Alison and Brandon in El Pueblo Viejo

Lights Lights Lights

2011-12-21T15:36:00.000-07:00

How is it that Christmas is in four days and then 2012 is here??

We've had quite the Christmas tree saga at our house this year. There was one person who wanted one, one person who was moderate to highly opposed to one, and one person who just wanted more sweet potatoes. I bet you can guess who was who without too much effort.

We eventually decided that a tabletop tree was the best for our needs...mostly because we could have a tree but have it out of reach for Russell. Of course, the tree that I had imagined was either out of stock everywhere or was more than I wanted to spend. I eventually found an adequate tree (that I had to exchange once because I accidentally bought one without a base) and set it up. Almost instantly I knew it wouldn't do.

See, Russell is obsessed with lights right now. He started noticing them a few months ago and I so I thought I would indulge his interest and teach him the sign for light. Now that he knows it, he pretty much does it every time he walks under or near one. And since we are in the age of electricity and in the middle of winter, there is a light nearby at all times. When we are out doing errands, he is constantly doing the sign as we pass by various lit objects--store clerks think he is saying hi and I usually don't have the heart to tell them that he is just telling us that he sees a light. It is kind of hilarious and a little odd. Maybe I need to teach my kid more signs or expose him to more stuff because surely there more to this great world of ours than lights.

Anyways, once Russell saw that the little table top tree had lights...he was fascinated. I put some lights up in our windows which are in the same room as the little table top tree and each time they were all on, Russell would pace back and forth in excitement, frantically doing the light sign. And each time I saw him making his way over to the teeny tiny tree, a little part of me got really sad inside and said, "You are failing him, Alison. It is your duty to give him a great Christmas and this tree is really sub par. Just think how happy he'll be with a bigger, better lit tree." And so I stewed about it, whined a little, and tried to make Brandon feel bad about our pathetic tree.

It didn't work. BUT-I did realize that Brandon wasn't opposed to a tree, he just didn't want to be responsible for it. And so I went out a bought a super cheap, medium sized artificial tree. It is no freshly cut evergreen like Leslie and Clay and Kersten and Tai have (now you guys have to post pictures of your awesome trees so that my four readers can see it), but I was able to set it up on my own during Russell's nap.

And my Child-Spoiler instincts were right--the boy LOVES the tree. The first time he saw it, he started making sounds that I'd never heard...all sorts of syllable combinations and squealing. Then there was pointing, flashing of the light sign, and some heavy breathing. He even backwards walked into my lap so that he could sit and admire it with me. Those five minutes of Russell in baby-overdrive made it all worth it.

All our Christmas Glory

Now that the tree is decorated, Russell has an even funner time because he now gets to flash the light sign and pull of ornaments and those can happen practically in one motion. To top it all off, he has learned his first word (kind of). See if you can pick it up in this video:

Merry Christmas One and All!

12 Mos (Belatedly)

2011-11-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

People keep saying, "Oh, once Russell starts walking, he'll thin right out." I keep quiet and say to myself, "Well, he is walking..."

I love this bird's eye picture of him walking...you really see that tummy protruding. Between that big head and that Buddha belly, it is amazing he is as balanced as he is! I keep meaning to do a photo shoot of him in a diaper or something to really document that tummy, but I know it will just end up looking like this:

Adorable, yes (incredibly so) but still? No way Jose. It is next to impossible to keep that baby in one place. Photos these days just end up with him either running the other way or with him running to grab the camera.

He turned a year almost a month ago. Time flies so quickly it freaks me out.
Some 12 mos stats:

21.9 lbs--56%
29.5 inches long--19% (although we are wondering if that is accurate as we recently measured him shorter)
Fave Foods: Grapes, Sweet Potatoes, Bread. He can practically stuff an entire banana in his mouth at once, too. It is amazing. We have learned to give him only 3-4 bites at a time because he'll put it all in there. He's not into self-regulating yet. But then again, neither am I.
Fave Book: Peek-a-Who? (We had to take this one away because he has almost eaten the entire cover). As Brandon said this morning, "That book is literally a part of him"
Fave Pastime: Walking, Getting into the dishwasher, trying to sneak into the laundry room, playing with a cell phone (preferably a working one), pulling dishtowels off the oven handle, seeing other kids, pointing at stuff, searching underneath his high chair for crumbs.
Fave Words: None. He jabbers baby gibberish all day...but nothing close to a word yet.
Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed before bed (torture for everyone involved!), watching Dad leave for work, the hairdryer, and the vacuum...Russell actually made up his own sign for hairdryer and uses it when he sees me getting ready in the morning as if to say, "Are you going to do that scary thing, Mom?" and when I nod and then assure him that it is OK, he starts to pace back and forth, his eyes welling with tears. It is really sad, actually. I get tempted to not do it, but don't because I think it will reinforce that the hairdryer is a scary and bad thing. He'll grow out of it, right?
Teeth: Top 4, Bottom 4, and a molar is currently pushing through on the top left side...yikes!

Happy Belated Birthday Son. We are so glad you are ours. Thank you for coming to join us.

Who Knew?

2011-11-02T21:51:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, when Brandon came home from work, he saw a purchase I had made and said, "You bought those? I didn't think that was something you'd do." It was these (except the Halloween variety):

I was kind of surprised he said that because he knows of my affection...there has been quite a few times where Brandon has smuggled one of these cookies from work for me because he knew I'd be jealous if he had one and I didn't, or when he's encourage me to snitch one from the dessert table at a potluck before the dessert portion of the evening officially began. I may or may not have gone to Target yesterday morning because of a hunch that they were going to be on post-Halloween clearance. They are so soft and sugary! Who cares that they are store boughten and not made from love (and with a giant mess) in my humble kitchen! And FYI, the Target brand kind are just as good. A guilty pleasure for sure.

The other 'Who Knew' thing is about our child...of course. And it is: Who knew how amazing it would be to watch Russell begin walking? I've been seriously reveling in this stage. He started walking a little over a month ago, just before General Conference (a biannual conference when Mormons listen to talks from their leaders), and it was one of the funnest and most joyful things I have experienced. He had experienced with a few independent steps here and there, and as I had mentioned before, he had been obsessed with cruising along furniture and walls for months. And then finally, he just took off. Within the span of about forty-five minutes, he went from walking a few steps to climbing up stairs and doing laps around the kitchen. All that cruising finally paid off!

We happened to be in Mexico, and my parents, grandparents, and my Aunt Jeanne got to witness the spectacle. It was wonderful to share that with them. Each evening, we took Russell down to the beach, where the firm but forgiving sand from low tide provided the perfect environment for him to explore and practice using those legs. That first day, I didn't even take any pictures, I just wanted enjoy the sight. Who knew such a milestone would be so special.

And now a month later, it is still so fun to follow him around--mostly because it is still so clear that he is loving this new freedom. He babbles and laughs to himself as he walks from room to room; he is often more content to explore than to play with toys. He's got this waddle that makes his bum shake and a perfectly round Buddha belly that just leads the way. Just last week, I witnessed my child running off with a group of kids to play and I said to myself, "This is happening already?!" I didn't have to encourage him, he just went...my baby. Imagine what I'll be saying on his first day of kindergarten. He still prefers to eat stuff off the ground and suck on the toys rather than interact too much with the other kids (and he is still so short that the other kids tend to yank on his hair and ears), but he wants to be with them, has the capability to do it, and now all I can do is watch it happen.

The first video is of Russell doing all his tricks, walking, waving, and doing baby sign language. He knows about five signs and mostly uses them in the right context with his own interpretations of how to do them, but it is fun to see him learn and then use the signs.

The second video is of Russell walking in his 'big boy shoes'. The shoes are much clunkier than his other shoes but are important for walking around on our Arizona landscaping...ie rocks. He has a heavier step than normal because he isn't used to wearing such a heavy item on his feet and it was really funny at the time, but I'm posting this (although it is rather shaky) because he is so happy and is making his typical "life is so fun" sounds.

If You Like it Then You Should Put a Can on It...

2011-10-12T11:08:00.000-06:00

I cannot get Beyonce songs out of my head, peoples. I think that is what happens when you and your husband are really tired and the baby is in bed but you're not ready for bed...you just kind of end up watching the most recent VH1 countdown show. Those things are addicting. That particular evening, I even said, "I'm just going to DVR this so we don't have to watch all the commercials." So I did, but we kept watching anyways, commercials and all. Because we couldn't turn away. BTW, VH1 brought back Pop-Up Video. I'm kinda excited in the most lamest of ways.

Back to Beyonce. I kind of love Beyonce because she is so pretty and she can actually sing real real good--did you see her on Oprah's last show? She was rocked it. And on the American Idol finale? She put all the contestants to shame. And I kind of hate Beyonce because every time she comes on the tube, Brandon says, "She's basically a stripper" and then I look at her outfit and ask myself, "Am I ready for all that jelly?" because there's no denying that she has almost no clothes on and is dancing kinda crazy-like.

Anyways, that was my opening tangent.

I wanted to tell you about canning! I did it! Mostly with my mother's help, but I now have a special shelf with mason jars filled with Utah peaches, ready to enjoy all year long. And right next to those peaches are jars and jars of jam. I decided that good jam is one of my most very favorite things. Right up there with Russell, the beach, my new Havaiana flip flops, and the pretty bougainvillea bush out by our pool.

Several weeks ago, I ordered two crates of peaches from Utah and then my mommy and I went to town. She pulled out the canning supplies that she inherited from my Great Grandma Kesterson (my father's maternal grandparents) and told me how to sterilize jars, efficiently peel gazillions of peaches, how to ensure that the peaches don't brown once they are preserved, and all sorts of other special know-hows. It was so fun...fun to learn a new skill, fun to have my mom teach it to me, and fun to have so much to show afterwards. I also think I can do it again and without so much guidance, which made it an even better experience. I haven't yet decided if canning is worth it the expense etc, but it was important to me to learn the skill. The jam, however, was so easy and tastes so much better than the store boughten stuff, that I'd do that again for sure. I mean I'd of course do it again with my mom right next to me because her company was delightful, but, well you know what I mean.

Russell makes a lot of things funner, but he was actually the worst part of the whole canning episode. He pretty much looked like this the entire time.

The expression 'baby underfoot' has quite the literal meaning as he either tugged at my ankles or stood between my legs and the counter the entire time, begging for attention. "Me Mom, not peaches! Me!"

And just so you know, two crates of peaches was A LOT. Two batches of canned peaches, four batches of jam (two for me, two for my mom), 2 1/2 gallon bags of frozen peaches, a peach crisp for book club, and plenty for eating along the way.

Thanks mom!

The pic is a little fuzzy...but recently the wash near our house flooded. We woke Russell so we could go take a look. Usually that area behind us is bone dry.

Baby Musings II

2011-09-28T22:21:00.002-06:00

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is paper. I love it! I love to rip it, I love to wave it in the air and up and down, and I especially love to bite it. My mom hates it when I play with paper because I get so excited that I start sucking and chewing on it. Which, why wouldn't I? It is so fun when you suck on it so much that the paper gets all soggy and start to stick to one another. I love the way disintegrating paper feels and tastes in my mouth! Yum yum YUM!! She's always rushing over and pulling paper out of my hands and then digging spitwads out of my mouth. The thing she doesn't realize is that she can't stop me. There's paper everywhere! Those lower level bookshelves are my fave. All those paperbacks...it's like paradise! And then sometimes, a piece of mail drops to the floor and I'm all over it. I have ears that know exactly what falling paper sounds like. The best is when my mom leaves her purse on the floor and she hasn't zipped it up. There are reciepts oozing out if it and begging to be played with. She always gets so flustered that I keep finding paper, it is a war she'll never win!

When I'm not thinking about paper, I'm thinking about walking. I'm only thinking about it, not really doing it. I don't really get the point of it, actually. I'm a pretty quick crawler and I walk along the walls like nobody's business. I pretty much do laps around the kitchen and family room all day. It is way funner than those silly toys Mom always tries to get me to play with. And, cruising is how I troll for paper. See, sometimes paper slips under the sofa or under the counter and sometimes a book isn't quite pushed in all the way on a shelf and the only way you'd ever know is if you cruise by places fifty times a day. It is quite the rush seeing paper so available. But anyways, my mom and dad are pretty much obsessed with walking. They do this thing where they hold onto my hand to help me walk around. It is usually pretty fun, except sometimes, they let go of my hand. At first I thought it was because they were distracted, but then I realized it was because they were trying to trick me into walking all by myself. How rude! Well, I'm onto them. As soon as they do that, I drop to the ground and refuse to stand up again. Sometimes I whine, even. That's actually the best thing to do because then I get picked up. I only like to walk when I can hold on to stuff.

I also have this thing called "Welcome to my Learning Farm" My mom says it is a 'walker' but really, it is this way awesome thing that I get to push around and it sings to me! "Welcome to my Learning Farm, we have lots to show you....Shapes and colors, music too....There's so much to do-oo!" Oh I love that song. Anyways, I'll walk when I can hold on to "Welcome to my Learning Farm," the furniture or wall, or my mom or dad's hand. Any other way is totally unnecessary.

<><>

See that copy of the Ensign? I totally ripped that one up! Yessss. And Mom's book? You can totally see a perfect bite mark in it. I'm so awesome at eating paper. And yes, those are bruises on my head. Sometimes I fall OK? And sometimes my mom doesn't watch me close enough.

PS: The video from last time should work now. My mom didn't realize it was on a private setting.

Etc.

2011-09-09T17:47:00.001-06:00

My favorite Russell moments lately have been after his naps. I'll go into his room after I know he's been awake for a while (I usually give him some 'alone' time when he wakes up becaues he's so relaxed and seems content to just coo and be). I sit on this chair next to his crib, tell him hello, and ask him about his nap. He looks at me, sits up, then picks up one of his stuffed animals and hands it to me. I take it, give it some kisses, and then he gives me the other stuffed animal. I take it, play with it for a few seconds, and then he gives me his blanket. I give the items back to him and we do the whole routine again. It is very sweet. I don't know how long it will last, but for now, it is something I want to remember.

Other things in our lives:

Brandon is looking forward to the season finale of the Bachelor Pad, or what I like to call The Show That Brings Out the Worst in Human Behavior. He's captivated though and there is nothing I can do about it.
I'm reading Bossypants. It is quite funny although it has swears and is sometimes inappropriate.
We are starting a budgeting system and getting it established is kind of a nightmare but it does help me feel more in control so I know it is a good thing. Do ya'll have any tips, resources, or suggestions of things that worked for you?
The other day a tarantula attacked me in the garage. I almost screamed like the time I saw that snake but then I chilled out because tarantulas are actually great little critters. And it really didn't attack me...it just was near me.
The below video is from almost a month ago...I haven't uploaded our most recent pictures and media. Anyways, he was just starting to eat grapes and I was bitting off small chunks of them and spitting them onto his tray. That sounds really gross but in case you didn't know, we are birds. I'm the mommy bird and he's the chickie*. That laugh, though! There's nothing quite like it.

*That is not true at all. We are humans.

Ridiculous

2011-09-02T12:43:00.002-06:00

Most of Russell's clothes are dirty. As I result, I was forced to clothe him in this onesie that reads, "DADDY'S BEST FRIEND" because it is pretty much the only clean one left. Ridiculous. (The onesie not my inability to stay on top of the laundry.) The notion that a baby is a grown man's best friend is so absurd. If that was the case, then I should be down right terrified that my baby's daddy was agoraphobic or a pedophile. And if one of those two issues were our reality, I would not be broadcasting that to the world. Then again, most text on baby clothing is ridiculous. The Carter's brand is especially guilty*. There's also those onesies that say, "I love boobs." Um yes I get the joke and yes I'm all about breastfeeding but come on peeps, lame-o.

That's the onesie in question. This picture is from a few months ago and isn't quite in focus...but boy o boy is Russell chunky there (maybe it is from the ice cream?)! He has actually slimmed out some...that onesie actually fits him better today than it did back in May.

That's all I wanted to say for now.

What do you think is ridiculous? Let's get a good list rolling. I'm in the mood.

*I do fall prey to dumb baby slogans, though. A few months ago, I bought him this Carter onesie that says, "They call me muscles." I thought it was pretty silly, because get it, 'Russell's muscles?' Totally justifiable. I also really wanted this baby onesie from H&M that said, "I (heart) Mum" because get it, Mum means Mom in British?

A Diaper Story

2011-08-17T22:25:00.000-06:00

So one of the grocery stores near our house has this discount table that I always have to check out. I even kind of get excited about it. The possibility of a suprise awesome deal never gets old, I suppose. A few weeks ago, I found this bag of Huggies Diapers on that table for $4.99. I did the math and found that each diaper would come to about $.10, which is a great deal on that brand. Logically, I snatched them up and felt proud.

Non Story Related Pic. This is from when we took him camping and he was mostly miserable except for when in the trunk of our car.

A few hours later, as I opened the package to unload them into the diaper basket, I noticed they had been sealed shut with scotch tape. No biggie, I thought, someone else probably returned them because they were the wrong size or something. Well, as I reached in the bag to unload the bottom layer of diapers, I quickly saw that there were several diapers that did not match the others. As I analyzed the situation further, I realized that there were about five diapers that were a size smaller, had tacky green and yellow animals all over them, and had no brand name slapped across the diaper. AND, there were five diapers fewer than the package indicated.

The truth of matter began to become apparant. I had been had!! Can you believe the nerve?! Some desperate, cheating bozo totally snuck the remainder of their no name, too-small diapers that they no longer needed into mostly full Huggies package and then returned them to the store for money. Who does that? The tattle-tell in me wanted to take them back pronto, but I eventually realized that it wasn't woth another trip to the store to complain and make up the few cents I lost on the scam.

And there's a more pathetic part to this story. I totally used those too-small diapers. I just made sure Russell never slept or pooped in them and they worked just fine. Each time I strapped them on his little bum, however, I felt like an uber-cheapskate for being unable to just toss them and crossed my fingers that no major mess would ensue.

So buyer beware--the clearance table isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

The fam at a Rockies game in Colorado

In Russell news, he is almost 10 months. He...

Is a shorty. He is only in the 27% for height, which means his weight is only in the 30%. He still has all those rolls on his thighs...but he technically isn't a fatty!
Continues to cruise along walls and furniture like nobody's business but isn't close to walking solo at all.
Sleeps like a champ.
Thinks I'm funnier than Brandon. If Russell laughs at something I do, Brandon will try to get a similar reaction by doing the exact same thing with minimal to no success. I've never upstaged Brandon before. I'm pretty certain it won't last long.
Loves when I sing, "The Wheels on the Bus"...it allows me to change his diaper without him wiggling his way off the changing table and for me to wipe his face after eating without him screaming in agony. He particularly loves the line, "The driver on the bus says, 'Move on back'"--especially when sung with a gruff, deep voice.
Loves to look at books with photographs of babies--he totally giggles and makes excited sounds for his favorite baby pics.
Is entering a disgusting food phase where he likes to take food out of his mouth, mash it up in his hand, put it back in his mouth (he sometimes does that sequence repeatedly), and then touch his hair. That whole routine is kind of ironic because we had to put chunkies (stuff like frozen peas and carrots) in his food because he was spitting out the strictly pureed stuff. So we get spit-up food if we don't put in the chunks or a giant mess if we do...this is getting interesting folks.
Has one of his top teeth about half way in and another one peeking through...
Is often called, "Rustito," by his father. Brandon decided that was the Spanish version of his name.

Feeling very proud of himself for crusing along the wall to this window

True Stories

2011-07-19T23:36:00.002-06:00

This is a true story. The other day I got a postcard in the mail from my old dentist in Colorado. It said, "It has been 760 days since your last visit, time for another appointment!"  Not only have we found another dentist, but we have lived in a completely different state for over two years. I know they probably just used some mass mail computer program and didn't screen anything...but come on. As much as we loved Colorado, our dentist wasn't one of the reasons that keeps us going back.

Another true story: I was out walking with Russell a few mornings ago and I saw the backside of this big hairy animal in our neighbor's yard. I slowly tip toed into their driveway to see if I could see it better. As I moved closer, I thought, "I probably shouldn't be pushing my baby towards a wild animal." I then noticed my neighbor's teenage son sitting on the front steps. "Oh, he sees that thing, too! I wonder how long he's been watching it..." I looked at the beast again. A javelina? A bobcat? Then the neighbor called out, "Hello?" The animal moved. I quickly realized that the wild animal was the neighbor's dog. "Sorry!" I shouted, "I thought your dog was a wild animal!"   "Oh" he yelled back, "Its not." "I know! Sorry!" I felt like an idiot and promptly left.

Also, I made two types of freezer jam last week. I felt accomplished. Among my other cooking endeavors were a slightly overcooked pan of brownies. I tend to do that. I don't know why but it is sure annoying. Seems like that is an easy fix, like, just under cook them next time, duh! But for some reason I always chicken out. "If I take them out now, they'll be all goo!" I always tell myself.

In terms of Russell updates, he is becoming more and more like a little boy...sometimes I can't stand it. He's almost 9 months. Where did my baby go? He weaned himself from the pacifier which is so bizarre because anyone who knew him in his infancy to 2 weeks ago knew how obsessed he was with that thing. Countless people said Russell reminded them of Maggie Simpson with his vigorous and continual sucking of the binky. I was actually pretty worried he would be taking it to kindergarten. But, he suddenly became disinterested in it. Whenever we'd give it to him (usually when he was hungry or upset), he take it out of his mouth and throw it on to the ground, insulted. Like, "You want to shut me up? You think this thing will placate me? Well I'm onto you guys and let me tell you NOT COOL. So not cool. You are not going to win this one. I will not be shut up!"

He is also army commando crawling everywhere and is quite speedy. His big toes are getting blisters, which is not surprising as he moving constantly and is into EVERYTHING. His newest tricks are sitting up by himself, pulling himself to standing on furniture and the occasional wall. He continues to cruise along furniture and loves to hold on to our hands as we walk him around. You'll also notice from the picture above and in one of the videos below that his tongue is always out. I find it pretty silly and of course, quite cute. One of the videos is of him sort of waving...another new trick. The second is when he got another case of the giggles. For some reason he thought it was hilarious when we made a certain sound. Like usual, pardon my annoying voice. I tend to say "Buh bye!" in the most obnoxious way in every video with Russell. I keep hoping that if I get his attention in the final seconds of recording, he'll do this amazing trick, but as you can tell, it never works. Probably because saying "Buh bye" is not an attention getter. It is more like an attention zapper. And on that note...before I zap even more of your attention, here's the videos. Adios!

Musings

2011-07-01T09:44:00.001-06:00

Russell is on the right, Owen on the left.

Russell: Um, Owen, I have a question.

Owen: Shoot. I'm all ears.

Russell: Have you seen that big girl that keeps running around here?

Owen: I think so...the one who keeps singing Ba Ba Black Sheep?

Russell: Yea. Traci? I think that's her name.

Owen: My mom says she is my cousin. She says you're my cousin, too. I don't really get that word but I think it means that we have to be friends or something.

Russell: My mom keeps saying that cousin word, too! Wierd.

Owen: What do you think of her? She's not little like us but she's not big like our moms. But she can walk around and eat all by herself. I have seen her cry, though. A lot of times. So I know she's not all the way grown up.

Russell: I think she's cool. Sometimes, she takes off her diaper...without any help! It is amazing. All the moms and dads around her sure think she's hilarious. They are always asking her questions and laughing at what she says.... (Pause) I'm a little jealous of that.

Owen: I know what you mean. All the moms and dads just say, "Owen, you look so cute! Those glasses are just so adorable!" Cute this, cute that. I'm more than just my looks.

Russell: Seriously! I have sand all over my body. It is totally itchy and it tastes so salty...but instead of doing something about it, my mom just laughs and says, "Aw, Russell looks so cute with sand in his mouth!" Don't get me wrong, I like the attention and I am kind of obsessed with this sand, but sometimes it is kind of insulting.

Owen: You know what, Russell? I think we are going to get big like Traci.

Russell: I was wondering about that. I wouldn't be surprised. There's that other baby here, Carmen. My mom keeps saying, "Oh...I can't believe Russell used to be so tiny like baby Carmen." I don't really remember, but my mom does know everything so she must be right.

Owen: I think it'll be cool to be big. You get to sing songs a lot and everyone gets so happy when you say thinks like "Icky Bug" or when you tell people you have to go poop.

Russell: Yeah. Mostly, I just can't wait to walk.

Owen: Word.

Russell: Actually, I've been wondering something. When you get big, do you have to walk all the time?

Owen: Probably. I've seen that Traci girl walk up stairs and everything.

Russell: Well, sometimes I like it when my mom carries me. Sometimes I cry just so she'll pick me up. Does that make me a baby? I don't want that to go away.

Owen: Hmm....I don't know. I do the same thing. I especially do that around bed time. I just like my mom to hold me so sometimes I pretend like I'm really sad about something. If I don't, she'll just put me in that thing she calls the 'Pack-N-Play' which, FYI, is not really for playing at all.

Russell: Well, let's see if we can ask Traci about that.

Owen: How? Traci verbalizes stuff. We just send telepathic messages.

Russell: Um....we are going to have to revisit this conversation because here my mom comes, with the camera and my hat. I think it is time for another photo session.

Owen: Ugh. Why are they so obsessed with that stuff?

Russell: I don't know but Owen...

Owen: Yeah?

Russell: You'll always be more than 'cute' to me. I think you are so rad. I'm glad we are cousins, whatever that means.

Owen: Thanks Russell. You can suck on my yellow shovel whenever you want.
Enter Moms with hats and cameras. Moms scoop up babies and smoother them with terms of endearment and sunscreen.

This is one of my favorites from the trip...you can see Russell's snaggle tooth and Owen happily chomping away on that shovel....

Traci! Russell and Owen really did just stare whenever she was around.

Baby chaos

Sunkissed.

Stuff and Whatever

2011-06-13T12:36:00.001-06:00

A confession (that is always a juicy way to start a post, eh?):

I gave up on my garden. So sad! It just kept getting browner and browner despite anything I did...and aside from a teenie-tiny mini zucchini and watermelon that started to grow and then quickly withered away, no fruit or vegetable ever developed...and I should have been able to harvest everything by now. Everything started out so green and flowery and then just tanked. Plus critters just kept eating all the blooms. So did it get too hot (The garden is west facing)? Not enough fertilizer? And of course, the critters are partially to blame. I dunno. When we get back from our trip, I'm gonna rip everything out and try to transplant some peppers and chiles and forgo planting from seed in the middle of summer. I'm also going to contact the local community garden experts to see what they recommend.

Also, there have not been additional sightings of that snake. Phew! I do have flashbacks every time I go into the garage, though, and have visions of snakes coming out of unexpected places to terrorize me--something a la Snakes on a Plane (yes we saw that movie and it was awesome. FYI Tim Riggins is in it and is just as Tim Riggins-y as ever although he has a somewhat naughty role).

Which makes me want to digress to Friday Night Lights. We have Season Four episodes accumulating on our DVR and cannot wait to watch them. Plus, every time I see a Super 8 commercial I just want to freeze it on Coach Taylor and hear him say, "Clear Eyes Full Hearts Can't Loose" and then see him have the perfect marriage with Mrs. Coach. If I could live in a TV show, I would live in Friday Night Lights and wear the coolest aviator sunglasses and look effortlessly beautiful and not care that life revolved around football.

Back to my post--which, if you haven't gathered, is about nothing. So maybe I should continue talking about FNL? Eh, maybe next time.

Yesterday, when the baby was sleeping and Brandon was away at work, I snuck a few bites of ice cream. In the middle of the day! With a fork! Don't tell. My waistline will, if that keeps up. But it was a Sunday and I was all alone, a little bored, and hungry. That makes it OK, right?

I fed Russell green beans again and he ate them up. I guess he is broadening his horizons which is more than I can say because I still pick at my veggies.

Here are two videos I wanted to share. The first needs no explaining, although I did kind of feel like a mean mom for filming this. Does that make me meaner for showing ya'll?

This next one demonstrates Russell's superior crawling skills. He crawled over from the other side of the couches...the whole way with that little ball. I've noticed him crawling with a toy cradled in his arms several times now and I find it pretty cute.

Oh, here's another confession that is Internet appropriate--that ball is a freebie from the VA hospital. It says, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help" and it shows the silhouette of a soldier with their head in their hands against the back drop of an American flag. Yes, our son's current favorite toy is suicide prevention schwag. But he loves it and Brandon interprets it to mean that Russell will one day become a skilled athlete. I smile and nod...wait, who am I kidding...I always (and quickly) remind him that all babies love playing with balls, especially ones that are so shiny, smooth, and squishy (ie perfect for licking and trying to suck). That's me, the dream-dasher. At least I use a nice tone of voice...

Food Wars

2011-06-06T14:31:00.001-06:00

This picture is hilarious to me. Russell doesn't really look that cute but it is illustrative of what it is often like to feed that boy. He usually battles me for the spoon the entire time. By the end, he is so desperate for the spoon that he is practically climbing out of his chair to get it from me and whining in his baby moans and grunts, "I want it Mom. I want it so so so bad! Why do you get to hold it and not me? Why won't you give it to me? That is going to be so gratifying to suck on and you won't let me do it. You are so mean! Grrr!!!"

At first, we used to give him a spoon to hold on to while we fed him with a different spoon. It only worked so so. As you can see from the photo, he usually ended up with both spoons, which defeated the whole reason I gave him a spoon to hold in the first place. Now I just use one arm as defence against his aggressive grabbing and the other arm to strategically feed him. He does a great job of simultaneously reaching for the spoon and opening his mouth to recieve his next bite.

So the question/caption for the above photo is "Victory or defeat"? He looks exhausted from our great battle, but a little smug too, like "I got the spoons, Mom, not you."

This picture is an obvious victory. If there was any doubt, I always let him play with the spoon at the end of his meal, mostly because it keeps him occupied for a good five minutes as I play Clean Up After Baby. He gets another victory if he can figure out how to take off his bib and suck on it while holding his spoon.

This victory is similar to the battle he wages while nursing as he usually likes to simultaneously and frantically search for the tag of my boppy (nursing pillow). "Where is it?" he seems to be saying. "I know there is a silky long tag somewhere around here. I want to hold it and put it in my mouth soooo bad. The way it feels in my mouth is amazing...A-MA-ZING! It is so smooth and coated in my old saliva. I could just suck on that all day. And my mom won't let me look for it while I nurse. She is so rude! Grr. Why can't I wiggle around for it? Why why why??!!"

At the end of each nursing session, he knows the drill. I sit him up, flip the pillow around, and he immediately grabs the tag and inserts it into his mouth. Tags are the perfect desert for him. Not for me though. I prefer cookies and brownies. I wish I could go for fruit but I have little willpower in that department.

Desert Life and Video Bonaza

2011-05-30T11:27:00.000-06:00

OK, so there are 4 videos in this post. Total overkill, I know. The cutest one is the last one. But I mentioned one last week and never delivered and some new ones have happened in this past week. There are two snake videos, mostly for Brandon's dad to see but others might find them Animal Planety (?). And the other one of Russell is interesting only if you like to track the growth and development of babies. So without further ado....

Yesterday, as I was heading out for some errands, this is what I found in the garage:

Except it was on the driver's side of my car and made me scream repeatedly. As you can see, it was not a rattlesnake. Brandon was a big hero, captured it, and put it in our backyard in the hopes that it will eat rodents, specifically the ones that are terrorizing the garden.

Ignore the part where I scream and talk like a complete wuss. Please.

I'm not sure if Tucson has officially reached 100, but it certainly feels like summer is officially here. This morning I took off our heavy down comforter and we've started sleeping with the windows closed, which is one of the saddest things I have to do all year. The AC has been running and we are bound to see the aftermath in our electric bill. We've been grilling, swimming, eating Frostys, Eegees and Orange Leaf (frozen yogurt mix-in place), and I'm trying to remember to wear a hat if I'm going to be outside for more than five minutes.

Russell is now over seven months....this month has been a big one for him! His first tooth popped up last week and he is officially quite mobile, having learned a slither motion that gets him from A to B quite well--although he is often whining out of frustration as he does it. His current obsession seems to be this game called Putting Dangerous or Dirty Things in My Mouth and he is very good at it. His favorites seem to be saran wrap, flip-flops, computer cords, tissue paper, and the salt shaker and I know he is only going to get more and more skilled (i.e. knives, pills, raw meat) at it in the near future. Just as I know that my life is rapidly becoming a really great game called Cleaning Up After Baby. I'm not as good at that game as Russell is at his. But you know, whatev.

Below is a video of Russell walking along our ottoman, something he gets better and better at each day. The video is fairly long but since our computers are from the Stone Age and are super slow, editing it is out of the question because I would go crazy and poke out my eyes, making me unable to attend to my child as he plays his new game, Putting Dangerous or Dirty Things in My Mouth.

This is another video, taken about a month ago, but it is pretty silly because Russell had the giggles. Again, ignore my voice and the stupid things I say. I need to learn to stay quiet while filming, but quiet is one of those games that I'm not too good at either.

Happy Memorial Day!

Shameless Baby Show-Off Time

2011-05-22T14:16:00.004-06:00

Here are just a few pictures...my commentary is kept at a minimum for better or worse. I'm mostly trying to just get a post in before church and trying to make pictures of our growing boy more available to grandparents.

We have ventured into feeding baby solids. For the first few weeks, we was only tolerating it and he downright hated green beans. I don't know what I was thinking, giving Russell green beans as one of his first flavors. I mean, seriously. Of all the wonderful flavors in the whole wide world...and I gave him green beans. I probably would have made that same face! So far, zucchini seems to be his favorite.

One of Russell's favorite things is standing. He has loved to stand on our laps since he was about three months or so...but lately he seems to be the happiest and most proud of himself when he is standing alongside a piece of furniture or holding onto our legs. He can't pull himself up yet, but there are some days when the only thing that will satisfy him is when I prop him up on something and then put a desired object (like the remote or my phone) just out of his reach. He will spend the next long while just reaching reaching reaching for that object, anticipating the awesomeness of being able to put it in his mouth when he finally grabs it.

(Aren't those letters adorable?! Caitlin made them for me!)

Of course, he is just as fat as ever. Friends complain when I bring him somewhere and have pants on him because they can't see his fat thighs. And really, they are remarkably fat. At his last pediatrician appointment, about a month ago, he weighed 17 lbs 7 oz. According to their stats, he is in the 50th percentile for weight...but that doesn't make sense. Russell seems to have more rolls and dimples on his body that any other baby we know! We love it, though, and will not be buying him baby spanx.

And finally, this is mostly for Leslie. This is my garden....so pretty and green!

Something is starting to eat my precious harvest. Jerks. We put some chicken wire along our fence in hopes of preventing the bunnies from coming in but leaves are still going missing. Grrr. I'm starting to to think it might be birds. I don't know what to do about that...are we going to have to build a cage?

These are our first fruits! I don't love radishes but it was quite rewarding to pull these from the ground and eat them in a salad that evening.

Happy Spring dear friends! This has been an especially enjoyable one. We hope yours has been too.

Also, Katniss Everdeen forever!! I think I'm going to read Anna Karenina next but I'm worried I'll just quit in the middle and don't want that to happen. Has anyone read it? Will I love it?

PS I tried to upload a video but it didn't work. Anyone know why? I tried to do it from Picassa. I'll try to fiddle with it when I have more time.

Inspiration, Por Favor

2011-05-01T23:08:00.001-06:00

Give it to me folks. I wanna write a blog people, I really do. I just can't think of what to write about. I'm not good at travelogues and the whatnot. What do you want to hear about? Inspire me. Give me ideas and I'll see what I can do.

These are the tidbits on my mind:

I have lots of adorable baby photos that I just took off my camera. That little boy of ours is pretty awesome.

We had a fantastic weekend in the mountains. It was windy but we saw deer and caterpillar cocoons had a fire and I'm now over the fact that I was a bad mom and got Russell a little sunburned (even though I almost cried about it last night).

I've been watching American Idol and have opinions about everyone. Sometimes I feel kind of embarrassed about it, but really, it is a great excuse to eat ice cream mid-week, debate about something extremely trivial with Brandon, and then text my sister and dad about it the next day. One of the latest issues of People has the most hilarious picture of Scotty McCreary; it looks like he is wearing pink lipstick, which was likely not intentional because he is the most conservative, innocent contestant.

Osama bin Laden is dead and it is weird. It feels bizarre to celebrate the death of someone, as evil a person as he likely was.

My garden is growing--my basil just sprouted which was a 'phew' because for some reason it popped up later than everything else. I'm thinking I should thin the radishes because there are like a million of them, but I don't really know how. And plus, I feel successful when I see all the green in my garden.

I saw four coyotes crossing the street near my house the other day. I was sad Brandon wasn't with me because he would have gotten excited and asked if I had the camera.

Russell has been acting crazy lately. He wakes up at night now, and he never used to.

I wanna go on a date with my husband but I don't want to leave him with someone because he'll probably scream nonstop and I'd feel both guilty for subjecting that person to misery and sick to my stomach that my baby was so distressed. But we've only had one date since the baby was born and it is time.

We started giving him solids last week and now when I eat in front of him, he leans forward and opens his mouth all funny, expecting me to feed my apple or cereal to him. Sorry bud, not for a while still.

The other day, we went to Baskin Robbins 31 cent scoop night and it was bomb. We each got three scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone and the total was like $2.39 or something. I ate most of mine, but had to give the rest to Brandon. The best flavor was Gold Medal Ribbon. So gooey and rich.

Soon we will have to start using the air conditioner and take the down comforter off our bed but that's OK because we do live in Arizona and that's what happens here. But at least it is a dry heat.

We'll soon start swimming in our pool a lot. If you come and visit, we'll have a major pool party, but we probably won't play Marco Polo because I kinda hate that game. We can do cannonballs and drink sugary pop and listen to pop music (just not Katy Perry because she wants to go all the way tonight and that is not a good message for the youth of today).

I'm reading the Lisbeth Salander books and wish they weren't so salacious and gruesome but I'm going to finish them anyway because I'm like that.

I kinda want to dye my hair platinum blond.

I need a new pair of black flip flops because I threw out the pair I wore last summer because by the end of my pregnancy, that was the only shoe that fit and once the baby was born, looking at them brought back unpleasant memories of my swollen feet and limbs. They looked hideous, I'm not gonna lie.

See? I have a little to say about a lot...but I can say a lot about a little if ya'll inspire me with the right topic

6 months!

Love.

I get to be the only girl.

Those roses are on the bush right outside our bedroom window. Pretty great, eh?

Post Script

2011-04-04T21:34:00.000-06:00

The Mrs. forget to include one crucial part of the car story.

Once, way back when the Mr. was intermittently trying to sell the Olds (and still pricing it too high for the guy who wanted it so badly), the Mr. received this text:

"RU willing 2 trade for tattoos?"

The Mr. assumed the text referred to the car although he was never quite certain. Nonetheless, the answer was no.

Also, here are pictures of the baby sitter:

This is one of the first pictures of him sitting...he started about 3 weeks ago. The Mrs. likes it because the baby is in his gorilla position as it used help him balance. Now he doesn't need to use his arms, erasing all fears the family had that the baby was part primate.

This is another of the Mrs. favorites because it illustrates the things the baby likes to do most--suck on stuff. He has a burp cloth in his mouth (look at that aggressive expression! he's serious about sucking!), a pacifier between his legs and a toy in his other hand. He pretty much alternated between sucking on all three for about twenty minutes, which is a long time in baby world. Also, minutes after this picture, the baby got his fingers stuck in the little holes and became very sad. Quiver quiver went his lower lip. The Mrs. helped him right away by scooping him up (after freeing his little fingers), holding him close, and kissing him on the forehead. It worked right away.

Car Story Part II

2011-03-23T22:42:00.000-06:00

Has it really been more than an entire week since I posted part one of my Car Story? Shoot! Well, at least there was a good intermission. All good stories need an ending, so lets hope this is it. I'm not caffeinated so it may be more coherent or more boring.

Car Story Part Two

Our four car family

The greasiest, tannest, skinniest, pot-smokiest, talkiest, Vietnam vet who ever did work out of his double wide trailer turned out to be a good mechanic for the Mr. and Mrs. He took longer than the agreed upon duration of the repair but since the Mr. and Mrs. were a four car family, they weren't too concerned. He was able to fix what needed to be fixed and tell the Mr. how to repair the radio on his own, which was important for the Mrs. as she had become convinced that no one in their right mind would ever buy a car with a busted radio.

The time had finally come where the Neon was drivable. The Mrs. did some cleaning. In the glove compartment, she found the package of Jolt gum that the Mr. had given her when she was always tired and doing a lot of driving in grad school as well as some outdated electronics manuals (weird). The rest of the car yielded an old Lemonheads CD, gas receipts from 2005, M&Ms that didn't quite make it into her mouth, a bag of books that were denied passage into the local used book store, and a lot of other kipple. A car wash removed bird poop that had been caked on to the hood for longer than she cared to admit (a sigh of relief was breathed as she was worried the poop had eaten away the paint) and some vacuuming removed the embarrassing amount of dirt that had accumulated on the floors. A quick photo shoot, a short write up praising the virtues of a car 10 years old, and viola! The car was Craig's Listed.

Within ten minutes, calls inundated the Mrs. It was as if she was selling The Most Desirable Thing on the Planet. And let's face it, it probably was. Teenagers, non-English speakers, people calling from work on the sly, people offering an additional $50 if the Mrs would hold it for them, those who would only communicate via text (RU still selling the Neon?)...you name it, they called. One guy called and wanted to see it but didn't have a ride. Sorry buddy, that's your responsibility. Appointments were made for people to see the car that night; subsequent callers were told to call back the next day to see if it had sold.

A few hours later, when the Mr. was home (the Mrs. did not want to be kidnapped and then beheaded by the Craig's List Killer), they showed the vehicle to their first inquirer, a college sophomore named Oscar who was accompanied by his mechanic grandfather and his chatty mother and stepfather. The Mrs. thought it was a good omen because she wanted to name their first born Oscar (the Mr. was not into that one). Like all good shoppers, they looked under the hood, gave it a test drive, and talked in a huddle. The Mr. and Mrs. put on the pressure, explaining that two other people were coming over to look at the car within the next hour and that the people had been calling non-stop since the ad was posted. It didn't take much convincing though, because Oscar knew he had found the car of his dreams. Sold!

The next evening, an inspired Mr. adjusted his ad for the Buick. The price was lowered about one hundo and some extra adjectives were used. It must have been buy Old Cars Week in the Old Pueblo because now the Mr.'s phone was ringing ringing ringing. Sure enough, that same guy who religiously called all those other times called right away...

"Hey, is the 1995 Cutlass Sierra Oldsmobile still available?"

"Yeah man, you are welcome to come see it" said the Mr.

"I'm already on my way."

"Uh, hey man, we aren't home right now."

"When are you going to be home?"

"Probably like a half an hour."

"That's OK. I'll wait in your driveway."

That's how bad he wanted it. The Mrs. was a little irritated as she was not yet finished with her piece of pizza (it was Costco dinner night) but this situation was not in her control.

When the family got home, that man was waiting in the driveway, as promised. The Mr. gave him the 411, reminding him of the broken door handle, the faulty windows, and the lack of AC. The guy assured the Mr. that he wanted the Oldsmobile and proceeded to give the Mr. a $200 deposit, since some logistics had to be worked out the next morning, during business hours. The Mr. tried to assure him that wasn't necessary, but the man was adamant.

The next morning, the man showed up a half hour early. The Mrs. explained the Mr. was at the bank, getting title and bill of sale notarized.

"Oh, I just thought I'd come early, just in case he was ready."

"I'm sorry...he'll be here in a 1/2 hr, just like you guys arranged..." She was not about to let him in. He wasn't suspicious, per se, but she still did not want to take a risk because you just never know who the next Craig's List Killer could be.

"Oh, that's all right...I'll just drive around for a while, I guess." He later told the Mr. that he came early because he wanted to get a jump start on repairing the windows and door... The man had found his soul car.

This is the end of the story. It is probably incredibly anti-climatic but it was kind of a big deal for the Mr. and Mrs, seeing as they were a four car family for a long time and then, in the space of two days, they were a two car family again. They learned that it is kind of fun to sell something on the internet, especially when you don't get killed by the Craig's List Killer. They also learned that once in a super moon, someone can be obsessed with the type of car you are selling, which is a match made in heaven, but only if you price it right. The Mrs., having met someone named Oscar who was perfectly acceptable, learned that Oscar should definitely be the name of their second son, if one should ever come into the picture.

A month or so has passed and the Mr. and Mrs. haven't heard from the Oscar or the Oldsmobile lover, which is good news because that would have sucked big time if they had sold their cars and then had them blow-up or something on their new owners. The Mr. and Mrs. lived happily ever after, with the Mrs. being the fairest of them all and the Mr. eating four dozen eggs every morning to help him get large. Pretty soon he'll start eating five dozen, making him roughly the size of a barge.

The End.

Car Story Intermission

2011-03-21T18:12:00.005-06:00

While we're all waiting for Alison to finish the epic Car Story, I thought that the least I could do would be to provide some halftime entertainment in the form of a trivia question/vocabulary lesson. The vocabulary lesson comes first. Please read this definition carefully:

Poop-kick [poop-kik]
–verb
1. to strike excrement with the foot or feet
2. to defecate while striking an object with the foot or feet or while making a thrusting motion with the leg
3. to transfer excrement which is pooled or caked on one’s foot to another surface by striking it with the foot

Now for the question. Which of these did Russell do on Sunday?

A: 1
B: 2
C: 3
D: 1 & 2
E: 2 & 3
F: 1 & 3
G: All of the above

What you may not have completely understood from the above is that this is one of those questions where somebody asks you something like "Guess who the Bachelor gave the final rose to?" and then immediately tells you that it was the crappier one before giving you the opportunity to guess.

The correct answer is G: All of the above. Russell was definitely wiggling/kicking around in a strange way while he was defecating as evidenced by his ability to somehow poop out of his diaper and into the footsie of his sleeper with minimal poop trailing on his leg. Since I was the one who touched him last, I assumed the responsibility to clean up the mess. After Russell's sleeper was removed but before the full extent of the poop spread was realized, Russell decided to re-enact the day of his birth by kicking his excrement-slathered foot against my shirt thereby transferring his footprint in feces instead of ink. Russell later went on to kick some of the poop that made it onto the changing table via his back.

Now you know a new word that you can use while parenting, babysitting or watching or playing soccer.

Car Story

2011-03-15T12:02:00.001-06:00

I'm doing it again folks. Writing a multi-part story. Except this time, it doesn't have anything to do with having a baby (thank goodness). But you know, whatever. I'm feeling kinda goofy. I did drink Diet Coke today so you better watch out. I'm not usually caffeinated although I kinda like it. Here we go....

Car Story, Part One

For a time, we were a four car family. Well, lets back up. For a time, we were a two car family—as is standard in Middle America. I’ve always dreamed of living in a place where we could be a one car family but alas, this is not 'I’m-So-Awesome-‘Cause-I-Live-in-a-Big-City-Story'. That will never be our story. Sigh. I’m OK with that because I love our life, but I’m not going to lie, I watch Sex and the City a lot these days and day dream more than I care to admit about expensive high heels and taxis. Anyways, our car story had, for the entire span of our 3 ¾ year marriage, previously consisted of a 1995 Cutlass Sierra Oldsmobile and 2001 Plymouth Neon.

We were getting to a point in our relationship with the said cars where long car rides were no longer a good idea and where the Mrs. of the family profusely complained when having to ride in the Olds (which she often called The Buick for reasons unknown).

This is mostly because a.) The passenger side door did not open from the outside b.) It had automatic windows that usually got stuck when in the down position which was especially problematic because c.) It did not have a working air conditioner and we live in one of the hottest areas of the country. Furthermore, d.) The engine frequently over-heated despite the Mr.’s repeated attempts to play mechanic.

Yet the Neon was no dream, either.

It didn’t really like going over 70 as it would get all shaky and feel like it might fall apart. Also, the Neon was not manly enough for the Mr. as it was rather small and had no vroom. Those cars probably would have been driven to their pending deaths if it weren’t for the fact that both the Mr. and the Mrs. felt leery of driving a wee one (whose arrival was imminent) around in either car.

The time came when enough money had been saved to make some car adjustments. After some Craig’s Listing, we found the family sedan of our dreams. 2007 Toyota Camry, baby. Oh yeah. Around the same time, we acquired an Acura with significant body damage, just as many years as the Olds, but with many more miles. We snatched it because it was $800 and in much better mechanical shape. Plus leather seats and a moon roof. Holla! (No, I did not just misspell hola). We were in car heaven. Things were really working out.

We had plans of doing some more Craig’s Listing (only in the opposite direction) and getting back to our two car family status. Only we moved. And then had a baby. And then had the holidays. Plus it gets dark so early in the winter. Suddenly, being a four car family was much easier than being a two car one, especially since our new house had a very spacious drive way that made having some extra vehicles no big deal. As a result, we were a four car family for way too long. About seven months, actually.

The Mr. made some meager attempts at selling the Olds, but no one was biting. Well, one person kept biting every time the ad was posted. He would always explain how he used to have that very same car (which he dearly loved), only it was recently totaled and his insurance company was only offering him X amount of money to replace it, which was several hundred dollars less than our asking price. Yet this man never asked to come see it and never made Brandon an offer. The conversation always awkwardly fizzled out. He was still out his car and we were still stuck with ours.

Then, when the Mrs. was ready to momentarily leave the new baby to prepare the Neon for market, the battery was dead. Of course. When the battery was replaced, the wrong size battery was installed. When the engine started, wires were crossed and there was a lot of smoke. When the correct battery was installed, the car still started, but the check-engine light still came on. And the radio didn’t work. Grr. It was ultimately determined that the alternator now needed replacing. The Mr. gave it an honest–to-goodness attempt to fix the problem, but quickly discovered that a Neon's alternator is apparently in the most awkward and cumbersome place ever and then decided that wasting a Saturday gathering the know-how and the supplies for an alternator. Phew. The Mr. did some Googling and found a local mechanic who seemed affordable, likely because he was the greasiest, tannest, skinniest, pot-smokiest, talkiest, Vietnam vet who ever did work out of his double wide trailer (but he was really cheap).

Part Two: To Market to Market

Baby Aftermath, Part Three

2011-03-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

OK--this is the last blog about this topic!!

Also, the more I think about it, the more I think that personal medical experiences are so intriguing. We all have them or will at some point in our lives--childbirth, a broken bone, an illness, getting your gallbladder removed. They cause us such discomfort and disruption and the stories themselves are filled with gnarly, sometimes unbelievable details. And then, for most of us, they heal and then we forget. Anyways...

Part Three

I made steady improvements in short amounts of time, even though I often didn’t notice until Brandon or my mom pointed out a new accomplishment that I wasn’t able to do the day before. The first 48 hours were the worst and then the first week was a close second. By the end of the second week, however, I was able to do most everything without Brandon's help. A month later, my family still noticed that I hobbled everywhere. I was able to take short walks in my neighborhood, although I was usually pretty sore the next day.

During those first few weeks, I tried not to use the internet as my doctor (I didn’t want to get lured into forums of people trying to freak each other out with their grizzly physical ailments). Yet in a fit of despair, I couldn't resist the pull of the world wide web and ended up Googling my symptoms. I ended up in some panic-inducing forums but I also found descriptions for Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction and Pelvic Girdle Pain. Each accurately summed up my experience and helped me to know I was not the only one with postpartum back and hip issues.

When my six week OB follow-up appointment rolled around, I was adamant that I see my doctor rather than the nurse practitioner,as was standard. I went in, hoping that I would explain my symptoms to her and she would say, "Hmm...it sounds like you have a classic case of Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction" and then tell me how crucial it was for me to do XY&Z. But instead, she just nodded her head over and over. She was sympathetic but just explained that sacroiliac issues are fairly common. She also recommended a physical therapist but her reaction made me realize that I wasn't going to die or be permanently maimed. I decided to push myself in my walks and give it more time. I also decided that if I was still pretty hindered after 6 months, then I might take her up on the physical therapy recommendation.

And that was exactly the right approach. After about two months, the waddle was gone and I was no longer as sore after my walks, even the longer ones. I even took Russell on his first hike, carrying him in a Bjorn. Now, I have only small remnants of those crazy sacroiliac issues. I have some days where my right hip is achy, mornings where my lower back hurts when I wake up, and instances where my back and hips tighten if I've been in a certain position for too long and I wince and groan as I straighten myself out again. I don't know how ready I am to do any major hikes but I've been able to incorporate some running into my walks without any major consequence (other than being short of breath!). The small bits of pain I still have pales in comparison to the daily aches that many have all the time. Chronic pain is something I hope to never experience. It really is debilitating both in body and in spirit.

In other words, the tincture of time really was really the trick. When I was in the thick of my discomfort, time moved so slowly. In hindsight, I can clearly see how quickly I healed although it certainly didn’t feel like that was happening. While I may have had something like Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction or Pelvic Girdle Pain, it didn't really change what I needed to do--give it time and gradually push myself.

Fortunately, I look back on those first few weeks of Russell's life with fondness. We made the most of getting to know our new baby and relished in the fact that we had a beautiful and perfect little son. Nothing, not even some discomfort, was going to change that.

Baby Aftermath, Part Two

2011-03-08T10:38:00.001-07:00

Thanks for reading so far...these posts probably venture into the 'over-sharing' category and I normally cringe when I see others do this. I'm also not doing this to glorify how bad I had it...I also don't want to freak people out, especially those that may be pregnant. You'll be fine! I don't really have a good explanation for these posts other than I just felt the need to write out and share the story.

Part Two

Looking back, one of the saddest things was that I didn't hold Russell much during those first few days—Brandon changed every single one of his meconium poops. Not because I didn’t want to, but simply because I was so out of it and so unable to, that they just came and went. The only times I really held him were when we were trying to breastfeed, which was a whole other ordeal that could likely be another three-part blog. Even trying to breastfeed (you just sit there and hold your baby!) was terribly uncomfortable. As I worked with the lactation specialist, I remember pain just radiating down my legs and throughout my pelvis. Just as Russell would be making progress with eating, I would have to shift positions. I wanted so badly to focus on him, but sometimes couldn't get past the throbbing.

Luckily, Russell was very easy going those first few days. He slept a lot and never cried. He had quite the cone head, a big bruise on his noggin, and wasn't too interested in eating or socializing--the nurses said he was recovering from the delivery as well. In fact, when the nurses described what Russell was going through, they would preface their comments with, "Babies that have traumatic births..." What?! That actually was a fairly traumatic thing to hear and they kept saying it over and over. It seemed like his his birth was fairly ordinary... there was no c-section and he didn't have to go to the ICU, etc. He just got a little stuck.

During our stay in the hospital, Brandon, my parents, my doctor, and the nurses took great care of me. I was impressed by the quality of care we received. I have a whole new level of respect for nurses and medical assistants. I would never want their jobs! Everyone believed me and did whatever necessary to help; no one told me to suck it up and most importantly, no one made me feel like a burden. That would have made those first few days unmanageable. Furthermore, everyone was really proactive about trying to figure out what was causing me the pain as it had become obvious that I was having some out of the ordinary experiences.

Initially, the medical staff thought either the epidural was to blame or that my tail bone had broken during delivery. After some check-ups, it was evident none of that had happened. I was nonetheless offered x-rays and the doctors and nurses suggested bumping up my meds to Oxycontin, but I passed knowing neither would get me what I wanted—long term relief and mobility! Once we understood that nothing was grossly wrong, the tincture of time became the prescription. That actually became our inside joke as each specialist that saw either Russell or me said, "It's just going to be the tincture of time." Who knew that such a phrase was so rampant.

Both my doctor and the physical therapist who came to consult on my case said that the ligaments in my sacroiliac joint had loosened and weakened, making it much harder for that crucial joint to support me (see the sections on signs and symptoms and pregnancy in the link).

Those ligaments naturally stretch and loosen during pregnancy to help the body adjust to the new weight from the baby. For some reason, those ligaments went totally bonkers in me, possibly because the pushing stage of delivery lasted about 2 1/2 hrs. That made sense as all my pain seemed to be radiating out from the sacroiliac area. I was told that those ligaments just needed time to heal, just as an athlete might take some time off after a bad muscle tear. My doctor suggested I stay an additional day in the hospital--this suggestion was a huge relief as the thought of going home was inducing panic. I still couldn't walk to the bathroom alone, and that was just a few steps away. How was I going to move through our much larger house?

A few hours later, we also learned that Russell needed an extra day too—the bruising on his head had caused his bilirubin to rise and he needed some bili light treatment.

That extra day made all the difference. I began to force myself to get out of bed more frequently and to do things on my own, even though it was often slow and painful. I was starting to understand what hurt the most (shifting weight) and how important it was to keep on top of the pain medication. That helped me know what to expect and how to problem solve. Furthermore, the pain was decreasing. Although it was in small increments, it was enough to start doing more and for longer stretches. That last day was actually the most exciting. The skies were clearing and we knew it was only going to get better.

We had checked in the hospital around 8:00pm on a Wednesday and didn't leave until about 4:30 pm on a Monday. When the time finally came to leave, we were so ready. We couldn't wait to be home with our baby. Putting Russell in his first outfit was marvelous. This was our son! I don't know if I had ever felt so fortunate.

Nonetheless, that first week home was hard. Part of it was definitely learning how to parent a new baby who didn't like to eat and liked to scream from 2-4 in the morning. Yet Brandon and I were prepared for that part. We knew babies weren't easy and we still chose to be parents. We very much wanted Russell. We did a great job figuring out Russell's needs and never let ourselves get overwhelmed by the unpredictability of the newborn lifestyle. We laughed a lot and reveled in the wonder of it all. Most of the difficulty was my stupid pain as I continued to need help getting in and out of bed, standing up from the sofa, and getting in the car. Brandon handled everything like a champ. He never showed any frustration, concern, or exhaustion. If he ever was any of those things, he never showed it and deserves the big gold medal for Best Husband Ever.

Basic things like sitting up in the morning, putting on my pants, going up a stair, and walking took a lot of effort and a lot of time. Laying in bed was one of the most uncomfortable things, especially since I no longer had the hospital bed to raise up and down and an endless supply of pillows to position around me. I tried sleeping in our bed, in the guest bed, the sofa, and even the floor. Often when I finally got positioned, I would then hear and feel my lower back and pelvis shifting around--it was like the sensation you get when you turn to crack your back on a chair, except x100, in a different area, and without me trying to do that.

I remember trying to run errands and feeling so defeated; getting in the car was painful, the vibrations from the car aggravated my back and hips, and walking from my car to the store was more than I could bear. I was exhausted before I began. On several occasions, I actually used the motorized carts and didn't feel one bit guilty. It was pretty comical, actually. I also considered using handicap parking spaces but ultimately didn't because I didn't want to pay fines if I was caught. In hindsight, it seems silly that I even ran errands during that time as Brandon would have gladly done them, but I remember wanting to get things done, wanting to work back my independence, and wanting to prepare myself for when Brandon went back to work. It was just going to be a matter of time before I’d have to do it all on my own anyway.

Part Three to contain: The tincture of time

Baby Aftermath, Part One

2011-03-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm tempted to write a little Juggalo 101 so you can all understand Brandon's last post...but I'm not really in the mood. Just know that Juggalos are groupies to the band Insane Clown Posse (ICP) and we laugh, groan, and even lament that whole subculture a lot in this house.

But instead, I'm feeling the need to gather some thoughts about some of my postpartum experiences and thought I would do it here since many have asked me questions about it. I’m going to divide this post up to make it more bearable and not so long. I’ve already written everything so you don’t have to worry about me saying ‘more on this later’ and then never getting back to the topic. I’m the queen of that sort of thing. I’m also going to try to make this fairly benign…I’m not going to mention the word uterus, vagina, dilation, placenta, etc anywhere except for in this very sentence. And that’s not because I’m too squeamish to do so but because a.) my husband has heard those words way too many times in the past year and I’m going to spare him and because b.) this is a postpartum story, not a birth story. So here we go…

Part One

Childbirth is a really crazy thing. I'd go through it again in a heartbeat. And yet, I've been surprised on the toll it took on my body. The main thing that happened--the thing that totally caught me off guard, was that my lower back, hips, and pelvis took a pretty serious beating. I'm fairly sure it all happened during the delivery process although some of the reading I've done suggests that certain hormones (relaxin and progesterone) were probably doing some of it throughout the pregnancy.

The process of laboring that little baby was a long one...from the time my water broke to the time he was born was about 37 hours. The final 4 were the most dramatic, with the final 2 ½ being the most physically intensive. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted by the time Russell made it. After the commotion of his arrival had quelled, our new little family was transferred to our recovery room and we finally got the opportunity to rest. Brandon had the nurses take our baby to the nursery so we could get a few hours of much needed sleep. I slept for 2-3 hours and woke to the most excruciating pain. At first I could not tell what was what...where was I feeling the pain? Was it pain or just the sensation of the epidural wearing off? Was supposed to be feeling this way? I had, after all, just delivered an 8lb 10z baby.

I still don't know how much of what I was feeling was normal, but I was in pain and it was both awful and scary. I couldn't sit up, move my legs, switch positions in bed, let alone get out of bed without yelping in pain. My hips were sawing into my muscles and my tail bone was stabbing me...it felt as if I was a dried out tree branch and any sort of movement would potentially snap off my limbs. Getting out of bed was a nightmare; the nurse and Brandon moved me because I couldn't do it myself. Shifting my weight made me cry out in pain and I was terrified of moving because I knew all subsequent movement would bring agony. The anticipation of pain was almost as bad as the pain itself. When finally standing, I couldn't support myself and again needed the nurse, Brandon, and sometimes even a medical assistant, to help me.

Getting to the bathroom was quite the challenge. For a normal person, it was about five steps away. For me, it was about a 15 minute team effort. In the bathroom, I couldn't even sit on the toilet...I had never been so helpless. Getting back into bed and getting comfortable again was another team effort. I think I swore, screamed, whimpered, cried, and then begged for pain medicine. I didn't do any of that during the actual birth...I postponed the epidural for as long as possible, shed only a few tears, and kept pretty good composure during those long hours. But this, this was something else.

That intense level of discomfort continued for about another 48 hours. It took a while for people to understand that the pain wasn't coming from my lady part areas but was instead in my lower back and hips. We finally got into a routine of pain medication--rotating between the maximum doses of Percocet and ibuprofen. The meds made the pain somewhat manageable, but I still couldn't get in and out of bed or go to the bathroom by myself, and definitely noticed when I was due for another dose. Walking around our little room took all my effort--sometimes even to the point of getting dizzy and almost fainting--but the nurses wanted me to do it periodically to help the recovery process. I dreaded getting out of bed and would postpone it for as long as possible, which then created its own set of problems, as I couldn't manage the pain and hold my bladder at the same time...it was humiliating. I remember tears just streaming down my face on multiple times because everything was just so hard.

Part Two to Contain: Figuring out the pain and going home

You Can't Argue With This

2011-02-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

4 Months

2011-02-22T13:02:00.002-07:00

Fat Baby Alert!

Russell is four months today and these past months are among the happiest of my life. He is growing so quickly; each new thing he does is met with our amazement and joy. Last night he was in his bouncer, grabbing toes with one hand and reaching for a toy dangling above him with the other. He looked a tad ridiculous as his giant belly kept getting in the way and he kept making silly grunting sounds in an effort to maintain his position. I watched him do that for about 20 minutes--I was doing a crossword puzzle at the same time, but I know I spent more time looking at Russell than I did figuring out clues. He is starting to let out strange giggles--bursts of happy sounds that are on their way to becoming laughter.

As amazing as all of these little tricks are, I admit that I get a little sad when he outgrows an outfit or a behavior. I am eager about upcoming milestones but also a little hesitant because I'm not quite ready to let other stages go. For instance, one of my favorite things is swaddling him and holding him while he sleeps. I know he will soon not like that and I know I will miss that when it passes. He already loves to stand up in our laps or be held in a sitting position, facing outward. He is not a snuggly baby! It is now a matter of a few short months before he is sitting on his own and spending less time in our arms. Perhaps being a slightly older new parent has made me relish these things a bit more--I know how quickly time passes. Babies really aren't babies for very long.

Of course I will continue to fawn over each new thing and text Brandon throughout the day about his newest accomplishment; each new stage will have its magic. Shortly after Russell was born I was having a similar conversation with my mom and she told me that each of the stages that we were in were her favorite--she loved it when we were babies and she loved it when we were teenagers. I remind myself of her words each time I feel a little twang of sadness that my little baby is growing faster than I ever realized was possible. This parenthood thing is quite the gift because as much as I have a hard time believing it, the best is yet to come.

Movin' on Out

2011-02-04T09:04:00.004-07:00

We finally put Russell into his own room two nights ago. We've had the crib for awhile and it has even been set up, waiting for him, for about month now. Russell has been sleeping through the night (7-8 hr stretches) for a good month and even several weeks before that, he was sleeping 4-5 hr stretches at a time. Furthermore, his room is right across the hallway from us--we can pretty much see him from the doorway of our room. Keeping him in our room has certainly not been about convenience.

In fact, keeping him in our room has been a little inconvenient as he is the noisiest sleeper ever. I probably would have gotten much better sleep if I put him in his crib shortly after he was born. He grunted through the first month and a half of his life--grunts so loud (all while sleeping) that Brandon often took him out of the room and slept with him on the couch because I couldn't relax with all that noise. He also went through this phase where he took forever to wake up. He would toss and turn, make grunts, whimpers, and sighs--usually while rubbing his face with his hands and turning his head from side to side. It looked like his is trying to gouge out his eyes with his hands. We never really understood it but he'd do that for like 45 minutes. I got up many times to check on him, and he was always fast asleep, just loud and restless. And lately, he'll flat out cry in his sleep. Not for long, but just long enough for us to get up to get him, only to find him back to sleeping quietly.

For the past few weeks, he has also been more susceptible to our noises. He'll start to stir as Brandon gets up for work and when I'm up late, I have to tiptoe into the bedroom so as not to wake the babe.

But, despite all those issues we just couldn't part with him. Actually, it was probably me than 'we' but I know Brandon liked having him in the room too. Some nights I just laid (no idea if that is the right conjugation) in bed and happily listened to the sleep sounds of both Brandon and Russell. "This is our family!" I would think. In one of my more irrational moments, I thought, "Those Africans in their one room huts have it right--they all get to sleep in the same room all the time." After that thought leaked, I felt like an idiot on so many different levels, but the point was that I loved having Russell near us.

But finally, the time has come to put him in the crib. Mostly because he outgrew the bassinet that Sam and Sharon lent us. One morning before the big move, I head him tossing and turning and actually heard his hands batting against the sides of the bassinet. When I looked at him, his head was practically rubbing the top edge of the bassinet and there wasn't much leg room anymore. He just looked up at me and gave me the biggest smile and I thought, "Ok ok, you can give me that big smile in your crib--I don't need to cramp your style anymore." Anyways, he's been cribbin' it for 2 nights now and everyone is doing fine. (In case you were worried).

A few weeks old

A little over 3 months!

Well Look Who's Back

2011-01-30T22:15:00.002-07:00

First of all, no promises. We might blog regularly from now on or we might not. Secondly, we have a baby now! Probably anyone who reads this knows that already. Third of all, there is really no explanation as to why this blog sat neglected for so long (well, maybe there are some reasons but I don't really want to get into them and they are probably really boring to ya'll). And fourthly, No Promises Part Dos--we might write about our baby or we might write about kittie kats or we might write about serious stuff or we might make up lies. In other words, we will probably write about anything and everything and may censor ourselves less than before That is all the rules for this blog that I can think of at this time. I'm tempted to tell you to not to talk about Fight Club but that really wouldn't make sense in this context.

And FYI, for anyone that got our Christmas e-letter, I want to clarify that we did not get a dog. Lots of people were confused and I take ownership on that one. I think I didn't explain the game well enough.

But we did get a baby and he's awesome. He has my pointy chin and I'm rooting for his eyes to stay blue. People say he looks just like Brandon which I love to hear. His latest thing is sticking as much of his hands in his mouth as he possibly can, even while nursing. Yesterday he was so obsessed with sticking his fingers in his mouth that he gagged himself. A few seconds later, he put his fingers right back in and gouged himself under his tounge, causing himself to bleed and make the sadest face ever. We prompty cut his fingernails although I promise I cut them just a few days prior. Just not short enough, I guess.

Anyways, here we are, back in this neck of the internets. Life is better than it has ever been. Stay tuned! xox

I Smell a Rat

2010-08-14T20:10:00.003-06:00

A few nights ago, I left work and walked to my car only to see and smell an uninvited mass on the roof of my car. Since it was really late and dark, I couldn't quite make out what it was and decided to leave it for the next day so that I could attempt to identify it. What I found was a partially digested rodent that something had barfed out along with some seeds. Check it out:

I hope you noticed the tail and fur. I finally scraped the thing off today.

October/November Top 10

2009-11-08T18:46:00.007-07:00

How is it suddenly November? I know it is because the sun has been rising and setting each 12 hours but yikes it seems like the Earth has lately been rotating at top speed.

This is a lazy countdown (and a no particular order countdown) post because I can't think of anything to focus on but still want to write. Here's what we've been doing:

1. Last night we went to see District 9 at the cheap theaters and right before the previews there was a commercial for mayonnaise. They tried to make it look appetizing to put mayo on your green beans and let's just say it didn't work. It just made Brandon laugh really hard.

2. The temperature. It now drops into the 40s and 50s at night and hallelujah we can sleep with a blanket rather than just a sheet. Plus, we haven't used our air conditioner in several weeks and have already noticed a difference in our electric bill. We are finally entering the weather that makes Arizona awesome. While I'm bummed we missed out on Denver's recent snow days, I don't miss driving in that crap or scraping my windshields in the morning!

3. Brandon has been started running a few miles with me every now and then and he hasn't died.

4. We recently went up to Mt. Lemmon to see some fall foliage. Mt. Lemmon is a 8500 foot mountain about 30 minutes outside Tucson. It is close enough to be a quick and easy respite from the heat and city. We were a little late for the leaves but I found the perfect heart rock, Brandon found a burly log, and we managed to find a pretty spot to document the changing of the leaves. We also couldn't help but reminisce one our leaf excursion last year where our friend Morghan howled at some mease (aka mooses). (Looking forward to seeing you in December Cheneys!)

5. I have been nurturing my fondness of Life cereal. I bought five boxes of it the other day cause it was on sale for a real good deal and now have to hold back whenever I'm hungry because that is my first instinct. I've also been wondering if I'll ever tire of eating cereal. It is always one of my favorite moments of the day.

6. I finally made freezer jam and found out it really isn't that hard. I felt very domestic.

7. We actually went to a concert the other night. You know you are old and unhip when you find out about bands on NPR. That being said, we had a great time and we glad we made the effort to go. The band was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Here's the song that initially got me hooked and still makes me want to run off to a hippie commune every time I hear it...

Although I should mention the lead singer looks homeless in real life as evidenced by wearing a nasty tank top and sweatpants while performing.

8. Brandon saved the day (and our wallets) this week when he replaced the alternator in his car. It went out on him while he was driving and he did all the diagnostics and labor himself. I was very proud (and I think he was too).

9. There was this one time that we drove the 2 hours to Phoenix to attend the temple (something us Mormons do from time to time) and upon arrival found out it was closed for cleaning. Shoot! To compensate for our time, we ate at the Cafe Rio in Gilbert, went to Ikea, and drank about 88 oz of diet soda between the two of us.

10. One of Brandon's fantasy football teams in almost the worst in his league. Send him some good luck vibes so he doesn't get completely dominated.

That's all for now folks...

Internet Truths

2009-10-26T21:05:00.003-06:00

This evening I've been watching this music video on YouTube for one of my favorite songs, Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Here's the link to the video in case you want to hear it. It is a little punky, maybe a little whiny, and perhaps a little romantic. You might not like it but maybe you will.

Anyways, I've always loved the song and reconnected with it when it came on my Arcade Fire radio station on Pandora.com (which is a life saver at work btw). To feed my renewed interest, I naturally came home from work and watched the video about five times on YouTube. And like all good obsessions, I scrolled through the YouTube comments and happened to find one that explained the meaning of the song. Supposedly "Maps" is an acronym for My Agnus Please Stay; according to YouTube comments, Agnus was the singer's boyfriend who left her and broke her heart.

Intrigued by the concept of having a song based on an acronym, I checked my facts on Wikipedia and found that this was indeed a fact which also meant that my intrigue was legitimate.

Just as I verified all this info, Brandon asked me what I was doing. When I told him, he said, "So you're saying that you're excited about something you learned from a Random Joe on YouTube because it is supported by the Encyclopedia of Random Joe?" "Absolutely!" I responded.

Anyways, everything I ever needed to know is on the Internet and that's a fact because now the Internet says so.

This is the Place

2009-10-07T21:08:00.004-06:00

I've been thinking--if I ever become sick with an incurable disease and need a place to celebrate life, say goodbye to my loved ones, and then gracefully die, I want it to happen at Casa Alhaja. OR, if I ever win a big art endowment and need a hideaway to collect my thoughts as I write the great American novel, I'll rent out Casa Alhaja and live there for a year. The ocean, sand, tides, and migrating birds are exceptionally suited for either task. Until those things happen, though, I'll take a weekend here and there whenever I can get it.

Its that Time of Year...

2009-09-20T20:00:00.003-06:00

Football season. In other words, Brandon is in heaven.

Last year, I joined my work's fantasy football league in an effort to help me bond with Brandon and get in on some playful work banter. Let's just say that the part about it helping me bond with Brandon didn't really work. My interest lasted about two seconds and then I had Brandon do everything for me. Actually, I did two things. As he did all the drafting etc, I named the team and searched the Internet long and hard for an avatar to represent my team in the league.

I ended up naming my team The Cookie Monster Riot and chose this avatar:

Both of those things got me plenty of playful work banter and indirectly and innocently proved that football will never be my thing.

Anyways, I have a point. It is football season again. Brandon is enthralled and loving every second of it. I'm not in a fantasy league (Brandon's three leagues cover this house pretty well) and I don't like it any more than I did last year. BUT something strange has happened. Instead of feeling this twinge* of annoyance when I hear the TV blaring a game, there's a piece of me that is actually pleased that Brandon has something so enjoyable to do. He's working pretty hard these days and lets me do my own thing without batting an eye, so why not let him soak up all things NFL? This revelation has left me feeling so mature and a little like the Grinch whose heart grew three times in size after he let the Whos have Christmas. I just had to share. That's all.

*OK fine. That 'twinge of annoyance' part was a bit of an understatement.

Dilemma

2009-09-08T22:06:00.009-06:00

A few days ago, I pulled into my parking space after a long day of being really bored at work. As I pulled my keys from the ignition I noticed a new sight. TWO new garbage cans.
Actually, one of them (the blue one) had been there for a few days and to be honest, I was a little irritated about it. This new garbage can has a drop down lid whereas the last model had a window that you slid open. Although the window version was way less sanitary (the door would always stick forcing you to touch it more. Sick!), it was great because the door was usually left open and our 8 billion kitties would meander in and out their hearts content. This meant that I got to see them in all their glory several times a day. It was a little like this:

Ok, so it turns out you have to click on my art work to see it better.

Anyways, the trash management people switched everything up and all of a sudden everything has changed. I mean, how will my kitties get into the trash now? As I sat in my car, trying to figure out what the people around here have against my precious kitties, I slowly realized that there was something very very different about the second bin....

A recycling bin! Only the devout will remember that I have a conviction about recycling but have never had a curbside recycling service. As a result, I have been diligently driving across town for several years now to properly dispose of my recyclable waste. Once I realized that I would no longer have an embarrassingly large pile of recycling in my kitchen, a radiant smile spread upon my face and washed away my sadness about my job that is slowly killing me and the passive-aggressive way my neighborhood is trying to rid me of our kitties.

That smile, though, disappeared the next morning when I didn't see any of the kitties prancing around the parking lot. They've officially jumped ship to forage in greener pastures, I'm afraid. So now I'm torn. While I can breathe a sigh of relief that I can now live my conviction with gracious ease, how am I going to replace that void that our kitties once filled? Perhaps I need to put out that water bowl I was musing about a few weeks back...is it possible that they would then trickle back and I could have the best of both worlds?

This Post is Kind of Contradictory

2009-08-27T19:41:00.007-06:00

I haven't written in a while, namely because I have been trying to spare you from marginal topics of conversation that have been running through my head over the past few weeks. I know the whole concept of blogging in general is marginal but my current inner ramblings are exceptionally so.

Let me prove it. These are the topics I could have told you about over the past few weeks.

1.) I got a new job (yay!) but it is really really boring (grrr) and every day I come home wanting to bang my head really hard against a wall to try and revive my soul. Call me prideful, but I didn't want to tell ya'll that I'm dying a slow painful death at work. I can now, though, because I think things will get better since I'm almost done training. The risk of me getting a traumatic brain injury is decreasing with each passing day.

2.) My kitties. I've discussed them before, although last time I thought there was only my precious kitty, Deliah Garrity. We've since figured out that our next door neighbor has about 8 billion kitties living in a dilapidated shed and they pretty run the roost around here. I am oddly obsessed with them and spend way too much time telling Brandon what I saw the kitties (and by kitties I mean full grown cats) doing and how it was so awesome. I even have a high-pitched obnoxious voice that I use to endear them to me when I see them and started to draw ya'll one of my famous 'Windows Paint' pieces to illustrate some of their key concepts, but then got bored and quit. So if I get bored mid-Windows Paint, how could I ever formulate an entire post?

3.) Yoga. I'm becoming obsessed and often have to restrain myself from telling everyone I know about how there's this studio near my house with $4 classes that will seriously rock your world and won't you please come with me? I try to go twice a week and love it when my mat pitter-patters with sweat about half way through the class; my heels now touch the ground when I do down dog which is a big deal for me. I hope to one day do arm balancing poses but that's probably a long shot. Are your eyes glazing over yet? Brandon's are getting that same look as when I tell him about shopping (and come to think of it, the kitties, too). Don't worry, I'm not offended. You are lucky you got the short version.

4.) The serious stuff. And no, I'm not trying to elicit sympathy or curiosity or worry. I'm just feeling a need to be pragmatic and talk about how blogland is so shallow in the sense that it is mostly about our (collective) awesomeness when in reality, there's all this serious junk floating around in all of our minds that is often more important than the stuff we post. The shallow stuff though is a fun, dandy, and innocent way to escape and 'stay connected'. I am SO guilty of it (this is like our 110th post or something and the list of blogs I follow is way longer than the outdated list on our sidebar). I don't think that's a bad thing, either. But you know, sometimes you are just not in a clever, show-offy mood. And since this is not the Dear Diary sort of place, the blog just kind of sits sometimes.

I can't end on such a Debbie Downer note so here's the final reason why I haven't been so bloggy-bloggy lately.

4.) Friday Night Lights.
BEST SHOW EVER. SERIOUSLY. (a whole post on the show, though, is not the best idea ever). We have pretty much spent the whole summer watching all 3 seasons of it and it has gradually started to consume our thoughts. Brandon developed his first 'man-crush' and I have actually looked into purchasing Friday Night Lights merchandise. This show is also the reason that I've used the phrase "ya'll" several times in this entry. We are both officially in love with small town Texas high school football. We have each had dreams about the characters and have been known to lie awake at night wondering how season 4 will ever compare to seasons 1-3, lamenting about characters we no longer see, and trying to predict what will happen next. And while I've talked a lot of TV on this blog (which in and of itself is a little weird), this show tops them all. Yes. It is better than LOST. I feel like a traitor but this show is A-MA-ZING. So there. I told you all about FNL. Did you feel it was a little gratuitous? I did.

All right. Now you are caught up on all the stuff I tried so hard to hold back. Maybe next time I write I'll be a little more concise and purposeful. Maybe.

A Good Deal

2009-08-04T23:59:00.003-06:00

We all love them. This one (buy one get one free at Jamba Juice) is good until Sunday...

Kind of a weird thing to write about, but it is so fun and summery, why not?

Maybe if you get one, you can go with your sweetie and ride your bikes to the closest one so you won't feel guilty about having only sugar for dinner. If you are like me, you will probably ride much slower than your sweetie, even though you really are peddling hard and are sweating profusely to prove it. If you are like Brandon, you will probably ride much faster than your sweetie but kindly offer to let the slower one ride first.

When you get there, be careful not to spill a good portion of your buy-one-get-one free smoothie all over your leg that is propped up on your sweetie's chair because you will come close to saying a swear and then your leg will be sticky sticky sticky (and a little pink), despite all the napkins you might use to clean it up. If that does indeed happen, it won't really be tragic because you'll still have plenty left and you can always taste test your sweetie's flavor. This time, it will be hard to determine which one is better. They each seem to perfectly satisfy.

Also, perhaps your ride home will be a race against a dark monsoon storm with quite the lightening storm. There is horizontal lightening with wirey hands on either side, threatening its fingers at you. Don't worry, though, because the approaching storm will bring gusts of wind that smell like rain and are refreshing against your sweaty self.

Your sweetie will likely beat you home but wait for you so you can be close by as you each haul your bikes up to your second story apartment and plan the rest of your evening. Showers, reading, and an episode of that one television show you both love are agreed upon and in that order. It will be a good night.

Adapting

2009-07-27T19:52:00.005-06:00

Brandon felt a little guilty on Saturday when he got his Arizona driver's license and license plate. Especially since he tells me every chance he gets that he HATES them because they are so ugly.
I really don't think they are bad at all, but like I said before, I am partial to Arizona sunsets. If it wasn't 108 today, I'd be toying with the idea of taking a post-dinner walk to look at the setting sun right now. Instead, I'm going to stay inside and watch the season finale of The Bachelorette.

But, I understand where Brandon is coming from. One of the reasons we work so well together is that we are both very loyal to the people, places, and things that we love. That is why I haven't actually thrown out any of Brandon's old shirts (despite my threats) and Brandon patiently waits while I make a way too complicated Cooks Illustrated recipe (even though he quietly thinks that I could just use a mix). We understand that the deep attachment to our idiosyncrasies is part of the fabric of our personality. Forcing a change on the other would cause intense discomfort and probably a little resentment that just isn't worth it. That's how we work it, see?

So the license plate. It was as if we officially turned our backs on Colorado, I suppose. Luckily, things are going well enough here for us that we might feel the same way about switching out our Arizona plates if we ever have to move from here. Brandon is enjoying his residency and frequently gives thanks that he isn't standing behind a counter like many of his peers. I am still jobless but don't yet mind the ample time I have to swim laps in the middle of the day and read novels on a freshly made bed with daylight streaming through the window. XOX

This is What My Life Has Come To

2009-07-22T14:32:00.002-06:00

And I'm not complaining. But seriously, why I am writing limericks? And then sharing them with the world wide Internets? Maybe so that the entry about our kitty cat won't be at the top. Update on that one: Brandon says the kitty cat is named Professor Cornelius. Lame right? I told him that and then told him that I changed the cat's name from Delilah to Delilah Garrity which is kind of a tribute to our favorite show, Friday Night Lights. Brandon kind of paused at that one, because the real Lila Garrity is awful purty but then decided to just be stubborn and stick with Professor Cornelius.

Anyways, limericks. They are unexplainable, but I wrote these today. Just for you.

Ode to the Washer

There once was a girl who liked her clean clothes
But she didn’t have a washer which gave her some woes
Then she moved from her city
And she don’t want your pity
Cause now she washes at home; its so fun dontcha know?

This is Probably Why I’m Writing Limericks

Alison’s in Tucson looking for a job
But she don't want one that'll make her sob
Just pay her the big bucks
And don't tell her it sucks
Or she’ll stay on the couch like an ol’ blob

Yup Tucson is Hot

They say that Tucson is hot in the summer
Everyone and their dog thinks it's such a bummer
But actually you lay by the pool
Sipping drinks that are so cool
Now tell me what else could even be funner?

Kitty Kat

2009-07-19T11:45:00.004-06:00

No we don't have one. I'm allergic to 99% of cats and Brandon keeps reminding me that in this stage of life, he is only willing to commit to 15% of the overall maintenance of having a pet. How would you even quantify that anyway? Do all pet tasks hold the same weight? I'm not pushing for definitions because I don't really want a pet either, but still, what does 15% actually mean?

However, there is this little kitty cat begging to be adopted. We frequently see it sleeping outside our apartment door, sleeping on the steps leading up to our apartment, circling the trash can in the parking lot near our cars. We see this little kitty cat so much that Brandon and I have started fighting over whose cat it is. Example:

(Upon pulling up to our apartment)
"Oh look, there's my cat."
"That's not your cat, that's my cat."
"Na-uh, I already named it Delilah."
"Delilah? You cannot name my cat Delilah."
"Yes-huh, after the radio show. We both love that show and you know it. Perfect name for a cat. Perfect name for my cat, I mean."
"Whatever. It is my cat and its name is not Delilah."

And so the conversations go.

Lately though, this little kitty cat no longer dashes away when it sees us. It still won't let me pet it or get too close, but it now just backs up a few steps and stares at me. The other morning when I left for my walk in the 95 degree misery, it even followed me for a bit! Also, I think it even pooped on our doorstep. A secret: I haven't cleaned it up yet. Yeah, there is a little turd drying up in our arid climate, gathering dust from the occasional monsoon winds. That's kind of embarrassing, but I don't really want to touch it or get cat poop on our dust pan, plus it would be rude if I kicked it off our balcony onto our downstairs neighbor's stoop. I'm stuck, see.

So, what do we do? This cat could be struggling in the tough Tucson conditions and one day we might find it dead on our doorstep from dehydration and starvation. I could never forgive myself.

What happens if we feed it though? You know, if you give a mouse a cookie it will ask for glass a milk so does that mean if you give a cat some food it will start demanding command of the remote control and want the whole top shelf of our refrigerator for dead mice and catnip? What if I have to tell it: "No kitty cat/Delilah. Snack Pack Puddings and Sprite Zeros go on the top shelf, not dead mice." Will it kill me in my sleep?

I'm going to stew about this for another week or so and if I still see my cat around, then maybe I'll put a bowl of water out there to see what happens and...then we'll just go from there.

Maybe the little kitty cat is this kind of cat:

That wouldn't be so bad would it?

Harmony

2009-07-09T12:11:00.001-06:00

Bathroom Stalls

2009-07-07T10:16:00.003-06:00

So I'm still unemployed which means that I have endless time to watch the Michael Jackson funeral coverage and rearrange our bookshelves to my heart's content.

This morning as I was doing both of these tasks, I randomly remembered something I saw on one of the many pit stops that we made on our drive from Denver to Tucson.

I need to preface this by saying that I love tacky roadside stops. The more souvenirs the better, even though there is a high likelihood that I saw the same souvenirs at the last stop. I can endlessly wander through the aisles and look at the cheap turquoise jewelry, the Native American blankets, magnets in the shape of states, postcards with silly sayings on them about cowboys and hunters, lollipops with scorpions in them, t-shirts with the American flag or wolves ... Don't you just want to be there right now? Can't you just smell the old hot dogs basking under the hot lamp, see the pork rinds neatly clipped onto the corner of the snack aisle, and hear the swamp cooler humming in the background??

Anyways, so at this particular stop, I got out of my hot sticky car and pranced into the gas station so I could quickly do my business and have optimal time to browse through the junk before Brandon finished gassing up the truck and going potty. He's not so much into the souvenirs. He's more into the "Let's see how quickly we can get in and out of here" approach to roadside stops.

This stop actually caught me off guard because for once, there was actually something in the women's bathroom that totally caught my attention. Now, I know most of us can't help but notice the lovely scrawls people carve into bathroom stalls. These are usually very strong declarations people are compelled to immortalize on the dirty walls of No Where USA with names, dates, insults, crass sayings you pretend not to notice, and words of advice or philosophy.

This particular stall had the best phrase ever: "Toy Story 2 Was OK."

If there was ever a strong declaration that needed to be immortalized, that was it! I'm a little confused by the timing of the message, however. Toy Story 2 came out in 1999 and those particular bathroom stalls had clearly been repainted within the past few years. I've developed several ideas as to why someone between 2005-present would want the whole world to know that Toy Story 2 is mediocre at best but I will spare you my speculations and let you come up with your own.

Anyways, I chuckled all the way through my potty break. As I washed my hands, I thought "I need to tell Brandon!" Unfortunately, I was instantly distracted by the $7.99 eagle t-shirt rack and promptly forgot. Several hours later, however, at our next stop, the bathroom stalls actually had butcher paper on the walls so people could write their words of wisdom in an Easy Clean format. So guess what I wrote? "Toy Story 2 Was OK."

Paris, Part II

2009-07-01T10:32:00.002-06:00

Proof that We Moved

2009-06-26T13:16:00.007-06:00

Like I said earlier, we had wonderful support as we left Denver. They even supported Brandon's deepest desire to hurl our home sweet home objects off our balcony.

(Brandon's dad, Bob, and our good friend Duke did the throwing...er...I mean lowering. Brandon's brother Bryce kind of helped.)

(Brandon, his brother Josh, and Duke's dad are waiting to get crushed)

At first I was scared that our couch would get damaged, but when I saw this, I worried that my husband and a few other husbands would get damaged in the process. Luckily everyone came out OK. Even the couch.

Empty apartments look so weird. Especially after you've lived in them for 2 years.

I was a little sad about that.

Our caravan in all its glory. Look how big that moving truck is! And yes, it is towing a car. And that red car behind it is my car. (That's the abandoned hospital behind us. Now that you see it, don't you totally agree that the I am Legend vampires are living there?!)

I kept such a good eye on the road.

We both breathed a sigh of relief when we crossed this state line.

Getting even closer...

Southern Arizona is pretty, I promise.
We fulfilled a childhood fantasy by stopping at The Thing. I won't tell you what it is because that would ruin the surprise when you are fifteen miles outside of Wilcox, Arizona, have been in the car for about 17 hours, and need a break. But I will tell you that it was certainly worth a dollar.

I'm not sure if Brandon agreed. He was tired of driving that stupid van.
Of course, the couch was also the hardest thing to move in and required all the male help we could muster. I watched and tried to look pretty.

My 6'5 bro looks kind of funny squatting down to get that couch in, don't you think?

We made it. Time to eat.

The Move

2009-06-23T23:00:00.005-06:00

Brandon doesn't know this yet, but I bawled as we drove out of Denver. I felt like I was creating a new version of the children's book, Good Night Moon as I passed intersections and other landmarks that led us out of town.

"Goodbye 12th and Colorado--this intersection that I hated crossing every morning because you took so stinkin' long to turn green. I'm sorry I was so impatient."

"Goodbye old School of Pharmacy building where Brandon went before it moved to the new campus. Now you just kind of creep me out because I think the creepy vampires from I am Legend are living in your abandoned halls."

"Goodbye Starbucks where the half-crazy man from our apartment building went to drink his coffee all day every day. I'm glad you let him come to you because I always felt uncomfortable around him."

"Goodbye 24 Hour Fitness Colorado and Alameda. I loved working out at your facility but please don't feel betrayed that I abandoned you for the 24 Hour Fitness in Lowry. I don't know if I ever lost any weight working out there, but you sure helped me feel better about many things."

"Goodbye movie theater where we saw Ratatouille on my birthday the first year we were married. The movie sucked but I liked your steep escalator at the entrance."

"Goodbye Dave and Busters where Brandon let me play about three games of Ms. Pacman in a row and didn't even care that I had no interest in the your other games."

Now on to the freeway...sniffle sniffle

"Goodbye hotel at Hampden and I-25, where Brandon's parent's would meet us to carpool down to Colorado Springs."

"Goodbye church where all my work trainings were. You have kind of a funny smell and a terrible climate control system, but you are where I started to relish how well that job and my coworkers suited me."

"Goodbye Arapahoe Road. I hated you for such a long time because your traffic was always so terrible but I had many good experiences on you. Right where you meet Potomac is Arapahoe County Juvenile Court and Detention. Some eye opening and career defining moments there. Thank you for those. Also, please make sure that muffin place stays around. Those are seriously so delicious. I'm tempted to get one every time I drive by."

"Goodbye Maggianos Restaurant where we had our wedding luncheon and returned a year later to celebrate our anniversary and stuff our selves silly on their family style dinner and chocolate cake."

"Goodbye Park Meadows Mall. You were the best mall in Denver but I never went to you enough because you were far away and were actually so big that you made me tired before I even got there. You did introduce me to Sephora which is now the only place I like to buy makeup (but then never wear)."

Leaving Denver...still sniffle sniffle

"Good bye Douglas County Court and Castle Rock Outlets...I dreaded this area for so long because I had to come here for work and it seemed unreasonable that work would assign me clients that lived 30 minutes away. But now I will miss those messy client families and the wonderful people that made up my treatment teams. And of course, what will I do without the outlet stores when I have a few minutes to spare (or need to forget a particularly stressful appointment)? Good bye..."

Even further south...
"Goodbye Colorado Springs. I thought you were kind of eerie at first because there are so many evangelical Christians that live in you, but now I just associate you with playing endless games of Blockus, Sequence, and Rummikub after eating a too-good-to-be-true homemade dinner with Brandon's grandparents."

Goodbye Denver.

Oh Denver was good to us. For some reason I personify the cities I've lived in based on my experiences there and right now, Denver is about at BFF status. It was a giving friend who had a gentle and inviting way of giving us new experiences that were challenging and yet very meaningful and rewarding.

The past week was full of last meals at favorite restaurants, last bike rides on our favorite routes, regrets that we didn't do certain things more often, and of course, many hard goodbyes to family and friends that were so kind and supportive of us. Change is always hard.

Nonetheless there are many "fortunatelys" to keep in mind.

Fortunately, we made it to Tucson in one piece. NOTHING was damaged in the move and the drive went smoothly. THANK YOU ALL THOSE THAT HELPED!! YOU GUYS DID SUCH A GREAT JOB!!!

Fortunately, we were met with family that brought us cookies, cold Diet Cokes, a nourishing lunch AND helped us unload the truck in the middle of a hot summer day. Wow.

Fortunately, I have gotten to meet my newest niece that is just barely one week old but will soon be moving with her mommy and daddy to Washington DC. Seeing her for the first time was almost shocking because she actually looks a little like me. Good job Chase and Cait!

Fortunately, our apartment is new and nice and clean and will suit us just fine while we are here.

Fortunately, Brandon is excited about starting his residency and we both know that is the right thing for us to be doing.

Fortunately, it feels good to be back in Tucson. The heat is oddly comforting and it is nice to already know my way around. Not to mention, I will always love the way Tucson looks at sunset.

Leaving Denver has been hard. But we made it to Tucson and it feels good to be here. I'll post some pictures of our move in a few days (since I'm still unemployed) and will continue to sort through our Europe pictures.

Xoxo A (+B)

Paris Day 2

2009-06-16T18:00:00.004-06:00

For some reason I haven't yet gone through the photos for Paris Day 1. But that doesn't make this batch of photos any less fun (for us at least). There are some typos in the video and like the last one, the resolution gets kind of crappy when you enlarge the movie.

And as for what we have to say about Paris: We loved it! Our stay there was one of the highlights of our entire trip and we could have easily spent another week there. There was so much to do and we didn't even to do 1/2 of it, which means that we'll have to go back! It was probably the neatest city I have ever visited and it had this intoxicating aura about it...I found myself wanting to know what everything was and soak in all things Parisian. As we walked through the city, I was constantly asking Brandon what things were because everything was beautiful, historic, or interesting. Eventually, Brandon just had to say, "I don't know what that is--this is just Paris! There are incredible things everywhere--if they were anywhere else, they would be the center of attention, but in Paris, they are meaningless."

One of the neatest things, however, was seeing the city with Brandon. He served in Paris for six months on his LDS mission. He still remembered the layout of the city and his French language skills came back to him without a problem. He showed me some of his favorite places, introduced me to heavenly French pastries, cheeses, and baguettes, and I could tell he was in heaven being back.

We were blessed to be able to stay with a friend of Brandon's...Kiki was an amazing hostess who fed us delicious French food, let us crash at her house for 3 nights, and even took two days off work to sightsee with us. Thank you Kiki!! Tucson, Arizona is in no way near as cool as Paris, but if you ever want to come, we are happy to return your gracious favor.

So with that, here's another video.

On another note--we have only 3 more nights in Denver. At this point, my anxiousness with getting this move over with is outweighing my sadness about leaving. Our apartment is a disaster and just as it seems like we are almost ready, we realize there is more to pack, clean, toss, donate, or fix. Yikes!

Burg Means Castle in German

2009-06-10T21:03:00.006-06:00

I'm unsure how to start talking about our two week vacation in Europe. Do I brag about our experience by using all the synonyms for 'amazing' and 'beautiful' as I list all the sites and countries we visited? Do I tell you all the things that went wrong? Do I describe everything all at once or break up into small pieces? And if I do break it up into small pieces, how many do I realistically have the energy to do? How many segments do my readers have interest in?

Who knows. I'll probably do a combination of all the above. Come to think of it, knowing me, there's a good chance that this is the only post you'll get.

Yesterday, as I contemplated how to organize our photos and thought about whether I wanted to blog about our trip, I discovered that the newest Picasa has a moviemaker feature. I spent some time (won't tell you how much) figuring it out and made the below movie. I chose to start with this Europe experience because: 1.) It was one of the first things we did on our trip 2.) It was a pretty incredible place to visit and 3.) One of the funniest things of the whole trip happened there.

Soo...Burg Eltz was a castle we visited in Germany the day we drove from Frankfurt to Paris. That day was certainly the introduction to many things, namely the craziness of driving in Europe (i.e. it is impossible to get anywhere without getting lost) and how unbelievably cool/beautiful/interesting the sites are.

Here is the movie (the resolution gets kind of crummy if you enlarge it):

Here is the funny thing:

To see the interior of Burg Eltz, you go on a tour with a bunch of other people. Luckily it was an English speaking tour. Anyways, in the kitchen, our guide pointed out the oven, the stove, and some of the cooking equipment. Keep in mind that this was a medieval castle--as in 700 years ago. After the tour guided pointed out everything he felt was significant about the kitchen, he let people ask questions. As people are looking around, soaking everything in, this older lady points to these pans and says,

(actually, this particular pic was taken at another castle, but same general idea).

"What were those used for? Jello?"

Hahahaha!! Jello!? So classic. Brandon and I look at each other and quickly have to look away for fear of completely loosing it. The tour group was awkwardly silent; I don't even know if our German tour guide knows what Jello is but he eventually said, "Those were used for bread."

"Oh, I see" says the woman.

Then we saw the woman's daughter, who was probably 5-10 years older than us, turn away to meet eyes with her husband (who was standing by us) to share a secret laugh.

Writing this out makes me feel mean, but honestly, Brandon and I laughed about it the whole trip. It was sooooo funny picturing the castle servants preparing Jello as they shivered by the fire while the prince jousted in the court yard and the princesses painted porcelain.

Well, maybe I'm mean and maybe that video was a little too amateur, but that was Burg Eltz. Definitely a place worth visiting!

In The Airport

2009-05-24T13:26:00.005-06:00

Yes, I am blogging from the airport. Our plane leaves in about an hour and I don't want to sleep for fear that I'll regret sleeping in Denver when I'm jet-lagged but wired in Germany.

FYI:
Germany sounds like Jabroni.

Germany, not Jabroni, is the first stop on our trip.

Also, Europe is the 5th largest continent. We actually don't know, but that sounds right.

In other news, Brandon and Harry Potter exchanged wardrobes a few days ago. I don't know if it was the robe or Brandon's manly athletic abilities, but he totally kicked Harry Potter's tooshie in Quidditch after the hooding ceremonies.

For some reason, the airport wireless connection doesn't want us to upload pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination and google Jabroni for some answers (that's what I had to do).

Sorry this post wasn't more fulfilling...I had visions of giving everyone a special treat before we headed off on our European vacation, but it didn't work out.

Thanks for everyone's support and well-wishes over the past few days as Brandon graduated and I quit my job; we feel blessed and excited to move on in our life adventures.

This Week

2009-05-18T08:26:00.002-06:00

Monday--Nothing special except for the oodles amount of work I have to do before Thursday. That's why I'm blogging. Makes perfect sense.

Tuesday--Brandon's last day as Webelos Scout Leader (he's been doing this for our church for about the last two years). He actually enjoys working with the boys and he does a really great job keeping them entertained and earning their badge requirements, but he's ready to move on. Two years is a long time to work with 10 year old boys.

Wednesday--The American Idol Finale. Does it suprise you that I have this on my calendar? It shouldn't. I am the queen of crap TV. You should all know this by now. Anyways, go Kris! I'm really not a homophob but Adam creeps me out and has a weird robot stance.

Thursday--My last day of work. Eek! Lots of emotion tied to this one because I love my job and my coworkers. Plus I have to have all my files etc ready to hand off to my coworkers that are taking over my cases and nothing sounds off the anxiety bell more than the thought of handing off incomplete work...
Also: My mom flies in.
Also: Fancy, school sponsored, graduation dinner.

Friday--Brandon graduates with his PharmD!!! There will be lots of picture taking, eating, and congratulating on this day, no doubt.

Sat--Take mom to airport, pack for trip, last minute errands for trip, prepare house to leave for trip, attend friend's wedding in the PM.

Sun--Leave for Europe!

Conversation

2009-05-04T23:54:00.002-06:00

So I can't fall asleep because I have a ridiculous Lady GaGa (seriously, that's her name?) song running through my head along with visions of Craig's List apartment listings. I guess I just diagnosed myself with audio/visual hallucinations. Psychosis here I come...

But the conversation I am really going to write about took place a few days ago as Brandon and I were falling asleep. It is more or less as follows:

Brandon: My feet are so sore.
Alison: Yuck, I'm sorry. Let's get you some new shoes.
B: No, the ones I have are fine.
A: But you complain of sore feet every day!
B: I'll just get some insoles.
A: Noooo....It'll be nice to have them when you start your residency.
B: Come on. Insoles will be fine.
A: (getting frustrated) You've had those shoes for two years, it's time for some new ones.
B: No I haven't
A: YES YOU HAVE...I bought them for you. I remember.
B: That's impossible.
A: Not even. (starting to get shrill) I was an intern when I bought them. I had a gift card to Kohl's...that was TWO YEARS ago.
B: Agggh (playful whining)
A: BRANDON. YOU NEED NEW SHOES. THE ONES YOU HAVE SUCK. IT ISN'T GOING TO KILL YOU. WE HAVE THE MONEY.
B: Ok. I'll get new shoes.
A: What?! You will not get new shoes. You are lying to me.
B:Look at yourself! You are getting so worked up over shoes! No wonder you can't sleep at night. You stay up and freak out about my shoes. I'll get some new ones so you can relax.
A: Huh?
B: Really, we can get me new shoes.
A: Oh, OK. OK, well thank you. That'll be good.
B: Feel better?
A: Yeah. That was weird.
B: You're telling me.

Anyways...there you have it folks. Conversations between Control Freak and Captain Thrifty. Luckily Captain Thrifty knows when to throw in the towel. I'll let you how the shoe shopping goes. The last time we did that, Captain Thrifty almost had a melt down. There were witnesses.

These Two

2009-04-20T20:34:00.004-06:00

These two people are my parents. Today is their anniversary. I love them a lot. I love them individually and also adore how their relationship as been an example of love, support, fun, decision-making, and togetherness for me and all my siblings. Happy Anniversary! 30 years!

The Shire

2009-04-09T19:46:00.006-06:00

For some reason, we named our apartment The Shire when we moved in. I don't really remember how that name came about (other than the obvious LOTR reference). Anyways, now that we are getting close to moving out and in the midst of looking for a new place to live in Tucson, I find myself frequently thinking of our building and this apartment.

Our building. FYI, it is on the ugliest block in all of Denver. But, we both knew as soon as we walked through the apartment that it was the one for us. And we've never regretted it.

Some things:

I caught the janitor of the building smoking the other day. He's a super nice church going man always telling me about his grandchildren and garden. I kind of felt betrayed when I saw him smoking. I also think he was trying to hide it from me. Isn't that weird that I was so disappointed by it?

The crazy (literally) lady downstairs was found dead in her apartment last week. She used to wear hats and jackets even when they weren't in season and was known to say, "Get the hell away from me" when crossing her path in the hallway. A few times she asked me to help her take the elevator to the third floor so she could visit David (her equally crazy friend). Once I saw her and David kissing in the hallway. The last time I saw her she told me to "Get the hell away " while I was getting the mail. I told her that it made me sad that she would speak that way to me since I thought we were friends. She just looked at me and said, "Oh." I hope she didn't kill herself but I don't really want to find out either.

Our building also has a history of bedbugs. Sick! We've never had a problem and we both think it is divine intervention. Remember this?

Our kitchen is carpeted and has hardly any counter space. I hate it because it makes simple spills hard to clean. Every time I look at ads for apartments in Tucson I think, "Well, there's no carpet in the kitchen so that's a bonus."

The other thing about our kitchen: Brandon and I have learned that it is for the benefit of our marriage if only one person is working in the kitchen at a time.

Only counter space (I have no idea why I took it this picture. Probably because I was really proud of myself for doing the dishes or something).

We do have awesome closet space. Considering I'm a pack rat, we have never felt too cramped in our one-room apartment. There is so much closet space, in fact, that Brandon and I are both able to fit two dressers and two laundry baskets in our non-walk-in closet without losing too much space for our clothes and shoes. I doubt we'll be able to have that in another apartment.

This is an old pic of me (with long hair!) that illustrates a wall of closets (and a messy night stand).

Needless to say, I am looking forward to finding a new place. I know this sounds crazy, but we are thinking about splurging and going for a two bedroom with a washer and a dryer. The renter's market looks pretty good right now so I don't think we'll have to settle for a carpeted kitchen!

We Were Sick Today and Wanted a Laugh

2009-03-31T21:35:00.002-06:00

We can't figure out if it is something we ate or a nasty virus one of us picked up somewhere, but we've been pretty sick and sluggish for the past 24 hours. We both stayed home from work and spent the day sleeping and trying to drink juice. Anyways, a few hours ago we finally felt good enough to at least sit up, eat some mac-n-cheese and pretend to be coherent. I made Brandon look up this video for me because I wanted a laugh. Many of you have probably seen it--if so, do yourself a favor and watch it again. I love it when the little boy roars like a lion. Sometimes I wish I could do that.

I'm pretty sure we'll be fine tomorrow, which is good because we can't take much more of this mopin' around.

EL PUEBLO VIEJO

2009-03-24T21:10:00.006-06:00

This past week was a big one...we found out where we are going for the next year.

Brandon is doing a pharmacy residency so that he doesn't have to worry about going postal on the nincompoops that come to the pharmacy counter at Walgreens. Anyways, this process is a tad stressful because you don't get to choose where you go; instead this outside company looks into a magic pot while waving a wand before "matching" students to hospitals.

Luckily, we ended up in Tucson, AZ which for some reason is also known as the Old Pueblo. And since I am starting to fret that I won't be able to find a job because my Spanish skills are essentially non-existent, I am trying to brush up on my espanol, which is how I ended up with that blog post title.

But that's besides the point. The real point here is that we are moving very soon--probably mid-June. We both feel good about this turn of events but can't ignore that it is definitely bittersweet. Colorado has been very good to us.

Tucson is great because:

1.) The program will be perfect for Brandon in many ways. They showered him with flattery, offered to take him javelina hunting, and showed him that they like to have a good time.

2.) My parents live there and I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time with them since I left the Old Pueblo, 10 years ago.

3.) You rarely have to worry about things like scraping the ice off your windshield or snow storms ruining your commute to work.

4.) This restaurant:
It is amazing and I'm not even going to explain why.

5.) Sabino Canyon:

It is less than a mile from my parent's house and I have spent many many many hours there hiking, running, swimming etc. I look forward to more trail time. You'd think it'd be easy to get that in the Rocky Mountain State, but it really isn't.

We are very sad, however, to leave Colorado because:

1.) We'll be moving away from Brandon's parents who have spoiled us for the past few years with advice, good conversation, their comfortable guest room, relaxing weekend getaways, fresh cookies, food storage, game nights, and of course, their laundry room.

2.) Great friends that have entertained us with dinner parties, book clubs, and other types of fun.

3.) This is the place where we fell in love and got married.

4.) I'll miss my job.

5.) We'll miss Denver's great parks (City Park, Cheeseman Park, Washington Park, Kent School) where we love to take our Sunday afternoon walks.
I mean, let's face it, Tucson is stinkin' hot most of the time. We won't be able to enjoy flowers, distinct seasons, giant trees and their canopies of leaves for a long time. Oh well...

BUT, now we know where we are going and feel blessed that things worked out so well and that we are going to a place with so many perks. Not to mention the fact that the waiting is over. Now it is just time to pack up all our stuff, get mad at ourselves for having so much stuff, find an apartment, say goodbye, and start all over in a new place. Can't wait!

You Know What I Meant

2009-03-09T12:11:00.003-06:00

We got home from our quick weekend trip to UT late last night. Please do not take it personally if we didn't call you as we were there for less than 48 hours and were primarily there to see our new nephew.

Anyways, I slept like brick last night. It was one of those nights where each time I stirred I thought, "This sleep is amazing, I never want to wake up again." Brandon has to leave earlier than I do in the mornings and makes a big effort to be quiet while he gets ready. When he's finally ready to go, he always comes back in the bedroom to say goodbye. This morning I was so out of it that I said, "Sleep well, honey" when I got my goodbye kiss. I vaguely remember Brandon chuckling as he made his exit.

Luckily I had the luxury of sleeping for another hour and now feel a little more coherent, at least to enough laugh at myself.

5280's Gone M.I.A

2009-03-05T22:42:00.005-07:00

Do you guys like how I said I was going to do a weekly installment and I couldn't even keep it up for one week? Sheesh.

I actually sat down to write about how Denver has this really awesome event called 5280 Week where all the fancy expensive restaurants have amazing deals where two people can eat a 3 course meal for $52.80.

We went with our good friends Duke and Morghan to celebrate the end of residency interviews (ie blood, sweat, and tears) and decided to do something especially adventurous and go out to sushi.
Sushi really isn't that adventurous, but when you are super cheap, you don't want to blow your Benjamins on something that *might* make you throw up in your mouth a little and then leave you hungry later. Anyways, the evening was a BIG hit. Here we are, almost a week later and both Brandon and Duke still frequently bring up how amazing that dinner was. If you ever get the chance to go to Hapa Sushi....go go go! You won't regret it.

I would go on and on about what a great deal it was and how I ate this thing that had an incredibly seedy name that totally lived up to its title and how we're a tad bummed that we didn't know what 5280 Week was until it was almost too late (meaning we could've tried more of the restaurants!)...

BUT that was before Brandon decided to make a mix tape for an upcoming road trip and started playing my newly discovered favorite song and got me all in a twitter. I can hardly focus because I want to listen to this song and wave my hands in the air (that's about all the dancing I know how to do).

A friend of ours recently made us a CD with this song on it. The first time I heard it I was like, "What the crap?" but then it slowly started to grow on me. THEN...I saw this girl on the Grammy's and was completely blown away because she was literally 9 months pregnant, wearing a teeny-tiny black and white ladybug outfit, and was dancing with all the mac-daddy rappers like it was nobody's business. It was awesome--completely over the top and a bit ridiculous. So ever since then...it has been in a pretty regular rotation, including me watching the video several times a week (always visualizing myself in her crazy outfits and wondering how I could manage to pull off just a fraction of her spunk). However, I kind of forgot about that song this week until JUST NOW.

So now I present M.I.A's Paper Planes:

And don't worry, I recognize that this song doesn't appeal to a large majority of the population and that it may be a tad inappropriate but it is my blog (and Brandon's) so pardon me while I indulge!

Happy Friday

2009-02-20T18:02:00.010-07:00

Since I haven't really done any posting lately, I thought that maybe I would try a weekly installment called Happy Friday where I talk about something happy. Cause you know, for all of us working folk, Friday is usually when you let out that sigh of relief that says, "I made it."

So for my first Happy Friday piece, I thought I would talk about chocolate. My mom's side of the family has a thing for fancy (and expensive) chocolate, mostly because my Aunt Stacey is a bona fide professional chocolatier that makes these a-ma-zing truffles and wedding cakes. She's essentially a legend. Each year, Stacey buys oodles and oodles of this especially fancy chocolate made by a company called Callebaut and then all my aunts buy it from her by the pound.
We pull it out when there is a special occasion or when we need a fix. I happen to have a couple pounds of it myself and lie in bed at night dreaming about what to do with it. Luckily, last weekend Brandon and I went home to Tucson for a few days and it was considered a special enough occasion to pull out the Callebaut and have ourselves some fun. My mom happens to have this fancy machine called a chocolate-temperer that melts the chocolate just right and then keeps it at the perfect temperature so that you can dip whatever you want and to your heart's delight without the chocolate getting hard, lumpy, or changing color after it dries.

In other words, my mom had all the right equipment and had ourselves a fun sexy time dipping candy, fruit, nuts, and pretzels into chocolate and then gorging ourselves silly on it. See for yourself:

This is Mom, the mastermind of it all....

Brandon's getting a little giddy (click on the photo for more proof). Leslie and Clay (sis and bro-in-law) are barely managing to contain themselves.
Scraping the bowl...
Some of the finished product (sorry for the blur)

Happy Friday everyone! Go have yourself a treat. You deserve it.

23 Hours in Reno

2009-02-07T21:36:00.006-07:00

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the "Biggest Little City in the World" for a job interview. My visit did not abound in time as it is measured unto men, but it was nonetheless rich.

After the interview I had the occasion to gaze upon the largest alpine lake in North America. Lake Tahoe was originally inhabited by the Washoe tribe who called it "dá’aw" which means "lake". John C Fremont was the first paleface to gaze upon the rugged beauty of this natural gem. A cursed Native American treasure exists underneath Lake Tahoe which will be discovered by either Nick Cage or Jack Sparrow in the forthcoming film: "National Treasure vs. Pirates of the Caribbean."

One of Reno's finest young men recommended that I take supper at the Nugget Diner to partake of this culinary delight known as "The Awful Awful" (awful big and awful good):

The Awful Awful lived up to its name. Also, the fries came with it and there were so many of them that my arm got tired in the middle of eating them (I was eating rightie) and I had to switch arms. The change was fluid and imperceptible to those around me because I'm a switch-eater. Not too many people know this, but switch-eating or "ambi-eating" is something that I've been dabbling in for quite some time.

The company at the Nugget Diner was just as delightsome as the cuisine. One young employee whose pregnancy was masked by her adiposity decided to partake of an alcoholic beverage while working because, as she remarked, "the baby has to get drunk somehow."

This inebriated derelict was practicing an ancient star-worshipping ritual (he really was worshipping that star or planet). He invited me to join with him, but I respectfully declined. I was sad that I couldn't be with him and bask in the warmth of the street culture. The hobo culture has never really been accepted and has often been portrayed negatively. Hobos live very economically and have a lot of good ideas, but they just aren't listened to. I don't think that I'll ever see the day when we as a nation will be open-minded enough to elect a hobo president.

Alieslonie

2009-02-05T20:34:00.004-07:00

These four pictures of Alison and Leslie (her sister) were taken consecutively before the wedding of Sam Rogers. There was no communication at all regarding how they should pose their faces.

I think they were going for "blue steel", but it could have been "le tigre".

Either way, they've got the look.

Euro Sportsmanship: Red + Blue = Purple

2009-02-04T21:09:00.007-07:00

Nadal: "I'm sorry I beat you in the Australian Open. Let me make it up to you."

Federer: "What did you have in mind?"

Nadal: "First we get dinner, and then a long walk in the park, and then (whispers)"

Federer: "I like the sound of that" (see grin)

Those Euros are so harmonious.

Road Rage

2009-01-30T18:10:00.008-07:00

I was driving home from work late last night when I was exposed to a monstrosity that looked something like this:

That's right, it was the Pontiac Aztek. I was terrified and angry. Driving one of these cars is irresponsible. The Aztek is easily the ugliest car on American roads and I hate it. It reminds me of this abomination that I used to see in France:

This is known as the Fiat Multipla. It was designed by Homer J. Simpson. The upper row of headlights is uglier than Large Marge.

These cars fill me with so much rage that I have to give myself a test for steroids after I see them to be sure that Alison isn't injecting me with performance enhancing drugs in my sleep so that I can be in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

Happy Niu Year

2009-01-28T21:29:00.006-07:00

This is the year of the ox.

Olly olly oxen free (and similar spellings) is a catchphrase used in the children's game of hide and seek to indicate that players who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game.

The Ox is a power sign, like the Rat, Snake, Dragon, Tiger, and Monkey.

Untitled

2009-01-16T21:46:00.003-07:00

Post-Holiday Life

2009-01-13T20:20:00.005-07:00

I was looking at our blog the other day and realized Brandon has pretty much taken over. Hot dogs, football, Arctic sorceresses, poking fun at Deseret Book...pretty awesome, eh? Well, everything but the football part. I'm counting down the days until the end of the season but that is neither here nor there because my husband loves it and refers to the season as 'reaping the harvest.' That indicates that it is here to stay in our household and there is nothing I can do about it except learn to love it* and look forward to the day where we can afford a DVR and a home where we can put the TV in any room but the main one.

Anyways, we are enjoying our Post-Holidays life. Between driving across Colorado several times last month to see Brandon's immediate and extended family and then traveling to Arizona over New Year's to see my family and be there for my youngest brother's wedding, we are content being at home with our own peace and quiet.

Pretty much every night we've decompressed with a cup of hot chocolate, an episode of Band of Brothers, and snuggling with a down blanket.
Actually, the Band of Brothers part really isn't that relaxing. Has anyone seen it? While I don't regret watching it, each episode seriously makes me want to weep afterwards because in case anyone forgot, war sucks and messes with people's lives. So instead of saying, "Are you ready to watch Band of Brothers yet?" I now say "Should we watch people die now?" because that's what happens in every episode. But the routine is nice and the show after all is pretty remarkable and inspiring.

So in addition to our hot chocolate and Band of Brothers evenings, we've also become slightly addicted to this game you can play at http://games.yahoo.com/ called Super Collapse. Brandon stumbled on it and I couldn't help but become intrigued...
I don't really play any video games (I was just introduced to Guitar Hero and always have to be reminded how to play Mario Kart) and have been pretty much been interested in only a sporadic game of Tetris and/or Ms. Pac Man all my life, but this one comes close. Mainly because I'm amazing at it and put Brandon to shame the first time I tried it. Of course, he has since become aware of my smooth moves and will probably beat my high score any day now.

I'm telling you all this because I want you all to know the tricks of our calm and content lives. Why make the good stuff secret? Happy New Year everyone!

*I do want people to know that I actually made a small effort to enjoy football this season by having my own fantasy football team in a league created by my coworkers. About half way through the season, I got bored and made Brandon the official manager. He did OK at it, I guess. I really wanted to win but Brandon couldn't make that happen and I only came in 4th. ;) One of my players, though, was Plaxico Buress, and I'm grateful I at least became familiar with him; it actually helped me enjoy keeping up on his idiocy (remember how he accidentally shot himself in the leg at a night club and then turned himself in and lied about who he was and where the incident happened? You can't make stuff like that up).

I'm Not Fooled

2009-01-08T19:38:00.016-07:00

I had an hour or so to kill before watching tonight's supposed championship football match, so I decided to share some knowledge. I'm not fooled by the name of tonight's game. I know who the real national champions are. (So does John Feinstein). If you're afraid to click on the links, I'll give you a hint:

This diagram can be rearranged any number of ways, but the Utah logo will always be at the top because the Utes did not lose to anyone. When you're the only team that hasn't lost to anyone all season and has beat quality opponents (see above), then you're the national champion. It's as simple as that. It's silly to me to think that reasonable people could conclude otherwise. Whoever wins tonight's game will forever be an impostor champion.

There are other impostors who currently walk among us. Many have fallen for their charades, but not me. I'm too sane.

Anyone who watched at least one minute of last year's Olympic Games heard about Michael Phelps' freakish body. His long torso and short legs made him into a human fish -- a merman. Well, he didn't get that way by accident. The truth is that Gheorghe Muresan never lost the will to compete and had his legs surgically shortened. He then got some plastic surgery to appear younger and changed his name to Michael Phelps. It's true. The resemblance is undeniable. See for yourself:

If you saw that documentary entitled "Enchanted", you'll understand that there is a process that enables animated characters to become real people. Well, Ariel wasn't the only one who wanted "to be where the people are." That dratted old sea witch has apparently made the transformation:

Couldn't anyone exposed to the abominable monstrosity that is Ursula O'Donnell be considered a poor unfortunate soul?

If you're like me, you hate Sarah Jessica Parker. Not only is she a terrible actress, she is also frequently cast as a love interest despite her hideousness. Seriously, you can't tell me that of all the people on the earth to put in the roles that she has played that she is in the top 90%. People pay good money to see superbabes at the movies and on tv and they're given that withered old lizard. What a fraud. It may surprise you to know that her fraudulence actually transcends these relatively superficial arguments. What you are about to see will convince you that she's a virtual chameleon. She often masquerades as Dee Snider (lead singer of Twisted Sister) and Seabiscuit:

Now you've seen through the BS and you didn't even have to use drugs.

Deseret Bomb

2008-12-29T22:29:00.006-07:00

I received in the mail today the current Deseret Book (bookstore owned by the LDS church)catalog. Before I threw it in Alison's recycling box (which will soon be recycled itself), I decided to peruse the selections. That's when I saw the sad, sad, sad, sad, utterly depressing state of LDS fiction. Let's reframe that: That's when I saw the glorious future of LDS unintentional comedy. What I saw was the blurb for "Abinadi". I encourage you to follow the hyperlink so that you can read LuAnn's sparkling review. If you decide not to, here's the blurb:

"Raquel has a secret. As the daughter of one of King Noah’s
priests, she enjoys a luxurious life and the admiration of powerful men. But her
heart belongs to a commoner, a man with no earthly wealth but rich heavenly
gifts. When King Noah demands that Raquel join his harem, she flees the only
life she has known and marries her secret love. His name is Abinadi.
The couple finds abundant joy in their community of believers and in their firstborn
son. But when the Lord calls Abinadi as His prophet, their faith is tested to
the outermost limits. Abinadi’s commitment to the Lord requires them both to
give their all—even unto death. Yet if Alma, the newest priest in King Noah’s
court, chooses to overcome his troubled past and cleave unto the truth, their
sacrifice may yield rich fruit.
With vivid detail and poignant emotion, this
historical novel pulls readers into a fiery tale of love, courage, and faith
that is difficult to put down and impossible to forget."

This is for real. Imagine the doors that this book opens. Here's my own poorly thought out plot for some young adult fiction:

"Teenage Moses and Aaron become tired of the Pharaoh's strict ways and decide to play some pranks. Hilarity ensues as they perform hijinks around the royal palace. When the Pharaoh grounds them in order to get some peace and quiet, the two boys set sail on a memorable rafting trip down the Nile. Will they make it back in time to take their Egyptian dates to MORP?"

Does this plot seem as terrible as it would have had you not just read about "Abinadi"?

I just deleted a bunch of stuff that I had written here because what I really want to say is that it is an obviously terrible idea to write alternative plots to Book of Mormon stories and pretend that they're worth reading when they're truly absurd - just like it is a terrible idea to let otherwise reputable recording artists make Christmas albums and pretend that the music that they make is worth hearing when it's sounds hardly better than a hobo band.

Where's Brandon?

2008-12-28T19:23:00.003-07:00

A)
B)
C)D)

A) Behind the bed
B) In the hot tub, that was was too easy.
C) He's not in this one. That was a trick.
D) By the TV cabinet

P.S Dad, these are pics from the timeshare condo (picture a is the 2nd bedroom and pictures b and c are of the master bedroom). If you can't tell, it was pretty nice! Thanks for sharing...see you on Wednesday!

P.P.S Brandon and I think these pictures are hilarious.

P.P.S.S We went to Orlando a few weeks ago and had soooo much fun. When we get around to it, we'll post pictures of our trip to Disney's Magic Kingdom (which was seriously so awesome).

The Magic of the Season

2008-12-21T20:20:00.002-07:00

Just because it's cold outside (and it has been very cold in Denver), doesn't mean that we can't all feel love. This is a picture that I found in an email sent to me. It completely reflects the beauty and warmth that this season brings out in people. Long live the Arctic Sorceress.

Happy Holidays!!

2008-12-17T20:59:00.003-07:00

Below is the Christmas E-Letter we sent out to some of our family and friends. Sorry if you have already seen this! Unfortunately, this version doesn't have the ultra cliche Christmas tree border around the text. I couldn't figure out how to import files made in Publisher.

December 14, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We always love getting Christmas cards and letters but haven’t known how to contribute to the annual parade of friend and family updates in a way that wouldn’t bore everyone to tears since we don’t have kids to show off. So after being inspired by a slew of e-Holiday Letters that made this process seem both low key and affordable, here’s our 1st an-nual holiday letter, complete with a cheesy Christmas tree border (and we’re not yet sure if either the border or this letter is for better or for worse)!

2008 started off when the Jeopardy! folks called Brandon with an invi-tation to be on the show. Brandon was so excited that Alison almost gave him a paper bag to hyperventilate in. We flew out to California for a taping where he ended up doing a fantastic job by coming in sec-ond to a brilliant nerd that was essentially bred to be on the show. The whole experience was exciting not only because it was an opportu-nity to win money and be on TV, but because it was a celebration that Brandon was chosen to be on a show he has always enjoyed. So, if you keep your eye out, you might see him on a Jeopardy rerun!

Spring was characterized by an inordinate amount of school work for both of us as we each finished our semesters for our respective gradu-ate school programs. In June, however, Alison received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Denver. While she hasn’t yet been forgiven for making the family sit through the long procession, she was thrilled to graduate and continues to ‘gently’ remind Brandon that she is the Master of the house, not him.

Since the onset of summer, the months have flown by…mainly because Brandon started the rotations that comprise his final year of pharmacy school (he’ll be graduating in May!) and works part-time as a pharmacy intern. Alison also started her first real job with her hard earned Mas-ters as an in-home family therapist. So in the midst of everything, we find ourselves busy but fortunate to be immersed in activities we both enjoy and have had our hearts set on doing.
We have topped the year off with the decision for Brandon to do a pharmacy residency. While we are unsure where this will take us, we are confident that this will be a great and fulfilling career move for Brandon.

We have fortunately managed to travel beyond the streets of Denver by taking some short trips to Rocky Point, Mexico; Moab, Utah; San Clemente, California; Rocky Mountain N ational Park, Colorado; and Orlando, Florida. We keep trying to remind ourselves that we work-to-live and not the other way around.

Hopefully this letter wasn’t too obnoxious; mostly we wanted to say hello to those we love and let you know that you all are frequently in our thoughts, memories, and even prayers.
May the holiday season and New Year bring you comfort and joy.

Love,

Brandon and Alison

Our Year in Pictures...

Clockwise from Above: Arches, UT; Disney’s Magic Kingdom; Fall leaves in the Rocky Mtns; top of Mt. Evans (14. 000 ft!).

Make it a Double

2008-12-13T09:58:00.003-07:00

Rachel Ray eat your heart out. Welcome to your first peek at the culinary revolution that I started. To my knowledge, I'm the first person ever to make a double hot dog. Why no one has extended the concept of double hamburgers to hot dogs is unclear to me, but it was obviously long overdue.

Undefeated

2008-11-22T23:02:00.001-07:00

Thank you Max Hall.

Stuff I'm Sure You Really Want to Know

2008-11-18T22:19:00.007-07:00

Last year, around this time, we bought a queen-sized down comforter because we had been sharing a twin-sized one and it just wasn't working out. We had only been married for a few months and hadn't fully settled in. And you'll have to remember that I pretty much get used to inconvenience at a lightening quick speed (remember this and this?). I suppose we got serious about getting a bigger comforter when we could no longer deny that a.) twin-sized bedding is only meant for one person and b.) I am a cocoon sleeper and wrap myself up real tight in my blankets while I sleep. I guess I just like to be as snug as a bug in a rug. Unfortunately, that always left Brandon shivering in the night and kind of irritated in the morning.

Well, here we are, more than a year later and I have made even more progress. I finally bought a duvet cover for the comforter!! Note the double exclamation point? It is a big deal--I finally moved from the thinking-about-it to the doing-something-about-it stage! Given my major procrastination issues, sometimes I am amazed that I have a masters and real job.

In a typical Alison fashion, buying a duvet cover has been one of the biggest pains ever. So many rhetorical questions I can never fully answer! Is it too much? If I made one would it be less expensive? Does that material look cheap? Is it too girly? Will I like it in 6 months let alone 5 years? Will it be too heavy and make us hot? You see how difficult those questions are? I guess that is why I left them unanswered for an entire year.

I decided that things must change when I noticed I was grimacing when I climbed into bed, annoyed that our giant dry-clean-only comforter was now a dull white with some unsightly stains (why oh why don't I take off mascara before I go to bed?). Not a good way to beckon sleep.

So where did I find the perfect one? On overstock.com. I've never seen it in person, haven't felt the fabric, don't think it is a trusted brand, and saw an image of it for the first time tonight. Does that mean it is just that awesome? No, not really. It just means I got so sick of not having one that I became impulsive and enticed by the $2.95 flat shipping.

But it looks promising, right?
I ordered the mocha colored one. Neutral but not too boring. Actually, they didn't have any of the other colors in stock. See, I told you I acted impulsively.

In other news, I did not buy these plates at TJ Maxx tonight.
I really really wanted to though. They made me nostalgic for Christmas at home since both my Grandma and my mom have these plates. However, since I already have a Christmas china pattern and have about three other non-Christmas plate sets, I took the higher road and left them on the shelf. Sigh. Plus, there was only three and everyone knows you need enough to seat at least four. If there had been four, I don't know if I could have passed them up. $6.99 at TJ Maxx is way better than $32.95 retail, right? Here I am, several hours later and still kind of sad that I don't have them. Apparently I have a thing for pretty housewares.

The final thing I wanted to tell you about, dear Internet, is that Brandon and I are artists! A few weeks ago we made Inspiration Boards via a challenge posted on my friend Melanie's super cute blog. Since I had been feeling a little blah, I took the challenge. Brandon couldn't resist the fun and got in on it, too. Here is what we did...look closely at Brandon's. He's very proud of it and is a little bitter he didn't win (although I know he would have been sorely disappointed by the prize). I just thought it was fun and got a kick of seeing a picture of something I made on someone else's blog.

OK...was that long enough for you? Apparently I am chatty Cathy tonight. xoxo...

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

2008-11-13T21:16:00.004-07:00

So here we are...half way through November! October ended with a very anticlimactic Halloween. This time, we were the big fat party poopers and didn't do anything. That is pretty much sacrilegious in my family, but when you don't have kids, missed the church Halloween party the weekend before, live in a secured condominium building, and had a really stressful week at work, a non-eventful holiday is just what happens (and is just the ticket).

A few days before Halloween though, we did make some sugar cookies. Given Brandon's current affinity for all things Batman, he pretty much only made bat-shaped cookies and incessantly spoke his (in)famous Batman voice. If you look really closely at the picture below, you'll notice that Brandon spelled "Batman" in Nerds. You'll also notice his hideous mustache (that is no longer a part of our lives).

I know you are thinking that Gingerbread shaped cookies aren't Halloween appropriate--I had visions of making Frankenstein-esque figures, but when it came down to it, I didn't have the dedication (or interest) to get all technical with special frosting techniques and equipment so we just made demented Gingerbread peeps instead.

The cookies were soft and incredibly delish--so thank you Wantanabe fam for the recipe. They probably will never see this blog but you know, you gotta give credit where credit is due.

What else? The past few weeks have been filled with lots and lots of work, lots and lots of church stuff, and lots and lots of thinking about stuff that sometimes make you want to go crazy. In addition to all of that gunk, Brandon has been putting together stuff to make himself a savvy applicant for a pharmacy residency and I have begun an exciting new project called Working Out. It is very new to me and I'm not quite sure how to do it, but apparently I have to go to a place called The Gym, move my body, and maybe even sweat. I hear that it can do wonders, but they also said that about Clear Pepsi.

On a totally unrelated note, I was browsing the world wide web today and saw that my cousins have also begun an exciting new project--They totally made shirts for the Twilight movie. Check them out here. I haven't read the last book yet and actually don't feel a strong urge to, BUT, I will be seeing the movie*. Twilight is just one of those very guilty pleasures. It is cheap story-telling that is mushy, almost embarrassing, and a tad over the top, but I've always had a thing for vampires. Remember? (BTW, I NEVER got that video. Lame!). Plus that whole forbidden love thing is kind of catchy. I'm Team Jacob though, so I'm not sure I can totally commit to a shirt.

That's about all I have to share...we are going to Orlando at the beginning of December to explore the many pharmacy residency options. So if anyone has ever been to Orlando, tell us whether or not it is worth going to Disney World or any of the other over-priced theme parks in the area. Any other suggestions of what to do while we are there are also welcome.

*PS, all Denver friends that want to see the above mentioned movie, let's make plans!!

What Else Would I Write About?

2008-10-26T20:09:00.025-06:00

I'm sure you'll all be surprised to learn that this post will be dedicated to updating you on my current facial hair format. I recently trimmed down my beard and its very moustachey core is all that remains. You'll also be surprised to learn that Alison hates it. I also think that it's very ugly; but since I feel like we need this experience right now, I'll be rocking a creepy moustache for a week or so.

With my moustache, I really mind myself of that German guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark who gives Indiana Jones a beating and then gets chopped up in a plane's propeller. Here's a refresher if you need it (I actually recommend re-watching it even if you remember it well because it's so awesome):

Now that you've seen the movie, let's compare:

My moustache doesn't always have to be fierce and intimidating. Here's my moustache looking cute like a puppy:

The Vote Didn't Even Have a Chance to Get Barracked

2008-10-23T22:50:00.003-06:00

So I got this video in my email today and I'm pretty sure it was from my dad. A lot of people have probably seen this but it was new to me and sure caught me off guard and made me laugh. Especially the part when the old lady swears and you read "Alison=Loser" in spray paint. FYI, we really aren't a political household so just enjoy the video for the laughs and don't think I'm trying to brainwash our small blog following into voting blue.

Not much else is going on in our neck of the woods. Between work, church, and a few chances to see friends, we are kept busier than we would like and come home very tired at the end of the day.

Fortunately, we are splurging this weekend and treating ourselves to some much needed R&R in the mountains. Just the two of us, a plush hotel (gotta love Priceline), cable TV, and a beautiful view. We will certainly enjoy ourselves and may or may not post pictures of our small trip.

Leave us to the Mountains

2008-10-12T20:10:00.005-06:00

Hello Internet. I can't type much because I have a papercut on my middle finger and it hurts. Luckily, the pictures in this post do enough talking that I don't have to provide any witty narration.

A few weekends ago, Brandon and I ventured into the lovely mountains with our friends Duke and Morghan. While it was a rather wet and cold afternoon, the leaves were marvelous. Don't you agree??
As we searched for a place to set up our picnic, we found these silly meese. Duke and I sat in awe as our spouses spent about ten mintues making moose calls. Not only were we impressed with the Grammy worthy quality of the calls, but we were also surprised to learn that our spouses had such an affinity for getting these mangey animals' attention. They must have liked us because the meese ran off when another car pulled up. Brandon was so excited to be out in the fresh air, amongst the meese, the rain, the leaves, and the rainbows that were gracing us with their presence, that he acted a bit crazed. Or intoxicated. Or just giddy. Or like a nine year old cub scout that might get to play in the gym after the activity. I haven't figured out which best described him, but I think you get the idea. Luckily, Duke and Morghan are such good friends that I don't get embarrassed when Brandon gets like this... I know, I know, I can be wound rather tightly. I'm working on it! Regardless, it was a very pleasant afternoon. Everywhere we turned was just another beautiful sight.
If we are still in Denver next fall and you want to join in on the fun, we will take you to this gorgeous destination and show you what Colorado is all about.

Convictions

2008-09-30T18:53:00.007-06:00

There are things we have in life called Convictions. The thing about them, however, is that you feel them more than you can explain them. My Convictions tend to be beliefs that I don't know all the facts about and/or have a pretty significant someone in my life who disagrees with them 100%. Yet for whatever reason, I just know in my heart of hearts that I am Right so we do them anyway.

I have many Convictions. For instance, I have a Conviction that ground beef is gross. While I have my reasons, there are plenty of good arguments to counter them. But no matter what, I will always think about Fast Food Nation which helped me solidify my deep Conviction that ground beef is gross. My mind will not be changed.

Also, I have a Conviction that LOST is the greatest TV show ever. Yes, better than The Office or Arrested Development or even The Hills. Again, I'm not going to be able to explain this belief in such a way that you will be convinced...I just know in my heart of hearts that LOST really is the best show ever.

So, you get the idea about convictions, right? You just believe them and would feel like a soul-liar if you acted to the contrary.

Well, another one of my Convictions is recycling. Brandon doesn't buy that it is important and always brings up a few annoying facts that I don't really know how to dispute...and to be honest, since recycling is a Conviction and I know I'm right, I no longer argue the issue. We just recycle and that's how it goes. Plus Brandon knows I'll fish the cereal box out of the garbage and he takes pity on me.

Unfortunately, our apartment complex doesn't have city recycling so this means that I have to do it all by myself. And I promise, I'm not writing this so I sound all noble and like I am the Green Queen...I'm not. I have never seen An Inconvenient Truth and I pretty much hate Whole Foods.

I am writing about this because even though I have a really strong Recycling Conviction, I am really bad at it. Here is my case in point:

The reusable junk just piles up and I do NOTHING about it. I'm paralyzed, see. I let it accumulate in the little recycling niche I created and then don't want to do anything about it because it will take two trips to bring it all down to my car and who wants to take that sort of time out of their day when they could be selling their soul to Facebutt? And, I can't ask for help because that just begs for a debate on recycling which I'm not going to get into--Conviction, remember??

Even when I get all industrious and take it out to my car, I still have to find a place to drop it off. Usually I just sneak it into someone else's recycling bin in some alley way, but I get nervous about being caught. I hope that if I ever do get caught, I'll be praised for going through such great lengths to recyle, but people can be lame like that. Plus, let's be honest. I'm always in a hurry to be somewhere and forget about stuff that isn't pressing pretty much as soon as possible.

What actually ends up happening is that I let the pile grow until it essentially spreads across our whole existence and then I take it down to my car and drive around for about two weeks with a trunk of newspaper and salsa containers until I spot a place that will safely get my recyclables to the Magic Place that makes sour cream containers and diet coke twelve packs into something pretty, preferably ponies with pink bows.

Sometimes people comes over before I have a chance to take care of the recycling embarrassment and it turns into this frantic moment of "Quick, Company is coming and they CAN'T KNOW I'm a messy, terrible recycler! We have to hide it!!" So, if you ever come visit, (do not) check out the balcony or our bedroom to look for stashed piles plastics, glass, and paper. I'll pretend to not know what you are talking about.

Poor Brandon just puts up with it. He has never said anything except this one ever-so-gentle comment like "Maybe we should just always keep the recyling on the balcony?" And while that was a great idea and we might just do that in the future, the pile was too massive at the time to want to move it to the balcony. And so it sat, accumlating more and more jelly jars and bean cans. In fact, that is where we are at this very moment. Except that picture was taken a few weeks so that pile has grown substantially (I did take *one* load down to my car).

One day we'll move into a real house and I'll have that purple bin with the lovely arrows on it to put my objects that need to go to the Magic Place and I'll be able to live my Convictions with grace and cleanliness. You just wait. In the mean time, pat Brandon on the back and tell him that he does a great job putting up with his wife's Convictions. And then maybe give him something with ground beef in it for dinner.

Let's Pretend it's 1986

2008-09-21T21:53:00.003-06:00

A few weekends ago we had the surprise opportunity to go to a Poison concert. Brandon was helping some people move out of an apartment when a random person offered him 20 tickets to a Poison concert. How could he refuse? He took seven of them and we tried to find other people to come but everyone was a big fat party pooper and so we went alone.

It was awesome.

Brandon was so excited that he wanted to wear his black pleather pants. I initially said no but then was like "Sure, go for it." Because really, when else is it totally appropriate to wear black pleather pants? Unless it is Halloween, the answer is never. He eventually decided against them, based on the grounds that he didn't have the right shoes. I give him credit for a least wanting to dress up. He would have made a fine groupie if I do say so myself. I'll get him the shoes for Christmas, I promise.

I'll admit that when we first showed up at the venue, I was a little freaked. There were sooo many people that looked like this

I had no idea that an entire outdoor amphitheater of people still liked to live the dream of an 80s hair butt-rock band. Apparently, I was just grossly out of touch.

I'll also admit that when the first band got on stage, I had this moment of: "There's no way I'm going to make it all night. This is quite possibly the worst music I've ever heard, and this includes my brother's 7th grade band concerts." The band's name was Dokken and this is what they looked like:

When they started to play, I visibly winced and then realized I could get beat up for being such a hater and then discreetly plugged my ears by making it seem like I was just cold. It only helped a little bit because in case you don't remember, music at concerts is real real loud. In between songs, Dokken described themselves of as being a little more heavy metal than Poison and kept screaming into the microphone, "LET'S PRETEND IT'S 1986!!" They then screamed several strings of expletives and burst into the most spine-numbing guitar riffs you've ever heard. I was like, "Um, I'm not going to pretend that it is 1986 because that was 22 years ago and I was six years old. And can you just stop that thing you're doing with the guitar because that's just plain terrible."

Eventually Dokken finished their set and Poison took the stage. Of course there was a good thirty minutes between bands where I did plenty of people-watching. This was another thing I had to do discreetly. I also said a little prayer that the people in front of us wouldn't get into an all-out brawl and break beer bottles over each other's heads while knocking me over. Luckily the prayer was heard and one of the guys stomped his way out of the crowd so that everyone could go back to smoking their cigarettes and groping their partners.

I have to admit another thing. I only know two Poison songs--Every Rose Has its Thorns and Talk Dirty to Me. And unfortunately, I was only recently introduced to the second song by a Scrubs episode. But luckily my lack of knowledge didn't get in the way of me having a great time. They were fun and definitely had way more appeal than Dokken, largely because of the killer dance moves and pyrotechnics. I did a little head banging, shook some tooshie, and even wished I had some authentic memories of the good ol' days back in 1986.

In case you are ignorant like I once was, I present to you Poison, Talk Dirty to Me (the song sounds way more inappropriate than it really is, I promise. No bad or dirty words). Please enjoy the purple leather jackets, green guitars, crazy hair, and wish you were there with us.

1998

2008-09-10T20:23:00.006-06:00

A few weekends ago Brandon and I went to Arizona for my...drum roll.... ten year high school reunion. Wow. I feel really old and don't like admitting that I have been out of high school for that long but was glad I made the effort to go. Brandon was the champ of the century and went to all the reunion events, without ever complaining or giving me the vibe that he wanted to leave. I think he later said that it was more boring than he expected; I don't doubt that it was a tad miserable for him but it was nice to have him there with me. I enjoyed showing him off and introducing him to people that I have known for so long.

The official reunion events were rather dull, I don't want to say too much because I know someone put a lot of effort into them. Needless to say, I was grateful I made an effort to see all the people I really cared about in more intimate settings where we could really catch up and enjoy one another.

While I didn't take too many pictures, here are a few: These are most of my good friends at a pre-party. Look what a fabulous looking crew we are!

All the girls! I got to know many of them through JV softball. We were such misfits and I think we had way more fun than most other high school athletes because of it. Our poor coach cried on several occasions because we were too busy doing cartwheels in the outfield or complaining about running too much to actually get very good. Some of my best memories of high school come from that team.

It is amazing because even though I haven't spoken to many those people in years, being with them was refreshing and way funner than I expected. It made me wish I lived nearer to them. There are several other people I got to reconnect with that I didn't manage to photograph and I think those people know who they are. I was in awe at all the amazing things my friends have accomplished and was certainly inspired by the people they have become. Hopefully now that relationships have been reestablished we'll remain in better contact as the years continue to fly by...

Here's a pic of Beth and I...we go way back. Hi sweetie! ;) There were several years where we were joined at the hip. It all started in Mr. Sensibar's history class where our incessant giggles permitted us to get away with way too much. Then there was an infamous geometry notebook that we passed back and forth all year and filled with our juicy gossip. I wonder where that thing is. At the end of our sophomore year, we threw a "Bethonal" end of the year pool party (Get it, Beth and Al (everyone in Tucson calls me Al), but it a sophomore chemistry class format? We thought we were so clever.). From then on, people referred to us as Bethonal, like we were one person. We loved it. From then on, times just got better...we went on a joint date to the Junior Prom, worked as hostesses at the Outback Steakhouse together, and even studied abroad in Mexico together for a short spell. Now we talk on the phone about once a month and the love is still there. It was great to see her; it had been way too long.

Luckily high school was a good experience for me. I obviously met great people, formed lasting relationships, and managed to squeeze in quite a few good times. All of that makes it a bit easier to admit that I am old and growing more and more un-hip each day. Of course, truly enjoying where I am in my own life probably makes the biggest difference, but that's quite a different story. xoxo!!

So I Can Go to Bed

2008-08-29T00:44:00.002-06:00

1.) Tomorrow morning we leave to spend a few days in Tucson. I am going to of course visit my family, but I will see several friends that are very near and dear to my heart even despite the fact that I have not seen several of them for many many years. I am excited to exchange stories, take pictures, introduce them to Brandon, and gossip (in the best way of course) about others that we know. It should also be nice to visit Tucson, even though that city is still in the thick of summer. In many ways, I still consider Tucson home and always praise it when I can.

2.) I can't sleep. Whenever we have to get up early to catch a plane, my mind gets filled with all the billions of things I want to make sure I remember in the morning. My mind always paces with minutiae like "I didn't grab deodorant so I need to remember to pack that" or "I should take out the garbage so it doesn't stink when we get home" or "Should I pack another pair of flip flops?" I always debate, too, whether or not I should just get up and complete my to-do list but always decide to stay put and try to get my body at least start to relax. So here I am, in a relaxed position, only allowing myself to write for ten more minutes...just to get all these thoughts out so I can hopefully catch a few hours of nite-nite.

3.) Brandon worked a 14-hour day today. He has been dreading it for a while now and made it all the way through without a complaint. I appreciate that he works a few nights a week in addition to all his school work. He's the best even though he sometimes does hideous things with his facial hair.

4.) The DNC just wrapped up in our mile-high city. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see one lick of it. Is that lame or what? I was talking about this amongst friends tonight and someone put it perfectly, "It's like there's this big party three miles away that is off limits to us. There's no way they'd let us in anywhere and even if there was a hope, would it be worth the traffic? And where would we park?" So true. I at least wanted to see the tents, police in riot gear, and catch a celeb or two, preferably The Boss or maybe George Clooney. Oh well. That's what Real Life (aka a full time job) does to you, I suppose. Makes you less spontaneous and overly practical.

5.) The link to the blog where I write about my work is here. I don't write on it a ton and haven't learned how to keep my posts short and sweet. My job could be pretty consuming so this is where I tease it out so I can leave it behind. I write about learning the ropes, feeling the responsibility of my job, and wanting to actually make a difference. It might be a big fat bore to a lot of people, so this is your warning.

6.) My ten minutes are up. xoxo

A Couple Pics

2008-08-14T14:18:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday, Alison and I biked out to the Cherry Creek Reservoir. Here's a picture of us and our human-powered hogs. The trip ended up being about 25 miles in length, which set new couple and personal records for us. Also, I believe that we biked farther than Michael Phelps did last week, which is something to be proud of.

I've decided to honor this soon-to-be-defunct handlebar moustache with a name. He shall be known as "El Stāche" (yes, pronounced with the long "a"). It would be wise not to make eye contact when looking at El Stāche because you will likely become weak in the knees and become overcome with a desire to submit your will to El Stāche's. Excuse another Lord of the Rings reference, but El Stāche is the closest thing to the eye of Sauron outside of Middle Earth. Also, El Stāche might steal your soul.

This is a completely accurate depiction of Alison's relationship with El Stāche. She hates him with her whole soul (which she has managed to retain despite El Stāche's constant presence) and wishes for his speedy demise.

A Few Items

2008-08-10T09:58:00.006-06:00

Today has been a tremendous day for me in many ways, which I would like to share with you.

1. My fantasy baseball team exited the basement for the first time in many months--and we did it with style. I woke up to find a 5.5 point gain to rocket me from a solid 10th place to 9th and only 1 point out of 8th. This was a major moral victory for me. I've wanted it for a long time.

2. I'm super psyched about the Olympics. You can watch a different sport every half-hour or so. Plus, every fraction of a second of action is crucially important to these people. I realized that this is amazing. I can only relate it to March Madness because you can pick it up at any moment, but it's hard to put down. The Olympics have the potential to provide constant competitive stimulation. You can pull for someone you've never even heard of and if they lose you just move on to the next event which is likely to be equally as hard-core as the one before.

3. Seeing President Bush attending the Olympics has confirmed the fact that I have developed a solid man-crush on him. You can say what you want about the decisions he has made as president. I disagree with many of them myself. I just think that we could be really good buddies because he looks like he knows how to have a good time. Plus, don't you think that if he did some cameos in movies or hosted Saturday Night Live that he would be hilarious? I do. He cracks me up just watching him watch stuff.

4. You may have noticed a wave of manfulness radiating out of Denver this morning. The reason is that the handlebar moustache went into effect at 9:30 am. The handlebar moustache is the climax of my usual facial hair cycle. Scientific studies have shown that I get maximum facial hair splendor with the handlebars as graphed below.

5. I love the Batman voice. I want to master it so that I can really intimidate deadbeats into giving me information while remaining anonymous. Some people think that the Batman voice is over the top. I think that it is entirely appropriate and very impressive. I hope they make several more Batman movies and then someone edits out all of the Batman-voiced lines and compiles them into an album that I can listen to in the morning to get psyched up. Batman is freaking awesome.

Facebutt

2008-08-07T11:50:00.004-06:00

Brandon and I recently sold our souls to the World Wide Internet and became social networkers via Facebook.

(For all intensive purposes, I am calling this site Facebutt. I had a dear dear friend in college (Hi Anderma!) that taught me the trick of inserting immature words into the names of common corporations/institutions. It works best if the name is also a compound word so you can just substitute one of the words with the immature word. The word "butt" is my favorite one to do this with. Every now and I then I throw out a Buttbuster or a Buttmart into the conversation and it makes me roll with laughter, even if it is only on the inside. Normally, that sort of trick is in Brandon's domain, but for some reason, this one's mine and I'm holding on tight. For a while, I toyed with the idea of calling Facebook, Buttface...it is still very tempting, but it doesn't stay true to the original word).

So Facebook. We resisted for such a long time, knowing full well that it is just another way to waste time on the Internet and ignore real face-to-face relationships. I dipped my toe into the water first, mostly because I have this scary thing coming up at the end of August that I don't really want to talk about because it involves the phrase 10 year and high school all in the same sentence. Anyways, I had been thinking more and more about this scary thing (which is a also known as a full blown anxiety attack) and decided I would find people I cared about before the dreaded event to determine the extent that I wanted to sign up for it.

Once I got on Facebutt, we spent an hour one evening looking up all of Brandon's friends and then he too decided that he should sell his soul. A few evenings later we were sitting next to each other on our sofa, our laptops on our laps, Facebutting together (romantic, eh?). We were kind of enjoying seeing pictures of old friends while also kind of feeling like our Precious Time was just floating out the window.

When we finished, Brandon visited his regular sites (an evening ritual for the both of us) and coincidentally, this article/jab popped up. It nailed everything that had been running through my mind about the essence of Facebutt. Please read it, you will laugh (especially if you've been on Facebutt).

I will no longer talk about my clothes on our blog

2008-07-19T00:43:00.006-06:00

I'm kind of embarrassed that my last post was about my outfit for the day. Where did that come from?? We are going out of town for a few days...starting in oh, about four hours (I NEED TO GO TO BED) and I felt compelled to do something to move that last post from the top of our silly page. I mean, what if we die on the way to the airport tomorrow and that post about my clothes are the words that people remember me by, only because they were just so darn accessible? Hopefully this one will have a little more dignity than the last. No promises.

As I've thought about the lowness of that last post, I've been thinking about blogging. "Is this lame?" I think. After that thought, I always think, "Yes." Then I wonder, "Is there anything I really should be writing about?" and "Why do we even do this in the first place?". I think of all that crap about my posterity and am not quite convinced our future kids will care about how their parents made Gandalf jokes back in the day. Yet at the same time, I actually really like the process of writing these entries and will probably keep doing them*. Obviously, I haven't really come to any conclusions, but my inner-monologue was heightened when my aunt** forwarded me a link to this blog that essentially mocks other blogs. I got a huge kick out of it but felt a little pathetic afterwards.

All I know is that since we have this blog, I feel compelled to write, even when I have nothing to say. So that morning when I had that unfortunate discovery about my shirt, I guess some passion stirred inside me and I had something to say and by gosh, I was going to say it. I learned however, that maybe I should just pick up the phone or say it to myself. So sorry about that. I'll try to use a little more discretion next time. Again, no promises.

*I even started another blog about my work as a family therapist. Why? Why? Why?

**(sorry I haven't written you back dear Shelley, I appreciated your emails and will get back to you after we return from CA)

Do You Know What Sucks?

2008-07-15T10:19:00.003-06:00

Reaching for your favorite shirt and discovering it has a yucky stain on it. Probably from leaving a chapstick in a pocket during the dry cycle. HUGE BUMMER.

In case you were wondering, that happened to me just now. I'm suriving OK. Settled on a plain grey v-neck, some new jeans, and these cute black flip flops I've been wearing all summer.

Life is good, just busy...hopefully some posts will follow. We go to California on Saturday for some consumption of skin-cancer and trans-fats. It's going to rock our worlds.

This weekend...

2008-06-30T09:25:00.007-06:00

I tried Flamin' Hot Cheetos for the first time. I have felt compelled to eat them for a while now...all the kids I work with LOVE them and I've been curious about their fluorescent red tint. Brandon picked them up when he bought snacks for our hike on Saturday.

I do want to clarify that they were the Flamin' Hot Cheetos con Limon variation. That whole Flamin' Hot franchise wouldn't be worth eating at all if they didn't have the con Limon option. That citrus-y kick at the end eases the burning which then makes me less worried about their overall toxicity.

I was impressed with how truly flamin' hot they were as well as how badly they stain your fingertips. When you eat them, you have to look into the bag to find the exact one you want and then delicately pick it out. If you don't, you're entire hand will be this powdery red mess that could destroy anything and everything.

The first one I ate made me grimace and swear to never eat another, although within about two minutes I felt brave enough to try another and then another...then on the way home from the mountains I ate several more, almost enjoying them.

The jury is still out as to whether or not I will eat them again. I have a feeling that if they are in front of me I'll have a handful but doubt I will ever intentionally seek them out. Any Flamin' Hot experiences to share?

Once

2008-06-25T18:36:00.001-06:00

My dad has been gushing about this movie, Once. Every time we talk he asks if I've seen it yet and when I say I haven't, he says, "Put it in your queue Alison, I promise--you will love it. Watch it." We finally watched it last weekend and I quickly understood why he loved it so...it's mostly about music and a little about love. For those of you that do not know my dad, he is about the sweetest and most loving person out there---AND---he secretly wishes he could be a famous musician.

My dad was right, I loved it. The story is really simple and Brandon thought it was a glorified music video (it kind of was). But at the bottom of the simplicity and behind the great music is a sweet story.

The movie is over a year old so I am way behind the times, but I just had to write about it because hopefully it will get me to stop thinking about it. I have that personality...I fall in love with something, become slightly obsessed with it, and run it into the ground. The film is rated R for a lot of f-bombs, so there are several of you who won't ever see it. Here is a scene so you can at least get a taste of the sweetness. I think I've watched it on youtube every morning this week as I ate breakfast. The scene really is just a music video, but the producer's reponse as well as the song make it worth it to me every time.

Graduation

2008-06-18T21:23:00.006-06:00

I know this is late, but Alison's graduation was a major event for us. She's now a/the Master of Social Work. She's actually my favorite one ever. I'm very proud of her and all her hard work. Enjoy a couple pictures of the glorious occasion.

2.7 Miles High

2008-06-13T17:16:00.011-06:00

Alison's parents and brother were in town last weekend for her graduation which was awesome. After all of the ceremonies, we all decided to get high. No-not on drugs. That's actually impossible now because one of Alison's many degrees is from D.A.R.E. We actually hiked to the top of one of Colorado's famed "14ers" named Mt. Evans. It was an easy hike for us because we're all in really good shape. It only took 10-15 minutes to hike to the top.

Mt. Evans is the tallest mountain in the world. As a consequence, the top was very cold and windy. I was nearly blown off of a very steep cliff. I would have gone Gandalf on everyone and become a white wizard, but that fire-whip didn't come up and grab me. While I was holding on for my life, Alison decided to snap a photo. I'm glad she didn't have to scream "Nooooooo!" like Frodo did.

It all turned out cool in the end for everyone....

...except Gandalf.

It would be irresponsible to talk about Gandalf without mentioning this one--a classic.

One Year!

2008-06-09T15:52:00.005-06:00

It is true. We've been married for 365 days. Actually, this year was a leap year, so I guess it has been 366 days.

It hasn't been perfect...I completed my master's degree and was quite a bear as deadlines approached and there was that one time we thought we had bed bugs (we didn't) and we did have a really really rainy trip to Yellowstone...but all in all, it has been a GREAT year for both of us. As we move into new chapters of life, it is a joy to do it with each other. Believe it or not, I think I am developing a lovely appreciation for the way Brandon always makes people laugh and Brandon has learned a trick or two about me along the way. We have a comfy home, high aspirations for our future, a growing list of things we've proudly accomplished together, and at the end of the day, we still get a kick out of snuggling on the couch to watch youtube videos or LOST together.

I can't wait for all the things that are to come. Here's to one year ago....

A Few Things

2008-05-30T15:38:00.003-06:00

1.) Wasn't Brandon great on Jeopardy?? Thanks to all that emailed, sent text messages, phone messages, commented on our blog etc. Larissa Kelly (the woman that came in 1st on Brandon's episode) finally lost on Tuesday so she actually had a pretty decent winning streak. I think if Brandon didn't happen to go up against someone who was getting her PhD in something as esoteric as 'What people thought of Mexican architecture in the 19th Century' and had a husband, mother AND sister who had already been on Jeopardy, Brandon might have come out on top. But there was no doubt that she was a talented girl. 2nd place, however, and the mere opportunity to be on the show pretty much proved that my husband is one talented cookie.

2.) I have ONE more paper and then I am no longer a graduate student. In a way, it is kind of sad and in another way, I'll be glad to have a life back.

3.) On Monday, I participated in the largest 10k in the country, the Bolder Boulder. I came in 21, 872nd place. There were bands and belly dancers and little kids everywhere. You gotta love infamous hippie communities like Boulder. It was the first time in a LONG time I ran 6 miles, but it went well--largely because I got to run with a fun friend (I'd post a picture, but I haven't gotten her permission yet!). We might have even done it in under an hour which for me is pretty good, especially for not training much.

4.) Our condo building finally opened the pool so if anyone wants to come over for a pool party, we're real good at Marco Polo.

Summer is in the air...

Jeopardy FGRs

2008-05-22T15:24:00.004-06:00

I hope that everyone was able to see/enjoyed last night's Jeopardy episode. Even though I didn't win, I can still say I enjoyed watching it. I was pleased that I didn't do anything dumb. I was thinking that it would be a good idea to post some frequently asked questions and their responses. But, in order to maximize my moment of geekness, I'm going to post them in a Jeopardy-friendly format. I will first post the frequently given response or "FGR" then I will respond in turn in the form of a question. I know this is an eye-roller, but I don't care.

R: This is how I got to be on Jeopardy.

Q: What is, out of curiosity, I took the national on-line test? As I remember, the test had about fifty questions from fifty different categories. I wasn't given a lot of time to answer the questions which seemed to be part of the test. It seemed to be testing breadth of knowledge and ability to move from one topic to another. After several months, I got an email inviting me to audition for the show. I was given the option of going to several cities. Denver was an option and so was Las Vegas, but I don't remember what else was on the list. I auditioned about a year ago here in Denver with 15-20 other people. The audition started with another fifty question test. I assume that this was to prove that you took the test and not a committee of you and your friends/family. After that, they did a bunch of introductions and let us all run through a mock round. They wanted to see if we could speak out loud and keep the game moving, etc... As the audition ended, we were told that if we passed the test our applications would stay on file for the next year and we might get a call.

R: This is what the taping was like.

Q: What is, I got to Sony Picture Studios in LA at 8:00 AM? No taping occurred for a couple of hours. There were several contestant liaisons who explained to us how everything was going to go. They also prepared us for the "Hometown Howdy" and our introduction with Alex Trebek. We all also had to get make-up put on. They tape five shows in one day. I was on the third show of the day so I got to watch two tapings from the audience seats. They didn't tell me that I would be on until after the second show had taped. I went back and had my make-up redone then went and signed on to the podium. I was pretty nervous through it all obviously. I think that I did a pretty good job managing the nerves though. After my taping, they gave me a Jeopardy bag and wished me a good day and that was it. I think we left the studio around 12:00-1:00 PM.

R: $2000 for a second-place finish, a photo with Alex Trebek, a Jeopardy bag and the experience of appearing on the show.

Q: What is what I won?

R: She was very good and obviously better than me. She was a really nice girl and I have no hard feelings at all. Since I didn't know the answer to final Jeopardy, the only way I could have won anyway was if I had banked more than double her total or through a betting fluke.

Q: What is how I feel about the girl who beat me?

R: Quite a few

Q: How many responses did you know but didn't get the opportunity to answer? Buzzer skills are obviously very important. I actually did it wrong a lot in the audition and had to be told to stop buzzing in early. It seems like it would be frustrating to know the answer and not buzz in first, but things happened so fast and I was focusing so hard that I didn't really have time to feel frustrated. When I actually did buzz in first, I really felt put on the spot and a couple of times had a hard time remembering what I was going to say.

R: Redo only my make-up.

Q: What is what the make-up lady did every time they stopped taping?

I think that's enough for now. Being on Jeopardy was an amazing experience for me; and I think that a lot of other people have had fun with it also. I'd be happy to answer any more questions anyone might have.

Jeopardy Airs Today!

2008-05-21T07:42:00.003-06:00

This is the day that we have long awaited...Brandon makes his amazing debut on Jeopardy!! In Denver, it airs at 6:00pm on the local ABC affiliate. I'm not sure what that means in other parts of the country, but hopefully you'll be able to figure it out.

Over the past several months, it has been really fun to have people try and get us to say how he did, ask us what the taping was like, how he studied, and if it was hard not to talk to Alex Trebek like Sean Connery does in all the SNL skits.

It has actually been really wonderful to see how a random opportunity to go on a game show has brought people out of the woodwork to give us their support, curiosity, and excitement. So thanks everyone!

And don't worry friends, if you miss it tonight, when you come see us in Denver, I'm sure we won't hesitate to watch it again with you (and again, and again...).

So remember...tonight at 6:00 pm!!

Our Brothers

2008-05-01T23:15:00.009-06:00

As most of you know, 19 year old boys in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are asked to serve missions (girls go on missions as well, but it isn't an expectation like it is for boys). Missionaries don't choose where they go, are gone for two years, have very little money, are only allowed to communicate via a weekly letter, are not permitted to watch the news, see movies, or pay any attention to the outside world, and spend their time teaching others about our religion. Needless to say, missions are a big deal. 2 years!

Anyways, Brandon and I each have a brother on a mission right now. Brandon's brother, Jake, just left on a mission about three weeks ago. When he is finished learning Russian, he will head to Donetsk, Ukraine (and for the record, Jake did you pack a coat 'cause you are sure going to need it! I hear its real cold in the Ukraine. Heehehe-- everyone said that to him before he left). Here is Jake and Brandon the last time we hung out with him...
He and Brandon are mocking the way that girls pose (and note Brandon's A-mish beard which I do not miss). I chose this picture, though, because they are genuinely enjoying the moment and it resembles the fun times they have when together. If I do say so myself, Jake is a cool guy. He and Brandon have a similar sense of humor and love of sports (sometimes a deadly combo).

And my brother, Sam, has been serving a mission in Taiwan. What is exciting, however, is that Sam gets home...TOMORROW!! I am so excited. While I won't get to see him tomorrow, we'll see him next Wednesday. This is going to be an important event because not only will I get to give him a great big hug and ask him to speak Chinese for me, but I'll also get to introduce him to my husband. Can you believe that I still have a brother that Brandon has never met and that my own brother has never met my husband? Kind of weird, but fairly typical for Mormons in this type of situation.

This is Sam:
I actually didn't have any good pictures of Sam flying solo, so now the world wide web gets to see my dad (who is THE coolest). Actually, come to think of it, I have another one--
This one shows how goofy he is. I can't wait to see what he looks like now--of course he is still tall with dimples, but what's changed??? Guess we'll see on Wednesday!

So, we've been thinking a lot about our brothers lately. We pray for them daily, are proud of their choice to serve a mission, love to talk about them, and are anxious for them to get home.

WELCOME HOME SAM!!!