Getting-to-Know-You Meme from Julia

I saw this on Julia's blog and thought I'd play along. If you'd like to do it too please do.:)

Welcome to the new 2010 edition of getting to know your family and friends. Here is what you are supposed to do, Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Have fun and be truthful! I'd love to see your answers!

1. What is your occupation right now? homemaker (I've learned to like that term.)
2. What color are your socks right now? navy
3. What are you listening to right now? Dr.Oz
4. What was the last thing that you ate? some Asian rice cracker mix - how I love wasabi peas!
5. Can you drive a stick shift? sadly no, my high school boyfriend tried to teach me but I never quite figured it out
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? the visiting teaching coordinator in my ward
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? of course - miss you Julia!
8. How old are you today? 32
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? figure skating, gymnastics (I'm so excited for the Winter Olympics!)
10. What is your favorite drink? Coke - I only have it on my birthday
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? no, I got highlights once but didn't keep them up
12. Favorite food? Japanese hibachi
13. What is the last movie you watched? The Tooth Fairy -saw it with the fam and the kids loved it, I thought it was pretty funny
14. Favorite day of the year? Halloween
15. How do you vent anger? sit in my closet (that's when I'm really mad) or talk it out
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? I had a toy dog that you turned on and it moved forward a couple of steps then sat and barked (do you know the ones?). Its name was Bernard and I still have it.
17. Favorite season? Fall
18. Cherries or Blueberries? both!
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure. Well post it on their blog that is.
20. Who is the most likely to respond? I really don't know.
21. Who is least likely to respond? no clue
22. Living arrangements? in my house with my husband and 3 kids.
23. When was the last time you cried? I teared up whilst reading The Actor and the Housewife a couple weeks ago - I hate it when books make me cry
24. What is on the floor of your closet? some clothes I need to take to the dry cleaners
25. What did you do last night? read, The Lightning Thief, and hung out with Adrian
26. What are you most afraid of? fear itself :) (I mean it though)
27. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? cheeseburger, preferably a patty-melt on rye
28. Favorite dog breed? poodle (that's what my dog Alexis was and they don't shed)
29. Favorite day of the week? Saturday or any day that I get to sleep in
30. How many states have you lived in? 4
31. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds I guess... I'm not a big jewelry person
32. What is your favorite flower? creamy white roses like the ones at my wedding

Randomness

Other than the same old same old here's a list of random things we've been up to:

Spy Games: This is one of the cutest pretend plays that Ben and Nina have been SO into lately. We're not sure where they got pretending to be spies from, but they sneak around the house giving each other thumbs-up and whispering in raspy kid-whispers. Adrian and I both cracked up the other night when we spotted them on either side of the door way to the kitchen giving each other hand signals and then crawling away on hands and knees. Ha!

Reading: That's pretty much what I've been doing this month, well in between drop-offs and pick-ups and laundry etc. Since the beginning of Jan. I've read The Help (good), The Actor and the Housewife (goodish, but frustrating), Summer of My German Soldier (I loved this book as a 13 year old and I still like it, but certainly don't love it as much as I used to) and right now I'm reading Murder on the Orient Express and I'm loving it! Agatha Christie is so clever and funny and I love all the clues and cast of interesting characters. Why have I not read an Agatha Christie novel before?!

Middle School Craziness: I honestly cannot believe that I have a child starting middle school this fall. Its nuts. I'm not that old! Really. Okay I guess I am. Sophie is VERY excited for middle school and gets to register for classes soon. She gets to pick out electives and everything and the registration is online. It feels like I'm sending her off to college! Crazy. One bummer is that she can't take orchestra (viola) and a language which I think is totally stupid, but oh well. She has decided to take a language (Spanish) and will still take piano lessons so its all good. I'm glad that she is excited for middle school, but if I'm honest I'm a little sad and scared by the whole thing.

Nina's First Braid: I can braid Nina's hair! Today I got her soft still baby-fine hair into a side braid for the first time. I love seeing that cute little braid fly around as she's playing.

Quiet Nights: Is it wrong that one of my favorite parts of the day is after the kids go to bed and Adrian and I hang out watching favorite shows for a couple hours?? We turn on the fireplace (it's a gas fireplace) in the family room, get our glasses of ice water, and pick either a Netflix movie or something on the DVR and just veg. Tonight I'm going to try to convince him to watch the new Masterpiece Theatre Emma with me.

Haiti Earthquake

I'm going to take a journal moment and post about the earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday. When it first happened our local news mentioned it, but didn't go into much detail so I really didn't think about it very much. Then I watched the news this morning and saw the devastation of the earthquake through pictures bystanders had taken. Wow. Now I feel a little like I felt after Katrina and the Tsunami. Numbingly sad. I am so very sad for the people of Haiti and the loss and pain they are experiencing right now. I think they are estimating the loss of life in the thousands and maybe tens of thousands. Grief on that scale is too much to wrap my head around. It was these images below of Haiti's presidential palace that made it all the more real for me. My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti.

Books I Read in 2009

So here's my 2009 book list. I read some great books, some really great books, some fluff, and a couple of stinkers. All together I think it was a pretty good book year. In 2010 I hope to read an Agatha Christie novel. I love Ms. Marple on PBS and bet I would love the real thing. Also for the past couple of years I have read a classic that I hadn't gotten around to before (in 2008 I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and in 2009 I read Tess of the D'ubervilles) and I want to do the same this year.

2009 Book List

1. Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci, illustrated by Jim Rugg - This is a graphic novel that Corinne recommended to me and I thought it was awesome!
2. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Sharon Lathan - Pure Pride and Prejudice fanfiction fluff.
3. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - The most accessible and poignant autobiography I've ever read or non-fiction book for that matter. The story of this woman stays with you for a long time and even though she could have written her story with a lot of bitterness, she wrote about her upbringing in a surprisingly gentle way considering both her mother and father were awful parents. The book read like a novel to me and I loved that.
4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Again. I love this book!! And I love Heathcliff even though I know that's wrong and twisted.
5. Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
   
6. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
7. Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella
8. Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella
9. Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella - These books just crack me up and are a great way to fight off the winter-blues.
10. Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy - Another sick and twisted classic. I did not like any of the characters. They were all horrible. Especially the men. But I'm glad I read it. It was thought provoking if nothing else. Oh and well written of course. A classic.
    
11. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I REALLY liked this book, but am somewhat alarmed at being sucked into a scifi series because of it! Can we stop with all the sequels already?!!
12. Jane Eyre by Emily Bronte - Awesome of course and SO romantic. Mr. Rochester take me away to that white washed villa on the Mediterranean!! (Ooops that kind of slipped out, sorry Adrian.)
13. The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks (for a book club) - Stinker.
14. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomas - I love this book and its right up my alley with all the art history. Fun fun.
15. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris - Alright so I'm being honest here in admitting I read this book as well at #17. I just wanted to know what all the "True Blood" hoopla was about. Vampire hoopla is very difficult for me to resist (we all have our faults right). Well this was fluff to be sure. Sookie is an interesting character and I like Bill the Vampire, but realized when I was reading #17 on my list that I needed to stop. Too naughty for me. I do not recommend this series at all.
    
16. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Not a page turner. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be imprisoned in a Siberian work camp this is for you. It was bleak and made me feel cold when I was reading it. I seriously could not read it without a blanket. I'm glad I read it even though it was very dry because it was very informative and I feel like I learned about something I normally would know nothing about.
17. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - Bad.
    
18. Rumspringa by Tom Shachtman - This was SO interesting and heart breaking at points. It's all about some kids deciding whether or not to be baptized into the Amish faith and their journey through that decision and its aftermath.
19. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo - Her writing is really cool. I liked it, but man that poor rabbit. I read this one to Sophie and she thought it was pretty depressing and I agree. It did have some neat symbolism and led to some good discussions though so that's nice.
20. Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham - Fluff. Questionable morals. I think I'll stick with this writer's Sophie Kinsella stuff.
21. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - A book I read because I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. After reading I didn't want to see the movie. Not after that ending. It terrorized me.
22. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - I liked this book. It was refreshing and cheerful. I do have problems with it though in that the characters seem to be 2009 transplants into war-time and post-war Britain. They didn't seem real to the time for me. My goodness it did have some gut-busting scenes though and on the whole I enjoyed reading it.
23. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - I saw this one on Corinne's book blog and was intrigued. It was good and so believable about a meteor hitting the moon and pushing it closer to the earth and all the horribleness that ensued, all told from the point of view of a teen-age girl. Very interesting and a great read.
24. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - After reading Life As We Knew It I wanted to read another post-apocalyptic book and why not read the Pulitzer Prize winning post-apocalyptic book that everyone is talking about. This was probably the most disturbing, most interestingly and poignantly written, and most resonating book I've ever read. I still think about this book all the time. Probably the best book I read in 2009, though to say it was my favorite would be too weird. It was just too gritty and horrible to be my favorite. But. It was GOOD.
25. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell - I read this one right before seeing the movie and I liked it. I LOVED the movie, more than I liked the book. The book was fun and I loved all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer references, but she swears too much. The movie was just so fantastic that I think it eclipsed the book.
26. Amelia Earhart's Shoes by Karen Ramey Burns and a slew of other contributors - I read this for a book club and thought it was very interesting to learn more about what an archaeological dig is like. But. The whole book is about this theory that is disproved at the end of the book and it was so frustrating. I felt like I had been mislead the whole time and I don't know what in the world happened to Amelia Earhart and I'm pretty none of us will ever know for sure.
27. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - Page turner, but in a been there done that sort of way. It was the exact same story line of Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Mad dash through a famous city looking for clues and being stalked by a villain. At least it was through DC because after living there (well really close) it was fun to make a mad dash through it.
    
28. Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher - If you have a daughter, especially one approaching middle school, this will scare your pants off. It scared me. Good to read though.
29. The Host by Stephenie Meyer - This was for a book club I hosted. I wanted to discuss it with other people. We did discuss it and ended up in a political debate about freedom and our various views on the subject of our own freedoms or lack thereof. Frankly, I wish I would not have gotten into it. Politics is such a hot topic and sometimes not a fun one.
    
30. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - *Spoiler Alert* Can I just say that I almost threw the book across the room when I found out they were going back to the games. I emotionally couldn't take it! I was mad that I had been sucked into a scifi series at that point. I like The Hunger Games so much better, but know I'll read the next one just because I want to know what happens to sweet Peeta...bread.
31. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer - Yep, had to read it right before the movie. Of course.
32. Mr. Darcy Vampyre by Amanda Grange - Vampyre with a "y" just gives it that extra classy touch! :) If this had been written in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way it could have been awesome. But oh no, it actually took itself seriously and that made it horrible. Yes, in this Pride and Prejudice fanfiction Mr. Darcy was a vampire the whole time during Pride and Prejudice (just hid it very well!) and after marrying Lizzy decided to take her on a journey all through Europe with all sorts of Dracula-ish side characters. There is even a Count and a castle and in the end a Indiana Jones type treasure hunt with LAVA. I couldn't believe it. It was bad.
33. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - *Spoiler Alert* This book is beautifully written. Like poetry. I love her descriptions. It is truly unique. Overall though I did not enjoy it. I didn't like the way stay-at-home moms are portrayed as Trapped with a capitol T. It almost seemed like the author was saying that children ruin your life. Well loosing a child certainly has the potential for that, but for the mother loosing her child was just the last straw. The other stay-at-home mother in the book is equally as unhappy with her sad life. But for me the most disturbing part was the godlessness of the afterlife. I know that this after life is probably one that many subscribe to, but for me it left me feeling empty and sad.

So of the books I read last year I recommend Jane Eyre, The Road, The Glass Castle, and The Hunger Games. My favorite? Hmmm, oh I'm gonna give it to Hunger Games. But Jane Eyre is a close second. Hope 2009 was a good book year for you!

Dr. Boo Who

I like Dr. Who. It's a British scifi series. Very weird for me. Try as I might I was never able to get into Battlestar Galactica - which would have made Adrian quite happy. I have not been able to get into Fringe. Star Trek and Stargate. Lame. (I know I'm offending masses, especially my husband, sorry.) I can list the scifi series I like on 1 hand: X Files, Red Dwarf, and Dr. Who. X Files ended so long ago, Red Dwarf is never on PBS anymore, so that leaves Dr. Who and Adrian and I have been watching this series on BBC America for about 5 years now, but guess what?? They've gone and screwed it up for me! Mostly I've enjoyed the series for 1 reason and that is David Tennant (aka Barty Crouch Jr. from Harry Potter 4) as The Doctor. I love that guy! He is so funny and quirky and I have a thing for funny and quirky actors/dancers/whatever. He is also a Royal Shakespeare Company actor and plays The Doctor SO well. He pulls the funniest facial expressions and made the writing seem even more witty because of his delivery. Well over Christmas they killed off David Tennant as The Doctor and replaced him with a 20-something year old named Matt Smith. I have nothing against Matt Smith, but I think they are trying to hit the wrong audience with a floppy haired actor that looks like he should still be in high school. So anywho, I'm sad. I so wish they could have kept David Tennant for a while longer. I know Doctors change (they "regenerate" in order to facilitate actor changes to make the series stretch out forever), but Tom Baker was The Doctor for years and years. I'm bummed out. I'll give Matt Smith a chance, but David will always be the real Doctor to me.

2009 Holidays Catch Up

Wow, I have so much to catch up on. But first, I can't believe its January 2010. Crazy! It really does seem like a couple of years ago we were all worried about Y2K and all that and it is 10 years later. I guess Sophie is 10 years old rather than a little baby like she was in Jan of 2000 so it should've sunk in already, but you know. And as far as resolutions are concerned - well I have a few in mind that I'll be working on during the year - getting finances on track, being healthy (taking my Vitamin D and fish oil capsules daily, being conscious of what I'm eating, and doing yoga in the evenings), and remembering my priorities when making time-commitment choices so that I put the most important things first. As far as resolutions for the decade, well that's bit too heavy for me, and as my favorite quote by John Lennon says, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." The last 10 years have definitely been quite a ride and I'm sure the next 10 will be too.

Here's the run down of what we've been up to over the last 2 weeks:

Christmas
On Christmas Eve we made Finnish ribbon cookies and had a big dinner with 2 pies for dessert (thanks Nicole for the walnut pie recipe - it was fab!). After dinner we read Luke 2 and the kids opened their Christmas pjs. Once the kids were all nestled in bed Adrian and I watched A Wonderful Life whilst making preparations and also the "Winter" episode of Vicar of Dibley - -oh how I love that show. It's becoming a tradition to watch the Christmas episodes of Vicar of Dibley on Christmas Eve and I love it.On Christmas morning the kids woke us up at 7am on the dot (they had been up for a while, but knew they could not wake us up until 7). I made the rest of the family wait for about 5 minutes while I laid in bed willing myself without success to wake up. 7am is a hard for me. But I sucked it up and we all went down stairs to see the bounty under tree. Of course the Wii that Santa brought was by far the favorite gift, but I think my favorite part is unloading the stockings and seeing the kids get all excited by the little trinkets and treats in them. The kids pretty much had candy for breakfast followed by a little scrambled eggs and bacon. After the clean-up and while Adrian and the kids were happily playing the Wii, I took a nap. Nice. In the afternoon we had our traditional picnic of crackers, cheese, Hickory Farms Summer Sausage, and oranges on a blanket by the tree. The kids say this is their favorite Christmas tradition and I totally agree. The rest of the day was spent munching on treats and playing Wii. I actually am quite a fan of the Mario Winter Olympics game - the ultimate snow board race is super fun. We did interrupt the Wii playing for Nina to watch Snow White (the DVD she got in her stocking). We ended the day with calls to family in Utah and Idaho and once the kids were in bed Adrian and I watched the Vicar of Dibley "Christmas Lunch Incident". Ha!


Day After Christmas
Adrian and I went on a date. Sushi and Sherlock Holmes! It was awesome. I do not like raw fish, but veggie rolls are DElicious. Adrian is very happy that I have found a love for veggie rolls because now we can go out for sushi and we are both happy (Adrian is quite the raw fish fan). Sherlock Holmes was great! I'm excited for the next one with Holmes' traditional nemesis Moriarty. Why didn't they start out with Moriarty as the villain? That was a little strange, but Jude Law is so cool as Watson!

Ben's Party
Ben turned 6 over Christmas break! A few days after his birthday we had his first friends birthday party and Ben says it was the best party ever. What would make Ben say that? Star Wars. It was a Jedi Knight training party and we had him and 6 of his cute little friends train to be Jedi. They did a Jedi training obstacle course that we set up in our basement and it was so cute watching the kids running around completely into it! We also played pin the light-saber on the Jedi, watched a 20 min episode of Star Wars Clone Wars, had pizza, soda, cupcakes, and ice cream and made space ships out of Legos. At the end we passed out certificates of Jedi Knighthood with their goodie bags - that was Adrian's cute idea. Adrian and I thought it was going to be CRAZY to keep that many little boys entertained, but they were all so sweet and so well behaved. It was a miracle!

New Years Eve
We gave into the kids requests and went to the Chipmunks movie. It gave me a headache. It gave Adrian a headache. The kids loved it. I loved that the kids loved it, but will not be buying that DVD (can you just imagine listening to that in the car?? yikes). After the movie we went home, ate dinner (take-out sushi for Adrian and I - you see how much I love veggie rolls?! and McDonalds for the kids), and munched on all sorts of treats whilst watching Harry Potter 6. Ben and Nina only made it through the first half hour before heading off to bed, but Sophie stayed up till about 10:45. Once Sophie was in bed Adrian and I watched some Dr. Who until just before midnight and then we watched the Ball drop at Time Square. We totally forgot the Martinelli's sparkling cider we bought to toast the new year and I was a little sad to see it sitting in the fridge the next day. A tradition broken. But we'll pick it up next year. Maybe if we bought Coke to toast with instead we wouldn't forget! Can you toast with Coke? I say yes.

New Years Day
We spent the day sleeping in (me), napping (Adrian and Nina), putting away Christmas decorations (Adrian and I), playing Wii (Sophie and Ben) and watching the Dr. Who marathon on BBC America (Adrian and I).

So I thought earlier on in December that I was going to be all stressed out during Christmas break and really I wasn't at all. I think once the kids were home and all the parties and other pre-Christmas events ended it all felt lovely and relaxing. I felt Christmasy and happy to have my family around me. The snow helped with the insular happy feeling I think and also the many days staying in jammies and hanging out with Adrian and the kids. We had a wonderful Christmas break!