching her learn and grow, too. Today, she told me how she can count by 5's and 10's to 100. She told me she doesn't know how to read yet, but I told her at least she knows how to spell her name and loves to look at books together so at least that's a start. She told me the other day that her mom gave her permission to get her ears pierced when she asked, but has decided she doesn't want to get her ears pierced because it will be painful. She and Carmen are learning how to get along together and I get to practice more of my teaching and mediating skills.
I'm enjoying the book Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. It talks about empathizing with your children and helping them learn to address and deal with their strong emotions instead of dismissing or demeaning them. It requires a lot of intimacy with and attention to your child, so ... I guess I feel really thankful I have the opportunity to stay at home and develop that kind of a relationship with my children without having other major distractions in my life. There is nothing else I'm doing that is more important than teaching my children to be the best they can be! (And yet, I find room and time to do so much and my life is full!)
A few Carmenisms:
Carmen put a sticker onto a piece of paper then tried to pull it off.
"Stuck!!" she complained, surprised.
A few months ago, we got a free broken key from a locksmith. It's got buttons on it. Carmen found it in the toy basket and started pushing the buttons. "Beep, beep!" she said (because that's the noise cars make when you lock and unlock them.) She walked over to the window and looked outside, to see if any of the cars were reacting to her key. "Papa's key." she said. (Grandpa has a key like that to his Honda Pilot.) This is proof that Carmen loves Grandpa Brad and pays attention to him.
Sometimes, Carmen blows her nose with toilet paper, but more often than not, she rips it up into tiny pieces and sticks the pieces up her nose. Then I hear her snort and sniff for a few minutes and she goes, "Stuck! STUUUUCCKKK!!!"
(PS. I remove the toilet paper with tweezers to make the extraction process as excruciating and obnoxious as possible.)
Last night, our friends blessed their baby, Phoebe. Carmen loves babies and has been picking up names really well this past month. While we were getting into the car, she sat in the back seat talking to herself about how excited she was to go see "Baby Pee-Pee." She also learned our friend Sterling's first name: "Durling." IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess while I'm talking about names, I'll have you know she calls Marissa "Sissa", gets ridiculously excited about our friend Ray (and can say his name no problem), and loves her friend Braxton who is 6 months older than she is. She calls him "Bobby". One time we were playing at Braxton's house and the conversation went something like this:
Braxton: Carmen, I am not Bobby. I'm Braxton.
Carmen: Bobby!
Braxton: No, Braxton!
Carmen: Brrrrrrrrrrrr-obby!
Me: *lol*
I love hearing Carmen talk to herself. She walks around the house and plays with her toy kitchen or her tool set and talks about what she's going to cook or fix. She carries her babies around and changes their diapers and puts medicine on their ouchies. (She's got a sad history of diaper rashes and so she is quite familiar with Bordeaux's Butt Paste.) When I was a kid, I'd put my stuffed animals in time-out and spank them for trying to leave. Carmen kisses her babies and gives them medicine. Hmm.
I really appreciated Elder Cook's talk in Conference on Saturday morning. I have to wait until the transcriptions come out online before I can do a lot of analysis on the talk, but I loved how he talked about how valuable mothers are and acknowledged all kinds of mothers (those who work, those who stay at home, and those who are single, etc) and praised them. I felt appreciated and loved, even though motherhood tends to be undervalued (read: unpaid!!) I liked how he talked about telling a nonmember about women serving in the Church and she said, "The last thing women need is another unpaid job."
I've loved and valued work and education so much in my life that it's sometimes hard for me to keep things in perspective. When Carmen was a baby, I had a hard time feeling like I was much more than an unpaid robot. She'd lay there (and cry most of the time ... she was very colicky) and my job was to simply be there and hold and comfort her and feed and change her until ... I don't know. Until she needed something else. I felt like I had very little to offer her different from what anyone could offer her.
Now, however, life is great! Ever since she started noticing the world and crawling and walking and wanted to know things, I feel like I've been able to do a lot and I'm thrilled to be a mom! (So things got much better after 5 or 6 months, then after a year, then after 15 months, then after 18 months, and now she's turning 2 next month! WHAT HAPPENS TO THE TIME?!) She is so expressive and loves to talk and we share such sweet moments together.
It's been wonderful to watch Sadie every morning. I love watching her learn and grow, too. Today, she told me how she can count by 5's and 10's to 100. She told me she doesn't know how to read yet, but I told her at least she knows how to spell her name and loves to look at books together so at least that's a start. She told me the other day that her mom gave her permission to get her ears pierced when she asked, but has decided she doesn't want to get her ears pierced because it will be painful. She and Carmen are learning how to get along together and I get to practice more of my teaching and mediating skills.
I'm enjoying the book Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. It talks about empathizing with your children and helping them learn to address and deal with their strong emotions instead of dismissing or demeaning them. It requires a lot of intimacy with and attention to your child, so ... I guess I feel really thankful I have the opportunity to stay at home and develop that kind of a relationship with my children without having other major distractions in my life. There is nothing else I'm doing that is more important than teaching my children to be the best they can be! (And yet, I find room and time to do so much and my life is full!)
A few Carmenisms:
Carmen put a sticker onto a piece of paper then tried to pull it off.
"Stuck!!" she complained, surprised.
A few months ago, we got a free broken key from a locksmith. It's got buttons on it. Carmen found it in the toy basket and started pushing the buttons. "Beep, beep!" she said (because that's the noise cars make when you lock and unlock them.) She walked over to the window and looked outside, to see if any of the cars were reacting to her key. "Papa's key." she said. (Grandpa has a key like that to his Honda Pilot.) This is proof that Carmen loves Grandpa Brad and pays attention to him.
Sometimes, Carmen blows her nose with toilet paper, but more often than not, she rips it up into tiny pieces and sticks the pieces up her nose. Then I hear her snort and sniff for a few minutes and she goes, "Stuck! STUUUUCCKKK!!!"
(PS. I remove the toilet paper with tweezers to make the extraction process as excruciating and obnoxious as possible.)
Last night, our friends blessed their baby, Phoebe. Carmen loves babies and has been picking up names really well this past month. While we were getting into the car, she sat in the back seat talking to herself about how excited she was to go see "Baby Pee-Pee." She also learned our friend Sterling's first name: "Durling." IT'S ADORABLE.
I guess while I'm talking about names, I'll have you know she calls Marissa "Sissa", gets ridiculously excited about our friend Ray (and can say his name no problem), and loves her friend Braxton who is 6 months older than she is. She calls him "Bobby". One time we were playing at Braxton's house and the conversation went something like this:
Braxton: Carmen, I am not Bobby. I'm Braxton.
Carmen: Bobby!
Braxton: No, Braxton!
Carmen: Brrrrrrrrrrrr-obby!
Me: *lol*
I love hearing Carmen talk to herself. She walks around the house and plays with her toy kitchen or her tool set and talks about what she's going to cook or fix. She carries her babies around and changes their diapers and puts medicine on their ouchies. (She's got a sad history of diaper rashes and so she is quite familiar with Bordeaux's Butt Paste.) When I was a kid, I'd put my stuffed animals in time-out and spank them for trying to leave. Carmen kisses her babies and gives them medicine. Hmm.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
At least *WE* think we're hilarious
So I'm in Sammamish visiting my family right now and I've been having a great time.
In fact, I'm going to tell you a story.
My sister and I did this today while using the two upstairs computers, and I think we're hilarious. If you don't get it, don't give up. Read on, and maybe gain a little insight into our family's sense of humor ...
Several weeks ago, my friend Jorgen introduced our family to a British sitcom called The IT Crowd. Mark and I had started our free month of Netflix and were looking for a new show to watch. I've got to say ... we love it. We're engineer types, so the environment and the humor REALLY click with us. "Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again? ... are you sure it's plugged in?" Often times, I can watch things once and be satisfied. I don't have to watch it again. This show, though, I think I will actually buy on DVD so I can watch it repeatedly.
I told my sister about it and now I've got her into watching it. Unfortunately, only seasons 1 and 4 are currently available on Netflix so it will be a while before I can get Marissa to finish off the whole series ...
A few fantastic scenes from the show are in the second episode where they have a NEW (and shiny!) EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM with an easy-to-remember number with a handy jingle ...
I can't embed the video, but here's a link so you can watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ
I think it's ridiculously hilarious. In fact, I have the jingle memorized: 01189998819991197253. When I sing it a few times, Carmen starts dancing around the house singing the "Nine nine nine!!!" part of the song. That girl is going to get voice lessons and become a Broadway star some day. Srsly. Does your 22-month-old sing on pitch?
Later in the series, there's a social networking site called "FriendFace" (obviously Facebook) and there's a scene where the three main characters are sitting on their computers in the office FriendFacing each other instead of having real conversations. You don't know what they're saying to each other, but they're laughing and saying things like, "Oh, that was SUCH a Moss comment! Ha ha ha!"
***Anywho***
Does anyone read Snide Remarks? I first heard of him when someone showed me his fake 'Titanic' screenplay. This has since been followed up by a rejected 'Twilight' screenplay and a few other things. He offered some interesting insights on gay marriage, and it got me thinking I'd like to read more of this guy so I added him to my RSS feed on Google Reader. Now I've realized he also does movie reviews and has his own blog, which is all updated more often than just his "Snide Remarks" column. Click, click, click, RSS, RSS, RSS, check, check, check!
Last week, he posted a Snide Remarks column mocking one of my favorite songs to work out to at the gym.
(Frankly, I never thought of this song as rap ... it's not, is it? Isn't it hip hop or something?)
This song is my favorite part of Zumba. HECK YES. This song and Usher's "DJ's Got Us Falling In Love" are the greatest feel-good songs to work out to at the gym. And it makes me feel like a total dork. But I'm not in high school any more, so I can be a dork and love it, right?! I also make Carmen rock out and dance with me in the car when these songs come on the radio.
PUT YO' HANDS UP.
Anyway. So Eric Snider made fun of this song.
"This is perplexing and perhaps even frightening. Why wouldn't the club be able to handle him? Is he wired with explosives? ... What is it he plans to do that he thinks is going to test the club's limits? Is he accompanied by a troupe of circus lions? Is he currently on fire, or in imminent risk of being on fire?"
I don't know why this article had me in giggling fits, but it did.
Today, I was on the computer in the office and Marissa was on the computer in the hall. Marissa and I were recently sharing our plans for the evening (she's going to someone's house for a game night; I'm staying home and making s'mores with Dad if it decides to stop raining) ... and then I got a notification on Facebook saying my sister had written on my wall. Uhh, aren't we 10 feet away from each other?
This is what happened:
So maybe it makes a little more sense now, if you know of our love for The IT Crowd and Eric Snider.
I'm glad we're related. I get the feeling most other people would think we're just weird ...
In fact, I'm going to tell you a story.
My sister and I did this today while using the two upstairs computers, and I think we're hilarious. If you don't get it, don't give up. Read on, and maybe gain a little insight into our family's sense of humor ...
Several weeks ago, my friend Jorgen introduced our family to a British sitcom called The IT Crowd. Mark and I had started our free month of Netflix and were looking for a new show to watch. I've got to say ... we love it. We're engineer types, so the environment and the humor REALLY click with us. "Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again? ... are you sure it's plugged in?" Often times, I can watch things once and be satisfied. I don't have to watch it again. This show, though, I think I will actually buy on DVD so I can watch it repeatedly.
I told my sister about it and now I've got her into watching it. Unfortunately, only seasons 1 and 4 are currently available on Netflix so it will be a while before I can get Marissa to finish off the whole series ...
A few fantastic scenes from the show are in the second episode where they have a NEW (and shiny!) EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM with an easy-to-remember number with a handy jingle ...
I can't embed the video, but here's a link so you can watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ
I think it's ridiculously hilarious. In fact, I have the jingle memorized: 01189998819991197253. When I sing it a few times, Carmen starts dancing around the house singing the "Nine nine nine!!!" part of the song. That girl is going to get voice lessons and become a Broadway star some day. Srsly. Does your 22-month-old sing on pitch?
Later in the series, there's a social networking site called "FriendFace" (obviously Facebook) and there's a scene where the three main characters are sitting on their computers in the office FriendFacing each other instead of having real conversations. You don't know what they're saying to each other, but they're laughing and saying things like, "Oh, that was SUCH a Moss comment! Ha ha ha!"
***Anywho***
Does anyone read Snide Remarks? I first heard of him when someone showed me his fake 'Titanic' screenplay. This has since been followed up by a rejected 'Twilight' screenplay and a few other things. He offered some interesting insights on gay marriage, and it got me thinking I'd like to read more of this guy so I added him to my RSS feed on Google Reader. Now I've realized he also does movie reviews and has his own blog, which is all updated more often than just his "Snide Remarks" column. Click, click, click, RSS, RSS, RSS, check, check, check!
Last week, he posted a Snide Remarks column mocking one of my favorite songs to work out to at the gym.
(Frankly, I never thought of this song as rap ... it's not, is it? Isn't it hip hop or something?)
This song is my favorite part of Zumba. HECK YES. This song and Usher's "DJ's Got Us Falling In Love" are the greatest feel-good songs to work out to at the gym. And it makes me feel like a total dork. But I'm not in high school any more, so I can be a dork and love it, right?! I also make Carmen rock out and dance with me in the car when these songs come on the radio.
PUT YO' HANDS UP.
Anyway. So Eric Snider made fun of this song.
"This is perplexing and perhaps even frightening. Why wouldn't the club be able to handle him? Is he wired with explosives? ... What is it he plans to do that he thinks is going to test the club's limits? Is he accompanied by a troupe of circus lions? Is he currently on fire, or in imminent risk of being on fire?"
I don't know why this article had me in giggling fits, but it did.
Today, I was on the computer in the office and Marissa was on the computer in the hall. Marissa and I were recently sharing our plans for the evening (she's going to someone's house for a game night; I'm staying home and making s'mores with Dad if it decides to stop raining) ... and then I got a notification on Facebook saying my sister had written on my wall. Uhh, aren't we 10 feet away from each other?
This is what happened:
I'm glad we're related. I get the feeling most other people would think we're just weird ...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Man, that was just a little awkward ...
Since the dawn of time, we have had friends over once a week to play Dungeons and Dragons. I stopped playing after 3 or 4 years, but I still enjoy sitting on the couch doing my thing while listening to the guys play. We make homemade pizza. It's delicious.
For the past few years, we've been playing with a really awesome group of guys: Stu, Ray, and Trevor. I love them.
Today, I made a trip to Costco for an eye exam and some grocery shopping. When I came home, Ray greeted me as Mark pulls the first pizza out of the oven.
"Hey, Kamis, get out!"
I laughed and said, "Well, fine!" and turned to go.
He continued his sentence with, "We're having a sausage party!!"
I paused for a moment and cracked up even more. "You know, Ray, that sounds really, really wrong!" ;)
These are the two thoughts that went through my head:
"Aw, man, he's right ... even the cats are male!"
and, "I wonder if he truly was only thinking about pizza?" (because sausage is his favorite topping, and Ray only eats the meat pizza we cook.)
When we make pizza at our house, we always make two pizzas. One is all meat: sausage, pepperoni, and chicken. The other is one I like a lot: chicken, pineapple, and pepperoni. Back in the day, we used to experiment with things like onions, olives, and bell peppers, but I concluded it's too much effort to chop those things up and too many people aren't huge fans of the extras. Now we cook everything up, put 'em in snack size plastic baggies, and stick 'em in the freezer. That way I cook up a few months' worth of pizza ingredients at a time and assembling the pizzas is a breeze.
Anyway.
Sausage party.
*snerk*
For the past few years, we've been playing with a really awesome group of guys: Stu, Ray, and Trevor. I love them.
Today, I made a trip to Costco for an eye exam and some grocery shopping. When I came home, Ray greeted me as Mark pulls the first pizza out of the oven.
"Hey, Kamis, get out!"
I laughed and said, "Well, fine!" and turned to go.
He continued his sentence with, "We're having a sausage party!!"
I paused for a moment and cracked up even more. "You know, Ray, that sounds really, really wrong!" ;)
These are the two thoughts that went through my head:
"Aw, man, he's right ... even the cats are male!"
and, "I wonder if he truly was only thinking about pizza?" (because sausage is his favorite topping, and Ray only eats the meat pizza we cook.)
When we make pizza at our house, we always make two pizzas. One is all meat: sausage, pepperoni, and chicken. The other is one I like a lot: chicken, pineapple, and pepperoni. Back in the day, we used to experiment with things like onions, olives, and bell peppers, but I concluded it's too much effort to chop those things up and too many people aren't huge fans of the extras. Now we cook everything up, put 'em in snack size plastic baggies, and stick 'em in the freezer. That way I cook up a few months' worth of pizza ingredients at a time and assembling the pizzas is a breeze.
Anyway.
Sausage party.
*snerk*
Monday, March 14, 2011
Service
So we had a really cool Relief Society lesson in church yesterday. On the second Sundays of the month, we're studying the Gospel Principles manual (the same one Mark and I were using in our Sunday School class when we were ward missionaries) and our lesson was #28: Service.
http://lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-28-service?lang=eng
It was so fitting considering everything going on with Japan right now. When big disasters happen, the whole world (religious or not) kind of gets that charity chord struck in them. I'll just italicize random things from the lesson manual that might have something loosely to do with my train of thought. I love our church lesson manuals. *is a dork @_@; *
Service is helping others who need assistance. Christlike service grows out of genuine love for the Savior and of love and concern for those whom He gives us opportunities and direction to help. Love is more than a feeling; when we love others, we want to help them.
Our lesson opened with people sharing experiences in which they've received service from someone. Sister Kitchen, our Relief Society President (not to be confused with her sister-in-law, Sister Kitchen the wife of the bishop, who is Primary President ... AS IF THAT'S NOT CONFUSING) told us a story about a time shortly after she'd had her third child, and some new neighbors moved in across the street, and she got a knock on her door and some little boys came by and said, "Our mother told us to come over here and say we are going to take your laundry and do it and bring it back and we are not to take no for an answer." She was very thankful for this direct act of service. There followed a brief discussion on how sometimes we have to offer a specific service to someone instead of giving them an open-ended, "Let me know how I can help!"
Another woman in the class raised her hand and said something like, "Well, there are some things that I'm really particular about how things are done, like laundry. So if someone came over to my house and said they were going to do my laundry, I would be very uncomfortable and not want them to do it because it has to be done my way. Is there a polite way to say no when they don't want to take no for an answer?"
Two suggestions were: saying, "Thanks, I don't need someone to do my laundry, but you could {fill in the blank} if you want to." and saying, "Really, thanks for the thought, it means a lot to me, but please don't do it. It feels very good to know that someone cares about me and is thinking about me."
There are many ways to serve. We can help others economically, socially, physically, and spiritually. For example, we can share food or other articles with those who need them. We can help those in need by giving a generous fast offering. We can be a friend to a newcomer... Through the service of men and women and boys and girls, God’s work is done.
Then Sister Rea (from Brazil, I love her to death, and she was a ward missionary when we were, and when I first started coming back to Relief Society she was like, "Oh, where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever! And your little girl is ... almost two now?! WHAAAAT?!" and it was so cute.) spoke up and talked a bit about depression and service and Japan and stuff about overcoming depression. Joana (another woman Mark and I became acquainted with through our callings as ward missionaries ... and now I get to visit teach her!) then joined in and talked a little bit about depression versus clinical depression and how service can help alleviate both but sometimes depression is as incurable as cancer without medication.
Phewwww that was a tangent. But I know Joana feels very strongly about chemical depression (as do I, for obvious reasons) and raising everyone's awareness that, yes, sometimes people can feel despondent despite not having something bad happening in their lives. We have all had trying experiences where we feel sad and want to try to be empathetic towards those who are struggling. At the same time, if we ARE experiencing chemical depression and there isn't really a "source" we can address, it's good to seek out help! And you know what? Simply reaching out and being friends with people helps with depression! (Dang, you know how much I wish I had a friend I could call while I was so depressed in 2009? No WAY am I going to bring that up in Relief Society, though. Keep things positive!!! Anywho.)
There were some things I really wanted to add to the discussion and had the ability to bring up.
Throughout our lives all of us depend on others for help. When we were infants, our parents fed, clothed, and cared for us. Without this care we would have died. When we grew up, other people taught us skills and attitudes. Many of us have needed nursing care during illness or money in a financial crisis. Some of us ask God to bless suffering people and then do nothing for them. We must remember that God works through us.
First, I wanted to talk a little bit about meaningful service. It's very good and necessary to offer service when it's needed, and other times it's good to know that you need to hang back and all you can do is offer prayers for the safety and well-being of others. If someone is sick, you can bring them chicken soup. If they have a sickness they just need to endure through and they already have someone bringing them chicken soup, then pray for them. If they are trying to make a major life decision, pray for them to receive the inspiration they need and pray for those they need to work with to make things turn out in the best way. Pray for the Lord's blessings and good luck.
When we help one another, we serve God. King Benjamin, a great king in Book of Mormon times, taught his people this principle by the way he lived. He served them all his life, earning his own living instead of being supported by the people. In an inspired sermon he explained why he loved service, saying:
“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. …
“And if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?” (Mosiah 2:17–18)...
When we serve others we gain important blessings. Through service we increase our ability to love. We become less selfish. As we think of the problems of others, our own problems seem less serious. We must serve others to gain eternal life. God has said that those who live with Him must love and serve His children (see Matthew 25:34–40).
Someone also brought up the opportunities we have to serve in our own homes - when we do things for our spouses and our children, that's exactly what we're doing: service.
We can serve members of our families. Husbands and wives should be aware of each other’s needs. Parents should serve their children not only by feeding and clothing them but also by teaching and by playing and working with them. Children can serve by helping with household chores and by helping brothers and sisters.
Husbands and wives serve and help each other. They can help each other take care of the children, and they can support one another in their individual interests and pursuits. A mother and father may sacrifice to send a child on a mission. An older boy may comfort a little sister who is afraid of the dark or help her learn to read. Our prophets have told us that a family is the most important unit in society. We must serve our families well (see Mosiah 4:14–15).
A woman brought up that there is a time and a season for everything ... we shouldn't feel guilty if we are the mother of a young child and we are very busy in our home taking care of them and can't "go out and serve" like someone who has more time and hands. I really appreciated her comment because I was about to say something similar. :) Often times we make ourselves feel guilty for no reason because we think we can or should be doing more or better when we're really doing just fine. We're doing all we can, and that's good enough!!
At the end of the class, I raised my hand because I wanted to share my gratitude for friendship, which I think is a great kind of service. We naturally serve our friends. I talked about the Hurds, who have a 2-week-old baby. We want to be together and help each other and serve each other, but the first few weeks of a baby's life are hard for everyone. Sometimes the Hurds can come over, sometimes Katie doesn't feel up to it, but I hope that at least she feels like we care about her and she knows we're here for emotional support if she ever needs it. If she's not feeling up for visiting, that's totally fine with us, but if she is up for visiting, then we are here for her. And that's what matters most to me - knowing that someone cares and would be there for me if I want it.
Um ... so that's my thought for today. Amen.
http://lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-28-service?lang=eng
It was so fitting considering everything going on with Japan right now. When big disasters happen, the whole world (religious or not) kind of gets that charity chord struck in them. I'll just italicize random things from the lesson manual that might have something loosely to do with my train of thought. I love our church lesson manuals. *is a dork @_@; *
Service is helping others who need assistance. Christlike service grows out of genuine love for the Savior and of love and concern for those whom He gives us opportunities and direction to help. Love is more than a feeling; when we love others, we want to help them.
Our lesson opened with people sharing experiences in which they've received service from someone. Sister Kitchen, our Relief Society President (not to be confused with her sister-in-law, Sister Kitchen the wife of the bishop, who is Primary President ... AS IF THAT'S NOT CONFUSING) told us a story about a time shortly after she'd had her third child, and some new neighbors moved in across the street, and she got a knock on her door and some little boys came by and said, "Our mother told us to come over here and say we are going to take your laundry and do it and bring it back and we are not to take no for an answer." She was very thankful for this direct act of service. There followed a brief discussion on how sometimes we have to offer a specific service to someone instead of giving them an open-ended, "Let me know how I can help!"
Another woman in the class raised her hand and said something like, "Well, there are some things that I'm really particular about how things are done, like laundry. So if someone came over to my house and said they were going to do my laundry, I would be very uncomfortable and not want them to do it because it has to be done my way. Is there a polite way to say no when they don't want to take no for an answer?"
Two suggestions were: saying, "Thanks, I don't need someone to do my laundry, but you could {fill in the blank} if you want to." and saying, "Really, thanks for the thought, it means a lot to me, but please don't do it. It feels very good to know that someone cares about me and is thinking about me."
There are many ways to serve. We can help others economically, socially, physically, and spiritually. For example, we can share food or other articles with those who need them. We can help those in need by giving a generous fast offering. We can be a friend to a newcomer... Through the service of men and women and boys and girls, God’s work is done.
Then Sister Rea (from Brazil, I love her to death, and she was a ward missionary when we were, and when I first started coming back to Relief Society she was like, "Oh, where have you been? I haven't seen you in forever! And your little girl is ... almost two now?! WHAAAAT?!" and it was so cute.) spoke up and talked a bit about depression and service and Japan and stuff about overcoming depression. Joana (another woman Mark and I became acquainted with through our callings as ward missionaries ... and now I get to visit teach her!) then joined in and talked a little bit about depression versus clinical depression and how service can help alleviate both but sometimes depression is as incurable as cancer without medication.
Phewwww that was a tangent. But I know Joana feels very strongly about chemical depression (as do I, for obvious reasons) and raising everyone's awareness that, yes, sometimes people can feel despondent despite not having something bad happening in their lives. We have all had trying experiences where we feel sad and want to try to be empathetic towards those who are struggling. At the same time, if we ARE experiencing chemical depression and there isn't really a "source" we can address, it's good to seek out help! And you know what? Simply reaching out and being friends with people helps with depression! (Dang, you know how much I wish I had a friend I could call while I was so depressed in 2009? No WAY am I going to bring that up in Relief Society, though. Keep things positive!!! Anywho.)
There were some things I really wanted to add to the discussion and had the ability to bring up.
Throughout our lives all of us depend on others for help. When we were infants, our parents fed, clothed, and cared for us. Without this care we would have died. When we grew up, other people taught us skills and attitudes. Many of us have needed nursing care during illness or money in a financial crisis. Some of us ask God to bless suffering people and then do nothing for them. We must remember that God works through us.
First, I wanted to talk a little bit about meaningful service. It's very good and necessary to offer service when it's needed, and other times it's good to know that you need to hang back and all you can do is offer prayers for the safety and well-being of others. If someone is sick, you can bring them chicken soup. If they have a sickness they just need to endure through and they already have someone bringing them chicken soup, then pray for them. If they are trying to make a major life decision, pray for them to receive the inspiration they need and pray for those they need to work with to make things turn out in the best way. Pray for the Lord's blessings and good luck.
When we help one another, we serve God. King Benjamin, a great king in Book of Mormon times, taught his people this principle by the way he lived. He served them all his life, earning his own living instead of being supported by the people. In an inspired sermon he explained why he loved service, saying:
“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. …
“And if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?” (Mosiah 2:17–18)...
When we serve others we gain important blessings. Through service we increase our ability to love. We become less selfish. As we think of the problems of others, our own problems seem less serious. We must serve others to gain eternal life. God has said that those who live with Him must love and serve His children (see Matthew 25:34–40).
Someone also brought up the opportunities we have to serve in our own homes - when we do things for our spouses and our children, that's exactly what we're doing: service.
We can serve members of our families. Husbands and wives should be aware of each other’s needs. Parents should serve their children not only by feeding and clothing them but also by teaching and by playing and working with them. Children can serve by helping with household chores and by helping brothers and sisters.
Husbands and wives serve and help each other. They can help each other take care of the children, and they can support one another in their individual interests and pursuits. A mother and father may sacrifice to send a child on a mission. An older boy may comfort a little sister who is afraid of the dark or help her learn to read. Our prophets have told us that a family is the most important unit in society. We must serve our families well (see Mosiah 4:14–15).
A woman brought up that there is a time and a season for everything ... we shouldn't feel guilty if we are the mother of a young child and we are very busy in our home taking care of them and can't "go out and serve" like someone who has more time and hands. I really appreciated her comment because I was about to say something similar. :) Often times we make ourselves feel guilty for no reason because we think we can or should be doing more or better when we're really doing just fine. We're doing all we can, and that's good enough!!
At the end of the class, I raised my hand because I wanted to share my gratitude for friendship, which I think is a great kind of service. We naturally serve our friends. I talked about the Hurds, who have a 2-week-old baby. We want to be together and help each other and serve each other, but the first few weeks of a baby's life are hard for everyone. Sometimes the Hurds can come over, sometimes Katie doesn't feel up to it, but I hope that at least she feels like we care about her and she knows we're here for emotional support if she ever needs it. If she's not feeling up for visiting, that's totally fine with us, but if she is up for visiting, then we are here for her. And that's what matters most to me - knowing that someone cares and would be there for me if I want it.
Um ... so that's my thought for today. Amen.
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