10 Things about Sophie

Do you remember being spotlighted at school?? I was such a ham as a child and just loved attention so I ate up any kind of spotlight/show-and-tell kind of thing. Well, it's Sophie's turn to be on the spotlight board in her class at school. She got to pick out some things that represent her to share with her class. Here's what she picked along with the captions that she wrote to go underneath each one:

• A picture of our family. "This is my family."
• A clip -art picture of a chapel. "I like going to church."
• A picture of The Worst Witch DVD. "My favorite movie is The Worst Witch."
• An empty Toblerone wraper. "I like Toblerone chocolate."
• A picture of the cover of Vidia and the Fairy Crown. "My favorite book is Vidia and the Fairy Crown."
• A picture of a hot dog. "My favorite food is hot dogs."
• A picture of Sophie playing the piano. "I like to play the piano."
• A picture of Sophie swimming in a lake with her cousin. "My favorite vacation was going to Minnesota. I swam in a lake."
• A few Lego pieces. "I like to play with Legos."
• A picture of Sophie with her soccer team. "I like to play soccer."

It was tons of fun putting this bag of items together with Sophie to take to school. She is so excited to be spotlighted! Honestly, I just can't gush enough about my amazing Sophie, but she truly is a sweet, thoughtful, special daughter.

Our Little Winter Elf

I just couldn't resist posting a pic of Nina in her winter gear!!! :)

Preschool Fever

Okay, I never thought I would be party to this type of thing, but I experienced the second hand stress of getting your child into a good preschool. I always thought this was a more NY City sort of thing, but while waiting to register Ben for preschool this fall (can you believe they register for Sept in Jan??!) another mother burst into tears because her daughter couldn't get into the class she hoped for. It was so unreal to me that I didn't know what to say to this woman. The room that we were waiting in was really small and she was sitting right next to me. It was so uncomfortable and I actually felt really bad for her because she started talking about how awful her life was. Apparently she had to start working again, her schedule was crazy, and her daughter was still taking naps so she didn't want to do an afternoon class. She was really distraught, actually saying "my life is falling apart". Then as she was talking, another mother started tearing up and said she really wanted her child to be in the class that had just filled up too. Then when my number was called (you take a number when you get in line to register) and I went in the actual registration room, there was a woman in there arguing with the preschool staff about why her little boy couldn't get into the closed class. It was surreal. The class I wanted to get Ben into still had lots of spots so I had no problem, but apparently this other class, which is a pre-k sort of class for older preschoolers, is just da bomb!! It was a crazy experience and I still don't quite know what to make of it....

Our Lovely New Oven (insert choirs of angels singing)

Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy..... !! I'm so happy that I am doing the Balki happy dance from Perfect Strangers (do you remember that?!)! We got a new oven and it was installed this morning. I have been coping with my 15+ year-old, 80's black and cream colored, rusty elements, fantastically uneven baking, oven/range since we moved into our house. Now I have a new flat top one!

It was getting to the point where we were having our smoke detector going off weekly - the stove elements had a rusty smoking issue that was weird. Well and also from boil overs when ever Adrian cooked (sorry honey, but its true). I hate those drip pans - they never seem to get all the way clean. So anyways we're calling it Adrian's Valentines present! Anything that makes me want to cook and which in turn keeps Adrian out of the kitchen makes him happy!

I just keep going into the kitchen to look at it. Tonight, I'm either going to make chicken noodle soup with it or I'm going to bake baby porcupines and potatoes in it. I almost don't want to sully its pristine condition, but then I can't wait at the same time... Happy Happy Joy Joy.....

Our old oven's last meal... I'm sure its in a better place now... (Those weird looking things are chicken cordon bleus.)

Don't worry... this is not a Da Vinci Code blog

I'm pretty excited... On the news tonight they talked about how an amateur art historian from Florence might have uncovered the identity and burial place of "Mona Lisa". I looked it up in Google news and here is a link to an article on it (from Deseret News if you can believe it!). Its neat... That doesn't mean that he has really solved it, but I think its always fun when art history is in the news. I think the last big thing must have been when The Scream was stolen. No wait, the BIGGEST art history news was when Prince William chose it for his major at St. Andrews (we won't count that he later changed his major to geography)!! :)

100 Things About Me

So I did it. I made my list of 100 things about me. Writing my list was cathartic and helped me get to know myself better just by what came to my mind so quickly. I was actually surprised by how fast they came to me and I think I could've kept going for a while (but I'll spare you that). So here's a little snap shot of me.

1. My middle name is Dee.
2. I have a wonderful husband and 3 great kids.
3. I love Romeo and Juliet, the play, ballet, movies, everything.
4. I want to like seafood, but I just don't.
5. I was in beauty pageants as a toddler and young child. I remember it as a special bonding time with my Mom.
6. I hate "sleep training" my children, but am so glad when its over. I don't want them to have my sleep problems and I love the regular naps and 7 o'clock bed time.
   
7. I have insomnia, restless leg syndrome, and need complete silence to stay asleep (so I use ear plugs and an eye mask on Saturdays - my sleep in day).
8. I feel guilty about my sleep in day, but look forward to it all week.
9. In the past I always wanted to be older than I was, but now that I'm almost 30 I don't feel that way any more.
10. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother.
11. I am the baby of my family. My nearest sibling is almost 8 years older than me. I was a surprise.
    
12. I miss my family.
13. It breaks my heart that my children are not growing up close to their grandparents.
    
14. I hate flying and had a panic attack and felt like I couldn't breathe the last time I flew.
15. I love snow covered mountains, warm sandy CA beaches, and tall leafy Eastern trees.
16. My bridal bouquet was a beautiful ball of cream colored roses and weighed over 15 pounds. My arms were sore for days.
17. I worked as a bank teller. I love the musty smell of money, and got such satisfaction out of balancing my till to the penny every evening.
18. I was an art history major. I still dream about darkened classrooms and clicking slides.
19. I started out as a sociology major, but sucked at statistics.
20. I was awarded a scholarship, for being a promising student in art history, that I didn't apply for, by the art history faculty at BYU. I had to give up the scholarship to go on bed rest while pregnant.
21. I am ashamed that I haven't finished my bachelors degree.
22. I backpacked Europe with a friend after graduating high school - it changed my life.
23. I have not fully recovered from high school and wonder if I ever will.
24. I still want to be popular.
25. I love leftover spaghetti.
26. I have never been more scared than when I went into labor 4 hours after taking a Lovenox blood thinner injection.
27. I worry that I am a perfectionist when I can't concentrate till everything is "just so".
28. I worry that I am a slob when I look at the state of my kitchen floor.
29. I love looking into my sweet baby's indigo blue eyes.
30. I love the sound of my son imitating Darth Vadar.
31. It makes me feel good that my daughter likes to read for pleasure.
32. I have to clean before people come over, at least I feel like I do.
33. I have great expectations for books (he he), they must keep my attention. I loose interest quickly if they're boring.
34. I've tried to read The Lord of the Rings twice, but think its boring - sorry.
    
35. I have a special fondness for good vampire novels.
36. In a non-yearbook poll I was voted most likely to suck someones blood.
    
37. My favorite food is beef with snow peas.
38. I have horrible toe-nails, especially big-toe nails and try to hide them from public view at all times.
    
39. On average I go (with the fam) to Auntie Anne's or Wetzel's for pretzels once a week.
40. I love breastfeeding.
41. I was a member of the La Leche League until finding out the leader of the group breast fed her 5 year old.
42. My favorite Subway sandwich is the Cold Cut Trio. It does not have less than 7 grams of fat.
43. I got married at 19 and wouldn't have had it any other way. (We'll be celebrating 10 years soon.)
44. I am trying to accept my body with its faults.
45. I hate seeing my double chin in pictures.
    
46. I plan on joining a program like Weight Watchers after I'm done nursing.
47. I like my dark lashes and eye brows as unruly as they are.
48. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a Mom.
49. Sometimes I feel like "just a mom".
50. I am full of contradictions.
51. I hate cleaning bathrooms.
52. I take advantage of my husband's propensity to "bet me" about things and always have his end of the bet be cleaning the bathrooms if he looses. It has saved me many a cleaning.
53. I am a recipe hoarder. Got any good recipes for me?
54. I still haven't figured out a good way to sign my last name.
55. I have a soft place in my heart for pigeons.
56. I "made friends" with a one legged pigeon in a Danish train station by feeding it trail mix - it followed me around for hours.
57. I still miss my dog Alexis. She died 15 years ago.
58. I have broken both of my little toes multiple times, but have not broken any other bones.
59. I could spend a month at Disneyland, its still magical to me.
60. I watch too much TV.
61. I've watched Oprah habitually since I was 13.
62. I enjoy a variety of reality shows, Top Chef Season 2 is a fave now.
63. I am an A&E and History Channel junkie.
64. I need to stop saying "Oh, I saw a documentary on..." I can tell its getting a little predictable, but can I stop?!
65. My favorite documentary is Super Size Me.
66. I think that Big Macs and are like crack to me and only allow myself one every once in a while.
67. I am a people pleaser and want to be liked.
68. I am a bit of a rebel.
69. I feel like I'm lacking in good social "girl skills".
    
70. I love talking with a group of women, but always worry that I have said all the wrong things afterwards.
71. I love playing hide and go seek with my kids.
72. Ostriches scare me, big black eyes, reptilian feet, not cool.
73. I miss living near these restaurants : Los Hermanos, Tepanyaki, Chin Wah, and Hickory Kist.
74. Messy closets make my eye-lid twitch.
75. I love going to the movies with my husband and kids.
76. I like scary movies, but not terrifying ones.
77. I remember lots of strange things and would love to be on a trivia game show like 1 vs.100.
    
78. I suck at Wheel of Fortune.
    
79. This is going to hurt Adrian, I like Windows. I do not like Linux. There I said it.
80. I am not a cryer, it takes a lot for me to tear up. But when I do start crying I go straight to the ugly cry.
81. I think I have a soft voice. I think I'm talking at a normal volume, but my husband tells me I'm rather quiet.
82. I like the way my voice sounds inside my head, not outside of it.
83. In a technological twist, I have a better cel phone than my husband (long story, but I think he's jealous).
84. Mother's day makes me feel like an awful mother. My kids are always at their naughtiest at church and then you have all those stories about amazing mothers. Its a guilt fest.
85. NyQuil keeps me awake and makes me jittery and hyper.
86. I have used a Franklin Planner for 12 years and usually have 3 or more to-do-lists going at any one time.
    
87. I have a self imposed uniform : jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and tennis shoes. Not very creative or interesting, but comfortable and easy.
    
88. I own 4 crockpots.
89. I like cooking with my kids in theory.
    
90. I like cooking alone in practice, its a release to me.
91. I wish I had better skin. I never go out with out makeup on. I even put makeup on during a 2 day stint in the hospital with kidney stones.
92. I enjoy sweater weather.
    
93. I have loved many different songs at different points in my life but "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" by Peter Murphy has stood the test of time so far.
94. I do not like country music, but Patsy Cline is an exception.
95. I love See's milk chocolate vanilla butter-cream chocolates.
96. I don't know how to french braid my daughters hair and I feel guilty about it.
97. I would be lost with out my faith in Jesus Christ.
98. I am afraid of driving in the snow even though I know how.
99. I can't make mood rings work because my hands are too cold.
100. I love blogging and reading blogs. It has helped me view my life with more humor and has helped me realize that we are all complex and individual, yet so similar.
     

Brown Baggin' It

First some background. Nearly every day, I put together lunches for Sophie. I can't say 'make', since all I do is throw in a juice box, uncrustable, applesauce, plastic spoon, and napkin. Apparently for Sophie the most important part is the napkin. Some time back Jenni started it by writing a note for Sophie. Every since then, Sophie insists on having a note with her lunch. I'm beginning to suspect that this is the reason for her preferring to take a lunch rather than buying hot lunches. There has even been more than one time that if I had left out the napkin in a rush that she would bring me the napkin and pen and ask me to write a note.

The other day, Sophie was in the kitchen with me while I was putting together her lunch. I grabbed two napkins, one for Sophie's lunch and one for mine. Sophie noticed my napkin next to my lunch box. She then decided to write me a note. Here it is.


I went to work, knowing that she had written me something. I thought that I would appreciate, but boy, did I underestimate the effect it would have on me. After reading it, I put it on the side of my desk. I was so pleased with it. I wanted my co-workers to notice. I wanted to share how happy the short little note made me. Unfortunately no one noticed. Since no one asked at work, I just had to share it on the blog. :)

Once a Month Cooking Links

So I was looking around on Christy's Clipart OAMC site and I saw that she has a new little OAMC class video that you can download. I thought it was pretty cool. I taught an enrichment on "once a month cooking" a year and a half ago and I would've loved to have seen this little video first. It has some great tips I hadn't thought of, like freezing your frozen crockpot kits in gallon size ice cream containers. That's such a great tip. Anyways I thought I'd pass on the link here. She also has great OAMC recipes on her site and links to some other good OAMC sites (like Beth's page), you can find them here.

Let's Get Cook'in

This blog is about the everyday mundane of domestic life - cooking. I find what everyone has for dinner fascinating and I love when they write in books what the characters are eating, I find that so satisfying for some reason. I think it must be inherited -- my grandma wrote in her journal what she had for dinner everyday, which is so neat to read. And then sometimes I just read my cookbooks for fun. I'm weird, I know... Even though cooking is mundane and we do it everyday (or have the nice people at restaurants do it for us) its still such a major part of life. I love the warm cozy smell of dinner baking away and sitting around the dinner table with my hubby and kids.

This week I'm quite proud of myself because I've actually made dinner every night, so far... Not all the dinners were amazing, but that is a major accomplishment being that from about 4 - 6:30pm Nina has that weird baby cranky time. Its the time of the day when she pretty much just wants to be held or really entertained. So making dinner is darned near impossible with out some screaming involved -- so a lot of times I do what I can while holding her and do the rest after Adrian gets home from work (then he gets to hold Nina). Here's what we had this week :

• Sunday - Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup ( okay this may not count as me cooking, but I did open the can and some of us were getting over the stomach flu)
  
• Monday - Chicken Stir Fry (its one of our favs, it has ramen noodles in it which seems weird, but is quite yummy)
• Tuesday - Chicken Nuggets, Angel Hair and Parmesan Pasta Roni, and Green Beans (probably the kids' favorite dinner, not so much for me and Adrian, but we liked the Barber frozen nuggets this time -- they were not dinosaur shaped for a change)
• Wednesday - Hot Dogs, Pasta Salad, and Apple and Orange Slices ( this is Sophie's favorite meal, but I'm kind of embarrassed that I made hot dogs the day after chicken nuggets! I'm realizing how much I pander to my kids tastes)
• Thursday - Lasagna, Steamed Asparagus, and Garlic Crescent Rolls ( I could've eaten the whole bowl of steamed asparagus - I put a little butter and salt on it, sooo good)
• Friday (its in the crockpot now) - Cheesy Potatoes and Ham and I'm planning on making some buttered carrots to go along with it ( love those crockpot recipes!)

Another accomplishment is that I finished our menu for the next 4 or so weeks and made a shopping list, so that I can go shopping tomorrow. I usually do one big shopping excursion a month (to Costco and the normal grocery store) and then just go back to store for things like milk, fresh veggies etc. as needed (or I have Adrian pick those things up on the way home from work). Every single time I do my big shopping trip the checkers look at me like I'm crazy. I've had so many comments like - "Geeze, how many kids do you have?" or "Wow, you must be cooking for an army!". I guess not a lot of people shop the way I do, but for some reason its just easier for me. I'll be the first to admit I'm neurotic, but it gives me peace of mind to have a months worth of meals ready to go. I used to do all freezer meals or "once a month cooking" meals (which is even more neurotic :)), but I've kind of cut that down to doing some freezer meals and then the rest are usually in some way pre-prepared. Like I buy a bunch of those rotisserie chickens at Costco, break up the meat and put them in freezer bags labeled with what meals they are for, or I try to pre-brown the ground beef etc. etc.

If you're weird like I am and find what other people have for dinner interesting click here and you can see what's on our menu for the next month or so.

Twilight and New Moon

So I finished Twilight and New Moon.... Wow, I was immediately sucked (he he - little vampire fiction joke) into these books, they're great! It was like being time-warped back to junior year of high school for me. I wasn't conscious that I remembered exactly how I felt as a teenager, but believe me when you read these books its like you're right there again with all those self-conscious emotions and complex high school social rules. Amazing....

The most amazing part though was how close to home these novels hit. The main character moves to a small town half way through her junior year and is a little strange/awkward... It took me right back to my high school experience, which is something I try to avoid thinking about to this day - thank goodness we grow up!! But, I could almost feel myself walking down the hall of my new high school wishing I could just fade into the color of the lockers and be totally anonymous - I just felt so out of place. The high school that I moved to half way through my junior year was small (in comparison to the one I had come from which was the biggest high school in the state), more rural, and impossibly clickish since most of the kids had grown up together. My first day no one talked to me except the kid who by obligation had to show me around and he was a cowboy. Like a real cowboy - belt buckle, hat, everything... I thought in my teenage angst that I had moved to a different planet, but it was really just another town about 1/2 hour away, in the same state.

And then this book gets into an impossible high school crush fantasy! Its as if that boy, who was so painfully out of your social range, just came up to you and told you how much he LOVED you. Not just liked liked you, but LOVED you, would DIE for you, and oh by the way is also a GORGEOUS uber-vampire who has some kind of unbreakable cosmic connection to you!! Can you believe that! For me that would have been if Nathan B. (who in my memory should have been a Calvin Klein model) came up to me and told me he had a secret crush on me, and was an uber-vampire etc. etc. BTW, I never refered this kid by just Nathan, no, he was so far out of my league that I had to refer to him by his first and last name everytime I talked or thought about him. I was a total Anne Rice freak as a teenager and pictured Louis as this Nathan boy from high school, so that tells you... Wow, I don't know what is possessing me to revel so much about my high school days! Its these books, I tell you!! I would have just devoured them as a teenager, but well I'll be honest, I just devoured these books now :). So if you are wanting to be transported back to those crazy high school days and have all those crazy crush wishes fullfilled vicariously, read these books. (And its very clean young adult fiction, no bad stuff.)

Oh, note to Adrian, sorry about this blog... You're so much more wonderful, better looking, talented, and sweeter than this Nathan B. kid any day... or an uber-vampire for that matter. :) Love ya honey!! :)

A Sunbeeeeeam...... a Sunbeeeeam!

Benjamin is a sunbeam!! I just can't believe it! My little guy is old enough to be in primary... How did it happen so fast? Crazy.... I had to stay home from church with Nina on Sunday because she has another cold/cough, but Adrian took Sophie and Ben with him to church and he filled me in on Ben's first time in Sunbeams when they got home. I should start off by saying that transitions are rough for Ben, really rough, and he absolutely loved Nursery which made it even harder for him to change teachers and be in a room with not so many toys. So he cried when Adrian dropped him off, but his wonderful saints for teachers told Adrian to just leave and when Adrian went back to check on him he had calmed down. At the end he was sitting in one of his teachers laps! (Ben has accepted you if he'll sit with you.) So we are really happy that it went as well as we can expect. Now we just have to work on getting him to sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeeeeeam!" (with the popping up during the "sunbeam" part of course).

A Night of Dracula

Last night I hosted book club. We read Dracula and we watched the edited '92 version that I taped off of TV. I really enjoyed putting the treats together because it was pretty much doing a Halloween table - and how I love Halloween! So I did an angel food cake with strawberries and a devils food cake with my own chocolate ganache creation for icing and Adrian being the ever supportive husband went to a candy store near his work and picked up gummy spiders and centipedes. I also made Cherry Kool-Aid (there is a lot of talk in the book about how red the vampires mouths are) and put our Halloween haunted castle decoration on the table. I was all into it!!

The night was great and I thought we had a really good discussion. I love talking with these women! Everyone has such great insights and I love hearing every ones views and perspectives. Dracula actually was a great read. You would think its just...well...Dracula, but the book has amazing bits of truth and great insights throughout. I highly recommend it, but would give a bit of a warning, its a very Victorian novel. (At one point I just had to stop underlining and writing exclamation points or frowning faces next to all the chauvinistic parts.) So if you can try to view it through the lens of Victorian when it comes to gender roles etc., but then take it as it is for everything else its just great! Watching the movie was great fun too - though it was a far cry from the actual novel. Adrian reported that from upstairs he could here shrieks of "No! She's not going to drink his blood!!" which he found hilarious.

Last month in book club we read The Historian, which is what led to us reading Dracula. I really enjoyed The Historian too. Next month is A Woman of Independent Means. Its on its way from Amazon, but in the mean time (if I make the time) I'm going to keep with the vampire theme and read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (it was a Christmas present to myself!). Its a young adult fiction and it turns out the writer is LDS. Its been highly recommended by Corinne and Nicole so I think I'll go start reading now - Nina is still napping. Nope she's up... well maybe during afternoon nap...