Naturally Molly

unsettled and obsessive

2012-01-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Modeling my new shirt that I made from $1 worth of fabric from FabMo.

Lately I've been reading up on my personality type. It all stemmed from a lovely date night at the Cheesecake Factory with Erica and Alan (Thank you, Secret Santa!). We were talking about our zodiac signs, about which I know nothing. Erica looked up the descriptions on her phone. She and Alan are cancers and fit the description to a tee. I'm a Libra and seemed to fit mine quite well, too. Christian is a scorpio and the description didn't really fit him at all. So I turned to good old Myers-Briggs. Besides, being the logical of logicals, I find it hard to believe that people born under the same moon are lumped together. Where's the science behind that?

Anyway, my Myers-Briggs type is ESFJ (which I can't remember for the life of me). It's almost scary how well the type description describes me. I'm a guardian provider. I want to make sure everyone is happy, that conflict is resolved, able to speak publicly with ease, friendly, outgoing, easily offended by indifference, cherish family traditions, sensitive to the feelings of others, practical, like to talk and give my opinion too much, organized, teacher. This is me--to a fault. (ESFJs make up about 13% of the population.)

So the whole point of this post is to talk about one big part of the ESFJ: I thrive on resolution. If it's not settled, I'm unsettled. I want to be sure people understand what I've tried to convey. I left a comment on a blog just before doing yoga this morning, then realized after my shower that it didn't say everything I wanted to, so I added a quick addendum as I ran out the door, but realized in the car that I still hadn't said what I needed to. It was unresolved. I kept going over it in my head. Did everyone understand what I meant? Are we all on the same page? I need to go back and clarify! It needs to be clear!

It took everything in me not to go back and post more. Seriously--I already had left 3 comments. I'd look like I was obsessed with the blog. In reality, I'm obsessed with whether what I write is clear, not the blog itself. I had to remind myself: Who cares if strangers on a blog misunderstood what I was saying about fashion? (Speaking of fashion, don't you love my new shirt? Being broke doesn't mean I can't have cute clothes!) Really. Who cares? So I exercised restraint. It took me hours to be okay with not going back and posting more.

This is my life. If it's unresolved, I can't think about anything else. I need resolution. I need clarity. This drives me insane, and it probably drives everyone I know insane, too. But I'm exercising restraint. You won't get the best of me, ESFJ! I'm in charge here! I own you!

(On a completely unrelated note, I may or may not have gone back and added more comments after I wrote this post...)

2012 Goals

2012-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here are my goals for 2012:

Beat my brother in this competition. Actually, Tyler isn't even part of the competition. (Lucky for everyone involved, too. Tyler doesn't lose competitions. Case in point: He took laxatives to win the weight loss competition at his work, and he was probably the only one in the competition who didn't even need to lose weight.) I entered the original competition knowing full well that I couldn't win. Points for hours of exercise? I can't spend 3 hours at the gym. I can't even fit one full hour of exercise into my day. And there are girls in the competition who are breastfeeding and shedding baby weight like there's no tomorrow. I can't compete with that. So I'm in it solely for the trash talking and motivation to work out. But Tyler and I have a competition going on the side, and it's a fixed number of pounds. First one there wins. I've considered lying to him about my weight loss along the way and then one day BAM--I WIN! Alas, I am incapable of lying.
Post more pictures of myself on my blog. How's that for narcissistic? (Man, that word is so fun to say.) Actually, I've noticed that I love reading the blogs of my friends who post pictures of themselves often. I keep in touch with many people via blogs. If I can't see them in person, it's at least nice to see their face when I'm reading their words.
Run a race. And make it a good one. It seems practically no one wants to run The Relay with us. Everyone seems to be on "Team Ragnar." Well this girl is on "Team Relay." It's war. If you could have wine country AND the Golden Gate Bridge AND the Santa Cruz Mountains AND a finish on the beach, why would you settle for only the first two? I mean, who would pick a pastey vampire over a hunky werewolf? (Back up races: RunSFM, a Pacific Coast Trail Run, or a triathlon.)
Send letters in the mail. This is actually already on my weekly to-do list (slated for Sundays) but it never gets to-done. Don't you love getting real letters and cards in the mail? It brightens my day.
Be happy with whatever happens. That's my big goal this year. Be happy no matter what. Because, you know, being happy is a choice. Go read this month's message from the leaders of our church (even if you are not part of our church): http://lds.org/liahona/2012/01/living-the-abundant-life?lang=eng . Really. Go read it now. "We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails... may we a choose positive attitude."

How's that for a hearty list of goals? I think I can accomplish them. (Well, except maybe #1. That guy is serious competition.)

What are your goals for 2012?

on being broke, filing taxes, and running races

2012-01-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

I have this spreadsheet. When we get really low on money, I sit down and fill it all in. The spreadsheet would nauseate most people, but I love it. (Except when it causes a panic attack. Then I hate it.)

My spreadsheet projects all our income and expenses for the next 6 months. When we spend money, I enter it in and see how it will affect the balance 6 months down the road. I can see what times of the month it will dip into the negative and adjust accordingly to always keep our account in the positive. So even though it may look like we can afford to go out to dinner this week, that dinner may put us in the negative 3 months down the road. Trust me--I'll know.

We've gone through periods like this before, and it always sucks. While I actually welcome the challenge to be frugal (it's a character trait I'd love to master sometime before I die...), what really sucks is having to constantly tell people you can't afford it.

"I'd love to sign up for that fitness class with you, but it's not in the budget."

"Yes, those pants would look awesome, and they are on sale, but they are still not in the budget."

"We would love to join you for dinner, but it's just not in the budget."

So if I tell you that we don't have enough money for something, please don't think I'm asking for your pity. I'm just being honest. We knew that having Christian work (and consequently paying a babysitter to watch both our boys) would be a huge drain on our finances, but we also knew that the only way to get him to a job that could support us all was to make that sacrifice and pay our dues (quite literally).

{Dear thieves: Our savings have run out and we are broke. Don't even bother with us. We're not worth your time.}

I've never been a huge shopper. I don't drool over upcoming Nordstrom sales. I don't have a million pair of shoes. We don't belong to a gym. We aren't foodies who spend a ton of money at restaurants or on gourmet cooking ingredients. I'd say the two things I most enjoy spending money on are (1) travel and (2) races. {Correction: I hate paying the race fees, but I love running the races.} It's easy to cut out travel since the $$ adds up fast on any vacation, but races are my goals--my motivation to work out. I'm going through withdrawals, because my last race was in September and I have nothing on the calendar for all of 2012. It's depressing.

However, it is tax season. And that normally means we get a good chunk of money back. I've said it before, and I'll say it again--I don't care if I'm paying the federal government too much money and they are earning interest on it until I get it back when I file my taxes. Trust me--if it had been in my hands, I would have spent it on that fitness class, bought those pants, and gone out to dinner. Then taken a weekend in Tahoe and signed up for a couple races. No, I welcome the forced savings account, especially when we're broke and working hard to make ends meet.

So I'm chomping at the bit to do our taxes. We'll put a chunk in savings, bulk up our bank accounts so I can take my eye off my ~~blasted~~ beloved spreadsheet for a while, and then I'm signing up for this...

I've been wanting to run this race for years, and my wonderful friend Erica is on board with me this year. So I've decided that this is my treat this year. This is my splurge. It's $80/person. Who's with me? Who wants in??

santa

2011-12-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

I know you want to remain anonymous, but thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Graham is currently using one of the gift cards as a phone. Liam is chewing on another. They say thanks, too.

We are overwhelmed with gratitude.

Thank you.

Love, the Aufdermauers

supermom

2011-12-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Liam is weaned off formula and the bottle.
Graham and Liam are off pacifiers (except car and sleeping).
The kitchen is reorganized.
My clothes have been sorted and purged.
I made an impromptu trip to the city yesterday with the boys.
The house is still a mess.
I have yet to actually make dinner this week.

Okay, okay. Being home on winter break hasn't turned me into Supermom, but at least I get to put all the baby bottle stuff in storage! Oh man. I'm excited about that.

Time off is AWESOME!

did you know?

2011-12-02T10:16:00.001-08:00

Did you know that you can search the content of a blog using the little search field in the upper left corner?

I always thought that was a general internet search. It's not. It's specific to the blog you're viewing.

You know when you saw something on a blog and you can't find it and you spend 20 minutes going through their blog history trying to guess which post it was in? Oh wait. Was I the only person doing that? I am holding you all personally responsible for not telling me this sooner.

Go ahead and try it. Search for something funny like "butt" or "snots" or "punch-face."

My life just got 10% better.

Christmas gift for the man

2011-11-21T22:27:00.001-08:00

I made these for Christian a few years back. He loves them. I love them. And he gets compliments on them every time he wears them. I liked them but didn't realize other people would, too!

So this year I'm making some for you! Nuts and Bolts Cufflinks: $10/pair

Sure, you could make them yourself, but be realistic. Will you ever get to it? With all the Christmas shopping you need to do? Making 6 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange? Decorating your house? Attending fifty billion holiday parties?

You don't have time.

Just buy them. I'll even ship them to you for free*.

Let me know if you want some. They make the perfect stocking stuffer.

*Regular USPS mail. If you want them faster, you can cover the extra shipping, which probably wouldn't be much since they are light weight.

nature, nurture, and soul

2011-11-21T12:25:00.001-08:00

"We all reach a point where we take nature and nurture and soul and decide who we really are and what we want to continue to be or what we want to change."

-My friend, Shannon Booher

Shannon wrote this in her blog today. She is writing about her brother, who happens to be adopted. This is perhaps the most powerful sentence I've heard all week. I love it.

Happy Adoption Awareness Month, everyone!

there's vomit in my hair

2011-11-16T22:54:00.000-08:00

Liam has thrown up at least once a day for a week. It doesn't seem to be contagious, judging by the fact that no one else has gotten sick.

I think he throws up in order to score more tub time.

Last night he threw up all over me. I've gotten used to it. I was so tired that I changed my clothes, washed my arms with a wash cloth, gave him a quick bath, and went to bed, ignoring the bit of vomit that had found its way into my hair.

This morning I was about to get in the shower when I remembered that I had a dentist appointment in 30 minutes... 45 minutes from my house. I threw on clothes, brushed my teeth, and ran out the door without showering.

I still have vomit in my hair. And I'm going to bed.

letters to my mom: part 2 of 2

2011-11-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

On to note #2...

This note I wrote on my own. Looks like it was March of 2001, so I was 19 years old, living at Liberty Square, which was the next logical step after the dorms, right? How do I know it was 2001? I mentioned that Tiffany gave a free concert at BYU. Ah, memories.

My mom had just sent me (and probably my sisters) a list of her top 10 qualities to look for in a spouse. Not that she was pressuring us to get married--we were never pressured to get married or have babies by our parents. I was always grateful for this when my friends would complain about family pressure. So in response, I sent her the top 10 12 qualities I'd want in my future husband (which, naturally, I wrote before I looked at her list, lest I be swayed by her opinions). Here they are:

Great sense of humor but not too sarcastic
Shares my religious views
Likes children
Goal-oriented
Taller than me, fit
Athletic, likes outdoors
Great singing voice
Outgoing
Very accepting of people different than him
Strong testimony
Comfortable w/ talking out problems
Cares about his appearance

Looks like I did a pretty good job with Christian, eh? Turns out it doesn't actually matter if your husband can serenade you. He sings next to me at church and holds a decent tune. ;) That's good enough to check off #7. Check. Check. Check.

What would I add to the list now?

Patient
Able to admit when he's wrong
Trustworthy
Able to look on the bright side of life

And a note to my 19-year-old self to be all these things if I wanted to find a partner with these qualities.

notes to my mom: part 1 of 1

2011-11-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

I'm lucky enough to have my mom come babysit my boys once a week. They are so excited when she arrives in the morning (and so am I). However, I never seem to get to work on time those mornings. Christian says I get my chatting skills from my mom... But getting to work late is sooo worth it.

My mom has been reading Unstuff Your Life and seems to be on a de-cluttering rampage. (If she didn't already watch my boys and do my dishes for free--and if I were actually at home for any given period of time--I'd ask her to help me de-clutter my house.)

In all her decluttering, she found some old notes from me to her.

No idea why the photo is sideways

The first was written when I was 12. It is undoubtedly the result of a Young Women's activity (Young Women is the girls' youth organization in my church). What gave it away? Flowery stationary, churchy stickers, and a list of reasons I admire my mom...written in January (nowhere near her birthday or mother's day). I love my mom, but I wasn't one to write notes like this other than on special occasions or when prompted by church activities. Even so, the words are sincere.

Let's look at what I admired about my mom:

I admire the way you seem to always know where things are, when I think that I have already looked everywhere. I still lose everything. Just ask Christian. I never know where my keys/phone/running shoes are.
I also admire the way you keep your room so nice, neat, and tidy. It's never dirty. My room is never nice, neat, and tidy.
And you can do the dishes so fast. I am slow. Slow, slow, slow. It still takes me forever to clean or do the dishes or do just about anything. How do people do things quickly?
Also, you do a wonderful job of putting on your make-up. I[t] is such a good job that you can't tell that you really have any make-up on. This is a skill, people. My mom always looks nice, but in a natural way. She doesn't look "done up." I, on the other hand, am too lazy to put on make-up half the time. On those days, I just pretend I look good and avoid mirrors...
P.S. I love the way you cook. P.S. I don't like to cook.

I went on to write, "I hope that in the next week's time you can help me to improve these qualities in myself." (Note the correct usage of "myself." I can guarantee that 12-year-old me knew how to use "myself" correctly.) Is it funny or sad that 17 years later I haven't figured out how to do these things? I obviously still need my mom to help me do my dishes and keep my room clean...

What would I add to the list now?

How outgoing she is.
Her confidence.
How willing she is to help all her children with just about anything.
Her gardening skills.
Her decorating style.
Her furniture refinishing skills.
Her affinity for reading good books.
That she's not afraid to go to the movies alone (and does so quite often).
That she always has something interesting to talk about.
That she exercises regularly and has healthy eating habits.
That she remembers everything that's going on in our lives even when I can't even keep track of it myself.
I could go on...

Stay tuned for part 2 to see the list the qualities my 19-year-old self wanted in a future husband...

i have big hair

2011-11-08T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have big hair. My sisters used to make fun of my frizzy hair. The boys at church would throw tiny balled up pieces of paper into it. I'm not scarred by these things. I'm pretty sure I laughed with my sisters and loved the attention from the boys. We were old enough that they were my friends.

But my hair has never been curly. Just poofy. I've tried straightening it, but that just looks silly on me. I usually just wear it up.

According to many people, I have great hair, because it holds curl well and it's nice and thick. But who has time to curl their hair? And who even WANTS to have to curl their hair every day? Not me, says the low-maintenance girl with the ponytail.

And I never understood products that claimed to "lift" and "boost" your roots. The last thing my hair needed was a boost.

But I was wrong. Oh, I was wrong.

Last weekend I decided that if my hair wanted to be big, I would embrace it. So I boosted those roots and wore it BIG. Christian called me a lion.

I took a ton of pictures of myself in an attempt to show how big it was. None of the photos did it justice (hence the reason I took at least 20). I deleted most of them, because they looked like I was taking a picture of myself and trying to look all cute. I was just trying to show how big my hair was without having a stupid look on my face.

So after all taking billions of photos of myself (and feeling stupid in the process), Carly was actually the one who snapped a good one. So I stole it from her blog. But by then the top had fallen. I've got to master the art of maintaining the lion. Roar.

Go big or go home, right? Right.

how do you de-stress?

2011-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Source

Here's a good question for all of us: How exactly do you de-stress?

Do you exercise?
Meditate?
Sit around and watch TV? Movies?
Read blogs?
Drink hot chocolate? Tea?
Go shopping?
Pray?
Make lists?
Read?
Clean?
Talk it out?
Sleep?
Simplify your life?
Create with your hands?

And does it work? Or do you feel like you're trying to de-stress and it's not really working?

When you already have a million things to do during the day, how do you find time for "stress relieving" activities?

These are my de-stressers (in no particular order, except for the first one):

getting enough sleep
crafting
running with friends (running alone only if it's on a beautiful trail)
long bike rides in beautiful places (alone or with a friend)
shopping with Christian (shopping alone bores me)
listening to music (hymns, Christmas, brit pop--for some reason brit pop falls in that same destressing category)
turning the TV off
being outside
laughing with friends

Your turn. What de-stressors are most effective for you?

mcdonalds

2011-11-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Sat in ridiculous traffic on the way to pick up the boys.

Got home and realized I was locked out.

Boys crying.

Took them to McDonalds until Christian could get home.

Graham pooped at McDonalds.

How do you change a 2-year-old's diaper at McDonalds when you are alone and also have a 10-month-old?

You pull the high chair into the bathroom.

How do you guys do it??

birdies

2011-11-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

Owls. Birdies. Either way, they were adorable.

We were going to trick-or-treat with a big group of friends, but decided at the last minute to make it a family affair and went with Ashley and Tyler's kids and my parents.

So many cute little boys!

Charlie and Max's penguin toys were a hit.

Graham's favorite house had this cool light. He wanted to stay there all night.

Birds of a feather...

In his nest.

And I quote, "This is why I'm medicated."

Melts my heart.

How did I think I could go trick or treating alone with my boys?? Never would have worked. So glad I had my mom there.

Such a big boy.

Chillin.

Trick-or-treat, Panda! (Who says you can't trick-or-treat at your own house?)

Lake Tahoe Half Marathon

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to run this race for YEARS. I finally buckled down last year and signed up. All by myself. Then I got pregnant (fully on purpose, mind you--but faster than expected). No problem, I thought, I'll just do a walk-run. Then I ended up on bed rest. Blast it all!

So this year I was determined. I got half off the (outrageous) registration fee since I had to drop out last year for medical reasons.

And do you know what? I actually trained hard for this race.

So let me tell you about it...

See this photo of the race start?

Do you see me?

No?

Oh, that's because I wasn't there. I was mixed up about the starting area and was standing near a water stop at the halfway mark of the marathon course with a bunch of other people. The policemen manning the area told me they thought the half marathon started there. As the minutes ticked by and no one seemed to be organizing a start line, I started getting nervous and did a little more asking around. I was in the wrong place! Turns out the start for the half was almost a quarter mile up the side street behind me! We turned to head up the street, and BANG! Off went the start gun in the distance. I wanted to curse the policemen, but it was my fault for not asking the right people. So I started running up the hill toward the start only to be met by a huge crowd of people running down. So I just stood there until half of them ran by, and then turned around and joined them. Easy enough.

However, running UP a steep hill at 6300' elevation trying to get to the start line is not the best way to start a race. By the time I turned around to come back down with them, I could barely breathe. BUT, I realized later in the race, this was the only time I even noticed the elevation. I guess I got it out of my system in the first 3 minutes of the race.

Moving on.

Mile 1-2: Flat/down hill and gorgeous. Rubicon to the base of the "hill from hell." Christian, Graham, and Liam made the best cheering crew ever.

Mile 2-3.5: Up the "Hill from Hell." This is a 1.5 mile hill that climbs from 6300-6800 feet (up to the entrance of Bliss Park). This was practically the best part of the race. I passed people THE ENTIRE TIME. No joke. I guess training at Rancho San Antonio was a good idea. I think maybe 6 or 7 people passed me, while I passed at least 50 people. I didn't notice the altitude AT ALL. I'm pretty sure I was in shock when I reached the top. I'm not normally the one doing the passing in races. Talk about feeling good! And my cheering crew was at the top waiting for me!

Mile 3.5-5.5: Down to Emerald Bay. Absolutely beautiful.

Mile 5.5-6.5: Up, up, up to the other side of Emerald Bay. I definitely started feeling it here, but I kept chugging along.

Don't I look great here? That's on purpose. The other 8 race photos showed what I really looked like. This one is deceptively flattering, so, of course, I'm going to pretend that's how I looked the whole time. :) ("Borrowed" from the race photography site. Don't judge.)

Now let me tell you something. When you have all the difficult hills in the first half of a race, by the time you reach the halfway point, you feel like you've conquered everything. And then you remember that you still have 6.5 FREAKING MILES TO GO!

Shoot me now.

Mile 6.5 to 8.5 or 9 or something: Down, down, down, down. And did I mention down?

Mile 9-ish to who knows what: More or less flat. Oh my gosh. It was never going to end.

Mile 10.5: Water stop where some girls were telling everyone they only had 2 miles to go. I knew we were far from the 2-mile mark. I wanted to slap them. But slapping little girls is really not nice. Maybe I should have slapped their parents who told the girls that they were 2 miles from the end.

Mile 12: I gave in a took a little walking break. Give me hills over flat any day!

FINISH! Then I got to hang out with my cheering crew on the beach. I love them.

Oh my gosh I hurt by the end. But it was so worth it. I'd love to run it again in the future, but this time I'll remember to train for more than just the hills.

I love Tahoe!

crushing

2011-10-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Crushing on this area rug.

If only I had $1800 lying around somewhere.

Actually, even if I had $1800 lying around, I'm not sure I could spend that much money on a rug.

What a waste of money.

But it's mesmerizing. Crushing anyway.

mustache guide

2011-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Fu Manchu or Horseshoe. I guess that's technically what was growing on Christian's face. He said that the other night. I just wasn't paying attention.

In honor of my husband's face and all husbands around the world who are forced to shave off their 'staches, I present you with the mustache guides:

Famous Mustaches

{source}

Style Guide

{Source}

Typestaches

{source}

The 20 Manliest Mustaches and Beards in History

Brigham Young and Santa Claus make the list. As they should. Check it out.

{source}

The Trustworthiness of Beards

My favorite guide. Definitely click to see this one bigger. Note that the Horseshoe falls under "Unsavory" which is dangerously close to "Threatening." Although the lone goatee is only one step below that. Really? Good thing he's normally a scruffy full beard, which beats even Santa Claus in trustworthiness Phew.

{source--everything on this page is amusing}

handlebars

2011-10-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

When I woke up Christian this morning, he immediately got this funny smile on his face.

Christian doesn't wake up with a smile. Ever.

Then I saw this.

Handlebars.

He thought it was hilarious.

He went to work like that.

I couldn't even pay attention to anything he said to me today. I was too distracted laughing.

The molestache has got to go!

We are a house divided.

What's your vote?

camping with the babes

2011-10-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

If I could choose one place to be, it would be the mountains. Give me thick trees, soft forest trails, and babbling streams over sunny beaches any day. Just the thought of the mountains is comforting to me.

So, naturally, camping in the forest makes me so happy. So incredibly happy.

We went camping as a family for the first time a couple months back. Graham burned all 5 fingers on one hand within an hour of us getting to the camp site. (While we were vigilantly guarding the fire we were making, he grabbed the top of the lantern. Of course.) Graham proceeded to cry for the next 3 hours until he fell asleep from exhaustion. I mean, who WOULDN'T cry that much after burning all 5 fingers?? The poor, poor little guy. I was so stressed out all evening. I couldn't even hold a conversation until Graham fell asleep. And our neighbors who went camping with us were amazing and were totally patient and helpful and never made us feel like the trip was a bust due to our poor screaming child.

Luckily, the next morning he acted as if nothing had happened (despite the blisters that had appeared on his tiny little fingers). Graham LOVED exploring the campsite and huge redwood trees. Liam just watched everything in awe the entire time. I'm not sure he ever made a peep.

The second time we went camping there were no burnt fingers! Hurray!

We spent two nights at Memorial Park with a trip to a pumpkin patch on Highway 1 during the day. Despite the fact that the boys barely slept the second night due to the fact that they were coming down with colds (which we didn't figure out until on our way home), it was a wonderful trip. The boys sure love being outdoors and exploring. Graham even got to see his first banana slug. Slimy.

Christian showed Graham how to roast a marshmallow. Then Christian and I ate a few too many s'mores. Mmmmmm. That's the life, I tell ya. That's the life.

check it out

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Check out my sister's blog. It's gonna be a good one. It has been a rough year for her, so she's starting anew. Moving on. Embracing life as it is. In case you don't know my sister, now you can.

Ashley lives in an adorable little bungalow.

She'll be sharing all her house projects, from ripping out the garage roof to repainting her rooms to sewing curtains. And that's just this week's projects.

She's a landscape designer. She'll be sharing her gardening projects.

And did I mention that she cooks? Vegan and vegetarian food. You'll drool. {I did not inherit any of her cooking skills.}

Many of you know and adore Ashley, but those of you who don't can get to know her now! Go follow her!

christian's new job!

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Permanent employment. That's music to my ears.

Christian finished at Tesla just over a week ago (they had extended him a extra two weeks). He took the boys and me on a tour to commemorate his last day. This is my future car. Only mine is going to be black.

And a week ago today, he started as a full-time employee of Studio1204!

Studio1204 is a screen printing business owned and operated by Lindsay's parents. Christian is excited to become part of their team and learn more about the ins and outs of their business. (And--let's be frank--who wouldn't be excited to work with the people who raised Lindsay?)

As many of you know, Christian and Josh run Discrepancy Clothing in their spare time. (Spare time? Man. I don't think Christian has seen any of that recently.) Spare time or none, they manage to keep things going. Christian and Josh have spent plenty of time ~~struggling with~~ mastering small-scale screen printing for his clothing company, so walking into Studio1204 was like walking into a candy shop. (Or a churrascaria. Christian's not a huge candy fan.)

He's looking forward to working at a small company again. When he worked at AvaLAN, he was able to learn so much and gain experience in many different areas of business, and he's excited to be back in a similar learning environment!

On to the FAQs!

Is this a full-time job? Yes!
Is this a permanent/fixed position? Yes!
Does this mean you will get to stay home with the boys now? No. There is potential for Christian to grow in the company, but it looks like I will still be working for a long time. It's okay, though. Just knowing what to plan for and not being in limbo has been much easier to deal with than wondering if I'd be able to stay home with the boys any time soon. Am I disappointed that I won't get to stay home any time soon? Of course I am. But I'm not sulk about it. We have a good life!!
Is he going to keep looking for another job that would allow you to stay home? Not yet. We'd like to see what this position has in store for him. He'd like to gain the experience that a small company has to offer. We'd like a break from the job hunt! Do you have any idea how much stress that adds to a marriage? Plus, he's not interested in looking like a job hopper on his resume. Like I said--he'd like to put his energy into this position and see what becomes of it with time.
Did he quit Banana Republic? Nope. He'll be working at Studio1204 during the day and Banana nights and weekends. Lots of commuting. You do what you gotta do to pay the bills, right?
Do you get to keep your babysitter? Yes! Our boys will keep going to Rocio. We are so so so happy about this. My heart melts when Graham blows them kisses as we leave in the evening. Things work out for the best.
Are you guys excited about the new job? Ummm, do you like chocolate chip cookies?? Of course--YES!!

Christian will be commuting to the East Bay then hopping over the bridge for his shifts at Banana. I will be commuting up to Palo Alto (dropping the boys off and picking them up on the way), so we won't see each other much. But that's kind of the story of our lives. We've done it before and we'll do it again.

Ready.... GO!

spooktacular spectacular

2011-10-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about the Spooktacular Spectacular going on over at Ashley's blog? I hear the competition is getting fierce.

Well let me tell you what. There's a new girl in town. And she just whipped up her own entry in the Spooktacular Spectacular.

Oh my. Are those wooden crates? Yes, yes they are. And I already owned them.

A vintage suitcase on top of the wooden crates? Stop it. Seriously. Stop it.

Real, live spiders and cob webs on the vintage suitcase. I can see the competition trembling.

Heck, there was even a real, live spider running around on the wall behind my award-winning display. Spooktacular? Indeed.

Real, live pumpkins. Nothing fake here, ladies.

Real candles. With real flames.

The cutest Halloween figurines in the world. You only dream of having them in your display.

And what's that?

Oh my. A pièce de résistance?

Why, yes, ladies. That's a rooster dressed in a mask and cape. Chelsea's rooster.

Can I get a what what?

{Now I need to bring my decorations back inside. What? I don't have enough for inside and outside. What do you think I am? A girl who has an entire shed full of Halloween decorations? Sheesh.}

your goals

2011-10-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

photo source

I'm calling you out, ladies. How are your goals going? And those of you who didn't mention any goals a couple of months back, do you have any?

Julia: Finish photo-ing in November and ENJOY the holidays. Then throw a KICK-A birthday party for Quin. I know you've simplified your Fall schedule (I envy you), so now want to hear about your plans for this party...

Erica: Incorporating physical activity into your days and healthier eating options! Such good goals for all of us. What has been your favorite form of exercise so far?

Tamra: Doing well in school. No more 90% on assignments, right? You can do better than that. And training for the 15-miler?

Emma: 1 extra thing each day to make your life more pleasant. Crafts? Organizing? I want to hear what you've done!

Mara: Halloween costumes. Did you find any? And get on that scrapbook!

Holley: Getting out of debt so you can buy a mini van! How's that super fun process going? ;) Send me your tips for being frugal. I need all the help I can get right now.

Jenni: Having the cutest baby ever. Done and done!

As for me, I have been terrible at drinking water. Got to get back on that. The art is finally up on my bedroom walls! I stretched, stretched, stretched, and ran the Lake Tahoe Half Marathon. (Post on that coming as soon as I find my blasted camera cable.) Halloween decorations are up! (All 5 of them. I know. I need to build my collection.) Went to a pumpkin patch! (Pics coming soon... hopefully.) Still working on reeeeally loving my job. And my "being super fit by New Years" was going well, but seems to be in reverse now. Funny how that happens when you stop exercising and start eating cookies/cinnamon rolls/cake/fruit snacks. Weird, right? I know--I thought so, too. ;)

Also, what is your opinion on calling people out on a blog? No wait. Don't tell me. I don't want to know if you disapprove. Keep it to yourself.

How are your goals going?

my birthday day

2011-10-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

mmmmmm

I worked my butt off this week and finished everything pressing at work. And Thursday isn't even over yet. Booyah. So, I will have my day.

Tomorrow I plan to

go to the DMV and renew my license. Doesn't that sound fun? (Barf.)
not clean my house, because I plan to clean up tonight.
not look at work email.
drop the kids off with Christian while I go to my lunchtime Vaganova Ballet class at Stanford.
maybe get a little tour of Tesla since it's Christian's last day there. (PS--He will be starting a new job next week! More on that later.)
bake more bread.
eat said bread fresh out of the oven.
play with the boys all afternoon.
hang out with my sisters in the evening.

That sounds like a lovely birthday to me. I'm turning 30 and I think that sounds GREAT. I enjoyed my 20's immensely, and plan to enjoy my 30's just as much.

Do you love your birthday? Or do you moan and groan about turning a year older?

dreams are made for mixing

2011-10-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

I had the most amusing dream last night. I LOVE how aspects of my life are mixed and jumbled in my dreams. And this morning's dream was a pleasant mix of all things light and fluffy in my life right now. The stressful didn't even exist. Here you go...

First I opened the BBQ only to realize that I had accidentally set down my Design*Sponge book on it the night before and the outside was burnt to a crisp. Such a shame, because the cover is delightful. {I look at that book almost daily and last night I cooked tri tip on the grill. I don't cook red meat. It scares me. I was proud of myself. And it was raining. Kind of fun to grill with the rain falling just behind the BBQ. But, no, I don't normally grill books.}

photo source

Then I pulled up to the cutest little shop in San Francisco, carefully parallel parked {I pride myself on my backing up and parallel parking skills} and walked into the shop at the same time as Design*Sponge author Grace Bonney {Amy sent me a pic of them together at the SF book signing the other week}, who reminds me of someone who was in my ward my freshman year at BYU. Kerri--You remember people. Who am I thinking of?

The shop was the cutest boutique {very Therapy-esque} and an entire half was a super stylish hair salon! I was there to get my hair cut! {I've been thinking I need a trim lately and I got to hang out with Lindsey on Sunday}. While Design*Sponge Grace and I sat waiting for our hair cuts, we chatted away. I didn't let her know that I knew who she was. {Wouldn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, you know?} But I saw that she was holding her book and told her I had burnt the cover of mine to a crisp in the BBQ the night before. I guess it wasn't anything out of the ordinary to scorch a book on the grill by accident.

photo source

Then Meredith sat down next to us! Turns out she had a hair appointment, too. Then I was really excited, because if Meredith recommends the hair stylist, then I would totally trust her. Grace checked out Meredith's hair and agreed with me. {I was thinking about Meredith the other day when I was reading the comments on Hilary's blog.}

Photo stolen without permission from Meredith's Facebook

Suddenly it was my turn! Oh my gosh. I didn't even know what I wanted her to do with my hair! I thought it would be fun if it looked like the girl from the Blog About Love when it's all cute and fluffy, but, alas, I hadn't brought a picture to my appointment. Plus that kind of style takes work, and we all know I don't exactly spend time on my hair. {I started reading this blog last week after a link from Design Mom. Her hair must have made an impression on me.}

photo source

Just as I was about to have my hair done, I woke up to Christian's alarm. Boo.

But I had so much fun in that dream that I popped right out of bed ready to start the day. And glad my book wasn't burnt. And realizing I need a hair cut (here I come, Lindsey!). And wishing that shop existed so I could go buy cute stuff.

Can I request a similar dream tomorrow morning? I could sure use the help getting out of bed!

i will have my day

2011-10-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

I am no stranger to taking days off of work; I believe paid time off is meant to be USED, not saved. BUT, I have never actually stayed home on my birthday.

This year, I told Christian I wanted the following 3 items for my birthday:

1. Design*Sponge At Home

2. Cuisinart Immersion Blender

3. My actual birthday off of work to hang out with my babies

Luckily for him, I had already ordered #1 using my own money and gift card, I got #2 as a hand-me-down, and I told my boss I'd be taking my birthday off.

Talk about an easy year for Christian!

However...
* Last Friday I ended up staying home to work out babysitting issues.
* Monday Graham was so sick that I stayed home with him.
* Thursday I had to stay home all day to wait for PG&E to do a safety check on our not-working water heater.
* Friday I had to stay home so the water heater repair company could work its magic.

Sure, it was nice to actually be at home those 4 days, but I was frantically trying to do work at the same time... sitting in a chair in the middle of my living room... 3 feet from my TV (which doubles as our computer)... with the keyboard in my lap...

And then Graham would throw a FIT, because he thought that since the TV was on (as my computer), we were going to watch a movie.

Because that makes sense to a 23-month-old. Right?

Then I would give in and open two windows on the computer, side by side--one for his movie, one for a teensy view of my remote connection to my work computer.

Pain. in. the. butt. to work that way. But you do what you gotta do, right?

And then I remembered my day off for my birthday. My wonderful day off when I was going to not look at work all day. When I was going to roll around on the floor with my kids. When I was going to snuggle with Graham on the couch while we watched a movie. When we were going to walk to the park. When we were going to go get frozen yogurt. When I was going to take a nap...

Tell me--Could you do it? During a super busy time at work, could you take your birthday off of work just for fun right after having to take 4 not-so-fun days for things that were out of your control?

Am I the only guilt-ridden person who would see this as a dilemma?

What would you do?

hidden treasure

2011-10-06T11:45:00.001-07:00

I'm on PG&E house arrest today. Our water heater stopped working, and our "appointment" is from 8am to 8pm. So until they come, I am stuck inside my house.

So far today I...

...did some work (never-ending Dean's Letters).

...fed the kids (over and over).

...washed the dishes.

...didn't shower (even if I wanted to jump in a cold shower, I can't risk not hearing the door when PG&E comes).

...and decided to rip into my chair.

You all remember my 10-year reupholstery project, right?

I love the woodwork on the couch, but the chair looks a little different. It's missing the wood strip that goes along the bottom and up the arms. Months ago I was looking at the chair and realized the person who attempted to reupholster them before I bought them probably just got lazy and covered up the wood. I was sure of it, but told myself I wasn't allowed to rip into the chair until I was actually ready to start the upholstery project.

Couch detail:

Chair:

But this morning my curiosity got the best of me.

With the help of some pliers, I ripped into the bottom of the chair.

And what did I find hiding under the fabric?

That same wood trim:

Okay. It's official. I'm asking for upholstery tools for Christmas.

homemade greek yogurt

2011-09-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Wow. My blog has been depressing lately. Talk about a Debbie Downer, huh? wuah wuah. Time to move on to happier topics.

I don't normally like yogurt, but I was addicted the first time I had Greek yogurt. What's the difference? Greek yogurt is thick. Mmmmmm. Because it is essentially concentrated yogurt, it packs an impressive amount of protein per serving. My diet is definitely lacking in protein, so this helps.

However, Greek yogurt is not cheap. My favorite brand is about $1.50 per 6-ounce serving. I can make my own for about 30 cents per serving (plus whatever I decide to add to it--honey, jam, fruit, etc).

It turned out "okay" the first couple of times I made it, but after a few tweaks, my latest batch is smooth and yummy. Take note: this is not a quick process, but it is much cheaper than buying Greek yogurt.

Here is what I do:

Ingredients

2 quarts (or 2 liters; doesn't have to be exact) of fat free milk
1/4 cup yogurt with live active cultures
1/4 cup honey (optional)
candy thermometer

*Yields about 1 to 1 1/2 quart/liter depending on how much whey you strain out. If you want thin yogurt, don't strain out any whey and you'll have 2 quarts/liters.

Directions

Note: I prefer to start this process in the evening since it needs to sit for 6-12 hours.

1. Heat milk in a large pot to 175-180 degrees (be careful not to scald it otherwise the bottom may burn and a film might form on the top).

2. Remove from heat, stir in honey (optional--you can make it plain and add flavor later), and allow to cool to 100 degrees. If you would like to speed up the cooling process, transfer to a casserole dish or bowl that has a lid. (Either way, the cooling process takes a long time.)

3. When the milk reaches 100 degrees, turn on your oven to the lowest setting (warm). This is just to warm the oven a bit.

4. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the milk and mix it with the 1/4 cup yogurt (be sure to use yogurt with live active cultures).

5. Add the mixture back to the bowl of milk.

6. TURN OFF THE OVEN.

7. Did I mention TURN OFF THE OVEN? You don't want to cook the yogurt.

8. Put the lid on the pot/bowl (or cover it somehow), set it on the rack in the oven, and put a dish towel (or small bath towel) over it for insulation.

9. Leave in the oven over night (6-12 hours. They say it is more tart the longer it incubates.)

10. In the morning, it should be somewhat firm (the texture of soft yogurt). If it's still runny like milk, it didn't work. My condolences to you. Better luck next time. However, it has worked every time for me.

11. If you like thin yogurt, you are finished! Stick it in the fridge and enjoy! If you want thicker (Greek) yogurt, press on, my friend.

12. Line a colander with layered cheesecloth or a thin dish towel (I prefer a large thin white dish towel) and place the colander in a bowl to collect the whey.

13. Dump the yogurt into the towel in the colander, gather up the sides of the towel and twist gently to contain all the yogurt inside. You will see the whey straining out of the towel and colander into the bowl. (Empty the bowl if the whey reaches the bottom of the colander.)

14. Put the bowl/colander/towel/yogurt contraption in the fridge for an hour or two (less if you like thinner yogurt, more if you like thicker yogurt).

17. Unwrap the strained yogurt and dump it into a clean bowl. Most recipes would say you are done, but this is the step I discovered to make it really good. Using a hand mixer, whip the yogurt until it is smooth again. Taste it and then whip in more honey as needed. I think I added a lot. :) I like things sweet.

18. Put the finished yogurt in a mason jar or other container to store.

Stirring in jam or fresh fruit makes for yummy yogurt, too. Enjoy!

who knew?

2011-09-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

I just wrote a wonderful recommendation for Graham and Liam's caregiver and sent it to a lady looking for a nanny. I had to force myself to push "Send." I didn't want to.

Almost five months ago, I struggled with the idea of sending my boys to a stranger's house all day. We didn't even have a transition. Just dropped them off cold turkey the first day. I was sad. While I got a very good vibe from Rocio and felt totally comfortable leaving my kids with her, it was still hard. I didn't want my boys to get attached to another mommy.

Fast forward to today.

Christian's temp job is over at the end of this week and he'll stay home with the boys once again. I know Rocio has bills to pay as well, so I'm helping her find other kids to watch. She'll be interviewing with a new lady tomorrow to see if it is a good fit, but I can tell she just wants to keep Graham and Liam. She looks like she's going to cry whenever she talks about Graham and Liam's last day at the end of this week. I want to cry along with her. When she told me about her interview tomorrow, she asked me one more time if there were any updates on Christian's job, in hopes that we could stay. She had to have a talk with her 4-year-old and 2-year-old about how the boys won't be coming over any more. She said last time they said goodbye to kids she watched, her little boy cried often and wanted them to come back. That breaks my heart.

It has only been 5 months, but they are family to my boys now. Liam jumps for joy when he sees Rocio in the morning.

I want to be selfish and string her along. Maybe Christian will find another temp job. Maybe she can just wait. If she takes a new family and Christian finds more work in a couple weeks, we are out of luck and have to send our boys elsewhere. But I can't expect her to go two, three, four weeks without pay in hopes that our boys can come back.

With tears in my eyes, I give a good recommendation and push send.

But secretly I hope the new lady chooses someone else.

how do you...?

2011-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

(Photo source)

Answer me this: When you are in a rut, how do you pull yourself out of it?

Do you pray?
Do you distract yourself?
Do you meditate and work through it in your mind?
Do you wait it out?
Do you make a list and take action?
Do you talk it through with friends?
Do you hold it all inside?
Do you blog about it?
Do you read inspirational works?
Do you listen to uplifting music?

Humor me. How do you pull yourself out of a rut?

(Upcoming posts: Homemade Greek Yogurt; Camping with Two Small Boys; Laptops, Cars, and Running Shoes in Dog Years; and Plans for the Autumn Season)

swim diapers

2011-09-07T22:15:00.001-07:00

Behold. Adorable reusable swim diapers.

My frugal friend, Cheri, was sick of buying disposable swim diapers. When she was living in Arizona, her girls pretty much lived in swim suits. And even though Cheri was not a cloth diapering mama at the time, she knew she could not keep spending her money on disposable swim diapers.

Being the jack-of-all-trades that she is, she decided to whip up some reusable swim diapers! (Who does that? Who just whips up cloth diaper designs?) After discovering how well they worked, she even started selling them on Etsy. Lucky us!

So here are my boys in their ADORABLE Cuddle-Me-Mine swim diapers.

And in case you need more convincing than how adorable they are, try this:

1. The have a range of snaps meaning your child can use them for multiple years. Graham and Liam can use the same size on different snap settings.

2. They hold poop in! You know that that's the only point of a swim diaper, right? You know the pee goes right through swim diapers and into the pool, right? If you didn't know that, now you know. Graham pooped once in these cloth swim diapers (while running around on the beach) and we had no idea. Those diapers did their job. No poop leakage. Impressive.

3. A package of swim diapers costs what? $10? And how quickly do you go through that? Buy a couple of these reusable diapers and use them for a few YEARS. That's some serious savings.

4. They are thin and not bulky. They fit well under swim shorts and swim suits. Or, as you can see, they are adorable on their own.

5. You can wash and dry them with your regular laundry. (If your kid poops in one, just swish it around in the toilet to get the poop off first. It doesn't happen often.)

Cheri just started making her own fitted cloth diapers and covers for every day use, and I'm super excited to get some in the mail. I'll let you know how those work, but for now, I highly recommend that you ask for some swim diapers for Christmas... You can get them at The Kitchen Sink Boutique on Etsy. And then you can thank me later for telling you about them. :)

goals

2011-08-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Goals of the Day

Drink Water

Remember to pick up Graham's birthday present. (Shhhh. Don't tell Graham.)

Goals of the Week

Eat lots of butternut squash soup and homemade rolls. Mmmmm.

Hang stuff on the walls in my bedroom. I think I'm destined to always have blank walls, because I'm too lazy to go find a hammer and nail.

Goals of the Month

Stretch, stretch, stretch so my body doesn't break before I run the Lake Tahoe Half Marathon.

Decorate for Halloween!! Is it okay to decorate for Halloween in September?

Goals of the Season

Go to a pumpkin patch!

Make zombie cookies for Halloween! (source)

Unofficially run the Turkey Trim 5k (it's an off year, but that doesn't mean I can't go run it anyway).

Goals of the Year

Love my job.

Be super fit by New Years so I can eat candy and cake while everyone else starts their New Year's Resolutions.

What are your goals? Tell me something fun.

scarecrow sprinkler

2011-08-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

We have a scarecrow sprinkler.

It has a motion detector and is set to go off if anything comes near the vegetable garden.

Only it never goes off when its supposed to.

Today I went outside and saw two squirrels run out of our grape vine.

Then I noticed that one of my butternut squash plants had been chewed in half. Curse you, squirrels!

So I decided the sprinkler needed to be moved farther into the open. It is kind of hidden in the corner. Maybe that explains its laziness.

So I turned off the water, gave it a little time (in order to let any leftover water in the hose retreat back toward the spigot), and walked over to the sprinkler.

Nothing.

A 5'6'' person walking toward it had no effect.

Closer...

Nothing.

Not even the telltale click that it was on. Hmmmm. Maybe the batteries were dead? Maybe Christian turned it off?

I reached down to pull it out of the ground, and...

SNEAK ATTACK!!

I got a lovely dose of warm leftover hose water right to the crotch.

Thanks a lot, sprinkler. Thank you for spraying me and letting the squirrels eat my garden. You were totally worth the $25.

potty training 101

2011-08-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

1. Realize you have to take 2 days off in the middle of the week, so you might as well make it a 5-day weekend and give the potty training thing a try.

2. Start out with the understanding that your kid is probably way too young to be potty trained.

3. Admit the fact that he doesn't even communicate basic needs like being hungry or thirsty to you, so there's no way he'll tell you he has to go potty.

4. Try teaching him to teach a dolly how to go potty. Then remember that he has a 1-second attentions span and ditch the dolly when all he does it poke at her eyes.

5. Take the kid to a pool party/BBQ even though you're supposed to stay at home.

6. Thank your lucky stars you have a baby who doesn't mind being ignored.

7. Eat lots of junk food.

8. Give in when the kid demands to wear a helmet (and makes you and the husband wear them, too).

9. Curse the gardeners when they show up 30 minutes after said kid has gone down for a nap in underwear.

10. Figure this will never actually work, but keep at it anyway.

There are probably better things I could be doing with a 5-day weekend...

{Graham just got up from his nap, peed in the room even though the door was open, came into the kitchen, got on a chair, peed on the chair, looked at it and babbled something, then went on playing. Ha! This experiment is officially over. To be continued in a few months...}

back to running

2011-08-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Dear hip/butt/deep-inside-my-butt/hip:

Stop hurting. Stop it. Stop. It. Now. Stoppit. I am finally (almost) back to running consistent 10-minute miles (thanks to early morning runs with Andrew and Carrie!) and I really don't need a setback right now.

So listen up.

I am running 8 miles tomorrow morning. 8 miles of hills. With lovely ladies I miss and really want to run with. So knock it off.

I'm going to lay on a tennis ball for a little while. Then I'm going to lay on an ice pack. And then you can suck it up and stop hurting.

Understood? Good. Because I don't want to tell you twice.

All my love,

Molly

will this matter in a year?

2011-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lately I have heard multiple mentions of the idea that you should take a step back, look at the worries in your life, and ask, "Will this matter in a year?"

If the answer is no, stop stressing about it.
If the answer is yes, make it a priority.

While our "trial" right now isn't exactly a grave situation (I have a good job; Christian has temp work at a great company; Our kids are healthy and have food in their bellies; We know our boys are well cared for while we work), the fact that Christian doesn't have a full-time, fixed job will absolutely matter in a year.

A key point reiterated time and time again in our religion is the idea that we should use the trials in our lives to learn and grow. Yesterday, Christian and I talked about what we've gained as a result of his job hunt in this difficult job market.

*We have both drawn closer to each other and to our Heavenly Father by praying together.

*We have included our kids in our family prayers. (Graham gives the funniest 3-second-mumble prayers.)

*We have learned how to take disappointment and let it go.

*I have learned to step back and not try to organize/plan everything for Christian.

*Christian has learned to ask for my help.

*We have learned the ins and outs of resumes and cover letters (and, in the process, have been reminded time and time again of the fact that Christian is a great employee).

*Christian has learned what he wants to do in his career. (This is huge. He may not have learned this had he gotten the first job he applied for.)

*We have more empathy for those going through the same thing.

*We have learned to be more economical and distinguish between wants and needs.

*We have learned to be patient.

Yesterday we found out that he was not chosen for a job he would have loved (and they for sure would have loved him). I was in the middle of reading Jordan Ferney's Oh Happy Day blog. The post was a single paragraph. Simple. To the point. I read the first half of the post, was distracted by Christian's incoming email about the job, then returned to read the last half of the post.

These were the words I read, and needed to hear, in that exact moment:

"I’m so grateful for the lessons we learned, mostly that if you are going through a hard time in your life, just put your head down and work. Really good things are just around the corner."

I'm sure looking forward to rounding that corner.

{Photo source}

he stands...

2011-08-01T19:51:00.001-07:00

Once Liam hit 7 months, he started crawling everywhere. For real crawling. And nothing stops him, either. Chairs, toys, me. He'll crawl right over whatever is in his way.

Then suddenly I turned around and he was pulling himself up to the dishwasher. And pulling himself up to everything else he could get his hands on.

And out of the blue a few nights ago, he did this:

All on his own. He went from crawling to standing. Now he won't stop. He stands up everywhere, especially using Graham's big dinosaur walker. He loves that thing.

I give it a month (maybe two) before Liam is cruising with the walker.

He even self-feeds himself puffs and cheerios and anything else he finds. He's good, too. Fast little sucker. Got to keep the carpet well vacuumed.

Holy cow. Where did this little boy come from?

you want me to do WHAT??

2011-07-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Christian has been finding bug bites on his legs. One or two every few days.

Gross.

We're convinced there's a spider on his side of the bed.

Grosser.

And even though the bites don't resemble bed bugs, we even looked for that.

Grossest.

We changed all the sheets, thoroughly cleaned our room, removed the bed skirt and duvet cover. Found a torn hole in the "cambric" (mesh type stuff that closes off the bottom of the box frame) near the foot of his side of the bed and thoroughly stapled it shut.

I was convinced my stapling job had trapped the spider in the box frame and it would never get out again. I was quite proud of myself.

Then another bite showed up today.

Bleh.

So Christian said he's going to sleep on the couch. Test if these bites are actually coming from in bed or elsewhere.

And then he told me that I should sleep on his side of the bed to see if anything bites me.

Um, excuse me?

What did you say?

Sleep on your side of the bed??

I love you, but there's no way in hell...

using "naturally molly" in the workplace

2011-07-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

I just got this email from Kaylynn:

My boss just walked in my office and said "is it 'use to' or 'used to'" and I said, "Let's read Molly's blog!". So we did. And we chose used to.

See? My blog proves useful for more than just wasting time on the computer.

Thanks, Kaylynn! You made my day.

pink for boys

2011-07-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

Let me give you my opinion.

I think it's ridiculous that little boys think they can't like pink. Or big boys for that matter. It's not a problem if girls like blue, but boys can't like pink.

Case in point: I was in line at Marshalls behind a mom and her (approximately) 4-year-old son. He reached for a toy and she barked, "Are you a girl?! ARE YOU A GIRL?! You don't like pink! Are you a girl? No. You don't want that. You don't like pink!" That's not socialization. That's shoving gender roles down the poor kid's throat. I wanted to smack her. Heaven forbid that little boy some day realize he's gay and have to come out of the closet with a mother like that.

Case in point number two: I was at a princess birthday party a few weeks back, and a young boy gave a little protest over eating pink cake on a Disney-princess paper plate. Graham, on the other hand, tried desperately to climb up on the table to grab the princesses off the castle cake.

Oh, he just doesn't know yet that little boys don't play with princesses.

Or maybe he doesn't ever have to know.

Oh wait. It's inevitable. Everything around us socializes us to believe that, and he will soon learn that princesses are for girls and superheroes are for boys.

I'm not opposed to little girls liking girlie stuff and little boys liking rough and tumble stuff. Let them like what they want. I do think a good deal of it is innate. No matter how I try to get Graham to appreciate flowers and pretty things, he would MUCH rather point out cars and trucks and buses. But I hate the idea that pink is only for girls.

Graham has a big pink kickball in the back yard. And he's been known to wear some pretty cute pink polos to church. In fact, if I had been faster on the Craigslist ad, he would have a nice pink balance bike to ride around. (So mad I didn't see that one in time! It was such a good deal.)

No, I'm not going to dress Graham in dresses and frilly things, but I will be sad when he comes home one day and announces that pink is only for girls.

This coming from a mama who loves all colors but whose least-preferred color is purple...with pink following not far behind.

happy friday

2011-07-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

1. You know how some people eat junk food all the time and then complain that they aren't losing weight? Kind of ridiculous. On a completely unrelated note, I'm totally not losing weight. On another totally unrelated note, that brownie I just ate was super good.

2. I want these swim trunks and these mocassins/boat shoes from Du Pareil for my boys. Why, oh why are there such cute kids clothes in Europe? Why are they so much cooler than us?

3. Graham is 21 months today. He can now say bus, truck, ball, bubbles, no (no no no no--usually directed at Liam), go, moo, baa baa, meow, roar, caw caw (for all birds--we have lots of crows at our house), and a few other words I can't remember. In fact, he said turkey once. He may be a late talker, but it's coming.

4. Liam just turned 7 months. He is full on crawling. And can practically push himself up to sitting. And is at the beginning stages of pulling himself up on things. What the what??

5. Christian is 30. He feeds and dresses himself. I'm so proud of him. Actually, he feeds and dresses the rest of us, too.

6. Speaking of Christian--he finally got a Tesla jacket at work. Now he can fit in. There is some SERIOUS Tesla pride going on there. Everyone wears Tesla gear to work. It's pretty funny. (In case you're wondering, Christian's temp position will end August 31st, but we're working hard to land him a fixed position. Keep your fingers crossed.)

7. I want this dress from ModCloth. And a colorful brooch to pin on it. And maybe a bright scarf to wear on my head. Yes. That would be lovely.

8. And maybe these heels from ModCloth...

And these flats from Camper... I fell in love with them in Miami.

And these boots from Camper... Love...

9. And the dress made me think of cute boots. And then I thought of cooler weather. Not that I need cooler weather--it hasn't even been that hot this year. But just the thought of it brings back that familiar longing for Autumn. I guess it's the time of year...

i don't like arugula

2011-07-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

Did you know that arugula is spicy?

I didn't. I don't pay enough attention to know things like that.

But I ended up with a lot of arugula in the "salad mix" I planted in my garden.

And I like my salads sweet--fruits, nuts, vinaigrettes.

So what in the world was I to do with all this arugula??

Arugula-walnut pesto!

So yummy.

Graham sat on the counter and helped me. He ran the food processor.

He ate roasted walnuts. He ate roasted garlic. He ate pesto on toast.

He even bit a lemon.

Success!

in the words of james brown...

2011-07-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

{photo source}

In the words of James Brown... I feel good.

Yesterday, however, I did not feel good. Unemployment (or should I say underemployment) and a long-lasting job hunt is not exactly chicken soup for the soul. The past couple of days have been disheartening, but I think we're on the upward swing of this emotional pendulum.

And that's good. I much prefer the upward swing.

On top of that upward swing, I feel good for another reason: I'm simplifying my life.

While Christian looks for full time work and can't find it, I have part-time work falling in my lap and can't take it.

Funny how that works. Such is life.

Last week I got an email from the director of my evening teaching job to see if I had made a decision about teaching in the Fall. I've been putting off this decision for weeks.

Yesterday I got a phone call from an former professor of mine at SJSU asking if I'd like to teach 2 sections of a remedial reading/writing course for SJSU undergraduates. Talk about feeling flattered. I'd have to convince Stanford to let me cut back to 75% FTE for a semester.

Would I like to teach my ESL students again? Of course I would!

Would I like to take a shot at teaching undergrads? Of course I would!

Would I like to have a nervous breakdown? Mmmmm, probably not!

So today I called my ESL director and told her to go ahead and find someone else this year. She knows I love them, and I know she loves me. There will be opportunities in the future.

I also decided to decline the SJSU position. It's not a highly sought-after course among the faculty, so there should be opportunities in the future.

Then I took a deep breath and thought about an entire year of having only one job.

And I feel good.

spying on the neighbors

2011-07-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

My mom is home with our boys today. I guess our neighbors are hosting a little play date/mom's group.

Graham is spying on them.

considering taking the plunge

2011-07-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wait! Before you read the rest of this post, I want you to tell my what you thought this post was about based on the title. I'd love to hear what you guys think "taking the plunge" might mean to me.

Go ahead. Leave a comment. Take a wild guess.

Did you do it?

Okay. You can keep reading now.

I'm considering getting a smart phone. I've put it off for years. I like having a little phone that fits in my pocket (or more specifically, that fits in my hand while I'm out running). I don't want a big, bulky phone.

However...

I do want a nice pretty week-view calendar on my phone.

(Week Calendar App. I want this. Oh, and 10 points to you if you find what's funny about the sample calendar above.)

I do want an easy way to track my calories until I'm back to my "skinny" weight.

I do want to log my workouts without having to get on the computer.

I do want to easily budget and track expenditures (and be able to share that tracking with Christian) in real time.

I do want to have access to Google Maps since I am forever leaving home without remembering to look up where I'm going. (Case in point: I got off the train the other day and then remembered that I didn't actually know which road to take to get home...)

I do want to easily post pictures to Facebook from my phone.

And I do want to have easy access to my beloved to-do lists. (Although it will be hard for me to let go of handwritten to-do lists on paper. Those are my favorite.)

Back to the don'ts.

I don't want to be checking my email constantly. I'm on the internet all day as it is.

I don't want to be looking at my phone instead of playing with my boys (or whatever other important things are going on in my life).

(LOVE this commercial. I laugh every time.)

I don't want to pay for the "data package" with my cell phone plan.

This may not happen for a while since we're trying to cut back on expenses, not add new ones. So we'll see.

Those of you with smart phones: Which phone do you have? Do you LOVE it? And which apps are "essentials" to your life?

champion thighs

2011-07-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Rode my bike to work for the second time this week. 15 miles. Loved it. Cut 5 minutes off my ride time from Wednesday.

Although today I'm wearing new pants that are quite snug just in the thighs.

Makes me feel like Champion from The Triplets of Belleville.

Have you see that movie? You should. It's unique and quirky.

*Photo source

the problem with couponing

2011-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

Have you watched Extreme Couponing on TLC? It's pretty much the same thing over and over and over, yet I get hooked when we turn it on.

It's fascinating for two reasons.

1) The ridiculous number of items people get just because they can get them free, even though they seemingly do nothing with it but add it to their "stockpile."

2) The ridiculous number of items people get for free because they plan to actually use it (either for their own family or donating it to those in need).

One is the biggest waste and borders on hoarding. The other is pure genius. Like the lady who buys enough peanut butter for the year when it goes on sale. Or the lady who has a room full of diapers (all acquired for free), because she plans to have kids in the near future and won't have to pay a penny for diapers.

But let's talk about the problems with couponing.

#1: It takes WAY too much time for us normal people.

I tried to get into couponing when I was on bed rest. Even with working part time from the couch, finding and printing and sorting and remembering to use coupons was a ton of work. And I was only dipping into it. Now that I'm back at work with two kids at home, there is no way I have time to be organized enough for using coupons. While I'd LOVE to save money and get stuff for free, our precious time at home needs to be allocated to playing with our kids, bathing our kids, ~~scrounging up~~ making dinner, getting the kids' stuff ready for day care, cleaning the house, exercising, and hanging out with each other. Not finding, printing, and sorting coupons.

To my friends who work full time: Do you manage to coupon on top of everything else? If so, HOW IN THE WORLD?

#2: You get suckered into getting things you don't normally use.

I almost signed up for a mailing that included a free Febreeze sample and coupons for a bunch of other cleaning products. Then I came to my senses. 1) What we need in this world is FEWER things printed on paper and mailed out, and 2) I don't even use those cleaning products. We use water, Fantastik, and Clorox Wipes (cheapo brand from Costco) for all our (few-and-far-between) cleaning efforts in my house. That's it. All these coupons for Glade products are no good to me. Who cares if I can get them for 50 cents? Normally I wouldn't get them at all. You know, free-ninety-free. In fact, in my ideal world I'd use lemon, vinegar, and baking soda for all my cleaning needs. Give me some coupons I can use, people.

#3: 90% of non-cleaning-product coupons are for junk food.

Have you noticed what kinds of things people piling into their carts on the Extreme Couponing show? Juice. Sports Drinks. Pasta Roni. Sugary cereals. Cake mixes. Candy. Frozen. Canned. Packaged. Boxed. Sure, they have some healthy things thrown in there, but it's mostly highly processed foods. My goal in life is to move toward fresh foods. Homemade foods. Things that are good for you. While I do enjoy an occasional Pasta Roni, I don't really need 20 in my cupboard. I need more fruits and vegetables and beans.

However, making things from scratch and eating delicious and healthy homemade takes a lot of time, too.

I just can't win, can I?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-couponing. People who can use coupons to their advantage (and only get the things they actually need) are WAY up there in my book. I'm seriously impressed. And I'd do it if I had the time (or the desire...or the organizational skills...).

So tell me. How do you cut down on your grocery bills? Or better yet--if you didn't have much time at home to be preparing things yourself, how would you cut down on your grocery bills?

hymns and single men?

2011-07-01T09:08:00.001-07:00

Thank you, Pandora, for choosing such an appropriate background for my choice of music.

XTERRA Tahoe City

2011-06-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Ta da! This is one of two picture I have of the race. This is me in my socks outside our cabin about to go collapse for a nap. COLLAPSE...

Yesterday I did the XTERRA Tahoe City triathlon (short course). I repeat--I did the short course. I'm pretty sure I would have DIED if I had attempted the long course.

This race was my motivation to work out after having Liam--and after having to skip the US Half Marathon "The Other Half" because of post-baby complications (i.e. my misbehaving bladder). It was really fun to train with my brothers and share race stories with them afterward!

So here's the race report for my race-y friends!

SWIM

Oh. My. Gosh. I was not prepared for this at all. The day before the race I got in the water at Meek's Bay in order to test out the wetsuit and the cold water. (Special thanks to Lindsey for loaning me the wet suit!) Have you ever forced yourself to keep your head in water that gives you a brain freeze? It's painful. Really painful. It took over 10 minutes for my breathing to calm down enough that I could actually swim. The morning of the race, my brothers and I got in the water 10 minutes before the start in order to acclimate. Apparently it didn't help much. My breathing never calmed down from the cold enough for regular swimming. And it was scary. I had to keep my head out of the water the entire time in order to keep from panicking. Not exactly what I had anticipated. Took me forever, but I finished. I may or may not have been the last person...

TRANSITION 1

I was dizzy and couldn't walk straight when I came out of the water. While it was scary, I had my own little support crew of my nieces (and their friend) running circles around me. Actually, I think they may have made me more dizzy. I can remember telling them to back up, because I wasn't walking straight and was worried I'd run over one of them. But once I started heading down the path toward the transition area (a quarter of a mile away), I recovered and felt fine. The best part was when Quincee was running alongside me and said "Wow. This is a long way."

BIKE

(Proof that I was actually on the course...)

On to the bike! (Thanks, Dyan, for letting me borrow your bike!) This was actually more or less what I had anticipated. The first climb was easier than I had expected. The second climb was harder than I expected, but only because of all the loose rock! Really. Climbing on loose rock sucks! The ride was beautiful. One of these days I'll overcome my fear going downhill. But you should have seen me flying down the rocky fire road at the end. That went against every cautious bone in me. Scary!!!

TRANSITION 2

My mom and my boys were there cheering me on! (Special thanks to my parents for watching my boys!) Oh, and Ian and Tyler had already finished the race by this time. 'Nuf said...

RUN

This was EXACTLY what I had expected. Straight up for a mile and a half. Straight down for a mile and a half. (Only I'm convinced it was more than 3 miles.) And I had to pee THE WHOLE TIME. Luckily I've done lots and lots of races that involved running straight up for miles. While it took me a long time, it was kind of like being back in my element. Only in much worse shape... I really need to get back into running shape.

Minus the swim (and falling off my bike a couple times), I definitely enjoyed it. I have never been so excited to come in last. Oh yeah--did I mention I most likely came in last?

Now it's time to really get in shape. I'm excited.

full

2011-06-23T09:39:00.001-07:00

There seem to be two things I hate emptying at work.

1) My recycling bin.

2) My bladder.

Luckily for everyone in my office, I only let one of them overflow on a regular basis. ;)

getting nervous

2011-06-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

I had this video posted, but it streams automatically and I can't stand that. So if you want to see it, go here. :)

Am I nervous? Absolutely.

Will I be walking my bike up part of the mountain? Most likely.

Do I totally look like all those ripped people in the video? Oh, for sure. ;)

working men v. working women

2011-06-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed as part of a "working LDS women" study being conducted by a local PhD student. The interview was fascinating. I could have talked for an hour and a half straight. Oh wait. I did talk for an hour and a half straight. (Christian says I get it from my mom.)

One of the most interesting things I realized was that when people realize I have two jobs, two kids under two at home, am training for a triathlon (ahem, not training enough), and still somehow manage to do fun stuff here and there, they always ask me, "How in the world do you manage to do all of that?" "How do you do it with 2 small kids at home?"

When is the last time you heard someone ask a man that?

How in the world does he manage to have a full-time career with kids at home?

How in the world did he have time to put up a fence after working all week??

How in the world did he work a 50-hour week, manage his calling at church, go golfing, go to the gym, play with his kids, and manage to study for the GMAT on top of that? He must be superman!

When is the last time you heard anyone say anything like this?

You don't. It's just kind of expected that a man support his family full time and not be stressed out by it.

Today I'd like to give a shout out to all the busy dads out there. The dads who work all week. The dads who stay home with their kids all week. The dads who put in so much time for their families.

People are constantly asking me how I manage to do everything. My answer? Because of Christian.

So next time you see Christian, ask him how he manages working full time, taking care of 2 kids, handling a wife who is running around like a chicken with its head cut off (and dragging him along for the ride), running a shirt business on the side, trying to do fun things in his tiny bit of free time, and, on top of it all--never giving up on what has been a very difficult and frustrating job search.

Thanks for all your hard work, love. Happy Father's Day.

grammar lesson: titled v. entitled

2011-06-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

This isn't actually a grammar lesson. It's more of an opinion.

In my opinion...

Titled should always and only refer to how a book/article/movie/etc. is named. What title it has been given. "In 2010, I published a peer-reviewed article titled Red Vines are Far Superior to Twizzlers in Every Way."

Entitled should always and only refer to being given special privileges. "I gave birth to you, therefore I am entitled to eat chocolate behind your back after saying you couldn't have any more."

Unfortunately, entitled can be used in both contexts. This drives me crazy. I wish we could ban the sentence, "I read a book entitled This Word Might Be the End of Me."

You may wonder why this bothers me. You see, I am the person in charge of reviewing (and editing/correcting) 100 different self-praising narratives written by our students' detailing their accomplishments as part of their applications to medical residencies. And all the students publish articles/books/anything-that-sounds-impressive. Half the students use the word titled. Half use entitled. Because both are technically correct, I just have to leave their narratives as is. Ugh. Self restraint is difficult.

Really. This is what keeps me up at night.

{Post edit: I do understand and agree with the morphological reasons for using "entitled" for books and articles. It's just the connotation of "entitled" that makes me want to use it only for designating priviledge.)

um, happy anniversary??

2011-06-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Our 7-year anniversary is this Saturday.

June 18th.

Do you know what else is this Saturday?

Christian's bike event at Calabazas Bike Park in San Jose from 11am-4pm. Check it out! Have a hot dog. Watch local riders in some friendly competition. In fact, enter to compete yourself if you can pull some sweet tricks. Take your kids for a little bike workshop. Should be fun for all!

Do you know what else is happening this Saturday?

I'm hosting a multi-family garage sale at my house. How exactly, you ask, did I end up with a garage sale scheduled the same day as the bike event? Ask the rain. It's the rain's fault. Either way, I'll be hosting a garage sale at my house from 8am-2pm. And you should TOTALLY stop by and buy our ~~junk~~ awesome stuff!

Do you know what we'll be doing in the evening to celebrate our anniversary?

Ab-so-lute-ly nothing. We'll probably collapse on the floor out of exhaustion after putting the boys to bed.

Happy 7 years, babe!

the problem with future-dated posts

2011-06-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

You know what the problem is with future-dated posts? I don't get to see them in their entirety right when I write them.

Take the previous post for instance.

I LOVE these designs. LOVE THEM! Notice that I use exclamation points. But because I future-dated the post to publish while we were flying back from Miami, I never actually saw it before it published.

Now that I see it, I don't think it accurately portrays my point.

Let's try this again...

I LOVE these cute little shirts from Sweetpea and Pie!! (Note the exclamation points...) They make baby bibs, too. Liam has his own Sheriff bib. So next time you see him, you can just call him Deputy.

Here are some of the other shirts. If they don't have the size/color you want, just send them a message letting them know what size/color you're looking for.

Today my favorite is the astronaut on a string... Enjoy!

Sweetpea and Pie

2011-06-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Introducing Sweatpea and Pie.

While I should be biased since my brother-in-law drew all the art by hand, no bias is needed for kids' shirts this cute. Check them out. You'll agree.

I love them all, but today my favorite is the sheriff with ice cream in his holsters. You don't mess with ice cream.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetPeaAndPie

life lessons learned in miami

2011-06-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

1. Always bring the jogging stroller. I actually sewed my own protective cover in order to take the monstrous double jogger on the plane. I'll show you in another post. We've walked to restaurants, gone running, and taken it down on the beach.

2. Every vacation should be a beach vacation. In a nice hotel. On the beach. (Or at least every other vacation.)

3. Splurge. Get a rental car. Pay for valet parking. Eat a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant overlooking the ocean. Definitely rent beach chairs and umbrellas. A beach vacation is not the time for being cheap.

4. If you lose your water bottle on the first day of the conference, spend the next 3 days asking absolutely everyone you see if they found it. Eventually the audio-visual guys will find it. Never give up.

5. Get a tummy tuck, laser treatment for stretch marks, a boob job, and a tan. Okay, not really. (Okay, yes really.) While I've been a bit self conscious, I'm realizing I still look better than half the people on the beach. And I've seen a few terrible sunburns that make me glad I'm slapping on the sunblock and remaining white.

6. In your next life, be a rich person from Latin America. Do you know how many Brazilians we've met at the hotel??

7. In your next next life, be a rich Indian. There was a wedding here that lasted 3 or 4 days. Oh, the dresses, the celebrations, the music, the dancing. Definitely Indian next time (or next next time--right after being a rich Latin American).

8. I learned some things about my job and about my career goals in general, but those would likely bore you. Moving on...

9. My hair looks stinkin' cute in high humidity.

10. If you're going clubbing in Miami, the dress code is a teeny tiny black dress. Preferably with only one sleeve/strap. Good to know. I will be in my pajamas. Sound asleep.

What a valuable trip. I am so wise now. So very very wise.

miami

2011-06-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

We are in Miami! I love it.

I'm here for a work conference. And don't be fooled--I really am interested in the conference. If I hadn't been excited about the conference, I wouldn't have come. I have too much of a conscience to waste my department's money. I know. I'm so nice.

Buuuut, since the conference happened to be in Miami Beach, and I happened to be getting a free hotel (on the beach...), I couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring my boys. So off we went on a plane!

Graham and Liam were A-MA-ZING on the plane. Liam even took an hour and a half nap on the floor between my feet. Graham rode through both airports strapped into his car seat, which was strapped onto rolling carry-on luggage. Seriously--that is the only way to travel. We also realized that the seat was a comforting piece of home for Graham. Whenever we'd let him run around a little, he'd get overwhelmed by all the people and climb back into his seat. So cute.

We've only been here for a day and I am in love. Granted, it helps that our hotel is awesome and right on the beach. Humidity shumidity. I was born for tropical weather.

Too bad I spent 8 hours in underground, windowless, air conditioned conference rooms today. But no matter. The sessions were all interesting and inspiring. And this cold-blooded girl warmed up quickly when I met up with the boys for a little evening beach time.

We came back from the beach only to find droves of people all dressed up and the paparazzi waiting anxiously. Turns out tonight was the grand opening of the hotel's new ELLE spa. Fancy, eh? When we came back down from our room to go to dinner, we just happened to be there at the same time as Gillian Jacobs (Britta from Community). This was certainly a treat, because while I don't get all that excited about famous people, we love Community and Gillian is just plain adorable. Fun! Christian got this shot with his iphone. Back up, paparazzi. There's a new photographer in town.

And, of course, Graham and Liam had to be famous, too. Granted, we were the only paparazzi still taking pictures...

And I'm pretty sure hotel beds were made for jumping and pillow fights...

how my brain works

2011-06-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

I swear it's getting worse. This is how my brain runs. All. Day. Long... Read it. It's maddening. This is why I am constantly writing lists.

The monologue in my head...

I need to email the Relief Society Presidency so I can find the missionary dinner calendar.
You know, since I'm on email, I should check in on Eve since her due date is coming up.
Oh, an email from my ESL director.
Instead of reading email, I should really peek in on the boys since I just got home.
I miss them.
I should respond to the ESL email first.
Oh, I wanted to text Christian about something.
But I should respond to the ESL email first.
Oh yeah. Email Eve. Then the ESL email.
I should really go peek in on the boys.
Right after I email Eve.
I think I'll text Christian.
Oh yeah. I wanted to respond to my sisters about our healthy eating goals this week.
But I should probably read my scriptures first.
Wait. Wasn't I going to email someone?
Or should I peek in on the boys first?
Who the heck was I going to email?
I should read scriptures first.
Oh yeah. Eve.
Why did I get online in the first place?
I should respond to my sisters.
Wasn't I going to peek in on the boys?
Oh yeah. I need to email the Relief Society Presidency.
I should save the missionaries' number to my phone before I forget.
I should go check on the boys.
I can't remember why I wanted to text Christian.
Did he text me? Let me check my phone.
Oh yeah. I was in the middle of saving the missionaries' phone number.
I should read scriptures.
Right after I check on the boys.

I'm not even exaggerating. This is my life all day long. Seriously. Make it stop.

things i'm afraid of

2011-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm obviously not afraid of ending a sentence with a preposition.

But let me tell you about the strange things that scare me...

1. That my phone will fall out of my pocket and into a toilet.

2. That an alligator will come out of the drain and bite my toes if I stand on the drain in a shower. (Yes, I realize this makes no sense.)

3. That something will grab my ankles if I walk down a dark hallway.

4. That something (as in a swamp monster) will grab my ankles when I'm in open/dark water.

5. That bugs/reptiles will crawl out of the toilet while I'm sitting on it.

6. That I'm going to find a dead person every time I open a public bathroom stall.

I know. Weird. What kinds of strange things scare you?

my commute home

2011-05-25T22:17:00.001-07:00

My commute home today included a 3.2-mile run from my office to Christian's office.

Not a bad commute if I do say so myself.

more snow??

2011-05-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Remember this photo of Tahoe? Remember how I wanted it to warm up so we could do our triathlon in 5 weeks?

This is what it looks like today. Waaaaah!

toot toot

2011-05-24T08:49:00.001-07:00

Can I toot my own horn for a minute? (Okay, okay--I'm pretty sure most of this is genetic and not really grounds for tooting my own horn, but I might as well take credit anyway.)

I went to a health assessment this morning here at Stanford. The guy who went over my numbers with me last year was excited about my numbers and really motivated me to want to keep working hard on my health! The girl who went over my numbers with me this year was boring as all get out. Seriously. I think I left there asleep. But my numbers deserve some excitement! Here are my stats:

Bad Cholesterol (should be below 200): 137
Good Cholesterol (should be above 40): 59
Fasting glucose (should be between 70-99): 91
BMI (should be 18.5-24.9): 22.6
Waist circumference (should be less than 35): 28
Blood Pressure (should be below 120/80): 105/67
Heart Rate (see chart below): 50

I once had a BMI of 19. That was awesome. Maybe some day I'll work back to that. But this mama-of-two is not complaining whatsoever about a BMI of 22. You'd have full permission to slap me if I did. Here's a BMI chart for you. (Keep in mind that BMI doesn't take into account muscle density or fat distribution, so isn't always an accurate health measurement for everyone.)

I think the most entertaining part of my health assessments is always my heart rate. Last year the guy looked at my heart rate and said, "Are you a runner? Because otherwise we'd have to tell you to go see a doctor about your heart rate." This year the (boring) girl said, "And, um, yeah, your heart rate is a little low..." Thanks.

As most people increase their exercise, their resting heart rate decreases. This is a sign that your heart is becoming stronger and more efficient. It's comforting to know that I have an efficient heart. So all you people out there who roll your eyes at those of us who like to run/bike for long periods of time... let's compare heart rates. :)

Just don't ask me to stand up quickly...

When's the last time you had your numbers checked? Get 'er done, people.

the ultimate packing list

2011-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

{Note: We are light packers. I would never pack all this stuff for a trip. It's just a big list you can quickly skim through it to see if you missed anything you meant to pack.}

Came across this packing list today. I didn't write it. I borrowed it (and added one or two things). Thought I'd link to it (here) and share it in case it helps anyone else! Obviously not everyone needs all this stuff, but it's a good way to check what you may have forgotten...

Side note: My favorite thing on the list? Post-it notes to cover up the sensor on automatic toilets. HAHAHAHA!

Things to check 1-2 weeks before you leave:
Resort reservations
airline reservations
ground transportation
ME if you are using that
all your ADRs
car rental (if you are driving once there)
grocery delivery time and arrangements if you are using a grocer service

Essential items you can't get:
prescription drugs that you have to take...make sure you have enough to last the entire trip.
address book for postcards if you are sending them
driver's license
credit cards
traveler's checks
disney dollars
medical ID bracelette if you have a serious allergy or medical condition
note from doctor if you are going to need a wheelchair
spare glasses, contact solution, & glasses repair kit

Important stuff to take just in case:
receipts for all traveler's checks
Credit card 800 numbers in case you lose one
duplicate copies of all travel documents (reservations etc)
photo copies of ALL park passes with their receipts
phone card (you never know)
ID's for your children to carry in case they are lost. Something with your cell phone and resort information (don't forget to take a snap shot of your child every day or write down what they are wearing. You may not remember if you are in a panic looking for them)

First aidish items that cant' hurt to pack:
bug spray
benedryl spray or ointment
benedryl pills
asprin
minor cold meds
aloe
sun screen
band-aids
mole skin
neopsporin
burn cream
ear dry (stuff to use when you get out of the pool)
any other medical kind of items you use regularly
hand sanitizer
lysol
stinky foot spray or powder
tums, immodium, etc.

Outerwear:
sweatshirts
light jacket
poncho
*for winter travel* take a few sweatshirts and a light jacket. If you are from a cooler area like I am you will probally travel with your coat on...take a spare lighter one. It gets cold sometimes, but not enough for that winter coat us yankees wear.

footwear:
sandals
flip flops
2 pairs of walking shoes
slippers if you use them
one pair of socks for each day + 2-3 spare pairs

Nightwear:
PJ's for length of trip
Robes
bring at least one dressier or nice owfit for a nice dinner...more if you are planning to go out more than once (don't forget matching shoes)
1 pair of jeans
1-2 pairs of sweats (gets chilly at night)

Daywear:
1 outfit per day + 1-2 extras just in case
*For winter travel* - Layered outfits work best.

Underwear :
1 set of undergarments per day + 1-2 extra just in case

Toiletries:
shampoo/conditioner
hair products that you normally use to get ready
hair dryer
curling iron
razors, shaving cream
soap, poof or loofa
lotion (body and face)
brush, comb or whatever you use
things to pull your hair back
hat and/or sunglasses
make-up
toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and mouth wash
nail file, clippers and tweezers

Other items:
phone
phone charger
laptop
laptop charger
small pair of scissors and a travel sized sewing kit
camera, spare batteries/battery charger
stamps
bag you are going to use to lug stuff around
emtpy tote bag inside your luggage for the stuff you buy
trash bags, dollar store laundry bag or pop-up hamper...you have to put the stinky clothes somewhere!
baggies for your liquids (shampoo etc)
head phones and CD's
portable DVD players and movies
books and other entertainment (games) for the plane ride or a relaxing night
Bathing suit(s), cover-up and beach towels!
Notebook
Cell phone and charger
plastic cups, bowel and cutlery
cork screw for you winos
massager for sore bodies
booklight for you readers
post -it notes to cover the automatic potty sensor
child sized hangers
spray starch
bath toys
straws
clothes pins to hang wet bathing suits on clothes line in tub
power strip / multi plug : plug lots of things in 1 outlet
over the door shoe holder: clear plastic type to hold toiletries & misc.

Baby List
BABY
Diapers
Diaper Cream
Body Lotion
Baby Bath
Wipes
Swim Diapers
Bathing suits
Min of 2 outfits per day
PJs (1 for each day)
Min of 2 pairs of socks per day
Shoes
Blanket
Sheet for crib/playpen
Formula (if applicable)
Bottles or Sippy Cups
Bibs
Disposable Table Toppers
Baby Food (if applicable)
Baby Snacks
Utensils (fork, spoon and plastic bowls)
Baby Toys (something musical, few books, special stuffed animal)
Hat
Sunscreen
Hand Sanitizer
Baggies
Infant Tylenol or Motrin...just in case
Jacket or sweater for evening

Toddler list
toddler (optional..lol)
Min of 2 outfits per day
Min of 2 pairs of socks per day
2 pairs of shoes
Underwear (min 1 per day, plus extras)
Bathing Suits
Books to read
Activity Books (writing, coloring)
Hand Held video game (Leapster, V-Smile, etc)
Hat
Sunscreen
Hand Sanitizer
Jacket/sweatshirt for evening
Baggies
Children's Tylenol or Motrin
Dress-up stuff to wear

grammar lesson: misused phrases

2011-05-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

{I didn't mean to post this so quickly after Liam's 5-month post, but I messed up the timing and here it is, so I'll leave it up.}

Amy suggested I give a grammar lesson on homonyms, which led to a more general post on misused words and phrases. Enjoy!

just as soon v. just assume

Don't just assume you're God's gift to women. I'd just as soon go on a date with a pig. (Ouch!)

affect v. effect

To affect is a verb. The resulting effect is a noun. Did you know that being obnoxious can negatively affect your social life? The effects can be devastating.

accept v. except

I accept your apology... well, except for the part where you rolled your eyes.

immigrate v. emigrate

You emigrate from somewhere. You immigrate to somewhere. My ancestors emigrated from Europe. They immigrated to the United States. If we're talking about people who come to the US, we are talking about immigrants. If we talk about people who are leaving their country, we talk about emigrants.

than v. then

Than is a comparison. Then denotes chronological order. First I told you I was way cooler than you. Then I tripped and fell on my face.

its v. it's

It's not the same word when it loses its apostrophe... One is a contraction of "it is" (hence the apostrophe showing the contraction). The other is a possessive: my, your, his, her, their, our, its.

lie v. lay

These confuse me to no end. I never say it right. Lie is the action you do--physically moving from a standing position to a lying position. I'm tired, so I am going to lie down. Lay is something you do to another object. Lay your jacket on the bed so it doesn't get wrinkled. Chickens lay eggs (setting them down in the bedding). Even, ahem, "laying" someone makes sense grammatically... Although the child's prayer "now I lay me down to sleep" refers to you laying your body down. Something you do to your body as if it were a separate entity--hence the use of the word "lay" instead of "lie," which should probably say "lay myself down" if we really want to get technical.

sit v. set

No one confuses sit and set, but these make for a much easier way to remember lie and lay. Lie is like sit, and lay is like set. Now it makes sense, doesn't it?

Supposed to

It has a "d" on the end of it. It's not "suppose to."

Used to

Same story. "D" on the end of "used."

Nip it in the bud

A dog might nip you in the butt, but if you want to stop something before it goes to far, you have to nip it in the bud. On a related note, I find this phrase humorous, because if you nip off the buds of a plant (pinching), you actually encourage more growth. Anyone else find this amusing? Nope. I'm a nerd all by myself.

Hone v. home

As of last year I had this all wrong. All wrong. If you are trying to get closer to an idea or target, you don't hone in on it. You home in on it. Think of a homing pigeon. They can find the target/goal. To hone means to sharpen, so you can hone your skills. In fact, you can hone your homing skills.

All of a sudden

It's not "all the sudden" or "all of the sudden." I can still remember the moment my mom pointed this out to me. I was probably 10 or 11 (or 16--I have no sense of time in my memory).

Alzheimer's v. Oldtimers

Very funny mistake about a not-so-funny topic. Yes, many people with Alzheimer's Disease are elderly. But, please, don't call it Oldtimer's Disease.

And for Lindsay...

Hanged v. hung

People are hanged (as in a way to put to death). Everything else is hung. There is no non-gruesome way to give an example of this, so here you go: After the man was hanged, his body hung in the plaza for all to see. Eesh. Talk about a grim picture.

Perhaps another day we can talk about punctuation, because "Let's go eat, Tom!" means something very very different than "Let's go eat Tom!" I'll bet you can't wait for that post...

Liam: 5 months

2011-05-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Baby Liam is 5 months old today! We love love love this little boy.

Liam...

* is all smiles.
* loves to watch Graham play.
* slept through the night for the first time this week after only 2 nights of sleep training.
* started rolling over when he turned 3 months and is now a pro.
* sucks on his forearm, giving himself hickeys.
* loves to play in his exersaucer.
* fell out of his swing and didn't even notice...

A few weeks ago, Christian put Liam in his swing in order to take a bathroom break. He didn't latch down the little tray. When he came back, Liam was on the floor under the swing. (See the picture above.)

What... the... heck?

What baby wiggles enough to fall out of a swing and then doesn't even complain?

Liam does. That's our baby.

grammar lesson: myself

2011-05-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Grammar lesson of the day. 'Myself' is a reflexive pronoun, meaning it points back to you.

How did you get that bruise on your face? I accidentally hit myself with a frying pan.

Who gave you that super cute necklace? Oh, I bought it for myself.

You see? It's used for something that you do to yourself. You to you. He bought it for himself. She bought it for herself. I bought it for myself.

Incorrect: Patty, please let Tom and myself know when you are finished.

You aren't doing anything to yourself, so there's no reason to say "myself." Patty is supposed to let you know when she's finished. Her to you.

Correction: Patty, please let Tom and me know when you are finished.

Sure, sometimes it sounds all fancy and formal to throw "myself" in everywhere. People do it all the time. People on TV. Even people who write for a living (yikes!).

But do yourself a favor (eh? eh? see it there? you do something for yourself), and don't use "myself" where you should use "me" or "I."

You wouldn't ever say "Myself will take care of the registration forms," so you probably shouldn't say "Barney and myself will take care of the registration forms."

Are you thoroughly confused? Sometimes I confuse myself, too. If you don't believe me, go look it up online and find out for yourself.

But don't be too self conscious about it. Go ahead and say it wrong. I won't criticize you for using the reflexive incorrectly. Everyone does it. I'll just notice in my own quiet way. But I won't love you any less.

triathlon

2011-05-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned, I'm signed up to do the XTERRA Tahoe City Sprint Distance Triathlon in 6 weeks.

I like to blame my brothers for convincing me to sign up with them, but really I'm excited for it. Do I think I'll be ready for it come June 25th? Not in the least. But I'm excited.

However, the weather has not really been cooperating up at Lake Tahoe. T minus 6 weeks and this is what the webcams are showing:

Webcam of the water near where we'll swim (do you see the snow on the dock?):

View from up on the mountain. Um, how are we supposed to ride on trails that are still covered with snow?

Dear Mother Nature: It's time to crank up the heat. And fast.

the job hunt

2011-05-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Christian was helping a lady at Banana Republic (where he works part time). She was so impressed by his great customer service that she asked who his manager was so she could put in a good word for him. The manager was busy at the time, so Christian kept doing what he does and continued helping the lady. He noticed she was wearing a Tesla jacket and asked what ties she had to Tesla.

{For those of you who don't know, Tesla Motors makes all-electric cars. Expensive all-electric cars, but working on less expensive models.}

Turns out she's a customer service manager at Tesla.

In the words of the wise Gru... "Light bulb."

You know it's a good sign when a customer service manager is impressed with your customer service. Now Christian has a 2-month temp job working with this customer service manager at Tesla. Of course we are crossing our fingers that his time at Tesla opens some doors and leads to more, but for now we are happy that he is getting more experience.

FAQs:

1. Will he get to test drive a Tesla? If by test drive you mean look at them in the parking lot, then yes.

2. Does he get a discount on Tesla cars? Um, first he would need to be an actual employee. And then probably no. And even if he did, us getting a discount on a $110,000 car would be like, um, us getting a discount on a $110,000 car. Wouldn't exactly make any difference, you know?

3. What about your kids? They don't get a discount either. Oh, you mean what are we doing with our kids? One day a week my mom is coming up to watch them (thank you, Mom!), and the other 4 days we are doing a sort of nanny share with our good friend Robin. We drop the kids off at the nanny's house in the morning and they seem as happy as can be when we pick them up. What a relief. Childcare is stressful. But I'm excited Graham and Dylan get to hang out now!

4. Is Christian still working at Banana? Yes. Until he finds a fixed position, he will keep his job at Banana. Don't you fret. We still have our discount.

5. When will he know if it turns into something permanent? You never know that. Sometimes temp jobs lead to something. Sometimes they don't. People tend to like Christian, so our best chances are for a job to open up for which he qualifies. So we'll just cross our fingers and wait. And if you know anyone who works at Tesla, tell them to swing by and say hello to Christian. :)

weekends

2011-05-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

I'm 2 months behind on my weekend fun posts. If you read my blog on a reader, be prepared to see quite a few posts at once. Going to pre-date these posts so they fall in my blog where they should... If you don't get my feed on a reader and feel like reading them, you can click here: http://mollyauf.blogspot.com/search/label/weekend%20fun.

weekend 19:52 - Los Altos Pathways 10k

2011-05-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

I signed up for the 10k.

I decided to run the 5k.

I showed up and Maren convinced me to run the 10k. "Molly--I haven't been doing over 4-milers lately either. I'll be running so slow. I'm planning to walk, too."

She left me in the dust a quarter of a mile in...

(Just teasing, Maren. I didn't ever expect to keep up with you guys.)

Oh my, is this race hilly.

The most I had run since having Liam was 3.9 miles--on flat roads with mandatory traffic light rests. I had run the 3.5-mile dish loop once and walked it once. That was as much hill training as I had done.

Even so, I just kept telling myself that if I didn't push myself now, I would be miserable in the triathlon next month. So I (slowly) ran the 10k course. Sure, I may have been one of the last people to cross the finish line (I'm convinced I was the last person--they didn't even take my race bib tag, so I don't have an official finish time) but I did it!

Looks like I have no more excuses for not running long distances and hills.

tidbits

2011-05-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

1. Christian got a temp position at Tesla Motors. Yay! Cross your fingers it leads to something more...

2. Christian and I carpooled to work today, so, of course, we listened to his talk radio station. Didn't occur to me 'til later that he is joining MY commute. Tomorrow we are listening to my audio book. Don't ask for whom the bell tolls, Christian. It tolls for thee.

3. I'm not positive how I feel about the skirt I'm wearing today. It's cute on the hanger, so I'm trying not to have second thoughts.

4. Liam sleeps on a blanket on the floor by my bed. We're classy like that.

5. I wish I were as interested in current events as I am in whether someone spells their name with one 'n' or two.

6. Why can't I just get up an go to the bathroom as soon as I have to pee. Do I really need to procrastinate everything I do?

7. We're sharing a nanny with Robin in Mountain View. Hurray! One of the best parts--I'll get to run on the Steven's Creek Trail after pick up on Thursdays!

8. I'm going to a work conference in Miami, so I'm taking the boys with me (grown boy included). Vacation, anyone?

9. The boys' nanny is going to speak Spanish to them. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. (I'm excited about this.)

10. Graham has started saying his own "prayer" at night. In fact, last night he said 4 or 5 of them before we had to call it quits and make him lay down.

dear christian

2011-05-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Christian,

I know it's Mother's Day weekend, but I can't help but want to celebrate you. You have watched our boys for the last year and a half. Some days were harder than others, but we have two very happy boys as a result of the loving care you've given them. They will miss being with you all day long.

You feed them, change them, comfort them, play with them. You help me every day, you make me laugh, and you put up with all the many projects I dream up.

You are the only reason I can make it out the door anywhere close to on time.

I may be the mother, but my job is a lot easier with you as the father.

So in honor of Mother's Day, this mama thanks you and loves you.

Love,

Me

shayla

2011-05-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Shayla will probably hate me for putting her in the spotlight like this, but I just finished reading my friend Rachel's blog post. It gives such a PERFECT example of our Shayla that I had to include it on my blog. Yesterday I tried hard to convince our property management company to let Shayla's family move in next to us even though they have a dog. Alas, the management company wouldn't budge an inch on the "no animals" policy. Booooo. I mean, who in the world WOULDN'T want someone like this as their tenant? Click here to read about the amazing Shayla.

Don't you guys love Shayla?

weekend 18:52 - Mormon Helping Hands

2011-05-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Mormon Helping Hands service project. Members of our ward (local congregation) gathered at a park in Sunnyvale and had a great time helping with some landscaping improvements.

We spread mulch, dug holes, and planted rose bushes and trees. The weather was beautiful, the service was fun, and the company was delightful. (I spent most of my time chatting with Lorraine, who told me stories about growing up Eskimo in Alaska and all the fruits and vegetables they used to pick in the wild.)

On Sunday I went for a mountain bike ride at Arastradero and discovered that I'm not very good at going down hairpin turns (specifically to the left). Ouch. Dirt hurts. I have some scrapes and a big bruise to prove it.

Topped the weekend off with a yummy dinner at the Horsleys'. Glad to be in their ward again!

brothers

2011-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster at our house. It turns out watching three 1 1/2 year olds and a baby with a nasty diaper rash is a bit much for one person to handle. I think Christian wins the daddy-of-the-year award.

Today, however, it's just the boys at home.

And this is what happens when it's just the boys. They play together.

Graham loves hanging out with Liam. Liam loves watching Graham.

big boy bed

2011-04-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Lately when we say, "Do you want to go night night? Do you want to go to bed?", Graham has been getting up and walking straight to his room. So we thought maybe it was time to transition him into a bed. You never know--one of these days he may just walk to his room and go to sleep when he gets tired. Hey--you never know.

So we put the twin mattress on the floor and gave it a try on Friday night.

The first night it took a little (and I emphasize little) convincing, but he went to sleep on the mattress. We peeked in a couple hours later and had a good laugh to find him asleep on the floor. An hour later I was brushing my teeth and heard the "twang twang" of something hitting the doorstop in Graham's room. I thought Christian was in there making noise, so when I came out of the bathroom to check, I saw Graham's door open slowly and a tiny little head came crawling out--surely half asleep. It was the most adorable thing. I took him back in and he went back to sleep. He ended up on the floor again by early morning, but he slept all night.

Since then he has slept on the mattress. Even for his naps. Christian and I have both peeked in on him around the time he should be waking up only to find him just sitting on his mattress waiting for us. Other times he gets fed up and yells for us. This morning we left the door open and he came out on his own. So strange!

Since the first night, he hasn't fallen off the mattress. Oh, except for that one time that he somehow landed on his face and was stuck half upside down and crying for someone to come rescue him.

Tonight is night 6 in the big boy bed. At 17 months old. Where did this little guy come from?

the boys

2011-04-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm bored and need a break from medical student schedule change petitions... So here are some pictures of my boys from my phone!

Liam playing in his exersaucer. Christian sent me this today. I miss my boys! (All 3 of them...)

Liam helping me garden a few weeks ago.

Running with the boys. No more infant car seat for Liam! He sits in the stroller like a big boy now. I honestly think ditching that extra weight helped. I had an awesome 4-mile run. (It was a nice evening. The picture makes it look freezing.)

Graham has taken to laying down or sitting down next to Liam to hang out with him. He loves his little brother!

Graham's favorite place: Pinkberry. My favorite chairs...

I'm building a fence to keep the kids out of the vegetable garden. It's the only way little sprouting plants will survive little feet and curious fingers.

Graham now devours whole pears. No more cutting up little pieces for him.

On the way home from Hollister: sleeping and holding up his bottle at the same time. Impressive.

Cute little picture of Liam from a few weeks ago.

More to follow. My phone decided it has worked hard enough for today and won't send the rest of the photos. Stay tuned.

why are europeans just so dang cool?

2011-04-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

From bike to stroller in 20 seconds... AND there's an option to put 2 kids on it as well. Let's all move to the Netherlands and ride around on a Taga

Instead I am thinking about strapping our umbrella stroller and Moby wrap to our bike trailer so I can maneuver the farmer's market tomorrow...

weekend 15:52 - Mountain Bike Expo

2011-04-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Christian and Josh's company, Discrepancy Clothing, was a sponsor at the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival on April 9th and 10th. A couple of Discrepancy's sponsored local riders were supposed to compete, but one has a broken bike and one has a broken ankle (or something like that). Blah, blah. Excuses, excuses. ;)

Chelsea (Josh's wife) and I decided to take our boys down and check out some of the mountain biking. Graham liked watching the bikes, but threw a fit most of the time, because we wouldn't let him run out onto the bike tracks or run wherever he wanted at the expo (everyone was riding their bikes through the expo). Looks like we need to get that little boy a bike of his own sometime soon. I even won a $150 WTB saddle in the raffle. I love it!

Christian and Graham watched the boys on the big air jumps.

we just don't know

2011-04-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

So many of us just don't know real hardship. Many of my students do. And let me tell you--they are the most humble, happy, loving people I know. Let me share some of their stories:

Emilia: Emilia went to first grade in Mexico for the first time when she was 7. Then her parents split up and she moved. She returned to first grade again when she was 10. She never went to school other than that. She is one of my brightest and most advanced students. She has been in the US for 20 years and now that she is a grandmother, she's taking the time to work on her own education and learn English. There just wasn't time while raising a family and working.

America: America has been in the Level 1 class for 4 or 5 years. She tries hard. She learns slowly, but she comes, and I am definitely seeing improvement. I'm so proud of her. Last year when the students were supposed to write about an important day in their past, she wrote about the day her husband died in the hospital in El Salvador. Just about broke my heart. She moved here 5 years ago to be near her daughter (and now her grandchildren as well).

Jaime: Jaime was a karate master in Mexico. He owned his own academy and his students were nationally ranked. He earned a scholarship to teach workshops in Michigan one summer. When he tried to get his visa, the agent he was working with accused him over and over of buying his papers. He was denied the visa. He lost the scholarship. He came to the US anyway a few years later for his family.

Ana: She and her husband tried for years in Mexico to get pregnant. They did the fertility treatments they could afford. Eventually her husband moved to the US to work. He came home occasionally. One time he came home for a month and they were lucky enough to get pregnant. But because he had only been home for such a short time, people in her town gossiped that she had cheated on him and was pregnant by someone else. When she should have been rejoicing, she was instead having to defend herself. She and her son eventually paid a coyote to bring them to the US and join her husband. They now have a daughter, too.

Morena: Morena comes from a family of 11 or 12 children. 2 of the children have epilepsy and 1 is a quadriplegic. She came to the US to work so that her family back in El Salvador can afford the medicine her siblings need.

Freddy: Freddy works here so his sister can go to college in El Salvador. He should be in college, but instead he's here paying her way through college. He loves his family.

George: George moved to the US so that he could afford to buy his parents a house in Mexico and take care of them. Now that he's here, he misses the small town life in Mexico. He says there are too many drugs and problems in East Palo Alto, but his daughters have been here their whole lives and don't want to move to Mexico. He misses it.

Gerardo: Gerardo has been here for 2 years. He has a 6-year-old son back in Mexico whom he misses dearly. When I commented on how hard that must be, his eyes lit up like I've never seen before and he said, "But I get to talk to him on the phone every day!" I almost cried.

Santos: Santos is an older gentleman who has an 8-year-old daughter. She is his life. They are best friends. The mother lives in Redwood City but is barely a part of the little girl's life at all. He calls himself her mommy and her daddy. Santos never went to school in Mexico. Not one day. Now he is going to school to learn English for his daughter.

Victor: Victor came here to work for his family. The plan was for him to work for 5 years and then go back to Mexico to be with his wife and kids. He was here for 2 years when he found out that his wife (and the mother of his 3 kids, the love of his life) had found someone else. She got lonely after he left. His heart was broken. Unfortunately this is a common story.

Juan: When I had the students write what they used to do when they were little, Juan wrote that when he was a boy in El Salvador, he used to "bathe in the river and hide from the war." As a child.

Vanessa: Vanessa is in her early 20s. When she left El Salvador to come to the US, it took her a month to complete the journey. We buy plane tickets and travel in a day.

My students work as house cleaners, in housekeeping, in construction, in masonry, in landscaping, painting. It's hard work. If you ask them if they like their jobs, every single one of them will say yes.

Those with children are making sure their kids go to school so they can go to college. Some of them have kids in college.

As we live our cushy lives, we sometimes forget that other people are raised without education, leave the place they love to provide a better life for their children, and live in a foreign land with a foreign language they don't understand. And for the most part, they are genuinely happy. I'm honored to help them learn English.

goal for the month of April

2011-04-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

My goal for the month of April is to use every appliance and/or pan in my kitchen at least once.

Cake pans
Bundt pan
Springform pan
Bread pans
Ebelskiver pan
Pie tins
Cupcake pan
Food processor
Waffle iron
Bread maker
Banana split bowls (from Braden and Cheri--I think of you guys every time I see them!)
Steamer
Ice cream maker

Now that I made that list, I've changed my mind.

My new goal for the month of April will be to pick 2 or 3 lonely pans from the depths of my cupboards and use them.

Otherwise I will be a big, big girl by the end of the month...

weekend 14:52 - Biking

2011-04-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

We decided to test out the new bike trailer seat we got for Liam. We strapped the boys in and went for a nice 8-mile ride along (mostly) quiet roads and bike paths. Liam was as happy as a clam for the first half of the ride, then sound asleep for the second half. I'd say he liked it!

Of course, we had to stop at Pinkberry on the way home... Yum. We had had a pretty disappointing week with yet another job rejection (from a job Christian was really excited about). Riding, chatting, laughing, and being outside together really lifted our spirits. We needed it.

disappointment, perspective, and comfort

2011-04-01T22:26:00.001-07:00

Today has been a whirlwind of emotion, yet it all fit together so perfectly, like everything was planned.

Event #1 of the day:

This morning I read a post on Five Real Moms about how sometimes what seems to be a trial at the time ends up being a huge blessing (in her case, a leaky pipe led to the prevention of a household disaster). I commented that we had noticed the same thing in Christian's job search. He had some decent leads that didn't pan out. He made it part way through the Deputy Sheriff application process only to find out that the county had to cut budgets and was no longer hiring. These were big disappointments at the time, but through this laborious process of job hunting, Christian has discovered what he really wants to do in his career. If he had gotten the previous jobs, he may have ended up going down a path that wasn't right for him. It was through the disappointment that he discovered something valuable.

Event #2 of the day:

A) A few days ago I posted about an infant seat adapter for our bike trailer. The seat is only sold in Europe and with shipping would have cost us $150. Yuck. The next best thing (in price and most likely quality) would have been a $70 seat sold in the US.

B) Yesterday, Brooklyn introduced me to the art of sharing Facebook posts with select groups of people. This allowed me to put a link to my blog on Facebook for only close friends to see.

C) Today, my coworker/friend, Evelyn, (who saw my blog yesterday thanks to the Facebook post) happened upon someone who was selling the same infant bike trailer seat I had posted on my blog. She sent me the link. I emailed the lady, who happened to be German and had had the seat since she lived in Germany. I bought it for $55 -- 2 miles from my work.

Event #3 of the day:

Not long after I made arrangements to pick up the seat, I received word from Christian that he had not gotten the job for which he had been interviewing. It was essentially a dream job for him. This crushed my day. Christian not getting his dream job also means that I don't get my dream job. Back to the drawing board. It's a tough thing to take in, especially when you start to think that there might be light at the end of the job-search tunnel. And not just any light. A light that seemed like the perfect fit for us.

So the question is, how did this all fit together perfectly?

I could be sad (which I am) and bitter (which I'm not). But after putting in writing this morning that I've witnessed blessings from the trials of this job hunt, it would be hypocritical of me to wallow in my sorrows now. I know things will work out. The blessings will come. I said it myself this morning just in time to need my own advice.

And I felt like the chain of events leading up to us getting the infant seat adapter today were more than just coincidental. Heavenly Father knew we'd need some comforting this weekend. While we could have sat around watching TV, he knew that a Saturday ride down a beautiful bike path with our beautiful boys would be much needed therapy for the disappointment.

I am looking forward to tomorrow.

yoga baby

2011-03-31T21:18:00.001-07:00

Liam held this pose for a few minutes. I just sat there laughing at him. He wasn't rocking back and forth or anything. Just sitting perfectly still like this. Does this look comfortable to anyone? Looks like my little boy isn't afraid of some manly yoga.

And, yes, he is rolling over and propping himself up on his own. I'm still in shock. Seems like he's growing up 10 times fast than Graham did.

i want this (and your opinion)

2011-03-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

I want this. No, let me rephrase that. I want to be able to use this. It is an infant seat for a bike trailer.

Over the summer we bought a bike trailer. This bike trailer, to be exact. Trek GoBug (no longer made).

I had grand plans of biking all over the place with the kids in the trailer. Yes, I want to be one of those moms. However, I soon realized that you aren't supposed to put kids into a bike trailer until they are 1 year old. So much for biking around town anytime soon, right?

So here's my beef. How in the world are people with kids supposed to live around here without cars?? I swear our country is designed (and we are socialized) to only drive cars.

Before I get into this, please consider the fact that I like public transportation. I love the idea of only using a car for significant distances, but I don't profess to actually follow that lifestyle. Try looking at this from that point of view instead of just saying, "Drive your car, idiot."

Problem #1: My double stroller is too big to take on buses. Even if I broke down the stroller and took up the entire aisle of the bus with it, I can't even imagine trying to get everything onto the bus and then trying to wrangle both kids during the bus ride without them being strapped into the stroller. That was hard enough when I only had Graham.

Problem #2: Sure, I could put Graham in an umbrella stroller and strap Liam onto my chest. That way I could actually physically get on a bus. Only I wouldn't be able to get anything back home with me, so things like grocery shopping would be out of the question.

Problem #3: I work during the week, and Christian works evenings and Saturdays. So if I want to go run errands when I'm home, the kids have to come with me. That means I have no choice but to drive a car, because of Problem #4...

Problem #4: I can't put my 3-month-old in a bike trailer.

Interestingly, the Weber Baby Seat pictured at the top of this post is for kids under 1 year of age. From about 1 month until 9 or 10 months, to be precise.

This Chariot sling below (similar to the seat above, but flimsy) is sold in the US and says it should only be used when using the Chariot as a stroller, not as a bike trailer.

The Weber seat says no such thing and is only sold in Europe.

Do you know what that tells me? People in Europe put their babies in bike trailers way younger than a year, and it's okay.

Are their kids going to grow up with neurological problems?

Are we paranoid here in the US?

I completely understand the safety concerns associated with the constant jostling of a small infant's developing brain. Honestly, I think the ONLY thing that should be debated with infants in bike trailers is the potential effect of jostling on neurological development. They say a baby's neck can't support a helmet, and they can't ride without a helmet, but I think the helmet argument isn't as important. A baby strapped into a bike trailer with a roll bar (without a helmet) sounds safer than a young child on a tag-along bike (which is completely acceptable). So the only problem in my mind is the jostling.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I have found in all my research is this site, where a man is using a 7-pound doll to test the G-force of various "safe" and "controversial" activities on newborns (everything from bouncing on a knee to riding in a baby bjorn to riding in a bike trailer on a gravel path). Fascinating.

Or maybe the debate has nothing to do with the babies at all. Maybe it's all due to the fact that we are not a bike-friendly country and that cars rule the road, making any biking situation unsafe. Is my 3-month-old any safer in my car going 75 on the freeway? I'm not so sure.

What do you think?

weekend 13:52 - Hollister

2011-03-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

My cousin and his family were passing through town, so we all had dinner in Hollister. I love getting together with everyone in Hollister, especially in the springtime. My parents' house sits on an acre of land backed by open fields and a backdrop of country hills. It is beautiful.

We also celebrated Ian's birthday with a big huge chocolate cake. (That's a lot of little Carter girls at one table...)

Graham got his eat on.

bulk products

2011-03-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

So I used my new produce bags for the first time today. I don't have nearly enough! I took 8 bags with me, but I easily could have used twice that. I ended up not bagging most of my produce so I'd have more bags left over for bulk products. (Do bananas, melons, lemons, and yams really need bags? I think not.)

I was asked in my previous post if the checkers gave me a hard time about using my own (non-see-through) produce/bulk bags. Not at all. I could have had the bags weighed when I first went in and had the checker be sure to use the bag's tare weight instead of the standard plastic bag tare weight, but I didn't bother. The difference in weight is so insignificantly small. Besides, they gave me a 5-cent credit for every bag of my own that I used. Not just my reusable shopping bags, but all 8 of my produce bags as well.

For my produce, I just left the top of the bag open so they could see what was in it. For the bulk products, I attached the tag with the written price code onto the drawstring. It didn't take the checker any longer than it would have with the plastic bags.

Remember when I tried to rush from my teaching job to Ikea, and made it there 15 minutes before it closed, only to find the doors locked? Well my friend, Lindsay, was in Ikea the next day, remembered my post, called me, and volunteered to pick up whatever it was I had needed. She is the best!

I needed these beauties.

I love these SLOM glass jars from Ikea. They are probably 15 inches tall and only $3.99 each. I had 2 but wanted more. Thanks to Lindsay, I now have 8. Tonight I realized I could easily use another 5 or 6.

Since I've been trying to use bulk products as much as possible, here is how I organized everything.

I weighed a jar to get its tare weight (using my trusty kitchen scale). Then I filled the jars with flour/beans/oats/pancake mix/dried fruit/powdered sugar/etc. and wrote on the jar with a permanent marker. I love writing on glass with permanent marker (in case you didn't know...)

Yeah, I probably don't need to label write rice in a clear jar. It's pretty obvious that's what it is. But I did it for consistency since I had to label other things like pancake mix and flour.

After adding the food, I weighed each jar again. This told me how much of each product would fit in the jar, which I wrote on the bottom of each jar. This way I can know exactly how much to get at the store when it runs out.

I also put all the code tags into a plastic baggie and threw it in with our shopping bags. This way I can just reuse the tags whenever I go, since having to write the price code down every time is annoying.

Don't they look great on the piano? Don't worry. They went in the cupboard after I was finished weighing and labeling them.

I now get all the following products from the bulk bins:

white flour
wheat flour
white sugar
brown sugar
powdered sugar
cocoa powder
white rice
quinoa
couscous
oats
pancake mix
dried mangos*
black beans
kidney beans
cashews
raisins
corn meal
kernel corn for popping
twisted honey pretzels

*I had Graham at Sprouts, and Christian had Liam at Costco. Without realizing it, we both bought dried mangos. They were actually cheaper in the bulk bins at Sprouts.

Before you ask how in the world I had time to do all of that, just know that there are 3 loads of laundry sitting next to me waiting to be folded and tons of dishes in the sink. I make time by ignoring things I really have to do...

domino effect

2011-03-26T12:21:00.001-07:00

I need to get my bike and trainer out of the garage so I can go on a ride in the living room. (Go away, rain!) I wanted to wait until Graham was asleep so he wouldn't try to get near the wheel spokes while I rode. That would be a disaster.

He is now asleep.

However, I don't feel like I can "go" on a ride until the groceries are put away.

I had to clean out the fridge in order to fit the groceries.

In the process I filled the sink with dirty tupperware.

I can't put all the groceries away until I rinse out my new glass jars for my bulk products.

I can't rinse the jars until I clean the dirty tupperware filling the sink.

I figured I would crash and burn if I attempted all this work without eating anything, since it's noon and I never ate breakfast.

So I made a sandwich.

Although now that I think about it, the bulk products can wait to be put away until I'm done with my bike ride.

The only problem now is that I'm not someone who can exercise on a full stomach. Curse you, turkey sandwich!

Liam's blessing

2011-03-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Christian blessed Liam at church. It was very nice to have our family and some friends at church with us and see the men form the tight little circle around Liam for the blessing. As they came together I had this wonderful sense that little Liam was so protected and safe in that little huddle of people so special to us.

Liam wore a little outfit that was Christian's when he was a baby (different outfit than Graham wore for his blessing), hand-me-down argyle socks from Amy, and the little blue shoes my friend Sally gave me when Graham was born.

After the blessing, everyone came over to our house to eat and chat. Little kids ran around like crazy--8 little boys here and 1 little girl.

It was a special day. We love our little Liam and are so grateful to have him in our life.

starting vegetable seeds

2011-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is my first year with a yard, which means it's my first year with a real vegetable garden! Last year I grew a tiny vegetable garden on my porch, but I failed miserably at starting seeds. I think I didn't water them enough, because anything that actually sprouted ended up dying. After that I vowed to only buy vegetable plants from the nursery.

But then a year went by and my confidence recovered. So I went out and bought lots of seeds!

I decided to make my own seed starting cups out of newspaper. I saw the idea for little newspaper seed pots on the Backyard Farming blog. I liked this idea better than going out and buying plastic seed-starter trays. So I got to work.

First I had to find newspaper... Borrowed some from my neighbor. Christian brought some home from work.

I forgot to take a picture of the beginning of the process, so here are two pictures from Backyard Farming. You cut the newspaper into strips, wrap them around a small jar (I used a medium size spice jar--one with about a 2-inch top).

Tuck the extra newspaper into the opening of the jar, pull it off the jar, turn it over, and smash down the tucked-in newspaper to create the base.

Then fill the cups with dirt! I saved various plastic trays to put them in (the bottoms of milk jugs, cookie trays, cupcake containers from the cupcakes I took to my ESL class...). I also cut some of the leftover plastic into tabs to label the plants.

I'm not going to lie--rolling the newspaper and filling the little pots with dirt was time consuming. It wouldn't have been nearly as time consuming if I had counted my seeds correctly. Somehow I calculated that I needed 50 little pots. So I made 50 little pots. When it came time to plant the seeds, I planted 20 pots and was done. I sure felt dumb that I had been so off in my calculations! Turns out I included all the seeds I planned to plant directly in the ground. Oops! So I gave the rest to my sister.

I planted more seeds than I would need, expecting some of them not to grow. Want to see how well my seeds are doing?

The chives are not doing so well. I failed with these last year, too. I guess I'm not meant to grow chives from seed.

The peppers are making an appearance! Some bell peppers, some habanero peppers, some piquillo peppers, and some sweet yellow peppers. I read a tip to cover them in a plastic bag to keep them warm. When everything else started growing except my peppers, I ditched the bag, and now they are starting to grow.

The tomatoes are like a forest! (Note the orange int he picture for scale.) Almost all the seeds grew! Cherry tomatoes, big purple heirloom tomatoes, and tomato seeds I harvested from my CSA last year. We are going to have lots of tomatoes.

Last, but very much not least, are the watermelon and zucchini! 3 decent-size watermelon plants and 3 HUGE zucchini plants! I need to get these bad boys in the ground stat, but the never-ending rain is making that difficult. So I guess they will just keep growing!

Now if the rain would just stop, I could plant everything...

reusable produce bags

2011-03-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

We've been buying our grains, beans, flour, etc. in bulk, and we've been using a lot of produce. I came home from my last trip to the grocery store with at least 15 plastic bags filled with our produce and/or bulk stuff. And I didn't even bag all the produce I bought. It was ridiculous.

I've also been reading a Zero Waste Home blog (thanks to my mom who likes to pass on interesting findings to us kids). This family only buys products in bulk in order to not bring home any packaging that results in waste, and in order to do that, they use fabric produce/bulk bags and glass jars for meat/dairy products. Fun to read about.

So this week I finally got around to making my own produce bags.

I took a mismatched sheet (we seem to have a flat sheet but no matching fitted) and cut it up.

I folded it in half and traced a plastic produce bag as a pattern. (Note: After sewing the bags, I think this is too large. I recommend making them about 3 inches shorter than the plastic bags from the store.)

I realized that the edges of the sheet had been finished in such a way that I could put a drawstring through the hem, so I was sure to line it up so that two of the original sheet hems lined up as the top of the bags.

I then folded the fabric over itself accordion style and cut, cut, cut until I had 8 large bags, 4 medium bags, and 3 small spice bags (Sprouts sells spices in bulk, so I can use these any time I need to refill a spice bottle.)

I sewed the sides, inserted some clothesline cord, and voila!

One of these days I'l like to carve a linoleum print just for these bags to give them some character, but for now I'm just happy to have resuable produce bags.

{Note: While these bags weigh next to nothing, they do weigh more than the plastic grocery bags. I can have them weighed and mark the tare weight on them so the grocer can subtract the tare weight from the produce I buy. However, they are so lightweight that I doubt the miniscule bit of extra weight will really affect the cost of the produce much.}

update on the prolapse: 13 weeks postpartum

2011-03-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

For anyone out there on the web who finds my posts about my bladder prolapse, I am writing this for you!

It's like it never happened. 13 weeks after I gave birth, 11 weeks after I noticed the prolapse, I don't even feel it. The only time I even remotely notice it is when I carry my baby around in a baby wrap/sling/carrier for any period of time. And even then it's just a slight discomfort.

As for exercise, I ran twice about a month ago (so around 8 or 9 weeks postpartum) and the running did not cause any extra discomfort. I had to stop running, because I injured my back (completely unrelated to running or the prolapse). This week I will start running again, and I am confident that the prolapsed bladder will not affect me in the least.

I bought a pelvic floor exercise DVD from Hab-It.com and I highly recommend it. I knew I wouldn't use it daily like I should (because I'm a procrastinator and a slacker), but I used it a couple times a week, and I do think it helped. In fact, I really need to start using it again--and consistently. These exercises are helpful for any woman, not just people with prolapses.

I have also been doing yoga at home, which has not only helped my back but has strengthened me in general, and I believe that strengthening in general has a great effect on the prolapse.

Last, I have been very careful NOT to lift anything heavy. Doing so can have a negative effect on the prolapse until your pelvic floor has recovered and is strong. Lifting something extremely heavy is also how I hurt my back. After being pregnant and on bedrest, my back was about as wimpy as could be, and I wasn't careful. Now I'm trying to strengthen it through yoga.

In fact, I am so confident and optimistic about the state of my bladder and my ability to exercise that I signed up with my brothers to do an XTERRA Triathlon in Lake Tahoe in 12 weeks. (I will be doing the Sprint distance, of course.)

Wish me luck. I'm not sure what I just got myself into...

But for those of you out there with a cystocele, don't give up hope. Start strengthening your pelvic floor and kick that bladder in the butt. :)

vote: upholstery fabric

2011-03-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

I have a list of projects I have to finish before I even attempt to teach myself how to upholster furniture.

1. Finish building worm box.
2. Plant vegetable garden and re-pot redwood tree.
3. Hang canvas print.
4. Hang art in bedroom.
5. Organize bulk items in kitchen.
6. Organize garage.
7. Make a significant dent in acquiring our emergency preparedness food storage.
8. Finish sewing produce bags.

Considering how long it takes me to finish projects, it will be years before I dig into upholstery...

Regardless, I LOVE searching for fabric. I want the chair to be a pop of color in my living room, and the red/gold/tan just isn't cutting it for me.

So I'm going to have you all vote on which fabric you like best. Granted, almost all these Duralee prints all cost $20-40/yard, which is a bit steep for this broke mama. Granted, I'm not even sure any of these are upholstery weight, but this is just playful planning. Perhaps if I start saving now, I'll be able to afford the fabric when I get to this project in 5 years... :)

Give me your top 3 choices! (Some of the swatches don't show a ton. Use your imagination.)

Click the image to enlarge.

{My timing is impeccable. I wrote this and then searched through my old blog posts to find a picture of the chair. Turns out I wrote a post about the project a year ago tomorrow. I guess the end of March means I have upholstery on my mind. It must be Spring...}

weekend 12:52 - Pinkberry

2011-03-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend was also Liam's blessing, but we will save that for another post all its own.

On Saturday afternoon, Graham was as cranky as can be. Meltdown city. We decided he needed to get out, so we went to Babies R Us to get some supplies, and decided to go eat at Five Guys after (since we had never been there). Graham shoved hotdog pieces and fries into his mouth faster than I have ever seen him eat. He was a monster. Then he desperately wanted some of Christian's soda. Hey, if the kid is eating hotdogs and fries for dinner, a little soda isn't much worse. By that point Graham was about as hyper as could be and had us laughing our heads off. He was SO happy and having SO much fun.

We realized there was a Pinkberry just across the patio. Since we had never been there, we decided to go try it out.

Because it was pouring that night, we were practically the only people there. Graham ran around laughing, climbed on and off chairs to his heart's content, and was an absolute riot. The cutest thing ever. (Liam slept...)

We had such a fun little family night that we decided we would be back to Pinkberry many times in the future. And I decided I was obsessed with the chairs.

obsessed

2011-03-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

We went to Pinkberry for the first time tonight. (Yummy!! But more on that later.) I am obsessed with the green chairs at the Sunnyvale franchise. Not the white chairs. Only the green chairs.

I am the (self-proclaimed) queen of online searches. If the information is out there, I can find it.

I cannot find who makes these chairs. They aren't the $350 Phillipe Starck Ghost chairs in many of the franchises. That info is all over the web.

I didn't think to ask while I was there, and I can't find anything online, so sent an email to Pinkberry. I am determined.

I'm really not one to "obsess" over things like this (clothing, shoes, decor), but I want these chairs. Think they'd notice if four disappeared? ;)

on patience

2011-03-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

My patience ebbs and flows with the moon, it seems. As many of you know, Christian is looking for full-time work. And not just any full-time work. Sure, the plant nursery down the road is hiring. Nordstrom Rack is hiring. Door-to-door sales companies are hiring. He could find full-time work if he wanted to, but he isn't looking for just anything. He is looking for full-time work in his career path. Full-time work in his field that would also offset my Stanford job and allow me to stay home with our kids.

(Don't worry--I can post freely about this. My boss knows full well that I plan to stay home with my kids as soon as our employment situation allows for it. I work with great people.)

Searching for a job can be stressful, and in my case, I almost feel like it's even more stressful that I'm not the one doing the searching. As I've mentioned a gazillion times, I like to have a plan. It takes everything in me NOT to impose my planning obsession on Christian. If I didn't show a little restraint, I'd end up with a full report of job applications, follow-up calls, common interview questions and answers, and a detailed plan all laid out on a calendar in our kitchen...and a husband who would never talk to me again. Christian doesn't work the same way I do, and I'm sure my obsession with planning grates on him. So I show restraint and try to let him do his thing his way. That doesn't mean I don't interject and offer my help and advice (and I'm sure it has helped out in various areas of his job search). I just don't take over what's not mine. (Or at least I try my hardest not to...)

With that great big long preface, I will get to my point.

Amidst this stressful situation that was, for the most part, out of my hands, I was hit with a huge wave of peace. Of patience. Of acceptance. It was a week before I was supposed to go back to work.

When I went back to work after Graham, I was dreading it. I cried (more than once). It was hard for me to leave him at home. I got over it, of course, and I was just fine. But I still had this resentment for work.

Then I had Liam. About a month ago I was forced to think about what I was going to do with my teaching job. I couldn't possibly work full time and teach at night. I would never see my kids. Emotionally, I just couldn't do it. Once more, I felt resentment. I had to go back to my full time job and would therefore have to quit a my teaching. Leave a class I love. Take a step backward in my teaching career. Giving up my teaching position in this economy was a guarantee that I wouldn't get back in until the economy fully recovered. I was torn. I was sad.

Eventually I was able to work out an arrangement that allowed me to keep my class but only teach one night a week (another teacher would teach my lesson plans the other two nights).

And then it hit. I was calm.

I wasn't worried about going back to work.

I wasn't worried about Christian's job search.

I wasn't worried about anything.

I was calm and content and felt peace. No other way to describe it.

I have been back at work for a week, and I felt fine from the start. Absolutely fine. Things will work out when they are supposed to. Until then, I have patience, and I am grateful.

asleep at the table?

2011-03-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

I've definitely heard of other people's kids doing this, but I thought it could never happen to mine. Graham WILL NOT fall asleep anywhere if other people are in the room, no matter how tired he is.

Turns out that is no longer the case.

This is the text I just got from Christian: "I was feeding and changing Liam and Graham was complaining then stopped suddenly. I got up and he was out."

Aw, Budkins--You are too cute.

weekend fun 11:52

2011-03-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Mom! For my mom's birthday we all went to Shoreline Park and flew kites. How have I never done this before??

The tall grass reminded me of Hollister. When's the last time you laid down in tall grass? It's wonderful.

(Photos stolen from my brother.)