Not Those Monsons

Blogging Awards!

2011-09-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, you heard me. I'm honored to be the recipient of the "Most Likely to Hate Your Book Recommendation" award courtesy of The Angry Baker.

My first blogging award! And all I had to do was a)not actually blog and b)be obnoxious at book group. Clearly, this calls for a picture. I hired the best photographer I know. Unfortunately, she's several feet shorter than me, so I got a nice nostril shot. It's probably appropriate.

I AM AWESOME

And in no particular order, here's a list of ten books I DO recommend. You're welcome.

Unattended

2011-03-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is what Grace does when she's supposed to be cleaning her room.

Her name is Beauty, in case you were wondering.

This is Why I Can Never Move

2010-11-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

This is Halloween

2010-11-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm such an awesomely lame blogger. Have some Halloween pictures. These were taken the week before Halloween, by the time Halloween rolled around they'd all changed their minds about costumes and went to the church party as mermaids instead.

Behold, the Cherry Fairy, baby brother, and Belle. Not pictured: the Cherry Fairy's magical bad-guy stabbing unicorn.

Picture This

2010-09-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Dr. Shiblon and I are now getting old enough to be frightened by all the "when I was your age" changes going on around us. Most of these, of course, are technological in nature. When we got married, there was such thing as digital photography (yeah, we're not THAT old), but it hadn't yet become the norm for amateurs or professionals. Our wedding photos were shot with good old canisters of film. Unfortunately, they were also shot very, very badly, leaving us with a really disappointing jumble of crummy photos that could've just as easily been taken by wedding guests with floral print disposable cameras.

Three years later my baby sister got married. By then we'd all learned a thing or two about weddings and found an absolutely phenomenal photographer. And not only did she take the most beautiful pictures for my sister, but she agreed to help clean up my photos too. Several magic photoshop sessions later, I had an album that was respectable, if not entirely thrilling. Hooray for us, happy ending.

Fast forward to last month. Bearing in mind that we've moved 10 times in the past 9.5 years, it probably doesn't surprise you that we have certain boxes of, um....stuff....that no one knows what to do with. Lately we've been on a cleaning and organizing spree and in the course of redoing the school room, I ran across a CD labeled "Sara Staker-Monson." Hooray, wedding photos! I wondered why I'd never uploaded them before - surely the internet needs pictures of me on my wedding day!

I popped the CD in the computer and was met with a rather ominous BUMP BUMP CLICK GRRRRRRR sound. Not cool. Retrieving the CD proved to be a feat in itself, and then I discovered that it was warped. Badly.

Cue online searching and much discussion with Dr. Shiblon. We discussed everything from a careful application of the hairdryer to paying a data retrieval company. Eventually we settled on leaving it under some really heavy books for a while and seeing what that might do. I stuck it under the complete works of Shakespeare and forgot about it completely.Today when I got home I noticed Dr. Shiblon had retrieved it, and there was a new file on my desktop. Eager to check out the goods, I opened it up.

There was one photo.

Some things just weren't meant to be.

Wish List

2010-09-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my purchasing history, Amazon has suggested the following items for my consideration.

TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue

Nike+ Wrist Sensor

Madeleine (French Edition)

And...a samurai umbrella?

All in the Family

2010-09-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

We went on a picnic and managed to get pictures of every single one of us. That never happens.

Someday, we might all make it into the same picture.

Andy, did you hear about this one?

2010-09-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Who says emergency preparedness can't be fun?

This totally gratuitous post brought to you by Dr. Shiblon and his strange, but compelling, sense of nerd humor.

(And yes, I am aware that I am mixing up my Andys. I just don't care).

So many, many things

2010-08-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Dear James,

It has come to my attention that you are not fully aware of your place in this household. Therefore, here is a list of things that are not for you.

The toilet. This includes the lid, the seat, those stupid porcelain knobs that keep falling off the base, and most particularly, the water inside the toilet (and anything that might be growing therein).

The bath mat that you peed on.

The dirty laundry.

The clean laundry.

The dirty dishes, including the steak knives. You appear to have a special affinity for them. I am afraid they are verboten, as I have a special affinity for both of your eyes.

My glasses. No, not Daddy's either.

Toilet paper. It is not a snack.

The oven. Just because you can open it, does not mean you should climb in.

My pants. Also not a snack.

Glasses of ice water. You seemed a little surprised by that one. Perhaps you should begin asking "what will happen if I succeed?" rather than just pulling things downward toward yourself.

Your sister's hair. Your other sister's hair. You can yank your own out if you want, although I don't recommend it.

Since this is rather a long list, you will undoubtedly be feeling some boredom should you give up these tempting pastimes. May I suggest a well-timed nap? Love,

Your Mother

It's What's For Dinner

2010-08-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

Blame it on too much Michael Pollan, perhaps, but I've long wanted to find a good local source that sells beef portions. My parents did this when I was growing up, back when people bought a side of beef because they had an alarming number of hungry kids to feed, and not because they were worried about superbugs and feedlots and other icky things. I toyed with the idea for a couple of years, and recently found a place that seemed like it would work.

Today was the pickup day. I don't know whether she was amused by the exchange, but I sure was. Driving to the Eat 'n Park parking lot to receive plastic baggies of frozen body parts from someone you've only communicated with via the internet? An NCIS episode waiting to happen.

Then on the way home Grace asked me what was in the box. I said, "meat." And that's where the conversation got a little strange.

Grace: what kind of meat?

Me: Beef

Catherine: Grace, beef is DEAD COW and it's YUMMY!

Grace: dead cow? MMMMMM! I love dead cow!

Catherine and Grace (in chorus): Dead cow, yummy! Dead cow, yummy! (repeat ad nauseum)

Yes, these are the same little girls who sobbed for hours because the neighbor boy stepped on a ladybug. What can I say, food comes first.

No Relation

2010-08-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

AKA, Why The Allergist Now Thinks I'm an Idiot.

Among Mormon circles, we have a famous last name. Famous because Thomas S. Monson is the president and prophet of our church, and if you're faithfully LDS, it doesn't get any cooler than that.

Except, we are not related to him. Not by blood, not by marriage (not even a polygamous one). My Father-in-law met him as a young missionary and asked, just to be sure. The response, in that oh-so-distinctive cadence, was, "only in spirit, brother."

Monson is a rather common name in Utah, but not so much elsewhere, which often leads people to question us about it. Somehow though, they never seem to be able to come right out and ask us whether we get to pass pretzel jello to the prophet at family reunions, so instead, they usually mumble a sheepish "sooo.....areyourelated?" It's almost always phrased precisely the same way.

Sheepish or not, it's usually fairly clear what they're asking, and although I'd like to say yes, there's probably some sort of eternal punishment waiting for anyone who falsely claims that particular tie. If I'm feeling kind of snotty I might sometimes innocently ask "to whom?" just to catch people off guard (And if I've done that to you, I apologize. I'm a bad person. But I finally got my comeuppance, as you will see.

Enter the allergist. Dr. Shiblon has been seeing him for about 2 years now. I finally went in for my turn. And the first thing this very not-Mormon doctor asked when he breezed into the room was..."so, are you related?"

Cue me, sputtering. It completely threw me. My head, stuck in a feedback loop where I knew the answer to what I'd just heard but couldn't figure out how it could be coming from that particular source, simply froze up and refused to process any sort of answer at all. After a few minutes of watching me open and close my mouth, he prodded me along a little bit. "I just thought...maybe I knew...your husband?"

Um, yeah. The guy who was just in here 2 minutes before me. Right. Yes, that would be my husband. The HIPAA-conscious doctor couldn't come right out and ask, of course, so he asked in the most vague way possible, which happened to precisely match the vague way people like to ask about the other potential relationship. Which led to me gaping like a fish when confronted with what really should have been an awfully simple question.

I am not good with first impressions. But don't blame it on the prophet, 'cause we're not related.

But Why?

2010-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today over at Type H Personalities you can check out the the most succinct explanation for homeschooling I've seen yet.

If you're wondering what lunacy possesses us to homeschool, this is a one-minute video explanation :)

Bad Photography

2010-08-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

The only kind I'm really capable of, in fact. Especially when I'm trying to hide the piles that I haven't put away yet.

It's really too geeky to be this excited over new bookshelves, but I am. We're all really looking forward to school in two weeks.

Made You Look

2010-08-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

If you are utterly uninterested in home renovation, let me just forewarn you: don't bother reading this post. Go watch this instead. Come back later and I'll tell you a fun story.

If, however, you like the slightly voyeuristic look into other people's homes that DIY before-and-after shots provide, well, stick around. Also, there will be bad 70's design to mock. You're welcome.

Here's the school room when we bought the house. Yes, that's brick in the corner. And a basket on the light, which is right at eye level. The first time I touched the blinds, they fell off (and onto my foot).

c. 1973-2009

First order of business: New carpet.

Taking a sledgehammer to the brick tile.

Shortly thereafter, we discovered that the window frames were rotten, meaning that the windows were in danger of sliding out and into the back yard (yes, that actually almost happened). We had the windows replaced the day I came home from the hospital with James.

Wee J.C.

When you're done being distracted by the baby bundle, feast your eyes upon the construction zone in the background. Please note that this was last year.

This year we have a mobile baby and two children in school instead of one. Also, we were tired of double-stacking our books, there weren't enough outlets in the room, the lights were falling out of the ceiling, and we were just plain tired of the ugly. So, we took everything out of the room. After a little of this:

Wall Patching

And lots of this:

Wallpaper Removal

We ended with this:

Waiting for Furniture

Next week we will fascinate you with a total furniture redesign, so stay tuned. We may even hang curtains.

Not Those Monson

2010-07-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

New blog title, although the voting was extra-lame because I gave up in despair after trying three different polling options and having all of them blow up in my face.

Also, I was going to introduce the title with an accompanying post, because I have some good stories about the topic.

Alas, James has come to the conclusion that waking up every 30-40 minutes, all night, every night is a perfectly acceptable sleep schedule AND he's currently engaged in yanking on the mouse, shaking the computer desk and biting my knee. So that post is going to have to wait. Instead, I'm going to take my helper and clean out some more closets, because school starts in 5 weeks and that doesn't give me much time to finish my obsessive organizing. And I keep finding good stuff.

I think I know what to do with these.

I look way better than Mommy in them.

Prom shoes, c. 1997

Holes

2010-07-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Nothing can really quite prepare you for owning a home. You research, you cross t's and dot i's, but really, in many way's you're just throwing the dice and hoping that those looks of pity the neighbors are shooting your way are just because you're unloading a moving truck in July and not because they know that the bottom floor is sliding out from underneath the rest of the house and one of the bathrooms has an exploding light fixture. We have learned this. Projects are never simple. Things break that were supposed to last. (If you're lucky, sometimes things last that were supposed to break, but don't count on it). The phrase "oh, that's.....interesting" usually means "and it will probably eventually kill us if I don't fix it."

Still, we thought we had a handle on things. We've been here for 18 months. We fixed the radon gas that was going to poison us, the hole in the wall that was going to collapse the house around us, and most of the wiring that was going to electrocute us. We moved on to aesthetic issues. Last month, we made the front yard look nice. We were proud of ourselves. It was our undoing.

It's always worrisome when you open the door to a man in a hard hat. He informed me that the city was exercising their right of way, and the sewer needed maintaining, and tree roots, and I'm sure all of it made perfect sense but really, I was kind of distracted because right behind him, a backhoe was busily chewing up my lawn. I did manage to catch that the end result of this little project would be a manhole cover smack dab in the middle of the yard, which will of course create fabulous curb appeal. He finished up by giving me an official notification letter, with the previous day's date on it. They seemed confused as to why I didn't feel that was just as good as actually giving it to me in advance.

By the time they left, the yard looked something like this, except when 5:00 came, they left in such a hurry that they couldn't be bothered to empty the last scoop of dirt and just left it hanging in midair:

They assured us they'd be done by Friday morning. Thursday evening the yard looked more like this:

When they said "done," what they clearly meant was "there will be nothing else we can wreck." Although as it turns out, there's always more to break, because Friday morning, there was another knock on the door, this time at 8 a.m. As a courtesy, they were letting us know that they'd just poured cement, so we shouldn't use any water for at least 2 hours. They were going to tell us Thursday, but they forgot, which seemed to be the theme of the day, since they also forgot to add everything they were supposed to add to the concrete mixture, which made it take 4 hours to set instead of 2. Four stinky hours, I should note, with nine people studiously not flushing. Or showering. This is how I make sure my houseguests don't want to come back too often.

This was last Friday. Monday, they finally came back and filled the hole with rocks. They assured us that it needed to settle, but that they most definitely intended to repair all the damage and our yard would be as good as new by Friday, which if you're keeping track, is precisely 62 minutes from now.

We haven't seen them since.

The Poll is Up

2010-07-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

OK, just kidding, the poll is not up. Polls hate me today. Actually the internet hates me today. Leave a comment with your vote.

Anyone with an opinion, this is your big chance.

Jules has suggested Monson Mayhem. She brought this up after spending a week at my house. Huh.

Chris has suggested Not Those Monsons. Because, well, we're not.

For those of you who may be unable to deal with change, feel free to vote for the same

'ol title you've come to know and love. It's OK, James is the youngest, he might as well get used to being overlooked. Three C's and a Grace Note

Not to be outdone, I threw in Home's Cool. Except for all the times I threaten to sell my kids on Ebay.

And yes, I Used to Have a Front Yard, but I don't at the moment. More on that later.

Vote Away!

Drumroll, please....

2010-07-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

My sister Jules has been featured in Healthy Cooking's "Make it Meatless" recipe contest. She won second place. Check her out!

http://beanbasics.blogspot.com/2010/07/taste-of-home-winner.html

Sister is Forgiven

2010-07-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Because she helped me do this (warning, serious cutesy girliness ahead):

Slackers

2010-07-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

So, my sister is visiting, and she is supposed to be helping come up with some more blog title options, as promised last week. But we keep getting distracted by cake and Nintendo.

She's so fired.

Home's Cool

2010-07-08T06:32:00.001-07:00

Another test blog title. I'm not loving this one. We'll keep thinking about it. But in the meantime I leave you with this:

Just Like Last Year

2010-07-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Midnight

I jolt awake. Something is wrong, but it takes a minute to register. The baby is crying. He's halfway out of his bed, making halting progress across the floor to me, confused in the dark. I pick him up and as he burrows into my chest I think: didn't you wake me up this time last year too?

In the other room, something else is beginning to register in my sleep-fuzzed mind. Coughing and restless turning from our eldest, in the top bunk. She feels a little warm, so we hand her some tylenol and cough drops. She eats one tablet, and loses the other in the recesses of her covers. She won't eat another one. We stumble stupidly back to bed, hoping our interruptions are over for the night and we can get some sleep.

Just like last year.

2:30 a.m.

This time, the gasping from the next room wakes us first. It's not getting better. It's all surreal, this getting ready for the hospital again in the wee hours of the morning, the urgent needs of a child who just cant wait until a convenient time, cannot delay any longer. Sleepy parents, anxious, an overwhelming sense of I just don't want to be doing this right now. Our second child showing uncharacteristic patience when wakened by the commotion, slipping back into sleep without her usual fuss.

Just like last year.

5:30 a.m.

Things are calming down. We have passed the critical point. This time, it hasn't require going to the hospital. A dose of albuterol and some ice water seem to have done the trick and now she is snoring gently in the recliner. Chris elects to sit awake, forgoing sleep to listen for the soft breathing sounds that mean everything is OK, our child is well.

Just like last year.

8:30 a.m.

It's all over. Chris is tending to our daughters. They're excited, eager to celebrate their brother. I am exhausted, relieved, curled up with a sweet, sleepy boy breathing peacefully in my arms.

Just like last year.

Behind the Times

2010-07-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

James is turning 1 tomorrow (One. My baby!). And Dr. Shiblon pointed out to me that perhaps he deserves to be in the blog title. Or at least, not the only who isn't in the blog title. So we're debuting some options to see what fits. Maybe I'll even post a poll.

The Cherry Fairy has a Party

2010-06-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

Catherine's fondest wish is to wake up one morning and find that she has turned into the cherry fairy. I think I'd be OK with that if it kept her from growing up quite so fast.

A very blurry picture of the pixie dust necklaces that the little girls made. Not pictured: my glittered-up dining room.
I usually try to avoid feeding the kids red dye. I do believe this cake earned me a permanent F in that regard. (Grace helpfully pointed out that the cake is "unmodest.")

Happy Birthday to my first baby!

Grace and Truth

2010-06-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Someone on an internet forum I used to frequent once created an impromptu poll regarding the name Grace. It turns out that most of the respondents favored the "didn't anyone warn you about naming your child Grace?" option. Her Grandpa calls every week for the Grace report, because there's always something. Usually it involves blood and bandaids - this is the kid who managed to get three second degree burns on the same hand in four days and can't walk down the hall without tripping over her own toes.

Lately though, her accidents have stretched to include the verbal variety. She just keeps saying things. Things like...."You have a fat head!" (to one of the missionaries). Things like..."your hair is shaped like a girl's!" (to the guy with long dreadlocks at the co-op). Oh, and "that MAN doesn't talk very good!" (loudly, pointing at a woman). Not to mention "MOM, that woman in the blue dress is being UNMODEST!" (again with the loud, and the pointing). Nothing like an insistent four year old to make sure the only place you dare show your face to shop is the Wal-Mart in the next county.

As I recall, I had a sibling with the same problem. Unfortunately, as I also recall, the only effective solution my parents ever found was waiting for said sibling to grow out of it. And sometimes I think they're still waiting.

In the meantime, I may have to start wearing a disguise to Trader Joe's. Maybe a Utes t-shirt?

What We've Been Up To: Before and After

2010-06-19T17:06:00.001-07:00

When we bought our house, it looked something like this:

Yeah, I know what you're thinking (where's the house?) I'm sure that when the owners planted those shrubs in 1947, they conformed nicely with the aesthetic of the times. Sixty years later, by mid-July the mailman had to bring a machete and bushwhack his way to the front porch. It was past time for a change:

Pay no mind to the bald spots. That's going to be grass.

Still a little sparse on plants, but notice how you can actually see the house now. I'm guessing the neighbors hope that our next project is going to be curtains.

Because I have nothing else to contribute

2010-06-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

A heretic among heretics?

2010-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, I'm not always very good at being a girl. Glaring case in point: books. Specifically, women's books. Truthfully, I can't quite put my figure on what it is about them that provokes me so much, but somehow I can't get past consistently thinking that the plots are predictable, the characters are annoying, and that what the book really needs is a bloodthirsty vampire to come in and make their sorry lives turn interesting.

And maybe that's the secret. I enjoy all different kinds of books but when I read fiction I want it to be fiction - I want it to take me to a new place, as it were. And I don't want to be able to predict the plot twists.

But I'm also wondering if maybe I'm missing out on some good reads because I avoid that section of the bookstore like it's contagious. So in the name of science, I am soliciting suggestions for modern-author-and-modern-setting chick-lit fiction book that I will like.

Cookies if you can do it.

Part II: NASA

2010-06-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Pictures You've All Been Waiting For

2010-06-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

Strawberry Girls

2010-06-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, I really spoke too soon, because the vacation gods, apparently unhappy with the ease of our dryer repair, sent a more fitting curse in the form of a sewer backup into our garage last night. Between unexpected repairs, a sick baby, and a pile of yard work to catch up on, well, I make no confessions, but there may or may not still be some suitcases cheerfully overflowing in my office.

However, we did manage to slip in some time between thunderstorms to visit the strawberry patch and came home with a pile of red gems just waiting to be turned into jam and smoothies. James had his first strawberry, Catherine fell into a mud puddle and for once Grade did not, and all three were generally enchanted by ponies and berries and tractors, oh my!

And I Spoke Too Soon

2010-06-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

Because while while the A/C and furnace are still humming along, the dryer went kaput not 5 minutes ago. It's the vacation curse.

Happily I managed to marry my own personal Handy Man so I'm sure it will be working again in very short order.

Also, if you're in need of machine parts and/or advice, our new BFF is Jim at All Appliance Parts Co. on Penn Ave. He has helped us fix our washer and dryer about 6 times in the past 3 years, and I really can't recommend him enough.

There's no place like home....

2010-05-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

...especially when you return from vacation to discover that neither the furnace nor the air conditioner is broken (and if you're right now thinking "really? that's unusual?" then I advise you to run, not walk, away from the Pittsburgh housing market).

But truthfully, despite being generally opposed to theme parks, it was in almost all respects a perfect vacation, beginning with the free! upgrade of our rental car and ending with a pounding Florida rainstorm that began precisely two minutes after we strapped into said car following twinkling fireworks over Cinderella's castle.

Part of this, I'm sure, is because Disney really makes it so easy to just go with the flow. Consider, for example, the legions of employees whose sole job it is to make sure that your stroller is lined up tidily and properly braked. Forget the "amusement" part, it's an accomplishment just to avoid total gridlock there and they do it well. Of course, all of this is in their best interest, because if you stop to think too much, you might begin to ponder the absurdity of your trip. We, for example, followed an itinerary that consisted of: Driving to the airport parking lot, taking a bus to the actual airport, taking a train to the airplane, flying to Florida, taking another train to our rental car, and driving to the hotel. We then drove to the Disney parking lot and took a motorized tram to the entrance, where we had the choice of a boat or yet another train to get us within walking distance of the rides. And what were those rides that we went to such lengths to experience? Well...a simulated boat ride...a mock flight experience....miniature cars...a pretend train ride...you get the idea. (Although judging from comments overheard, the simulated Johnny Depp was arguably the biggest attraction on said boat for most of the female riders.)

One does wonder though - going with the flow is a wonderful state of affairs for a vacation but it is possible to be too relaxed, as witnessed by my fellow tourists who found it entirely appropriate to wander around in various states of undress. I do recognize that Florida, even in May, can be rather uncomfortably warm, and yet somehow I'm just not sure about the advisability of touring Mickey's country house without any pants on.

But it was a wonderful trip, and we took many photos, all of which have every bit of the high quality and exacting standards one expects from a near sighted family who forgot the camera and had to rely on their cell phones for documentary evidence, and all (ok, some) of which will shortly be posted here...as soon as I can convince my children that Cinderella wants them to go to bed now.

Tidbits

2010-05-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

I always knew that peanut butter was divinely appointed, but this is extra cool.

Overheard

2010-05-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

"Mom, when you die, can I have this pretty necklace to take to my house? (pause) And your purple shoes? (pause) And the blender so I can make smoothies?"

Catherine's First Recital

2010-05-19T06:03:00.001-07:00

Swiss Ribbon Dance

Posing Prettily

Little sister wants in on the picture action!

Treasures

2010-05-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

We haven't really bought much furniture in the ten years we've been married, thanks in large part to my parents, who are not only flush with extra furniture (much of it lovely and antique), but are exceeding generous with said furniture (although it's possible that they're just trying to make room for more snowmobiles). Either way, the list of things we've needed and had to pay pay money for is brief - beds, a few bookshelves, a small china cabinet, and a recliner pretty much complete the list. Oh, and a crusty old dining room set that we acquired for $30 that Chris is in the process of refinishing.

But with the acquisition of a house, where it looks like we might finally stay for a period of time measured in years, rather than months, we've started to think about actually choosing pieces that compliment the house and the other furniture. We've been thinking for some time about getting a nice chair for our bedroom, and last weekend we found ourselves at an antique mall in Maryland. And this chair had my name written all over it. So there you have it. Our first "real" furniture purchase.

A Day in The Life of....

2010-05-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

I often have people ask me how our school schedule works during the day. There are many ways to run a good home school but I tend to favor a somewhat traditional approach. We typically do classroom work 4 days a week, with Friday being reserved for field trips and special events (more on those later!). Our days look something like this:

Morning (while Mom is showering and feeding the baby): clean rooms, do other chores

10:00: Start school. Scriptures, music (singing), prayer

Math: every day, about 30-45 minutes

Language Arts: Spelling, Literature, and Composition daily, Reading and Grammar on alternate days, about 60 minutes

12:00: Lunch: 30 minutes

History or Science: Alternate Days, about 30-60 minutes, depending on activities or science experiments

Art, French, Geography, or Cooking: One each day, usually about 30-60 minutes, depending on the activity

We're usually done around 2:00. Catherine typically doesn't have much homework although we did start to give her some small independent assignments at the end of the year. She's usually working on a book as well, but I don't have to do any assigning for those!

***cross-posted at Type H Personalities***

This is What Happens When You Feed Them

2010-05-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

They grow up....

And get too big for the baby swing...

But then they start looking like Daddy and it's all OK.

Halloween

2009-11-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Maribella, the Butterfly Fairy Queen

Belle

Grace was far more interested in the movie than in looking at the camera.

Forget the candy, I just want to suck on my fists!

He smiles!

2009-09-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

The Mothership has Landed!

2009-02-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

That is what we had taken to calling the blobby white fluorescent light fixture over our kitchen sink. It has been supplanted by a snazzy new one that goes much better with the cabinet hardware.

Also, the walls are no longer striped orange and brown. See for yourself!

Countertops, floor, and oven soon to come....

It's a.....

2009-02-11T05:24:00.001-08:00

We had our ultrasound yesterday. The first thing the tech asked us was whether we wanted to know the baby's gender, "if she could tell." Being the impatient folks we are, we replied with a definite YES. Then she proceeded to take her sweet time with the ultrasound. After viewing, measuring, and inspecting every centimeter of every organ or piece of bone in and around the baby except the pertinent areas, she finally went to take a look at the gender and discovered...crossed legs.

Not one to be deterred, however, she used the time-honored technique of punching Mom in the abdomen until the baby shifted. It's OK though, I have another kidney. And baby finally obliged and gave us a very clear view.

We're going to have a son.

It's all about Meeeeeeeeee!

2009-01-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

This one came from Amy. You know what you did.

8 Things...

8 Shows to love:

The X-Files

Star Trek TOS

Start Trek: TNG

Star Trek: Voyager (what?)

Trading Spaces

Star Wars (the original ones)

Secondhand Lions

Galaxy Quest

8 Favorite Restaurants:

Monterey Bay Fish Grotto (in Pittsburgh, not California. Weirdly.)

Long John Silver's

Any Crab Shack on the Bay, as long as it's the type where you wear your swimsuit and the tables are spread with newspapers

Just about any bakery in Hong Kong. Flaky pastries with chocolate custard and bananas...slobber.

Cafe Rio

Anthony's - the best neighborhood pizza joint EVER

Yummies

Not a restaurant, but the Greek Orthodox Food Festival...DROOL

8 Things I did yesterday:

Tried not to barf (I'll leave the results of that attempt undefined)

Helped Catherine write thank you notes and then drown them with glitter glue

Checked facebook (this could be all 8 things, really)

Thought about starting to pack

Didn't actually start to pack

Made chocolate pudding

Reread Perfection Salad

Made ricotta pie for dinner

8 Things I like about this season:

My birthday

My anniversary (the 8th! Ha!)

Snow Days

It gets dark early enough to put the kids to bed at 7

It gets dark early enough to put myself to bed at 8

Hot chocolate

Soup

I haven't yet gone completely crazy from the winter blues...that doesn't happen til February

8 Things on my wish list:

No more barfing

A cat, to terrorize the mice

To get moved in to the house!

To sleep until April

A Daily System from Pottery Barn

Boy or girl? (Two weeks!)

Treadmill

Travel, travel, travel.

8 Places I'd like to go: (like I can pick 8?)

Diving in the Philippines

Florence

Kodachrome Basin

Taking a sleeper train across Canada

On a tour of South America (with my hubby to act as tour guide!)

Driving around France

Wales

The Keys and the Dry Tortugas

Christmas Day

2009-01-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

Grace got so excited over every present that she really didn't

want to put anything down to look at the next gift.

Catherine, on the other hand,

was in a frenzy of discovery.

She looks so solemn in all the pictures, it's almost pathetic.

She was a little overwhelmed.

And she really didn't want to get off the bike!

These bikes are a nightmare of disney princess decor. Of course, the kids adore them. I think some of Grace's smaller toys are still languishing in the carry bag on the front there while the bikes wait in the basement for our move.

And Baby makes 5.

2009-01-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like Grandma Jo finally gets to put a July birthday on the calendar quilt!

Ben Stein is Not a Crook (but that doesn't mean you should take his advice).

2009-01-03T16:54:00.001-08:00

Ben Stein is a pretty smart guy. He's done a lot of interesting things. He's even good for a few laughs. But perhaps the smartest thing I've seen him do lately is the way he attempts to convince the American people that they want to support the government bailout of the Big Three automakers. He recognizes that most Americans are not economists. He also recognizes that most Americans are furious about the thought of spending billions of dollars in tax money on big corporations when our own personal financial futures are ominous. So while he, as an economist, believes that the bailout is necessary, he recognizes that in order to get our support, he has to persuade us that we feel good about the idea. Unfortunately, this feel-good rhetoric is wildly inaccurate, occasionally offensive, and sometimes even downright dangerous.

He doesn't start out so badly. The argument that it could (and probably would) be devastating for the US economy at large and the economy of large swaths of the midwest if automakers were to fail is probably true. This does not necessarily suggest that we need a bailout in exactly its current form, but it's nevertheless a reasonable prediction to make. However, this is just the prelude. From here on out, it gets much more emotional.

His first unwarranted potshot is at professors. Because so many of the opponents of the bailout are academics, it behooves him to discredit them. He can hardly call into question the credentials of such a large number of highly known experts in the field of economics, and so his next option is simply to dismiss them as pampered ivory tower layabouts who are afraid to get their hands dirty. As any of the many academics I am acquainted with can readily demonstrate, 6 hours in the classroom is only a small portion of university life - something Mr. Stein surely knows well, having been a professor himself.

Furthermore, he draws a completely spurious correlation between the situations of university professors and auto workers by claiming that because university professors work less than 40 hours per week, and that their jobs are not generally physically strenuous, they are somehow receiving a bailout. Even if his claims about their work hours were accurate, it's simply a ridiculous comparison. Paying employees via salary as opposed to paying employees by time clock has absolutely nothing in common with handing a private corporation $15 billion of public money because said corporation can't keep itself afloat. But it doesn't sound good when we talk about giving large corporations lots of tax money, and so he has to bring it down to the individual level - even if that means painting a rigid portrait of the world in which white-collar workers are immediately suspect.

The next part of the discussion gets even worse. He trots out a laundry list of places US tax money goes - the Wall Street bailout, warlords in Afghanistan, etc. He claims that because we have spent money in these places, we surely can find it in our hearts to spend it on our own brothers in Detroit! But this argument is based on a shaky house of cards. Perhaps if most of us supported the Wall Street bailout, or sending money to Somalia, or wasting it on a host of other ridiculous projects, this appeal might have some merit. But most people don't believe that's a good use of money. In fact, he doesn't appear to believe it's a good use of money either. And so the real lesson one should draw from that is that we need to stop wasting money - not that these past mistakes place us under an obligation to make more. Such an arguments is no better than a child demanding that his parents deliberately make the same mistakes as they might have made raising a wayward older sibling, just so that things will be "fair."

There is also absolutely no rationale other than an emotional one for the argument that automakers deserve to be bailed out simply because many of their workers are the children or grandchildren of WWII veterans. Dr. Shiblon and I are grandchildren of WWII veterans also. And yet, when he worked for innumerable internet companies that went bust, no one seemed to believe that we needed a bailout. They had poor business plans, they couldn't make money, and we had to eat beans and look for new jobs. The merit of being a WWII veteran might apply to my late grandfathers, but claiming that I, or any other grandchild of a veteran, deserves special compensation because of it, smacks of aristocracy. Furthermore, I'm sure at least some of the auto workers and plenty of the soldiers fighting today are descendants of those same Germans or Japanese that Mr. Stein is so angry about having helped after WWII. Does he propose leaving them out of the bailout plan?

And finally, speaking of business plans, Mr. Stein appears to be laboring under some delusion about American-made cars. He seeks to place the blame for the collapse of the auto industry on many shoulders - practically anywhere, so long as it doesn't rest on the heads of the people actually in charge of making the industry work. The reason for this is apparent - he himself likes American cars. In fact, he likes them so much that he abandons all reason when it comes to discussing them.

It's not hard to see why. If I had a Corvette, I'd probably like it too. But most people aren't driving Corvettes, or Cadillacs, or Mercedes, BMWs, or Jaguars like he is. Most of us are driving minivans or economy cars. And while I'm sure that his Cadillac can probably beat up my Sienna, more equal comparisons tend to come out much closer - and I'm afraid the foreign cars often win. Furthermore, while I'm pleased that he receives such excellent service from his car dealerships, he seems to have forgotten that those are generally independently owned - which is why I've gotten both the best and worst service of my life from different Saturn dealerships. It certainly has nothing to do with Detroit or the guys on the line there - once again, it's an emotional, patriotic argument that things are automatically better when they're American. I'm pleased, however, that my ownership of a foreign car makes me cool, although I'm tolerably certain that my driver's license says Pennsylvania and not New York. I'll have to tell my younger sister that my minivan is actually hip.

And frankly, I'm a little bit disturbed by other parts of his discussion on American cars. I'm not sure where he commutes, but if he has truly needed his powerful Cadillac engine and Corvette brakes to literally save his life many times, perhaps he needs to examine his driving habits. Personally, I find it useful to employ a nifty technique known as defensive driving. Maybe Mater can teach him a few tricks with those shiny things on the sides of his door.

Finally, we come to the part of his argument that is so absurd, it's laughable. Almost every sentence contains a fallacious argument, with the paragraph building towards his big finish. Let's look at them one at a time. First is the argument that we shouldn't be angry at the auto execs because they make miserable pay by Wall Street Standards, and have much harder jobs. I'm not exactly sure how their jobs are harder - surely they're not out on the line riveting. But even if they are, having pay that's "miserable" by Wall Street standards is hardly a sob story. These guys flew to their bailout hearings on private jets. That alone is reason to be angry - it's even more so because it was by no means an isolated event. Rather, it was indicative of the way things have been for a long time.

Next he says that none of this is the union's fault, because they had no way of predicting roller-coaster gas prices. That's interesting, given that many people did predict roller-coaster gas prices. Of course, the people doing the predicting were those darn untrustworthy academics. But really, even if gas prices were an utter shock, it still doesn't mean that any businesses affected deserve a bailout. No one offered us a pay raise when the price of groceries skyrocketed. No one is offering bailouts to other companies affected by gas prices (note: that would be all of them). Failure to plan for unexpected bumps in the road is bad business, and expecting the government to step in and save us from ourselves is nothing more than a lack of personal responsibility.

Eventually, he hits his climax. The unions fight our wars! (They do?) They maintain our middle class lifestyle! (No, loose credit requirements did that, and it got us into trouble). The execs get paid a lot, but they give back! (I'm guessing that their workers without health insurance might disagree). And finally, we, the American people, need to show some fairness to our brothers and sisters!

I don't believe that the auto workers deserve to lose their jobs. Seeing hardworking individuals lose their jobs because of circumstances that are not their fault is always painful. However, harsh as it sounds, I also don't believe that anyone deserves to have their private industry job guaranteed by the government, no matter what their merits. So while it may be true that the bailout, in some form, will be better for the economy in the long run, I can't argue for it from a philosophical perspective. It simply doesn't go along with the principles of freedom or personal responsibility that I espouse. And so I find arguments such as these disturbing, because as they play on our emotions, they also downplay our intellect. By telling us that these things are not our fault, are not anyone's fault, by manipulating us into feeling good about what he wants us to do rather than encouraging us to make decision based on real information, and by demeaning anyone who disagrees with him, he helps ensure that we will continue to make the same mistakes again, and again, and again.

This column by Michelle Singletary for The Washington Post has a lot more good commentary on the bailouts. In fact, I highly recommend pretty much everything she has to say about money and debt.

The House that Chris Built.

2008-12-31T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is the house we bought. We got a great deal, it's in a fantastic neighborhood, and it's really in good shape. Nevertheless, it's an old house, and it hasn't been updated decor-wise since the 1970's (in some parts, the 1950's!). We have a lot of work to do. We're looking forward to it!

The front, soon to be relandscaped.

A side view with part of the addition.

And the rest of the addition. Why, oh, why, is the roof flat?

Obviously in great need of paint and new flooring!

A New Pay Scale

2008-12-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

I think Google should implement this at work. Chris could stop going to work completely and still draw half his salary.

Anyone with me on this?

Lunchtime Chatter

2008-12-10T07:39:00.001-08:00

Overheard at the lunch table today:

Grace: "What the heck! What the heck!" (momentary pause) "What is a heck?"

Catherine: "It's a circle. A heck is a circle." (Are there nine?)

Grace: "I can't draw that. Can you help me?"

Catherine: "Sure. Do you want a tree heck?"

Grace: "Yes, with a bird in it!"

And now Mom and Dad are off to get their mouths washed out with soap.

Update on Proposition 8 - Bits and Pieces

2008-11-15T07:35:00.001-08:00

Update on the update: Apparently the controversy over the ads is the claim that the LDS Church secretly paid for them out of church funds, that they weren't actually donor-funded. I really don't know how to respond to that except with a big eyeroll.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven't already done so, you might want to read The Blame Game first. I wrote that several days ago, and this is just an update as things unfold further.

The Washington Post had an interesting article on the continuing nastiness over Prop 8. In the interest of fairness I'd like to point out that the leaders of the larger gay rights groups have condemned the anthrax hoax. Now if they'd just condemn the rioting outside the Oakland Temple or the Daily Kos' use of a website listing the name and address of every Mormon voter who contributed to Prop 8.

There are also a couple of allegations at the bottom of the article that I'd like to address. The first is that the LDS Church organized phone banks from Utah and Idaho. My understanding is that those phone banks were run by university students attending school away from home who are legal California residents, making it entirely legitimate for the to be campaigning.

The second regards television and radio ads. Unfortunately I haven't been able to dig up a great deal of information on those yet. I will keep trying, and post anything I can find.

Finally, I'd like to address the idea that it was inappropriate for the LDS Church to enter the debate.

The purpose of democracy is to allow the members of a community to participate in decisions that might affect them. Marriage laws affect the LDS Church as a whole and its members as individuals. Therefore the LDS Church should be allowed to participate in the discussion surrounding the creation of those laws.

Lest anyone forget, the LDS Church has been subject in the past to laws regarding the way their members practiced marriage. Polygamy was outlawed for the sole purpose of preventing members of the church from practicing it. That law still stands, we abide by it, and it's generally accepted as reasonable that we accept that restriction placed upon our practice of marriage. If the LDS Church can be required to accept said restrictions on their practice of religion where it intersects with marriage because it has been debated in the political arena and passed into law, then it seems utterly reasonable that they should be permitted a voice in that same political arena with regards to other marriage practices.

There's also some concern and some precedent for the church to be worried about losing their ability to prohibit homosexual practices even among their members. The Average Joel has an interesting commentary on the clash between the 1st and 14th amendments. He's said it well, so I won't elaborate too much more here.

I would like to point out in closing though, that I find the idea that one should not express one's religious beliefs in any sort of public arena to be ridiculous. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the LDS Church on Prop 8, it remains entirely inappropriate to target the church and its members because of their lawful expression of those beliefs.

As always, these are my opinions. I don't speak for the LDS Church, California voters, or anyone else.

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

I had planned to post some pictures of us at Corregidor, but I haven't finished uploading them yet. So instead, I offer you this link in memory of the brave Filipino and American forces who fought under unthinkable conditions.

This poem is is inscribed on the Pacific War Memorial there:

"Sleep, my sons, your duty done,

for Freedom's light has come;

sleep in the silent depths of the sea,

or in your hallowed bed of sod,

until you hear at dawn

the low, clear reveille of God."

The Blame Game

2008-11-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Two young men in dark suits stroll through a quiet suburban neighborhood. Looking purposeful, they stride up to the door of a well-kept home and knock. "Hello, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" they proclaim, as they shove their way into the home. They proceed to verbally and physically assault the women inside, before leaving with stolen property.

This is the summary of "Home Invasion," an anti-Mormon video ad produced by opponents of Proposition 8. The video is disturbing enough. But the really disturbing part is that it's an accurate representation of the tenor of discourse over Prop 8, and the torrent of hatred being directed at the LDS church and its' members in California.

Take, for example, the protests outside of many LDS temples. The protests have been so large and unruly that members of the church haven't been able to get to the temple - they have been physically prevented from exercising their beliefs. That sounds an awful lot like the video described above - only the video isn't real.

Then there's this comment from San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty. "The Mormon Church has had to rely on our tolerance in the past, to be able to express their beliefs. This is a huge mistake for them. It looks like they've forgotten some lessons." Perhaps the lessons Mr. Dufty is referring to is the one where Mormons were driven west because their prophet was murdered, their women raped, and their families driven from their homes and left to die in the winter. The cessation of such activities is really the barest minimum of what I'd call "tolerance" - and to equate such activities with the actions of LDS citizens peaceably going to the polls and participating in a democratic process is ludicrous. I might further contrast the activities of Latter-Day Saints with the temple protesters by pointing out that members of the LDS church have never assembled around courthouses en masse and physically prevent homosexual couples from getting married.

Consider this: the LDS church did not spend so much as one dollar on the Proposition 8 campaign. It's true, members were urged to support Proposition 8. But the money spent was private money, the votes cast were from individual citizens, and no one in the church was forced to vote, donate, or even agree. (Yes Virginia, some California Mormons voted against Proposition 8). So the allegations that the church "bought" the election are ridiculous and slanderous. Plenty of churches urged their members to donate and vote against Proposition 8 - did they try to buy the election too?

Furthermore, LDS voters make up about 4% of the total voting populace in California. Even if they all voted, and voted the same way, there's simply no way that Proposition 8 would have passed without support from a wide variety of other groups. In fact, other churches did contribute official funds, as well as urging members to vote for Prop 8. It's even possible to argue that Senator Biden contributed to its passage after stating in the vice presidential debate that he and Barack Obama support civil unions but do not support the use of the term "marriage" to describe the union of a gay couple (interestingly, this is the same position the LDS church takes). But anyone who told President-elect Obama that he had "forgotten some lessons" would be (rightfully) labeled a bigot.

It's almost certain that we haven't seen the end of this issue. It will likely end up in the courts, where my personal prediction is that Proposition 8 will be struck down. If and when that happens, the LDS church will expect its' members to abide by the law in any way that it pertains to them, just as they expect members to practice tolerance and kindness now. It's disheartening that we can't expect the same respect.

Some further reads:

Official LDS church statement regarding Proposition 8

Statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento

Please note also that this blog contains my own thoughts. I don't speak for the LDS church.

Also please note that moderation is not turned on. I welcome comments, even if you disagree with me, but I will delete anything that is profane or mindlessly nasty. (Assuming anyone is reading, of course).

Halloween

2008-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures. I know it was only a week ago, but this time of year, as soon as one holiday is over, you've got to start looking to the next one, or you'll miss it completely.

Grace does her best work naked.

Catherine, on the other hand, just gets Mom to do it for her.

You can never have too many pumpkins.

We ate ours for dinner.

And then headed out to load up on SUGAR!

I'm not sure how many trick or treaters we got. We had a huge bowl of candy but I did see some parents scooping fistfuls into their kids' bags while I was talking with our neighbors. Since trick or treating is only allowed until 7:30 (chalk it up to the PA governing philosophy of More Rules Are Better Rules) people get kind of frantic around 7:15.

2008-11-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

I just read an interesting post about New Hampshire's apparent plan to try and have students ready for college by age 16. This has long been a fairly accepted practice in the homeschooling community - many, many homeschooled children start taking at least a few classes at community colleges at around age 16. I think it's an intriguing prospect that could be beneficial for a lot of bright kids.

Hopefully they've also thought about ways to avoid making 11th and 12th grade a dumping ground for kids who aren't ready.

The first post is always lame.

2008-11-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm sure your first post wasn't lame. Maybe you could write mine for me. No? Well perhaps I should do the obligatory introduction. I'm sure I'll write about anything and everything but some of my passions are politics, homeschooling, and cooking, so you'll probably be reading about those often. Of course you're also welcome to ignore everything I write and visit just to peek at pictures of the kids. They're the star attractions anyhow.