something good for today, too

All the cool and hip folks *coughcough* who read this blog probably already know about this. But in case you don't, Pandora internet radio is super cool. You put in an artist or song you like and it plays songs you might like based upon the qualities of the song. You give songs a thumbs up or down and it sort of customizes a feed for you. It's free, too! I like it because it is exposing me to music I wouldn't have known about otherwise. It's sort of a musical version of those "If you like Gorgio, you'll love Primo" perfumes.

less than stellar day

Yuck. I hate car problems. Today Thomas and I were out running errands and the car started acting funky. The car had been repaired of its pervious funkiness less than a month ago so I thought we'd be in the clear for awhile. Wrong. Today the a/c went out, followed by the ABS light and the airbag light coming on. Something was definitely up so I started heading toward home instead of toward our errands. Then the car wouldn't move out of 1st gear. Crap. I sort of coasted into the parking lot of a motel. Of course these things happen when Mike is out of town for the day and when I left my cell phone at home on the charger. Awesome. The motel manager was, um, less than accomodating. He got irritated when I tried calling Mike several times because I got sent straight to voicemail. I asked for a phonebook so I could call a cab. No dice. But he did have this handy-dandy business card for a cab. I'm sure this guy's uncle/brother/friend/whoever owns the taxi company. $11.50 later Thomas and I were at home with a phone we could use freely and a phone book. Got a ride to Mike's truck (Thanks, Joey!) which was parked at the local airport and got the car towed to the repair shop. Good times indeed.

slow jams

Today Thomas asked me if he could "please sit on the couch and listen to some relaxing music". Um, okay. Maybe he need to wind down from the "all hyperstilulation all them time" environment of Power Lab VBS that we had this past week. Maybe it's a reaction to the Leslie Hall we've been listening to. Either way. I said 'sure' and turned on the radio to our KLOVE station. "Not that." Okay. The soft rock station? "No." Not sure what kind of slow jams Thomas had in mind, but I went to the trusty cassette collection and came out with Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Oh yeah, baby. Thomas sat and rocked it *really* old school for a bit. Then he came to me sand said "Ahhhh, that was really relaxing."

yet another reason living is Utah is awesome

extra fireworks!

Yesterday was Pioneer Day here in Utah, which is a huge deal. No, really, it is bigger than Independence Day here. I had no idea, so I had to rely on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Day_(Utah). [Aside: I really need to learn some html, people.] Every town in our county had some sort of parade with cute little kids dressed in pioneer garb pulling little red wagons with conestoga tops, and this:

white dudes on horseback dressed as Native Americans throwing candy

historic re-enactment, y'all!

most awesome envelope EVER!

For my birthday, I treated myself to 2 Leslie Hall cds. For those of you not in the know, Leslie is a youtube SUPASTAR! I submit for your perusal the following highly edumacational links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Hall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypn436DFTUQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8WoyPEVRFo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYfO4o-ccBA

Girl totally cracks me up! Even her mail is designed to dazzle!

the wanderers

Seriously, enough with the travel already. I lent 2 of our carry-on suitcases to a friend yesterday. I joked with her about the condition (not-so gently used) and said "Obviously, our luggage gets used." Her response: "Yeah, I wondered when you said you'd lend them to me if that meant you'd be home for the whole week." Touche.



Last week Thomas and I were in Phoenix, visiting family. Kerri, Jesse and Miriam were there visiting from San Francisco. Miriam was born 2 1/2 months ago and we hadn't gotten to meet her yet. She's so precious. Fussy, but precious. I don't think Thomas was quite that fussy as an infant. Or maybe memory kind of blurs things around the edges, making it all seem less harsh in the end. You know, so people will continue to reproduce.



The Divine Miss M doesn't care much for sleeping on her own so she spends most of her days being coaxed into sleeping and then zonked out on someone's chest. I think Kerri & Jesse might be officially run ragged at this point.

I'd love to post a sweet photo of Thomas holding Miriam or somesuch. Unfortunately *this* is about as close as he ever got to her. Stinker.

Thomas and I celebrated our birthdays while we were in Phoenix. Thomas is now 7, though sometimes he acts like he's going on 37. He had cake, opened a few presents (including the above Star Wars t-shirt - thanks Aunt Kerri & Uncle Jesse!) and got to go spend some birthday money at the Lego store. I think he had a great time. I ended up resisting getting him anything else and just let him know we'd be going to Legoland sometime relatively soon for his birthday. Yeah, more traveling!!

prepare to be amazed . . .

. . . by my ridiculousness.

I've been avoiding updating the blog because I just cannot sum up my trip to Georgia in a concise manner. Forget concise. On with the blathering!

Turn (WHBC's day camp event) was awesome. The Terrific Team drama was great - the kids love the superhero aspect of it all. Super cool pyrotechnic special effects don't hurt either. It grabs their attention long enough to really convey a message to them. And I LOVED the message this year - Truth is eternal and unchanging. Our society seems bent on destroying any sense of absolute black & white, right & wrong and is all about embracing any shade of gray that feels right to you. Whatever!

I think we improved upon last year's stage games a bit. We learn a little more about what works and what doesn't each year, improving along the way. Slime clean-up went much more smoothly than last year since we wised up & made people stand in a baby pool before pulling the lever. All week right before crazy stage games, Kevin and I had a little schtick going where I was searching for my super power so I could join the Terrific Team. First I tried flying, then reading minds, then I was the Twisted Sister who could spin super-fast, then I tried out super strength & finally telekinesis. Unfortunately none of them really so much worked out for me, so the Terrific Team is going to have to soldier on without me. Sigh.

The rest of the GA trip was really good. You know, they say you can never go home again --that things & people always change and it's never the same again. Well, I'm sure that turns out to be true, eventually. But we've only been gone 9 months. Our trip was so much like just being back at home. I got to hang out with lots of our friends & it was almost like I never left. Conversations were easy and just sort of like we picked up right where we left off. It was good. Really good. I miss it already.


I went to our house in GA - we're renting it out since our stay here in UT may or may not be temporary. It's funny walking into your house and seeing other peoples' stuff there. The couple renting the place is European, so it looks a little like Ikea exploded in my house. Everything seems good there, except for one minor detail. The tenants aren't supposed to have pets because I am allergic to just about everything. But they have pets. Not a cat, not a dog, not a bird or a fish or a hamster. No, they have 2 indoor rabbits. Really? Rabbits?? Indoors??? Why?!?!! They even have put a little chicken wire fence up in the backyard so the rabbits can go out & play. Totally odd. I'm not really sure what we'll be doing about that. I'm not really keen on kicking them out or on making them mad by insisting they get rid of the rabbits. I really don't want my house trashed by disgruntled tenants. Hello rock. Hello hard place. I'll just hang our right here in between you two for a bit.


One of the days we were there we went swimming our community pool with some friends from the neighborhood. We walked in and found a teenage beer party in progress. Yes, right out there at the *community* pool. How stupid. They didn't even have the sense to try and hide it or stop drinking when the old farts with the little kids arrived. I totally called the police on them. Hilarity ensued as the kids tried to hide the beer and lie to the police. In the end, two of the kids owned up to drinking the beer. One kid's parents came to get him. Imagine having to tell your boss you had to leave work early because the police had your kid. The second kid's parents either couldn't or wouldn't come get him, so he went to the station. As I discussed with my friends - I know I did not always walk the straight and narrow as a teenager. I did, however, have the good sense to sneak around. Good googly moogly.

Speaking of good googly moogly. During our 3 hour layover in Houston Tuesday night, Thomas had to go the the bathroom. Apparently he was constipated. And determined. He ended up straining so hard that he broke blood vessels all over his face & neck. So he looks a little Opie Taylor-esque right now with his paetichea. Niiice.


So Thomas's birthday is Thursday. I am struggling with what we should get the child. Seriously struggling. I know I can always buy him legos & he'll be happy. But how many legos does a kid need? (Don't answer that Kevin.) How many toys, period. We try really hard not to spoil him with stuff. I guess we'd rather spoil him with experiences. I'm thinking we might do a trip to San Diego and do Legoland, Sea World, etc. That's been on the list of stuff to do for awhile now. Just a matter of working it into the schedule. Here's how a kid ends up spoiled anyway -- I hate the thought of him having nothing to open on his birthday, so we'll probably buy him some nintendo game or legos or something *and* do the trip, too.