Happy Thanksgiving

11/29/08

Thank-you to our dear friends Nadia, Jeremy Beckham and Ravi Richards for having us over for Thanksgiving! I don't know if we'll ever be able to finish off all those leftovers, delicious as they are. (groan--loosening the belt another notch...)

Leaves and whatnot

11/24/08

Well, this month is just flying past. I am in denial that Thanksgiving is only 3 days away because that means I'll have an enormous pile of cooking, baking and dishes to do. I spent a scary amount of money at the grocery store last night. Mark is whining about having to come home for Thanksgiving at all---he'll have just gotten off a 12 hour graveyard shift and will have to drive back to Española after Thanksgiving dinner so he can work all weekend. Traditions, traditions.

Anyways, when we came straggling in from my all-nighter at the movies the other day, we looked in the backyard and discovered that our fruitless mulberry tree had dumped all its leaves overnight. Madelyn thought it was awesome and was a little mad at Mark for cleaning them all up. She loves to crunch in leaves.


I'm a little behind on posting all our recent pictures, so here's the latest:

Doesn't she look cute in pigtails?? The longest she's ever kept them in has been maybe 5 minutes. I guess that's what comes of not having any hair for the first 3 1/2 years of your life. You don't like people messing with it. Here, she's pretending to be a doggie with her Halloween toothbrush as a bone.

I found her on the step stool giving Ariel (whose hair keeps falling off, poor girl) a nice swim in the aquarium. I'm not sure uprooting all the plants and stirring around all the fish sludge was necessary, though.

I peeked over and she was using a pencil as a microphone to rock out to Angels and Airwaves. She gave me one and instructed me to sing, and then I had to use two pencils to drum while she sang. She is very bossy when it comes to allowing or not allowing you to sing with her.

This dress had been sitting in my craft room awaiting the right occasion, which ended up being that I needed a bribe to stop her from opening all the Christmas presents that I was trying to wrap.

Mark claims that he was too tired to make it to his own bed. Uh, huh. I can see how that extra 20 feet could be too much. And this is not the first time I've caught him sleeping in the crib. I think he actually goes there for some peace and quiet, because Madelyn will not let you rest if you are on the big bed.

Madelyn likes to watch Mark play computer games, but apparently the new Call of Duty 5 was enough to bore even her to sleep. Looks comfy.

Just having fun with my girl! Madelyn says, "I yuv you, mama. You're my best friend." Awwww.

Well, now I'm off to the grocery store AGAIN to buy more pumpkin and cranberries because there are more people coming for Thanksgiving. Gotta love this time of year!

Yes, I was one of THOSE people

11/22/08

YAAAAWWWNNN
I'm still feeling the effects of having stayed out till 3am on Thursday. I stay up late at home sometimes, but it's different when you've been hyped up with a bunch of girlfriends all night and then are trying to sleep at someone else's house. I got roped into attending the first midnight showing of Twilight. There were 10 of us who went and sat in the theater for two hours waiting for the movie to start. Every teenage girl on the east side was there (and maybe a dozen guys). It was fun to watch it with them because they would squeal and applaud and gasp like only crazed fans could. I liked the books fine, but I don't have Edward Cullen bedsheets or anything. I have a feeling a lot of those girls do.

I actually ended up liking the movie a little better than the book (the first book was not the best, in my opinion), and "Bella" was far less wooden than she appeared in the previews, thank goodness. In fact, I think I might go see it a couple more times with my sisters (there's not much point in taking men--they just won't get it). It's essential to have someone to giggle with over all those CUTE Cullen boys! Oh, and Jacob, too. Drool.

Edward, Emmett, Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, Bella, Alice, Jasper, James, Laurent, Jacob, Victoria

Since Nadia was the one who made me come, she let Madelyn have a slumber party with her boys (Mark was working a graveyard shift in Española) and her husband Jeremy was kind enough to oblige. Good times!

Me and Nadia waiting in our seats....

Ravi, Madelyn and Beckham

One month left...

11/18/08

Yesterday was officially the "one month until we move" day. I just haven't been able to get on the computer because Mark got himself an early Christmas present (Call of Duty 5) and had to get right to work beating the game on single player so he could unlock the zombie mod. You'll have to ask him about that sometime.... He has been driving home from Española every few days to spend some quality time with us, the new desktop computer, and our fast internet connection. Now he's had to go back to work, so I've resumed trifling around on here like I'm used to.

I decided to get this countdown timer to heighten the amount of stress I'm already feeling about our move. My blood pressure rises incrementally as I watch those seconds ticking away. I think to myself, "I should really be doing something productive right now...." I'm sticking the permanent version on the bottom of by blog so I won't have to look at it constantly. Also because it will not fit on the sidebar. (Why is that thing not bigger?!?)

Now if only I could get my hands on a bunch of extra time and energy. I wish they sold motivation in a box. I'd market it as tasty Motivation-O's and when consumed, you'd suddenly stop procrastinating and get your heiny in gear. I'm thinking that business could be huge. Hmmmmm.... I'll hire Kevin as my designer and Tyler as my advertising exec. Anyone else want to join in?

Aw, Shucks

11/15/08

My friend Chelsea from My Joy and Happiness has just awarded me this:


AWESOME!!!!!!! I'm the best! Bwa-hahahahahahaa! You all have to worship me now.

Kidding, only kidding. I don't need any one else to worship me. Mark and Madelyn more than suffice. It's a lot of work to earn even two people's slavish devotion. Now onto the rest (If I nominate you, then you're supposed to do the following tag of 6 things you do and don't value):

I value...

Something new to learn: Staying curious is the best way to keep life interesting

Something to do: If I don't have a creative project in the works, there must be something wrong. And I'm always trying to do at least three things at once (...eating, blogging, listening to music, trying to detach daughter from lap, thinking I should probably get off the computer and actually clean the house today...OK that's five things I'm doing now.).

Someone to love and care for: Friends, family, Jesus--all you people

Good music: If I haven't made this obvious yet, then just let me state again how much I love classical, rock n' roll, country, oldies and alternative music. Ever need motivation to clean your house or do your ironing, etc.? Jam out to some music. And then go buy your husband some wrinkle-free shirts because ironing is the pits no matter what you're listening to.

Dance: I haven't been able to do it since being in ABQ (no $$), but I would be a totally different person if it weren't for the other 18 years that I've spent in the studio.

The internet: Because it has been the best way to keep in touch. Nobody ever seemed to write me back when I'd send them all these wonderful handwritten letters, but all of a sudden everyone has blogs and/or is on Facebook sharing the minutiae of their everyday lives. Oh, and did I mention how I love online shopping?!

I don't value/support...

Pollutors: Even before I studied biology and ecology, I thought we should all do our part to take care of Mother Earth. Recycle at the very least!! (Unless you're in southern Utah, where there is NO RECYCLING CENTER. WHAT IS THE DEAL??????)

Freedom oppressors: It makes me mad how in some countries, women or minorities don't even have the opportunity to go to school to better their lives because someone else says they can't.

Social strata: I'm a firm believer that you should be able to do what you like with your life, regardless of the circumstances of your birth and upbringing--and who cares what label you're wearing.

Solicitors: I'm one of those people who won't even answer the door or phone if I know it's a sales pitch.

High postage rates: Is it just me, or has the price of stamps been going up every single year lately? It's going to cost me a fortune just to mail my Christmas cards this year. Sheesh.

Those pesky price tags: You know those paper ones that are super-glued onto the surface of everything, causing you to spend 20 minutes trying to scrape them off so you can wrap the dang items so you can cross "Christmas present shopping/purchasing/wrapping 2008" off your list and finally go to bed? Yeah, I'll bet you hate them too.

I nominate: (with one extra because I couldn't decide)

Rowena's Rants
The Bartons
The Mursets
Life in the Peanutbutter Lane
Rob N' Amy Shupe
Another Beautiful day in Blingy-ville
Tall People Rock

Don't look now, mom

11/11/08

Sigh. It's time for ANOTHER round of "Madelyn mischief". I want her to be able to look back on her formative years and realize what a rascal--I mean what a charming child she was. Actually, she probably wouldn't make so many messes if it weren't necessary for me to leave her unattended occasionally. Like for when I need to do housework, work on my many projects, eat, shower, or in today's case, watch about 17 blink-182 music videos in a row.

( I was reliving my high school days and escaping in their juvenile humor, OK?? Besides, Tom and his whiny voice are frickin' awesome.)

Anyhoo, let's get on with the tour of Miss Madelyn's latest escapades:

What's left of a sugar cookie

Admiring the effects of eating pink sugar sprinkles

Sadly, this is not the first (nor the last, probably) time she has dumped out most of a bottle of baby powder and covered herself and the floor in it ("It's snowing!") and hand sanitizer. And adding to the charm is the fact that she is in various states of undress almost every time when she sets out to make her surprises for mama.

She is very fond of butter. Yesterday she wanted to have some as a snack. (Not on anything--just plain. You can see that she'd already eaten the cream cheese off her bagel. This girl is a sucker for sour cream straight out of the container, too.) I wouldn't let her, so today as I was busy with my punk-rock fest, she helped herself.

"Yum! Saturated fat in all it's creamy goodness! I don't need to worry about my triglyceride levels! I'm only 3! And look how cool it is when I wipe my greasy fingers all over the TV screen."

Then there was the painting (only shortly after the butter incident). There is a piece of paper somewhere under there. I am counting my blessings because at least she agreed to wear a smock.

And last but not least, tonight after being cleaned up from the butter and the paint, she was fooling around with a bottle of Dr. Pepper so much so that when I opened the lid: FWOOSHH!!! all over the kitchen. You know--it's a good thing that I love her so much--otherwise I'd be looking for a trade-in.

The days go by

11/8/08

Hi y'all. I started this post several days ago but didn't get a chance to finish it, so now I have a week's worth of ramblings. My dad drove out here from Utah with a big truck and trailer to help us load up a bunch of stuff that we're not going to be needing in the next 6 weeks to help us get a start on our move. It does feel good to have made a small dent in our packing, but I am even more cognizant of the giant task that still lies ahead. Oh, well.

Madelyn was so excited to have her "Crampa" around to play with her and take her "fwying."

Mark has been back and forth from Española a few times already--first, he forgot a bin full of all his toiletries, his coat, and jeans (I wasn't there to supervise, obviously), and then he came back to help my dad pack our stuff. His schedule is such that he's only working 2-4 days a week, in 12 hour shifts at the ER. Some of them are during the day and some are graveyard. Overall, he won't be working as many hours as in previous rotations, but the days (and nights) he does work will be long.

When he was going through some of his stuff in our storage room while we were packing, he came across a bunch of old photos. We hardly have any of when he was a kid, so I just had to scan them in to show you. If you had any doubt of Madelyn's resemblance to Mark:

Mark, 2 years old

He also found some genealogy papers showing that he has great-grandparents from Germany and Scotland. (Mark has never known any of his grandparents, let alone great-grandparents.) Apparently those genes were kind of trumped by his Chinese ones when it came to how he looks. Here's his graduation picture:

He graduated in 1996 from Camden County High in North Carolina. I wish I had known him back then so I could have reveled in his cuteness, tan and long hair. (C'mon--like you don't think surfers are hot.) Speaking of...

This is part of an article from the January 21, 1996 Albemarle Sunday Advance paper about Mark and his buddies George and Billy going surfing in the middle of winter. It reports that it was 36 degrees with 20mph NW winds at the beach that day. That's him out there! You couldn't even get me to stick a toe in that frigid water.

Here he is 12 years later, who told me last week that he's like a "dried up fish" since moving out to the west. Poor guy. At least he has a cute family to show for it.

This is what happens when I leave the room for two seconds. He and Madelyn are always goofing off. Also:

"Mama! Come see! I'm a number 1!"

I was kind of hoping that when I uploaded this picture, I'd look like less of a dork than I did from the preview on the back of the camera. I didn't get my wish. At least my fingernails still rock. Madelyn can look adorable even with a shirt over her head. Not fair. I want my youth back.

I love sleeping pictures, don't you? I am still wondering where Madelyn got her gorgeous complexion. And how she always manages to sleep with her arms way above her head.

Oh, yeah. This is also what I did this week. Finally finished my Christmas cards. I actually made most of them way back in January, but had to do more (193 in total, but who's counting), stamp all of them on the inside, plus make about 70 tags. Why, you ask? Because I am insane.

And now I am going to have to gloat just a little:

WOO-HOO!!!

I am so excited that Obama won! Oh, come on. There's no need to move to Canada because of the outcome of the election (some folks I know have actually been saying that). It's going to be OK, people. Really. In any case, it can't be any worse than the past 8 years, no?

And now on to my Saturday of vegging out in front of the TV. AAahhhhh.

My Two Cents

11/2/08

I've been wanting to do a post about this, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Politics can be so divisive, and I don't want to be obnoxious. Mark and I are Independents more than anything (centrist, non-partisan), but this year we voted a Democratic ticket. We have voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past, so what I want to say is that there are good people and ideas in every party. How about we stop bashing each other and go out and vote on Tuesday and be done with it? 'Kay? Does that sound like a good idea? I'm tired of people acting scandalized because I'm from Utah, a Mormon, and voted for the Democrats. They act like I've crossed over to the dark side or something.


...But just so you know, those cookies do taste pretty good.

Happy Halloween!

11/1/08

We had a fabulous Halloween. How about you? Here's some pictures of our festivities.

Mark was commenting how similar the insides of a pumpkin feel to the insides of a person (except cold). I guess I'll just have to take his word for that....

My little witch!!! She was so excited to get all dressed and have me put on eyeliner, black nail polish and sparkles all over her. Her tights have bats on them.

So I was just innocently walking down an aisle in Target, and there were these little plastic spiders on this wig shouting, "Pick me! Pick me! Take me home!!" Same with the tights. They could not ignored. And you can't go wrong with anything colored fluorescent orange on Halloween.

Nadia!! I am seriously going to cry when I don't live by her anymore. We had fun watching our kids at the ward trunk-or-treat.

Later, Madelyn got to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with our neighbors Glenn, Kent and Ivory Gardner.


Our festive house! Have I mentioned that I LOVE HALLOWEEN!?

Well, now that it's over I have to face Mark moving tomorrow and us moving back to Utah in 47 days. Sigh... I really hope that by this time next year we'll be settled somewhere and working and all that, so our Halloween won't be overshadowed by packing. (EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!)