Woodstock at (almost) 2

Woodstock hit the 23-month mark on Sunday. Which means two things: a) I must figure out ASAP what on earth we're going to give her for her birthday and b) Pebbles is arriving SOON!

I don't blog often about Woodstock - her antics are, like any first-born child, typically trophy and giggle worthy (after all, the starry eyed first-time parent hasn't worn off yet), but no one else needs to agree (or labor painfully through my ruminations on how delightful she is).

But there are some things just too good to pass up:

• Recently, Woodstock has taken to vanishing for periods of time. For all of 5 minutes, I was concerned - how does one lose a toddler in one's not-terribly-big house?! I wandered into her room - no Woodstock. It was the last room I checked, so I said, "Woodstock? Where are you?" And a little voice from underneath the crib (which has a bedskirt, so one cannot immediately see under it), "Hiding mama!" As to what she was doing under there? Well, most times she is sneaking a hit on the binky (banned at all times of the day other than bedtime). Sometimes she is hiding with contraband (lately something she swiped from Grover). Sometimes she is simply hiding from bedtime or anything else she doesn't want to do. The good thing is, she always lets us know where she is - she hasn't quite figured out that "Hiding" means not admitting to it.
• On Sunday afternoon after her nap, Woodstock called to me, "Mama. Come in here." I followed her into Grover's room/toy room/guest room. She pointed at a spot on the floor and said, "Sit here mama. Project." Miss Jan has "project" bags - bags that contain a puzzle or alphabet letters or other such things - Woodstock loves them and now "project" is code word for "puzzle" at our house. She set me up with one of her puzzles, then grabbed my scripture bag and her (large) purse and her plastic keys, & hoisted all of them over her shoulder (leaving her to walk a little tipped to one side) and said, "Bye bye mama. Got to go." She got as far as the front door before she had to come back to check on my puzzle progress.
• On Saturday, I set up the bassinet in our bedroom and got out all the newborn diapering supplies for the bassinet changing table. Woodstock "helped" me put all the diapers in the drawer. Unfortunately, she figured out how to open the drawer - and newborn diapers are just so cute she can't keep her hands out of them. This morning I was dressing in my closet (she had shut me in). I hear her little voice on the other side of the door, "Mama, yie down (lie down). Yie down mama, change your butt." (Heaven bless Himself for teaching her the phrase "change your butt" - just what I want my daughter to be saying). I came out. She was convinced she was going to put the newborn diaper on my rear end. I was convinced if I lie down, there was no getting off the floor in my condition. She was not happy about that in the slightest.
• While camping, my mom kept Woodstock and my niece happily occupied by giving them baby wipes and letting them "clean" - the side of the truck, the camper windows, the table, etc. Woodstock found this delightful. Since then, she has demanded to wash the windows at least once a day. Of course a dry tissue is not acceptable. It must be a "wipey" like the ones Grammy gave her. I am hoping Grammy wants to wash the insides of my dining room windows when she comes up over Labor Day - since, after all, the whole cleaning toddler thing was her idea.

There are days I feel so bad lately because I barely have the energy or strength to pick her up, there is no room on my lap to cuddle and rock her before bed (necessitating that she now sit in her bed for me to sing to her), and her diet has gone way downhill since she discovered all of the wonderful things Grover eats (none of which are healthy). I figure that's why God made toddlers indestructible - so they can survive the late stages of their mother's pregnancy.

Bless her little heart, Woodstock seems to be taking it all in stride - so far. After all, she's not quite 2 yet.

The Good Stuff

Besides the obvious "good stuff" of pregnancy (ie the fact that it results in a baby - the end point I keep reminding myself is worth all the not-so-fabulous stuff one endures on the way there), there are a couple of really fabulous things about my body and pregnancy that I am definitely going to miss in a couple of weeks (?) when Pebbles makes her arrival official.

Like the hair/skin. Okay, I'm in dire need of seeing a stylist, as my hair last got cut two days BEFORE I found out I was pregnant, but pregnancy changes the composition somehow and my scalp doesn't get oily. In fact, I can only wash it twice a week, for the most part, or it gets too dry. I certainly enjoy the extra minutes in my day that affords me. Additionally, the same thing happens to my skin - pregnancy is the ONLY time in my life since hitting adolescence that I haven't had to contend with acne. It's the only time my hormones are balanced enough to have clear skin.

And the dairy. I have severe lactose intolerance - to the point where I can handle about 4 ounces of dairy a day, max. Some cheeses and most yogurt don't bother me, but I absolutely cannot drink milk. During pregnancy, it all goes away - Poof! I can drink milk (and chocolate milk, which I uniquely crave during pregnancy) to my heart's content. No ill effects. As I was lying in bed during one of my insomniac moments last week I thought how my milk-drinking days were nearing to a close soon, resulting in a drastic uptick in my dairy consumption the last couple of days - sort of an "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may give birth" sort of thing.

Allergies - or the lack of them. My normal, seasonal allergies, which are bad enough that I'm typically on round-the-clock medication (except while prengant/nursing) completely abate while I'm pregnant. Pollen? Bring it on. Grass? Nope. Not an issue (well, I still can't roll in it - pregnancy only "cures" my nasal allergies, not my skin/contact allergies). Springtime? It's lovely when you can see it through clear eyes and fairly clear nasal passages.

Headaches. I frequently suffer headaches. Last pregnancy? Three, total, in 9 months. This pregnancy? Two. Not such bad odds. Which is good, since I'm pretty much prohibited from taking anything medicinal while I'm anti-coagulating my blood and incubating a human being.

Sure pregnancy comes with injections, bruising, aches, pains, 32 weeks of morning sickness (that showed up again last week for another round - just for good measure), swelling, chronic stuffy nose, cramps and all the usual "symptoms" - but I definitely enjoy having the skin of a thirtysomething instead of a 13-year-old, the reduced-maintenance hair, the extra milk, the allergy-free springtime and the vanishing headaches.

Unfortunately, if it's anything like last time, all of the "good stuff" vanishes the moment the real "good stuff" shows up - I don't even get the 6-week postpartum window to adjust.

I've added chocolate milk to the grocery list for what is likely the very last time.

99 Things

1. Started your own blog - DONE
2. Slept under the stars - DONE
3. Played in a band - If you can put "symphony" in the same category as "band", then yes, I've done that.
4. Visited Hawaii -
5. Watched a meteor shower - DONE
6. Given more than you can afford to charity - DONE
7. Been to Disneyland/world - both DONE
8. Climbed a mountain - DONE
9. Held a praying mantis -DONE
10. Sang a solo - DONE
11. Bungee jumped -
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea -
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch -DONE (quilting)
15. Adopted a child -
16. Had food poisoning - DONE
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - DONE (and even if they still allowed it, I'd never do it again)
18. Grown your own vegetables - DONE
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France -
20. Slept on an overnight train -
21. Had a pillow fight - DONE
22. Hitch hiked -
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - DONE The day after I got married (long story)
24. Built a snow fort - DONE
25. Held a lamb - DONE
26. Gone skinny dipping - DONE (more than once)
27. Run a Marathon -
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice -
29. Seen a total eclipse - DONE
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - DONE
31. Hit a home run - DONE (if backyard baseball counts)
32. Been on a cruise -
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person - DONE
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors -
35. Seen an Amish community -DONE
36. Taught yourself a new language - DONE (if 8 years of Spanish counts)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied -
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person -
39. Gone rock climbing -
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David -
41. Sung karaoke - DONE
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt - DONE
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant -
44. Visited Africa -
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight - DONE
46. Been transported in an ambulance -
47. Had your portrait painted -
48. Gone deep sea fishing - DONE
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person -
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris -
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling -DONE
52. Kissed in the rain - DONE
53. Played in the mud - DONE
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - DONE
55. Been in a movie -
56. Visited the Great Wall of China -
57. Started a business -
58. Taken a martial arts class -
59. Visited Russia -
60. Served at a soup kitchen -
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies -
62. Gone whale watching -
63. Gotten flowers for no reason - DONE
64. Donated blood, platelets, plasma - DONE
65. Gone sky diving -
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp -
67. Bounced a check - DONE
68. Flown in a helicopter - DONE
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - DONE
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial - DONE
71. Eaten Caviar - DONE
72. Pieced a quilt - DONE
73. Stood in Times Square -DONE
74. Toured the Everglades - DONE
75. Been fired from a job - DONE
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London -
77. Broken a bone -
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle -DONE
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person - DONE
80. Published a book -
81. Visited the Vatican -
82. Bought a brand new car - DONE
83. Walked in Jerusalem -
84. Had your picture in the newspaper - DONE
85. Read the entire Bible -
86. Visited the White House - DONE
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating -
88. Had chickenpox - DONE
89. Saved someone’s life -
90. Sat on a jury -
91. Met someone famous - DONE
92. Joined a book club - DONE
93. Lost a loved one - DONE
94. Had a baby - DONE
95. Seen the Alamo in person - DONE
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake - Eww, gross!
97. Been involved in a law suit - DONE
98. Owned a cell phone - DONE
99. Been stung by a bee- DONE

Guess I've lived a little. I've done more than half. There are a half-dozen things I could say "Never" to (like rock climbing and sky diving). Just not my cup of tea.

The Good, The Bad and the REALLY REALLY Ugly

One of the unique things about having multiple deep-vein clots is the significant damage it wreaks on one's vein. That, coupled with the lingering dull ache (a result of the blood coursing through the weakened vein) and the continuing risk of clots, made my doctor issue the dreaded order: compression stockings.

So it is that every morning before I get out of bed (note: must remember to shower at night - I forgot last night, got my stockings on this morning only to remember I had yet to shower - having to repeat the whole nightmarish process), I flop around like a dying fish in order to get the opaque, "nude" ("nude" if your skin is about 15 shades darker than mine is) stockings up to my upper thighs.

On the mornings I get up earlier than Himself, Himself does not seem to appreciate it so much, but they go on oh-so-much-easier before I get out of bed than after. (If there is such thing as "easier" and "compression stockings" in one breath).

There are, however, some good (if you squint your eyes, cock your head and hop up and down while thinking of them) things ... along with the bad and the really, really ugly.

The Good

• They keep my legs roasty-toasty warm in the frigid outdoor weather of The Frontier.
• My legs look skinnier - they're like really ugly spanx
• They are toeless and thigh-high, so my toes won't suffocate (I loathe wearing socks and only do so during the winter unless given no other choice). Additionally, I will not have to hoist them over my belly in later stages or deal with additional fabric on my stomach (another thing that drives me to the brink of insanity)
• They are, as I mentioned previously, "nude" v. the hospital white ones my grandmother wore a decade ago.

The Bad

• As much as they keep my legs roasty, toasty warm in the winter, wearing thick compression hose in the summer - especially while 9 months pregnant in the truly miserable month of August - makes me want to run far, far away.
• They are EXPENSIVE - at a price tag more than every other pair of socks Himself, myself, Woodstock and half the neighborhood own combined
• I have to wear the prescription
variety - the highest compression they make. This is equivalent to wrapping one's legs in thick rubber bands and smiling about it.
• They add an extra 10 minutes, per leg, to my morning routine, just to get the darn things on (all while envisioning thoughts of cutting off all circulation to my feet prior to successfully getting them all the way up my leg)
• Because they are trying to minimize further vein damage, as well as correct the damage that has already been done and prevent further clots, I have to wear them a minimum of eight months

The REALLY REALLY UGLY

• While they hide rather nicely (the "rather" is because what leftover fat/tissue they displace on my leg gets pushed up into my rear, giving me an odd-shaped behind) under trousers, I can only imagine the beauty-queen contestant I'm going to look like this summer with them screaming out from under my summer-weight, summer-length clothing.
  
  I'm not much for one to worry about fashion, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the granny socks, my fat, pregnant belly (that is already dotted with pencil-, dime- and quarter-sized injection bruises), and maternity clothes that are never cute, regardless of how hard one tries, are going to combine to make me one hot mama this summer (in more ways than one). The fashion world will never quite be the same again.

Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

It's Probably Not Going to Be Such a Good Day If ...

It's probably not going to be such a good day if ...

• You start it off with wicked acid reflux and insomnia - both fueling the other.
• Woodstock wakes up at 5 a.m., inconsolable, leading you to haul her into your bed, if only to lie horizontally while trying to comfort her
• Instead of sleeping, Woodstock practices her educational pursuits by naming all the parts of your anatomy - including exhibiting frustration at not being able to dig deep enough to find your belly button.
• Himself takes up his whole half of the bed - residing just on the "middle line," while Woodstock sprawls out on 3/4 of the remaining half of the bed - leaving just enough room for your right butt cheek and one arm.
• 10 minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off (not that you've slept more than a couple of hours all night), Woodstock pops up and declares, "Food?! Food!"
• You realize you didn't get Woodstock's milk to take to Miss Jan's today, so you have to leave early to get some on the way
• Seconds before you are ready to leave, you decide to brush your teeth, turning your eagle eye away from Woodstock for a split-second only to hear a horrible "thud" and a moaning wail emenating from the floor - three feet below where Woodstock was a milisecond ago.
You cradle Woodstock, watching the bruise/goose egg show up on her head while Himself runs the basic neuro-function tests to determine that Woodstock is fine you are never going be trusted to keep an eye on her again
• You already didn't want to go to work because your stomach feels suspect, your leg still isn't quite right and your head is stuffed with cotton from lack of sleep - and now all you want to do is snuggle Woodstock until her head no longer bears the reminder of your stupidity.
• Your stupidity and the resulting inability to separate yourself from Woodstock makes you 15 minutes late to work and the only reason that you're not later is because you forgot to pick up her milk
• You have a "first thing" meeting (which you arrive late to), then a meeting after that, then one after that ... and all you can think of is your bed and Woodstock's goose egg that screams "Bad parent! Didn't pay attention! Knew better!" over and over to every passer-by.
• The house is a pig-sty from the housework restriction you've been on and all you really want to do tonight is feed Woodstock comfort food and snuggle with her for hours

Can we just forget this and start again tomorrow?

It's the Little Things ...

I had to go to court yesterday with Erin. It was a particularly horrible experience, but before we got to that part it was like watching an episode of Judge Judy. I learned a lot.

1. Don't park in a handicapped space. It doesn't matter if there is nowhere else to park. It's still illegal and the judge is not going to make the towing company give you back your money. Bonus points if you plead with the judge after he's made a ruling that you just want your money back because it was "just temporary."

2. Don't shack up with someone who will run up a huge credit card bill taking you on cruises and vacations and paying for your dental work, then wants you to pay half. Bonus points if, in a moment of obvious rage, he sends a text that says, "Get out of my life. I don't want anything from you." (or something to that effect) Which gives you grounds to stop paying. Jury is still out on who pays for what. Moral is - probably a good idea to not run up a huge credit card tab with a live-in lover.

3. If you buy a car, you should probably pay for said car with a check that doesn't bounce. If it does bounce, you should probably pay with a certified check, not another personal one. If they serve you with a suit, you should take the option of pre-payment rather than wasting extra money and 34 seconds of everyone else's time saying you agree to pay in court.

4. Don't do business with Apollo Granite.

5. Make sure your filing is legible so you don't get a lecture about it from the judge, who has to continue the case because he can't read why you're even there.

6. If you are being sued in small-claims court by someone and you are in the wrong, just don't show up. It makes life easier for everyone, and Erin and I would have had a much better day (particularly Erin) yesterday had this happened.

Bonus (this one was learned today):
7. The speed limit is 35 on State Street. Thanks to the uniformed man with the flashing lights for pointing that out. Extra thanks for the yellow carbon-copy souvenir of my ignorance.

Four Things

Four Things:
1) Four Places I go over and over:
Work, church, Harmon's and the library

2) Four people who email me regularly:
Twitter, Jane, my mom and a hiking club in SLC

3)Four of my favorite places to eat:
Tachibanas, Five Guys, Red Iguana and Kneaders (and I discovered this weekend that Nedra's Too has the BEST Navajo tacos outside a reservation).

4)Four places I would rather be right now:
Anywhere that doesn't have a foot of snow in the front yard.

5)Four people I tag:
Kari Ann, Fiona, Heidi, Megan

6) Four TV shows I watch:
General Conference, Olympics (obsessively), NCIS and college football

Believing

For Kari, who tagged me.

6 Things I Believe

• I believe that spending time with Woodstock is more important than having a clean house, even if not cleaning it does drive me insane


• I believe that theory isn't as important as practice


• I believe winter is bad for my health


• I believe the Catholics were up to something when they came up with the Seven Deadly Sins, and we'd all lead better lives if we lived in moderation


• I believe step-parents get a bad rap


• I believe that NPR or a book on CD makes keeping house tolerable

6 Things I Don't Believe>

• I don't believe I will ever be able to get over my "work over play" guilty conscience and enjoy playing


• I don't believe that the kindgergarten one's child goes to will determine his or her future college entrance capability - but I still worry about Woodstock's education


• I don't believe the current financial crisis is a bad thing on a macro level


• I don't believe I will ever be able to handle my parents growing old


• I don't believe being a mother makes one woman more important than another


• I don't believe one must choose creationism or evolution - I believe in both

6 Things I'm Not Sure About

• I am not sure about who to believe in the HFCS and artificial coloring debates, but I strive to keep both from our diets


• I am not sure where we'll "settle down" - or how I feel about it possibly being The Frontier


• I am not sure when we will have another child - or even if it will be possible


• I am not sure I believe all of the Global Warming talk, but I am sure that we need to think about our impact on the environment more and innovate, reduce, reuse and recycle.


• I am not sure I will ever realize my grad school dream, and I'm not sure how I feel about that


• I am not sure I'll ever be "caught up" or organized

Life as Numbers

I want to know when I got so old.

I'm not saying that I AM old, necessarily, just that I FEEL old. Like the world has been placating me for years, making me think nothing has changed, and BAM! suddenly I wake up and realize that the illusory netting has been yanked away only to reveal significant gaps between what was and what is.

Just as in the story of the frogs slowly boiled to death as the heat was turned up a notch at a time, so as not to alarm them (how's that for a gruesome image of the day?), time seems to lull one into a false sense of "everything is staying the same" as the subtleties of change are hidden to stop the inevitable freaking out and moaning about lost youth, opportunities and the hideous outfit that you swore would never go out of style.

Browsing through some old high school photos of friends today, I had one of those moments of sudden realization: things have changed A LOT. I don't remember everyone looking quite that funny. And we definitely didn't look quite that young. We were OLD. 16 at least. Nearly adults. Old enough to know that our parents knew nothing and that we would conquer the world.

Except, it was all an illusion. Now that I am actually growing old (or at the very least speeding into middle age - after all, the life expectancy when I was born was 77.3 - which means sometime the last week of April 2016 I will be exactly "middle aged"), I realize my parents knew almost everything, the world is only conquered in the minds of youth and poofy hair bows were NOT the be all and end all of style.

The kids I babysat as infants and toddlers are in college. Some are married. Some have kids. I reminisced yesterday about the birthday of a friend I met a decade ago - how we, 10 years ago, hit up TGI Fridays for a girls' night out and a round of frozen drinks. The fact that it has been 10 years and a dozen hairstyles ago made me ponder if I was any better off now than I was then. My greatest fear in life is looking back and realizing I was running in place. And then I think about the numbers ... I haven't even stood still long enough for my bookcase to gather dust.

Since the high school photos, I have lived at 16 separate addresses (if you don't count my stint as a semi-permanent basement dweller at Heidi's or the two summers I spent with my parents) in 11 cities and 3 states. I've lived with at least 50 people - not including Woodstock, Grover, Heidi's clan or any relatives. I have lived with people from at least 20 different states (Utah and Wisconsin being the two states from which the most roommates hailed ... ironically, I've never actually been to Wisconsin).

In that time, I have traveled to 20 additional states, held 16 different job titles at 9 companies (including 4 job titles at 3 companies since I moved to The Frontier), supervised just shy of two dozen people, reported to nearly that many different people and broke a personal record interviewing 40 times in a single calendar year on three different job occasions. I have earned a college degree, been promoted and promoted, volunteered, held countless church positions, made friends, dated, become engaged, been married and given birth.

It's a lot to cram in less than 1.5 decades. In fact, it averages out to a new job title and address every 9 months over the last 12 years and a new company every 15 months. It's no wonder people can only track me down via Facebook! The whole thing becomes rather alarming when I realize I've worked for two different companies at more than 3 years each and had a 3-year stint at one address and a 2-year stint at another address. (The statistics looked much better prior to our migration west).

It makes me feel old, as it is likely with all that change that I've become chronically exhausted. Add in Himself's stats and the whole thing threatens to bring my life expectancy down several decades.

Looking at it that way, the change has been rapid and a little jerky - creating a metaphor between my life and the pinball machine that used to inhabit the infamous "214" where Himself once took up residence. And yet, while the environmental changes have been stacatto, the internal ones have been subtle. It seems like mere moments until closer examination reveals enough subtle change to feel like centuries.

Cell phones were only used in dire emergencies, if at all. They were luxuries few people had. I was the first incoming freshman class in The Great Frozen North to have an e-mail account - a laughable, plain text, FTP-access-only, no attachments, graphics, sounds or hyperlinks e-mail account. Debit cards were a new thing, $100,000 could buy a very nice home in a lot of places and the 90s became the decade of the super model, grunge, platform shoe revival, and the anti-80s.

It's no wonder change has to be subtle. Otherwise, the sheer volume of the sights, sounds and experiences would threaten to overwhelm one's fragile persona. Either that, or one would simply feel like 12+ hours of sleep was mandatory.

That's another thing ... I don't remember needing this much sleep before I started growing old.

Because I'm Too Tired To Think of Anything

(Thanks to Heidi for the inspiration)

8 TV Shows I Like to Watch:
1. NCIS
2. Friends
3. House Hunters
4. Law & Order SVU
5. Food Network (yes, it's a channel, not a show, I realize that)
6. Will & Grace
7. Frasier
8. The first two seasons of Gray's Anatomy (when it had excellent writing and wasn't a prime-time soap).

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Himself and I went to our finance class
2. Finalized TV spot schedule for post-gala TV spots
3. Washed dishes
4. Kissed Woodstock a thousand times
5. Hugged himself
6. Made macaroni and cheese
7. Promoted gala
8. Distributed media alerts

Clearly, my life is horribly dull.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Bilbo Baggins
2. Tachibanas
3. Pho 2000
4. Kneaders
5. Eastern Market
6. Taste of Saigon
7. Sushi & West
8. Captain George's

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Spring
2. Christmas
3. Going to bed
4. Tomorrow's gala - to see everything come together
5. Watching Woodstock grow up
6. Seeing family
7. Receiving my raise
8. Being debt free!

8. Things on My Wish List:
1. A clean house.
2. More time with Woodstock
3. A workout routine (ha!)
4. Sleep. No more insomnia.
5. A bigger kitchen
6. A perfect BYU football season
7. A secure job
8. Himself getting a great position post-training

How To Buy Razors at the Ghetto Wal-Mart

1. Coordinate (for the first time ever), Himself's (always surprising, because he waits until the most critical moment) revelation that he needs new razors with your plan to be in the same proximity as a store that sells them that very day.

2. Arrive at said store (Ghetto Wal-Mart) with Woodstock in tow, who is mildly cranky (very mildly cranky) after getting her polio and pneumo/meningitis vaccines yesterday.

3. Arrive in razor aisle. Thank heaven that Gilette has not come out with a new razor system, as Himself MUST upgrade each time they do. (Soon 5 blades won't be enough, they'll need 20 so it does your entire face at once!)

4. Go to take razors off the bar on which they are hanging. Except, they don't come off. Tug repeatedly. Investigate bar from which razors are hanging ... it is somehow locked, holding the razors hostage.

5. In the interest of time, investigate "lesser" (ie last year's models) Gilette razors, thinking you'll explain the dilemma to Himself who will (hopefully) happily take the lesser razors and be happy.

6. Discover that ALL razors are in LOCKDOWN - somehow prevented from coming off the bar on which they are hanging.

7. Wander the health and beauty aisles looking for a Wal-Mart associate to tell me I'm not crazy and they can rescue the razors from lockdown .... for EIGHT MINUTES.

8. Give up and head for customer service podium halfway across the store. Woodstock starts to get grumpy. It is dinner time. Wandering up and down the feminine hygiene, toothpaste and razor aisles has done nothing to deter the rumblings of her tummy.

9. Ask customer service lady why on earth I cannot get the razors off their bar. She indicates they've done it ON PURPOSE to prevent people from stealing the razors.

10. Bite tongue so as not to say "and what is to stop one from stealing them once an associate has rescued the razors from lockdown and they're in one's cart?" Associate must have read my mind, because she verbalizes my exact sentiment.

11. Firmly tell associate what I think of so-called razor policy, compounded by the fact that there are NO associates in health and beauty at all - and the only reason I even ventured over to the customer service podium is because this is DESPARATION. Himself has NO razors and three-days' growth and has to work tomorrow.

12. Proceed to then spend $100 on razors, spot remover, stain remover, baby yogurt, Woodstock's milk and a handful of other necessary items.

13. Leave Ghetto Wal-Mart vowing to never return. I do this every time, and I rarely go, but good grief - men's safety razors on LOCKDOWN? That is indeed the very last straw.

The Origin of Sara

Where did I come from?

It's a rhetorical question. I know. I know it in a literal and in a spiritual, cosmic sense. Yet tonight as I told my mom I was making moussaka for dinner, and she asked what it was... I wondered how I got to the point where I even thought of trying moussaka, let alone making it. After all, the only time I saw eggplant as a kid was when Grandpa couldn't find anyone else to give it to. Not to mention, sharp cheeses were to be found only at Christmas when Grandpa's sister would send a deluxe cheese basket from New York - the cheeses largely met with a cautious scorn.

It made me think about my other quirks and the century-old "Nature v. Nurture" question.

• I grew up in a small town - and prefer the vibrancy of a larger metro area.


• I grew up eating an abundance of fresh vegetables, that didn't include eggplant, zucchini, summer squash that was cooked any way but creamed or sweet potatoes beyond Thanksgiving weekend - zucchini (squashes of any type), eggplant and sweet potatoes are practically staples in my adult kitchen.


• I grew up eating a particularly typical diet, with predictable, simple flavors - now, I revel in complex flavors and exotic techniques and ingredients.


• I love public radio, the theater, art museums, historical "wide spots in the road," and Civil War battlefield sites - most of which would make my family giggle and say "That's Sara for you."


• I grew up where girls dreamed of being mothers to a houseful of children in a town where extended families bought up whole blocks. I drooled over high heels, dreamed of a corner office and a colonial house on a tree-lined street in the East.


• The book on my nightstand is The China Price. It generally draws a "what on earth are you reading that for?" question from anyone who happens to catch me reading it.

I could go on. There are a hundred little things that make me so different than my small-town, mono-everything upbringing predicted. And I wonder ... why? How did sushi become my favorite food? When did economics grow to fascinate me? To whom do I owe my wanderlust?

Why did I turn out just a little differently?

In the same breath, I wonder if it is also why I often feel alone.

The Big Read

Erin posted this list on her blog, from the NEA's Big Read project.

I am a voracious reader - I even read the free copy of Field & Stream that for some reason keeps coming to my house (along with Men's Vogue - which if I could get beyond all the ads for clothes neither Himself, nor I have any use for, I might read as well ... where are these coming from?!). One never knows just how much knowing about tree stands and waders might come in handy.

Suffice it to say, reading is the one thing I do for myself each day. It is usually only a page or two before I fall asleep at night, but it's my favorite time of my day. I noticed there were many on here that I hadn't heard of or read ... and I'm always looking for new things ...

I'm also essentially lazy, so instead of doing all of the symbols, I'm just categorizing the list. * Indicates I've seen a movie/play taken from the book.

READ (31)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird*, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh*, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre*, Charlotte Brontë
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows*, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women*, Louisa May Alcott
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone*, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets*, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban*, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory*, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island*, Robert Louis Stevenson
41. Anne Of Green Gables*, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
47. A Christmas Carol*, Charles Dickens
51. The Secret Garden*, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
58. Black Beauty*, Anna Sewell (although it's been so long I couldn't even give you the plot synopsis - other than the fact it's about a black horse)
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
99. The Princess Diaries*, Meg Cabot

STARTED, NEVER FINISHED (10)
1. The Lord of the Rings*, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice*, Jane Austen (Here's where I enter into what most women consider blasphemy - I do not like Jane Austen - the books or the movies. I try and try and never can quite see the appeal they have over every one of my girlfriends).
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy (I've started this one five times. I own it - my grandmother gave it to me - the story's premise is fine, Thomas Hardy isn't. The only book of his which I've been able to make it through was required reading - had no choice).
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland*, Lewis Carroll
38. Persuasion*, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

WANT TO READ (7)
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha*, Arthur Golden
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
83. Holes, Louis Sachar

THE REST (?? = never heard of it (24))
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman??
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks??
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving (Note: John Irving is another author I really don't care for. The Ciderhouse Rules wasn't too bad - but then I read The Other Hand and it all went downhill from there. One more book by him and I gave up. I will probably never read this one).
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson??
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens --
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute ??
40. Emma*, Jane Austen
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh??
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian ??
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
53. The Stand, Stephen King
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome ??
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman ??
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton??
67. The Magus, John Fowles ??
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman ??
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett ??
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell ??
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt??
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson??
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake ??
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson ??
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley --
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons??
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist??
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac??
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel??
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett??
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton??
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson??
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

Clearly there are a few of these I should get working on!

Tagged!

I was tagged by Stefanie This version asks you to list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions or collections, and 3 surprising facts about myself. So here you go:

3 Joys
1. Baby Girl
2. Being outside
3. Early Saturday mornings

3 Fears
1. Falling down the stairs
2. Not being able to breathe
3. Parenting

3 Goals
1. Learn to play the guitar
2. An organized house (ha! stop laughing right now)
3. Develop a hobby (yes, I've realized I have none)

3 Current Obsessions
1. Reading (don't read The Outlander, by the way, unless you want to read an entire book with almost zero dialogue - ack!)
2. The Farmer's Market
3. Packing for our move next door
(notice looking for a job isn't on this list - I'm REALLY having a hard time being motivated about this)

3 Surprising Things
1. My politics ... especially considering where I live
2. I never went to the third grade
3. I don't like romance novels, gossip magazines or having my nails done

Tag: Heidi, Bruce/Julie and Pete/Mika

All Good Things Happen at Once

Between being a new mom, having a demanding job at The Factory, being a wife and being a human being who cannot seem to survive on 2.5 hours of sleep a night, I have virtually no social life to speak of.

Which is why days like tomorrow really frost my cookies. I actually have MORE THAN ONE option and the free time to do it (more or less, if I close my eyes and pretend the house is spotless and my work is done).

*The bridal shower for the neighbor's daughter - another chance to get to know my neighbors, which I always try to take advantage of.

*The Young at Heart concert downtown, for which The Factory is offering a rare chance to do something on the company's dime (ie the tickets are free for employees and a guest). A group of octogenarians singing rock-n-roll - definitely promises to be amusing.

*Heidi's neighborhood (my adopted neighborhood - I did, after all, reside there for 6 weeks as the semi-permanent basement dweller last summer) is having a girl's night movie and dinner party. Food is good.

*A former colleague from VA is in town on business and wants to meet for dinner. Again, food is good. And Baby Girl hasn't met any of my friends from VA yet that haven't already relocated to The Frontier (Oliver, would you just hurry up already?!)

Himself is working late last night, which eliminates the concert (as Baby Girl is all mine for the evening), but couldn't these things happen once a week for a month instead of all on the same night?!

Old Friends & Introductions, Part II

...Continued from here.

* The Brown Brigade - If I could be like anyone when I grow up, it would be to have the literary genius, the talent with words and the delightfully brilliant son of Julie. One of my best nights this month involved nibbling on Chinese food, catching up and just plain enjoying Bruce & Julie (and Colter's!) company. Our lives are certainly more dull without them as neighbors, now that we've moved to The Frontier.

* The Nordstrom Family - Megan is someone else I've known since junior high, and our worlds keep colliding here and there. We had the briefest of chances almost 18 months to catch up while she was in Maryland visiting family. Neither of us had been able to make our class reunion, so we indulged ourselves in a little catching up of our own - swapping stories about friends and classmates and laughing about wonderful memories of days gone by.

* The Rollins Rundown - More friends from Virginia, who are now living their lives in the wonders of South America. If it weren't for Fiona's delightful posts about cockroaches (delightful in her ability to make something grossly disturbing be actually funny), I might be envious. As it is, I don't do cockroaches. A definite "must read" if you have any interest in children, odd facts, history, culture and great ways to kill cockroaches.

* The Welcome Matt - Matt and I shared our senior year at the school down the road together. We were members of what I am convinced was the MOST functional senior practicum/thesis team in history. No drama, no whining, everyone shared equal loads - probably because I was the only female on the team. We worked ourselves nearly to death, but pulled out an A - and our project still lives on in legend as it is used as an example of what should be done. Matt now lives in Virginia, practices law in DC, is a Harvard law alum and a dad to two little girls. I read his blog more as an education than anything, as he's one of the most intelligent people I know. I also borrow liberally from his suggested reading list to supplement my own literary habits.

* Twinkies - More Virginia friends, who have a houseful of girls. How they manage three under three, I'm not entirely sure. Somehow though, there is always a great deal of fun and laughter that goes on.

* What A Wonderful World - Heidi has the most enviable collection of shoes on the planet. Many Sundays came and went where I found myself silently coveting her shoes from across the room. I don't doubt that even though she's now the mother of twin toddler boys that her shoe collection is still to be envied.

Old Friends & Introductions

I love the Internet and its ability to connect (and keep connected) people, regardless of geographic distance. I especially love it since I am terrible at keeping in touch with people, although they are continually in my thoughts.

Today was a day for reconnecting with old friends - a Facebook invite from someone I went to high school with, a note from an old friend in Virginia, whom I know longer remember how we met, and, best of all, an e-mail from a woman I have known for 7 years, since first moving to Virginia Beach. She and another group of women posted to a site for Himself's ship, eons ago when he was in the Navy. Slowly, we all began to meet. We bonded together as the ship and its sailors (and our husbands, boyfriends and fiances) departed and returned in a seemingly endless cycle of work-ups and deployments. I was young, in a new city, knowing no one. They were older, wise and full of life.

Time went on, and I lost contact. Until today. I received a wonderful e-mail from one of the women, who filled me in on the lives of the rest of the group and the happy and sad events of the past few years. It reminded me how much these women had become family for that year, how much "family" has been constructed of assorted friends of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs over the past decade.

It made me think about the people whose blogs I read here - the online community that allows me to associate, to connect, to revel in good friends. It's high time, I thought, that I should make introductions.

* 5 under 7 - Beth has THE cutest kids on the planet (and as a mother of a cute kid, I should know). Her little girl, Lauren, was in our nursery class in Virginia. She was independent, charming and smart - and a true girl with every fiber of her being. The entire family sat every Sunday on the front row - something I cannot fathom surviving, even with only one little girl of my own.

* Abby's Road Trip - Abby is a member of another site I belong to, and began chronicling her cross-country motorcycle trip last summer. Her blog fills my fascination with all things road trip, as well as reminding me of the wonderful times I spent in the motorcycle industry several years ago.

* Angela & Steve - Angela and I met at Heidi's wedding reception 5+ years ago, and became friends when Heidi moved away and we moved to Northern VA to take her place. We are about as sporadically likely to keep in touch as we were to see each other, but her sense of humor and her passion for life are intoxicating.

* Chronicles of the Flood - For those of you who haven't heard the story we love to tell for the shock value of it, Himself and Heidi dated once upon a time. To explain beyond that how she and I met would take a novel of epic proportion. Suffice it to say, she has remained one of my closest friends over the six years we've known each other, culminating in Heidi being my labor coach. If we had Godmothers (or Fairy Godmothers), Heidi would be Baby Girl's.

* Large Plates - Oliver & Kristen met Himself way back when as well (back when he and Heidi were dating). Fast forward a few years, and I meet them at Heidi's wedding. Fast forward a few more years, and we end up living in the same neighborhood, attending the same church, and collecting their friends. I held baby Clara when she was just hours old (See "A Very Important Event") and was amazed to see her two weeks ago looking oh-so-grown up. Oliver and Kristen together create the most perfect assembly of conversational geniuses I've ever known.

* My Friend Andy - This blog is written by a woman I've only "known" virtually, who belongs to the same site that Abby and I do. She has amazing writing talent and a soul that truly knows the pure meaning of friendship.

* Stef's Stuff - While I've known Stefanie since junior high, my greatest memories of her come from our freshman year of college when she continually wowed my roommate and I with her creative ways to stay in touch - a letter mailed in a Last Will & Testament envelope, one mailed on calculator tape inside a paper towel tube, etc. Not to be outdone, we composed a letter using an entire roll of toilet paper. A few years later, she left me a key to her house and notes with before photos to tour her remodeled home while she was out of town and I was passing through. Effectively, I've seen her house in the last decade, but not her. Stef was also my very first friend with e-mail. Nearly 12 years and seven kids later (six hers, one mine), we still manage to collide once in awhile.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

Favorite Things

Strawberry Limeades from Sonic
Christmas morning
Christmas hymns (NOT the nerve-jangling "fa la la la la" stuff)
Snow days (days with snow that involve hot cocoa, reading, watching it snow from the inside, not having to drive and not having to work)
Trying new food
Road trips
Baby Girl's smiles
Bilbo Baggins' White Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding
New shoes
Buying new socks for Baby Girl (weird, I realize)
Back rubs
Board games
Early Saturday mornings when the weather is warm and no one else is awake
Good books
Sushi
Plays
Christmas lights
Homemade whole wheat bread
Looking at old photos
Posey Lake trips
Really good french fries with fry sauce
Hiking
New restaurants
Making new recipes
Getting e-mail (not the spam kind)
Visiting new places
Tomatoes straight of the vine, still warm from the sun
Flannel sheets
Visiting the parents
Snow cones
Getting magazines in the mail
Downtown DC
People watching
French Dip sandwiches from Kneaders

The Good Life

Today's mantra is the power of positive thinking. So, rather than bang my head against a wall and sigh repeatedly, I am ignoring the bad things and listing the good things.

1. Salt Lake's traffic has the potential to be horrendous, but after spending many an afternoon stuck going less than 5 mph on the inner loop of the Beltway the three months I commuted to Baltimore one afternoon a week 18 months ago, it is like having a commute akin to an August Friday morning commute in DC every day!

2. It is possible to find a multiple-bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood in Salt Lake for less than four figures. This is not possible ever in DC, unless you meet the government's definition of "poor." If I met that designation, I would also be in jail, for failure to pay what I owe an alarming number of people/organizations.

3. I am going to my parents' house tonight to see my month-old niece for the weekend. This would never have happened in DC. I'm not looking forward to the 4-hour car trip (nor are my poor, swollen ankles), but holding Baby Girl's cousin will more than make up for it.

4. Himself applied to take his boards (this has nothing to do with moving, but it was still good news).

5. 90 degrees without humidity is lovely weather.

6. If you look above the condenser unit and crane your head around a tree, you can see real mountains out of my office.