The Hand

If you have a little boy obsessed with Star Wars you probably know that the little action figure of Anakin Skywalker has a removable hand, I guess for acting out that particularly gross part of Episode 2 were Count Dooku cuts off his hand. Yes, I do know that part not because I want to but because all things Star Wars have been thrust upon me since agreeing to marry my sweet-heart. If you'll remember we went to Empire Strikes Back in the theater on the day we got engaged and Adrian says it was the best day of his life for those TWO reasons. Nice. Back to the toy hand. The problem is that the little hand falls off all the time. In fact it is rarely attached to Anakin, but rather somewhere in our house waiting to be found (i.e. under the fridge, in Ben's closet, on the floor in the loft looking remarkably like a speck in the carpet until stepped on with a bare foot...). Now we have had this little figure for years. I think Ben has been way into Star Wars since he was about 3. He went from Blue's Clues straight to Star Wars. SO this little hand has been lost in 2 houses and a rental house and has been found every time. Is that not crazy?? I was especially surprised on Monday when I went to take a bunch of clothes out of the dryer and this little hand was waiting for me right on the lip of the lint catcher. I am convinced Anakin's hand is not your average little toy piece. It defies explanation. Well all explanation save one and the fact that I am saying this is a direct result of the brain-washing I've been going through since my engagement: it has THE FORCE. It must.

SYTYCD MD Trip '09

This past week I got to spend some wonderfully fun times in Maryland with friends for our annual SYTYCD concert festivities. Oh the joy!! It was fabulous!! And I must warn that so much of this is going to be for journaling purposes (read "super long post") so please feel free to skim or just look at pictures.:)

The flight there was fine. I pretended I was not on a plane, but instead having a nice long rest, zoning out, listening to my ipod. It worked pretty well except for take off and landing. I tell you who's idea is it to take away i-pod listening privileges during take off and landing?? Are they crazy?! That is when people like me need our ipods the very mostest! But I survived. Then when I got there I was greeted by Jann and her daughter Ashley. It was so very happy. Then I got to bask in the beauty of the tree lined highways that I miss so much on the way to my friend Corinne's. It was so very wonderful to see her too. She let me hang out all night with her and her family and there was much chatting and laughing. Oh how I have missed my girls in MD!

The next day, Thursday, was full of excitement as that was SYTYCD concert day! We had a lovely breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast eateries, Eggspectations, and I got to see Kellie! Then I went to the craptasticist movie I've seen in a while with Jann and her sister Julie, Fame. Now if you haven't seen this movie I'll just warn you now, it starts out with a sweet high school drama-queen auditioning for a place in a prestigious performing arts school with a dramatically serious and poignant monologue from the THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. Really? Really. Now I know many of you may not know Rocky Horror like I do (and good for you, I can't believe I'm admiting to being a RHPS fan on my blog - only the edited version people), but it is a horrible B movie that should never ever be quoted seriously. Seriously. It is a cult classic because of it's sheer ludicrousy. So anywho I could not stop laughing when this girl was doing her monologue!! That was not the end of the craptasticness though, oh no, it just kept going and going with no detectable plot. At least we got to see half of Twitchington (Kherrington from SYTYCD season 4)! And we were laughing as we walked out of the theater so all was good, even though as Julie said, "those were 2 hours of our lives we'll never get back." Ha! Then all the concert goers and Kellie met up at La Madeleine for crazy good french dip sandwiches and soups and pictures and chatting and fun. It's so hard to go to all my favorite MD eateries because as soon as I get home I start to crave things I can't have! I want some La Mads soup right now darn it! After a great dinner we went to....

THE CONCERT! Woohoowoohoowoohoo!!! It was so great! I loved all the dances but of course some favorites were "Koop Island"aka "the butt dance" (poor Randi will always be known for that one), "Ruby Blue", "Eyes on Fire", and of course "Gravity" aka "the addiction dance". "Gravity" is so powerful. I can't get over the creepy face Kupono pulls off and just the overall heaviness of it. It really does bring tears to your eyes and they danced it beautifully at the concert. I must admit that there was not one dancer that I latched on to in this season, but Ade and Kayla were definitely favorites. (There can't be a Maaaaarrrrrkkkkk!!!! in every season I guess.) Oh oh and Phillip (also known as Special Guest Sock Monkey heee heee) did some great... popping? hip hop??... whatever it is he does. Fun fun concert times were had by all and I got to see Mendy and Tracy too who had seats above ours. I'm so sorry I didn't get to see you more Tracy! After the concert I stayed up late into the night talking with Cami and Jann. So wonderful.
Then Friday. I got to go to the hospital and hold Emily's sweet triplets. They are so beautiful. I think I got my baby fix for a good long while. I couldn't get over how tiny and perfect they are. It was weird to realize that my own cute Nina was once only a pound bigger than Emily's Alex when she came home from the hospital. What a tiny munchkin she was. I wish Emily the absolute best as she cares for her precious babies. So sweet and teensy. Then after that Jann, Julie and I were going to go to DC, but it was so rainy and dreary that walking around DC in the cold didn't sound fun. So what did we do instead? Why we had cheesecake of course! We went to the Cheesecake Factory and had some seriously good appetizers and cheesecake. I loved our nice leisurely afternoon - I think we must have spent a couple hours eating and talking. Then that night I went to an awesome game night at Corinne's house and saw so many dear friends (Mendy, Deb, Christina, Kellie, Mendy's friend Rachel, Erin, Brenda, Corinne, and Cami). We played fun fun games into the night ending with a rather spectacular game of Farkel. I love that game! But of course cracking up with friends was the best part.

Saturday. I was able to spend some quality time talking with Jann before heading off to Corinne's house for breakfast with Corinne, Cami, and Kellie. (French pastries from Bonaparte - I had a sheinke, croissant with chocolate and custard inside. Mmmm!!!) It was wonderful of course. The food, the conversation, the love. Then Cami and I were off to the airport. We were on the same flight home together (she had a layover in Denver before heading home to Utah). I can't even thank Cami enough for being my personal Lloyd Dobler on that flight!! She kept me talking and even though I had some heart racing moments I did not freak out and that's all down to wonderful conversation, Cami's awesome SYTYCD playlists, and some Flight of the Concords hilarity. Thank you Cami for being awesome and helping me out when heaven know you probably wanted some sleep after our whirlwind trip. We arrived in Denver safe and sound and I was greeted by my hubby and smiling children. Adrian had even done Nina's hair. He is awesome. Really really awesome. Adrian always supports me in these battery charging adventures I go on. I think he knows how important getting away every once in a while is. I come back refreshed and happy and that's just how I feel now. I can't go away from this trip without being reminded of how very blessed I have been in my life to know and be friends with so many amazing women. They have all influenced me for good and I love them dearly. Thanks girls for a wonderful time!!

What do you do with a bunch of sick kids??

Over the weekend we had sick kids - every single one had a fever and cough and was not feeling great. But the problem was I was getting stir crazy. STIR CRAZY. I think one more day of sitting at home watching Pixar movies would've pushed me over the edge. So Adrian and I drugged the kids (with Motrin for their fevers) and decided to go for a long drive. We wanted to see some pretty fall foliage, but the trees did not cooperate. So instead we saw very pretty but very green foliage in the mountains. It was great listening to the Beatles as we drove along. We drove up to Woodland Park and saw the coolest view of snow covered Pikes Peak. Then on the way back we stopped at Garden of the Gods. Beautiful. We stopped and got out to look around at the COOL rock formations (and of course take a couple of pictures), but alas our children kept having cough-attacks so we got back in the car and commenced driving around again. Even though we were in the fresh air far away from other people the other tourists at Garden of the Gods were looking at the kids like they had the plague. We did stop at the Garden of the Gods Gift Shop. I went in alone and got us a magnet. Tradi-t-i-o-n! Tradition! (That was suppose to sound like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof.) What would a day trip be without a magnet?? It was a lovely drive and the kids enjoyed it. I think the kids were probably just as ready as me to get out of the house after a full week of being stuck inside.

As an update the kids are better! Yay! They all still have a lingering cough and of course Nina's asthma has flared up so she is still doing neb treatments 3 times a day. But all in all they are doing good. Now let's just hope that Adrian and I don't get sick!

Random Catch Up

So here's a random list of things that have been going on:

• It snowed today!! Crazy!
• Hoodie weather is back.:)
  
• Lots and lots of sickies lately - Ben just came down with a fever this morning and Nina has been really sick, but is doing better today.
  
• Nina has fewer accidents wearing Pull-Ups. Strange. When will potty training end?!
• My children's favorite popsicle flavor is root-beer. (Lot's of popsicles and Jello have been consumed in the last 2 days.)
• I had a great girls night with Jenny over the weekend! All About Steve was very entertaining and that Asiago Artichoke Chicken Spaghettini rocked at Mimi's cafe. Of course the best part was chatting. Thanks for getting me out of the house Jenny!
• Reviving Ophelia is one depressing book, but I look forward to going to my book club tomorrow and discussing it.
  
• The Lost Symbol (please cover your ears and "LaLaLaLa!!" if you plan on reading it and haven't yet) was so predictable. Poor Robert Langdon! Dan Brown has it out for him! From now until he dies his literary death he will be chased by a creepy madman 1-2 days out of every year. The whole time I was thinking, "wait a minute, didn't we already do this in Angels and Demons and Da Vinci Code??!!" In Dan Brown's defense it was a page-turner.
  
• I read The Lost Symbol BEFORE and FASTER than Adrian. Ha! (I didn't read Catching Fire faster than him, actually I still haven't read Catching Fire - he stole my thunder reading it in 2 days!)
• I'm part of a Freezer Meal Swap again! The group is small and I think that's wonderful because I'll only have to make 6 meals to swap each month. We had chicken enchiladas last night from the swap and it was so yummy!
• I love the new Dr. Oz Show even if poop does seem to play a rather important role in the show.
  
• So happy its the beginning of fall tomorrow. I think I'll make some kind of pumpkin treat to celebrate.
  
• I totally should be making the October primary newsletter right now or making chicken noodle soup for dinner, or doing laundry, but instead I'm posting.
• Speaking of dinner, today I did my first "Menu Plan Monday" post on my recipe blog.

Okay, now I really must go and make dinner. And a treat for FHE. Maybe we'll have chocolate crescent rolls - ooh those are so good and so easy to make. Easy sounds good right now.

Reading Meme

A Place of Her Own by James Christensen (Isn't this gorgeous?!! Kellie told me about this one and it goes so well with this meme.)

I've been posting about books lately so I thought I'd keep it up with this delightful meme from Cami's blog. Try it too - it's fun!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? No, but I do keep a big glass of water on the side table next to me or if it's a really good day a big old Sonic drink.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I mark books that make an impression. I hardly ever mark fluff reads.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Bookmarks of all kinds - folded pieces of paper, bookmarks Sophie has gotten from school, even gum wrappers.

Laying the book flat open? Only if I have to get up suddenly... which with kids happens frequently

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? FICTION (I have to be honest, non-fictions tend to be a little boring to me)

Hard copy or audiobooks? hard copy (though I do have the Twilights and Shopaholics audiobooks that I like to listen to while cooking)

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? I don't really care about chapters, but if it's a really good part I keep reading (even if it's incredibly late!).

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? No. But if it eats at me I'll google it next time I'm on the computer.

What are you currently reading? The Lost Symbol, Reviving Ophelia, The Host

What is the last book you bought? The Lost Symbol

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? Well as you can see from what I'm currently reading I often read more than one at once. Ususally book club books and 1 on my own.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? Nap time/on the couch

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? stand alone (Can everyone stop with the series already?? I do read a lot books that end up being series though and am constantly annoyed by it, but of course I'll read all the sequels anyway. Harry Potter is the huge exception. I love HP!!)

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? Hmmm. Well if you asked me 2 years ago it would've definitely been Twilight (as cliche as that is now), but right now I'm all about Hunger Games and Rebecca and always, always Wuthering Heights

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) By favorites, then genres, then height, and for those that don't fit they get stacked in front. I need more book shelves.

32

So I am technically 32 now, but I asked Adrian if he wouldn't mind putting 29 candles on my birthday cake (which he refused) because I don't feel 32. Oh well. The cake by the ways was the monster chocolate Costco cake that I love so much! Mmmmm!!

On Friday we got a babysitter and went out to Japanese hibachi (of course:)) and to the new Tim Burton movie. I think a Tim Burton movie should come out every year on my birthday - could you make a note of that Tim?! 9 was awesome visually. As far as the story, well that didn't work out so well, but again visually those little ragdoll horcruxes (seriously JK Rowling could sue) were awesome. The little cataloger twin ragdolls moved in such a cool way and that is what I love about Tim Burton - he is so eerily creative. I'd love to just look at a still of the sculpture garden scene with the moon and twisted trees in the background. Stunning. Fun fun stuff for me. When we got back Adrian could not wait until my actual birthday to give me THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT so he handed me a box with the "Blurb"logo on it. Yes, he had published in a book the first 2 years of my blog!!! Without telling me! Isn't he sweet?? So there have been some years that Adrian has forgotten my birthday, but then there are these years were he knocks it out of the park. I love my blog book!! It has been so fun to read all the posts from when Nina was a tiny baby and Ben just started preschool and Sophie was in 2nd grade! Wow, I've had this blog for a while now and I love that it's a new-finagled way to journal that gives a much better snap shot of my life that normal journaling.

The rest of my birthday weekend we celebrated by taking the family to Olive Garden (mushroom ravioli and Coke for me - BTW I'm allowed to drink real Coke on my birthday!) and having Costco cake and presents. My huge present was trading in my car on a Honda Pilot (yay I love it!) because we wanted a car that would do better in the snow this winter. The buying of the car took so much work and time researching and finding the best deal and test driving so many cars, but we found a great used Pilot and are happy with all its neato features. Then for my normal presents I got a load of cooking stuff: an enamel covered dutch oven (Martha Stewart not Le Crueset - maybe someday it will be a Le Crueset), new pizza pans, new frying pan and crepe pan and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (I love that Julie & Julia movie and want to make an omelet like Julia!) and of course my blog book. I made a haul. Thank you thank you Adrian! And then I got so many birthday wishes from sweet friends and family! Thanks SO much!! It was a great birthday even if it did mean I have to be 32 now. :)

Book Happy

I spent my morning smiling for various reasons which included some lovely alone time and a diet cherry sprite from Sonic. But that was not all. After dropping Sophie and Ben off at school and Nina off at preschool I made a bunch of store returns by myself. Who knew that could make me happy. I noticed how fast I can walk sans children, though heaven knows I love walking with Nina's adorable pitter-patter next to me when we run errands together while Sophie and Ben are in school. First was Target and since today is September 1st I had to check out the book section (I will tell you why in a minute). Well it was in the Target book section that my face spread into the biggest grin this morning and I couldn't help giggling to myself (I don't think anyone heard). This book caught my eye:

Could you stop yourself from giggling?? Wow, Mr. Darcy the vampire. Well that's just perfect isn't it?!! On the back (because I had to pick it up) it read, "A married man in possession of a dark fortune must be in want of an eternal wife." Ha! Hahahahaha!! Now seriously do I think this will be a good book? No. Do I think it will be great fluff? Most definitely. It will be in my possession soon, don't worry, but today is a one book buying day so I did not put it in my cart. In fact they did not have the book I was looking for at all. But Walmart did which was my next stop in my returns errands.

Still giggling (quietly to myself) about Austen vampires as I made my return in Walmart and moved on to their book section. Big smile #2: Catching Fire. It came out today and they had it! For cheap too - 5 bucks off the listed price. I really enjoyed Hunger Games and am so excited to read this sequel. I don't know why I am so excited about this sequel because I'm kind a getting annoyed by all the freaking sequels. Can't an author just finish a story for goodness sake!! But as far as stories go I am interested to see what will happen to Katniss and sweet Peeta. I love Peeta.... bread... with chicken salad... Darn! Are you happy Cami? I can't think of his name without the "bread" now!:) I told Adrian I got the book (he really liked the first one too) and now he thinks he's going to read it before and faster than me. Isn't he a dork? That's always how it is when we get a book we both want to read - it becomes this race with all sorts of talking smack. It got pretty nasty when Harry Potter 6 came out let me tell you. And he claims I only read HP7 faster than him because I left town with the book the morning of it's release. (Okay so that's true, but I read it in less than 24 hours!! There's no way he would have. NO WAY. Yes the smack talk is obviously on both sides as you can see.) Well we'll just see who's the faster reader Adrian, we'll just see....

What a smiley happy book morning I had and then tonight is book club. Yay! And though I have another 50 pages of Amelia Earhart's Shoes to read I'm sure I'll finish and have a great time discussing with some of my favorite ladies.