Hammer and Nails

"I'm bored." I would say when I was younger. "Go get some hammer and nails, then." My mom would always reply.

So...yes, I have been incredibly bored since we've moved. But, I've started to put some hammer and nails back into my life and I'm feeling better now. Here's what I've been doing for the last 4 months.

1. Moved and unpacked all my junk.

2. Had a baby 3 weeks later. His older brother calls him "Tinkerbell" all the time. So, its not the most flattering name, but it is what I'm going to call him, because I have to call him that half the time anyways. (Yes, I am net-security-a-phobic. I won't put pictures of my kids on my blog, or their real names. So kid number one is "Cadet" and kid number two is "Tink.")

3. Reading. Reading. Reading.

One of the great pleasures of playing all you can eat cow buffet (nursing/breastfeeding) is that I get a lot of time to read. Mostly I end up reading to the Cadet while I'm nursing, but I have managed to squeeze in these few books in the last three months:

• Ender's Game (for the 2nd time) by Orson Scott Card
• Speaker for the Dead by Card
• Xenocide by Card
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• New Moon by Meyer
• Eclipse by Meyer
• Your 3 Year Old: Friend or Enemy by Louise Ames
• 106 Mistakes People Make when Buying a Home (and How to Avoid them) by ? Can't remember
• Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
• How to Buy your 1st Home by ? Can't remember
• Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
• Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
• 200 Best Home Businesses by ? Can't remember
• The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron
• The Kite Runner by Khaleid Housseini

4. I found 3 piano students for a total of 4 students. Not bad, but not great. I still have my one loyal student form Seattle. I met her in San Diego and she moved to Seattle, but she calls me and we do lessons via speakerphone. I really love teaching. I hope to get some more.

5. Exploring. I have enjoyed this! I have found lots of Story Times (Weber County library, Davis County Library, Deseret Book, Barnes and Noble, Family Resource Center, Treehouse Museum, Gerrity Library on the Base) For all of Utah's faults, it sure has a lot of story times for kids. I have enjoyed them. I've also just been playing tourist around here. There actually is quite a bit to do - but its all inside. I can't wait for warmer weather.

6. Started investigating House Buying. Yikes. It's a complicated process. We've found a realtor (Cadet managed to dump her coffee all over her and his hot chocolate all over her at our first meeting) and we have a ballpark range of what we can afford. We've been to see some new homes and also some open houses. I'm starting way early (our lease isn't up until Oct. ) but I'm soooo picky that I have to start now. I want to be able to know what I want.

7. Joined a Mom's Club (part of an international organization.) They have activities 3 times a week or more. It's been fun to have playgroups and walk around the mall, or go to their bookclub with them. It's been fun to meet other moms here. - I have to say the people here ARE great. I was worried that I would move here and hate the culture. I haven't had a problem with it at all. The people are fantastic. I have truly grown to love and admire many of them already. I was worried about nothing. There are great people everywhere. I'm convinced of it. I miss so many people from San Diego terribly, but I'm starting to make some new friends here, too.

8. Walking. Yeah! on a treadmill....not so Yeah. I REALLY miss walking outside. I've been walking 4-5 miles a day, and I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I wish that meant that I was in my prepregnant shape - but not so. The second one has changed me permanently I think. That's okay, the flabby belly is well worth the smiles I get from Tink everyday.

9. Threw a successful Birthday Party for my 3 year old....complete with streamers and balloons and games and even a homemade cake. Unbelievable. I actually made a decent cake. (It took 2 tries and the mold really helped it look like a car, but I did it.) We had to delay the party a week because Tink got RSV - but it still happened.

10. Started Cooking Dinner. I can't believe I'm making dinner but I am. Part of it is that I get sooooo hungry when I'm nursing. I can't wait to eat and cooking takes my mind off the waiting. The other part is that since I'm not working in the afternoon/evenings anymore we can actually eat together as a family. Probably the biggest plus is that I get a break from the kids if I cook. I really hate cooking, but that shows you how ready I am for a break at the end of the day. We eat a steady boring diet consisting of the following "masterpieces" (or at least edible dishes):

• grilled cheese/tomato soup
• soup and salad
• omelets
• french toast
• tacos

....anyhow this is just a smattering of what I've done to hold myself together through the transition. It has been an adjustment to say the least, but I'm surviving it! I can't believe that I get bored. It's amazing, because I"m always changing diapers and half the time I don't get a shower for a few days, and I'm bored? I think its just a by product of motherhood. I am learning to truly enjoy being a mom (but I'm still excited for retirement days when I can enjoy my spouse more.)

The Neighborhood

For my birthday next week - I got a double jogging stroller! YEAH!!! I love to walk, and am so excited to be able to go outside again. This has been the yuckiest winter with so much snow. I finally went outside today with my new toy. It felt so good. I couldn't help but notice how different my neighborhood is here. I've gone from city to rural America. Yikes! I'm glad we're renting. I think I want to be a little farther from the horses. I think I much prefer a busier place to the wide open spaces everyone seems to want here. We've been looking at homes to buy and everyone touts, "Wide open spaces, no neighbors behind you, horse pasture with a view....etc..." I just want sidewalks and stores and libraries and schools and something more than a Wal-Mart nearby. I think we're going to look closer to SLC for our home.

Anyhow...here are some pictures of my old neighborhood vs. the new neighborhood. There are two pictures of the park and temple I walked past every day (sometimes 2-3 times a day) for the last five years, and then now the horse and old dilapidated truck I get to walk by every day now if it ever stays warm enough. It's amazing how much my life has changed the last three months.

Moving on..... from Oct. 12, 2007

So - it is official. We are going to jump ship and follow the bandwagon. We are moving on to Utah. We will be moving October 26th to Roy, Utah. 5 minutes away from the new job. It should be exciting! We finally found a house to rent for a while. We decided to hold off buying, since we only have 2 1/2 weeks before we move. I just don't know the area well enough, either, to know where I want to be. Findng a place to live always ends up being a tramatic ordeal for us. When we moved out to San Diego, we had two days to find a place. In the space of 2 days - we put out 3 deposits and credit checks at three separate places, only to retract them the morning before we left to settle for option number 4. When our apartment was converted to a condo here and we moved - we couldn't decide between renting a house or another apartment. We ended up securing the house - only to retract it a day later sending the little old lady who was renting it into tears. ("You were such a dear family. I was so looking forward to you being in our little home.") Not fun. Well...this trip was no different. We had an appointment at one place to sign a lease. Three hours before the appointment I changed my mind. So...we cancelled. Next, we secured another place and put down a deposit. The morning before we were to leave - I set off in a panic. It was 11:30 at night and I realized that since the place was brand spankin' new - not only didn't it have a backyard and a refrigerator it didn't have any blinds. We had planned on taking this brand new home because it was cheaper than the other places, and we thought we could save some money up to buy in a few months. Well...after you put all that money into it - we wouldn't save much. So - my crying tirade and panic about blinds wasn't resolved until the middle of the night. The next morning was Sunday. No one answers their phone on Sunday in Utah. At least not for business. So, we headed home without a place. Very distressing. Monday morning we called from our hotel in good ole' Mesquite and secured the 1st place we had originally decided upon. Yikes. Why is it such a traumatic event for us? This is only a place we are renting for a year. I can't imagine the headache it will be trying to buy a home. So...we are moving on. I'm ecstatic to have a home at last! We are going from 1100 square feet to 2475 square feet - and saving several hundred dollars a month on rent - plus we finally get a backyard. The Cadet can't stop talking about it. Being the intense packrat that I am - the extra space is going to be incredibly nice! Ask anyone who has seen any of our closets and they are simply amazed that I get it all to fit. I have parting disorder with things - to say the least.; although, I've already made a trip to the Goodwill - totally not like me. Hubby wanted to take my temperature. This pregnant nesting thing is coming in handy right about now. It's also annoying - I'm almost 33 weeks and can barely bend over anymore - and trying to pack is not going so hot for me. The Cadet does up my shoes for me - I'm that big now. I'm excited to be financially better off and closer to family and friends, but I am dearly going to miss it here. I've been a little emotional about everything! I broke down yesterday at Legoland because Cadet's favorite ride was closed. We would go there almost every Thursday for an hour or two - and yesterday may have been our last time. It was distressing. I felt like a moron - but hey - I am pregnant - I'm allowed a little room for weepiness, right?

I am a Walrus - frrom October 2, 2007

If you've ever been pregnant before I think you'll understand what I'm about to talk about. When you get to the end of your pregnancy - you just feel big. I personally feel like a bleached whale. (Yes, I know it is beached - but I have been in violation of speech codes for quite some time, I inevitably end up saying bleached whale or float your goat or all sorts of weird things. I've given up trying to be proper these days). Well...yesterday at the Dr.'s office my 2 year old confirmed my suspicion. I am not just feeling big - I am big. We were sitting in the office for an hour waiting for my appointment. There were 4 other pregnant women waiting. My 2 year old is bouncing off the walls showing everyone his batman socks, begging anyone to play lightsabers with him, and intermittently picking his nose when he stopped suddenly. He turned to me all excited and screamed to everyone, "Look! It's a walrus!" Shocked, I said, "Excuse me? What did you just say? " Oh so very clearly he pointed to the picture of a pregnant lady on the wall and said four or five more times - "It's a walrus! It's a walrus! It's a walrus!" I tried to explain that it was just a picture of a mommy with a baby in her tummy - just like me. Then I made the mistake of asking him - is that what Mommy's looks like? His reply, "Yup." The whole waiting room was laughing at the whole incident. I'm just grateful he didn't actually point to any specific woman and call them a walrus. So - my 2 year old has deemed me a walrus. I don't just feel big - I am. It doesn't help that I broke the scale the other day, too. Literally. I stepped on the scale (bad idea when you are pregnant anyways) - and whalla - it stopped working. It told me I was 13 pounds lighter than I was a week before. It hasn't worked since. Yes, it is probably just a battery problem but I don't want to fix it. I think I will just glory in being a walrus for a few more weeks and then maybe I'll just get rid of it. A walrus doesn't use a scale, and I bet they are happier for it. I think I'll follow suit!

Hot and Cold - from September 5, 2007

It is hot. Miserably hot. I know - I live in this insanely "great" weather (that is intensely boring), and I shouldn't complain, but I am going to. It was 92 with 86% humidity earlier this week. That made the heat index nasty. Being pregnant and not having air conditioning and only having one window facing a different direction from all the others hasn't helped. It has been the sticky hot -humid hot- can't cool off- want to run around naked hot. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse - they did. On top of the heat - I have a cold. A yucky cold. So I am hot with a cold. It has not been fun to say the least. I can't sleep because I can't breathe. Last night I took a Sudafed. Bad idea. I should have known it would make me crazy. I don't have the greatest track record with cold medicines. One time when I took a Benadryl I started crying on the drive to school because the canal was so beautiful. This last episode....well...I took a Sudafed at 3 A.M. and I have been up ever since. It is know 7:30 in the evening. I've been trying pretty hard since 3 to get back to sleep. No luck yet. I'm exhausted and can't hold my eyes open, but they won't stay closed either. This was only half a dose of Sudafed, too! Yikes. It was the straight Sudafed stuff, too...with nothing added into it. I just don't do well on cold medicine to say the least....and if you think cold medicine is bad you should see me on Coke. I have once or twice drunk a can of Coke....yeah that is scary. The worst was when I drank some Vault. They had a deal at the grocery store to get a 12 pack of Vault for free. I read the label, and it said "energy drink" - so I bought it. I thought, hey, free drink. The next day, I was drinking the first can when the home teacher's came over. I put it aside when they came in, only to have Cadet find it in the middle of their lesson. He was freaking out, and so I gave him a couple of sips to calm him down. HAH! Later that night, I called hubby home from an Eldern's Quorum meeting (with one of our home teachers). I couldn't handle our son or myself. We were both bouncing off the walls and irritable. Later I found out that Vault has the highest concentration of caffeine of most any othe soft drink. The whole thing had our home teachers in stitches the next month when I explained the mis-hap. Moral of the story is.....Caffeine/cold medicines/me = just not good.

Calling all Utahns - from August 30, 2007

Okay...With the possibility of moving to Utah looming in the air sometime in this next year I am calling on all Utahns - or anyone that reads this to tell me that it isn't that bad. I didn't like Utah much growing up - because well they were our neighbors and Idaho HAD to be better. (I think I've seen the light...I think I would prefer Utah at this point)....but I still am having some major anxieties about life in Utah. It has been the plan for some time now to move back to the Utah area where we can be closer to family, and actually afford to buy a home. (Something cheaper than half a million dollars with more than 2 bedrooms and not in a ghetto sounds pretty appealing.) Now, when push is coming to shove and the decision is getting closer...I'm freaking out. I hate change, first off...so this is not good. I wonder if part of my hesitation to move to Utah is because I just don't want to budge or move anywhere. I hope that I don't have too many actually legitimate concerns about it.
I just can't picture it right now.....the idea of living somewhere where you aren't offered coffee or a martini at every turn is foreign to me now. The idea that people will actually know what Enrichment Night or Family Home Evening night is bizarre....and the fact that I can traipse the grocery aisles with my kid screaming "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" without getting odd looks from beer holding collegiates is.....different. Granted I think a lot of these are good things - in many ways being surrounded by more people that are familiar with your values is easier. It is just different. I just have to admit the whole Utah culture scares me a little. I hope it is isn't as bad as it sounds sometimes. Our ward here is totally ridden with fresh Utah BYU graduate transplants. (Think: every week our chapel and overflow is as big as Stake Conference - with 3 nursuries and almost 100 kids under the age of 5). We have been the anomoly because ...."You didn't go to BYU??? Why?....Holy cow...you went to Utah State?" That and the fact that we live in a condo with a garage instead of 700 square foot student housing. (not by choice, part time students aren't allowed there) but it has set us apart a bit.. It has given me a taste of what a mass rabbit breeding Utahn culture might be like... and actually...I love the people I've met from my ward, and I hope that it will be a lot like it...because they are great. It does give me a bit of comfort. I've just also grown to love the opportunities and the people I have met outside of the church. I have met so many wonderful people through my piano studio, and through my work with the San Diego Children's Choir, and through the Music Teacher's Association, and through my Stroller Strides fitness class. I have loved building friendships and connections with people outside of my ward, too. I spend the bulk of my time with these fantastic people. They aren't of my faith, but so many of them have the same values, and have been such a great support system. I've loved the variety of people I've come in contact with. I'm just hoping that I will be able to find the same variety in Utah. I'm sure the variety is there - its just a matter of coming up with the opportunities to meet different people that is scaring me. I like having a network of different people. Its great to have friends that don't think you are wacko when you say you'll take as many kids as you can get (easily said for me - cuz' I know it won't be very many) - and its great to have friends that don't think you are wacko because you don't cook dinner for your husband......not just don't cook...but don't want to....and are totally uninterested in cooking, gardening, changing diapers, scrapbooking, etc.... (I wish I were more interested in these things....they are very practical, and I love and admire people who are really great at them.) Its just nice to be able to find a variety of friends - similar and different from you.We'll see......I hope I didn't offend anyone with anything I said. I'm just a nervous, crazy, hormonally unbalanced pregnant lady speaking out. Everyone keeps telling me that Utah is a great place to live. All the people in my ward want to move back, and I have 2 friends that live in San Diego now who are not Mormon who lived in Salt Lake City previously and loved it.....I just hope I do, too. Heck (Utah lingo) - I've lived in Utah once and loved it, too. I hope that if we decide to move there again that I can come to love it just as much. Im just looking for some words of comfort about it all. I'm pretty convinced I just hate change. Period. No matter where we move, I"m sure that I'll complain about it a little, and worry about finding people that I can connect with. I freaked out when we moved here and I haven't regretted it at all. I've loved it so much. So much...I don't want to go.....I suppose all good things must come to an end, though...for now.

11,111 - from August 11, 2007

11,111. That is the number of email messages in my inbox. That is - in one of my email inboxes. Wow. I think that I have deletion issues. I'm not sure if deletaphobia is a treatable malady or no....but I really ought to look into it. The sad thing is - it was almost the highlight of my day to open my email and see that number flashing at the bottom of my screen. There is something to be said about the symmetry - the majesty of such a big number. It is an odd number, but it still appeals to my senses. It would look much better with two commas in place (11,1,11); however, I understand that is not the way the number world works. So, there you have it. Send me a message and I'll never get rid of it. (The real highlight of my day was cleaning out a closet in my living room. I think hubby was going to kill me if I opened the door one more time to revel in the beauty of a closet only half full - instead of overflowing for a change.)

Y - from July 30, 2007

have been SUPER tired as of late. It is kind of crummy because I'm in the middle of my pregnancy, this is when I should have the most energy - but I"m severly lacking. I did find out though a week or two ago that the Y is the winner. We are going to have another little boy! I'm excited to know . I'm also grateful that I still have 18 weeks to come up with another name. I have to admit I was a little surprised. My intuition, and my dream, and the fact that I only had a girl's name picked out, and had already bought a dress - hasn't stopped the little fella from coming. We are having a hard time convincing the cadet that he is going to have a little brother and not a little "gewarl." But other than that...we are happy. I have everything we need already and now they can share a room and the gobs of boy toys that I have amassed over the last 2 1/2 years. Not much exciting is going on around here. It has been hot and humid and I mainly spend my days either at the library or directly in front of a fan wiping away the sweat. You wouldn't think that 78 degrees would be so bad....but with 82% humidity and a pregnant body its really been getting to me. We did get to go to a fun concert last week. We went to The Symphony Strikes Back. It was a celebration of all Star Wars music. It was an outdoor family lawn concert so of course the cadet came and went crazy! He absolutely loved it. I was elated to hear a symphony - but really disappointed at how poorly they played....maybe I"m jus a litle picky since I've been listening to every Star Wars professional recording ever made for the last 3 months. It just didn't sound even close. The Master Chorale of San Diego trying to sing the Ewok Song really took the cake. You just shouldn't sing Ewok songs with vibrato. It simply doesn't work. The concert coincided with a HUGE International convention for comic lovers called Comic Con. So of course, the concert was laden with people decked out in star wars garb. The cadet got to handle a 200 dollar lightsaber, and gave Yoda three instead of five, and then there was Darth Vader......he is obsessed with Darth Vader. At the end of the concert they had fireworks going off - we were watching and thought he was totally involved - only to turn around and find that our son had not been watching the fireworks, instead he was chasing Darth Vader all the way up the aisles to the stage. We caught him before he made it too far....but you'd think fireworks would be more interesting to a 2 year old. I don't get it. Other than that....its just been survival of the summer for me. Thank heavens our condo has two pools and that cadet loves the water. We spend a lot of time splashing and of course playing lightsabers. I'm afraid I"ve resigned myself to my destiny to clash lightsabers with little boys for the next 10 years....ahhh....so it goes. Number two just better sleep a little more and I'll be happy!

Meme - from July 11, 2007

I've bene tagged for the first time by my friend to do a meme. I'm sitting here lonely and bored while my son naps....so here it goes.

Four Things About a lot of Things

4 Jobs I Have Held
1. Piano Teacher. I've been this for about 13 years. I never pictured myslef doing this forever, but I think I will be the old granny teacher on the block one day.
2. Accompanist - right now for the San Diego Children's Choir, random vocalists, and occasionally for high school choral groups
3. Telephone Service - YUCK!!!! THE WORST JOBS EVER - but the best pay in college. I did a summer stint at Convergys doing inbound calls, and another summer stint at Feature Films for Freaks ( I mean Families) doing outbound calls.
4. CNA - Certified Nursing Assistnat. I was employed at a nursing home for 5 days. I quit. I'm REALLY not cut out for a job like that. Kudos to those who can do it. A baby diaper is bad enough for me!

4 Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
1. um....I'm thinking. Honestly - I'm odd and boring and I REALLY don't like to rewatch movies, unless I have completely forgotten the story line. I only watch a movie once. Needless to say, we don't own very many. We stopped buying them because they weren't getting watched.

4 Places I Have Lived
I've only ever lived in 3 cities - and only 5 different places within those cities.
1. Idaho Falls, Idaho in a house.
2. Logan, Utah in one crummy apartment before I got married and in 1 fantastic apartment after I got married. Don't start with a big place your 1st year of marriage. When you move into something smaller and not as nice for the next 6 years - its not that fun.
3. San Diego, California in 1 apartment that was small and expensive and then got converted into a condo so we got kicked out - and in our current place which is a condo that we rent. Yeah! We finally have a garage.
4.

4 Categories of TV Programming I Enjoy
1. News
2. Documentaries
3. Drama - (I've liked West Wing, ER, and Gilmore Girls - techincally not Drama but a 1 hour show)
4. not much else. I'm not a big TV watcher. Especially After the Kid. We still don't have TIVO or any newfangled things besides a VCR. If we watch TV we record it on VCR and watch it later so we don't get interrupted. We watch tons of movies, but very little TV.

4 Places I've Been on Holiday
1. Chicago - on my honeymoon.
2. St. Louis/ Nauvoo - for a vacation and to visit family.
3. Washington D.C./ Annapolis/Viriginia etc... mostly for school Natl. History Day or the Inauguration, but I went once for pleasure when hubby had a business trip.
4. I really need to take a real vacation sometime.

4 of My Favorite Dishes
right now almost anything still sounds gross -but I can subsist on
1. Pasta
2. Fruit
3. Fast Food
4. Dry Cereal

Prior to pregnancy
1. VEGGIES and Salads - yumm. My favorite....only I haven't touched one in 4 months
2. Popcorn. I can easily down 2 bags every day.....once again haven't had much in 4 months
3. Tortillas and Soup - my lunch every day pre-pregnancy yumm..
4. Anything that I don't have to cook. One day - I know I'm going to have to learn to do some cooking. I'm still in denial that that day has come, though.

4 Websites I Visit Daily
1. San Diego Music Teacher's Association of California branch website (I'm in charge of making sure the page is updated - so I visit it or should visit it every day)
2. During September-May the San Diego Children's Choir website. They often post info. only on the web, and its my only way of knowing what's going on for work.
3. Craigslist. I don't know why - call it an obsession with junk if you will - but I love their for free page. I've picked up some pretty decent stuff that I didn't need at all of their website. I've also picked up a few piano students from them and bought a lot of baby stuff for really cheap
.4. Blogs - I'd like to check them every day - but I really don't. It ends up being more like once a week - but I'd like to keep up with them more!

4 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Bed
2. Playing games with Family
3. Playing games with anyone
4. Shopping. Anyplace will do. I think I just want out of the house!


4 Friends to Tag with this Meme ....ummm...I think I'm no good at tagging people. Maybe next time.

Old Flames - from July 11, 2007

The subject heading is quite misleading for this post. I just wanted to post some pictures of the fire we drove past on our way home. The flames in the pictures are not there anymore - hence the subject title - Old Flames. This was the fire by Cove Fort in Utah. My mom had told me I-15 was closed due to a fire. I blew it off, but then I did check the news, and saw that indeed it had been closed. On the road my mother in law called to tell us they were closing I-15 again due to a controlled back burn. Luckily for us, it was delayed or never took place or something. We drove right by. I snapped some pictures in my half sleepy state. It was pretty close. The flames were just right there. That was the excitement of the drive home (unless you count the World's Tallest Outdoor Thermometer in Baker - or the casino we stayed at in Primm Nevada). Fire is really awe inspiring. But it does smell pretty awful. I was much more sensitive to this fire smell, being pregnant and all. When they had terrible wild fires in San Diego 4 or 5 years ago I was almost immune to the smell for a few days. It was pretty funny - Eric and I were hanging out in our aparment the day the fires started, and then we got a call 20 minutes before church telling us church was cancelled due to the fires. "Fires? What fires?" We were convinced the smell was just our neighbors smoking again - and hey - why not just another overcast day? We finally looked out our window and saw that it was a bit worse than that. Fire was raging less than 5 miles from our home. I can now say I've had the opportunity to grab my most important possessions because a fire was coming. We did load up the car with our valuables - and then we never left. It never got any closer to us. It really did make us think about what was important and what wasn't. We also got a MUCh better 72 hour kit over the next few days. Its sad you have to be scared into emergency preparedness compliance sometimes. We had a fantastic time in Idaho! We didn't want to leave. I REALLY didn't want to leave. 16 hours in the car just isn't very much fun when you're pregnant. Go figure. I can never listen to the Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) again. I will go mad - that is - if I haven't gone made from it already! We saw all 7 of hubby's brothers and sisters, and 3 of my 4 brother and sisters. We had a great time. It made us really rethink wether we want to wait a year to move or not. We had been saying the whole trip - we don't want to move before the baby is born....but the night we got home we realized how nice it is to see family and to play games. It was a truly enjoyable week.

We Survived! - from June 19, 2007

It's been a long week indeed. I very decidedly don't like having my husband out of town, indeed. He' s been back East on some work trip on a ship actually. From the sound of it - I think the curtains and beds and communal living are a far cry from the Hiltons and Marriotts he's used to staying in for travel. I'm just sooooo glad he doesn't have to be on a ship for months like other people. I'm so grateful for those who serve our country, though. I can't even imagine - the separation and the anxiety they go through. I can barely last a week without my other half. Things went MUCH better this month than the last time he left me a few weeks ago for travel. Last time I had a cyst that burst while he was gone, and I thought I was having a miscarriage, and I was still sicker than a dog....but this time we seruvived! Yeah. We only had a few minor mishaps.......I had to cancel a piano lesson in the middle because the DVD player in our bedroom broke and the Cadet had a major meltdown that couldn't be quelled. And then there was my nap. I need sleep. I just require it. Cadet does not. It's not easy having a 2 year old that goes to bed at Midnight or later and then wakes at 8 A.M. He only wants 8 hours of sleep at night. That's just how he functions....and we've kind of trained him to turn into a night owl with us....which works fine when I'm not pregnant. It's not so great right now. Lately, I've been going to bed, and the dear husband has been putting him to bed. Well, since the dear husband was gone, it was all me - and it wasn't so much fun. One day - I needed a nap and the Cadet just wouldn't take one - so I shut my door kissed him "goo-night" and turned on The Empire Strikes Back for him. Somehow, despite his incessant screams of the Darth Vader Theme, I drifited off to sleep. When I woke, he came into my bedroom with his 1st picture he drew for me. He has been drawing and coloring forever - but he's never actually done one on his own and presented it to me. It was a piece of paper and he proudly presented it to me as "The Baby in Mom's Womb. - It's for you - isn't it great mom?" I completely melted. Until I realized - it was done in a permanent marker brush script pen. I dashed out to the dining room and sure enough - there was the pen I had left out to complete Certificates for my piano students - and there was the pen marks all over my white tablecloth. I now have a permanent picture of "The Baby in Mom's Womb." I wasn't upset at all, though. How could I be? I was the one who left it out, and it was his first present to me. Later that night - my mother in law called to tell me she had talked to my son twice for 20 minutes. Puzzled I was. (Gads - Yoda is slipping into my speech - too much Star Wars). I looked in my phonebook and sure enough there were 3 calls to her and a bunch of other garbage numbers. Luckily Grandma found out that I was sleeping and was kind enough to listen to his gibberish for a while. Thank heavens! It prolonged my nap I'm sure. Other than that - we made it through the sleepless blur of this week. I found out that I love Barnes and Noble at 9 o'clock at night. People kept looking at me like I was this irresponsible lunatic mother for bringing a 2 year old into their store until 11 P.M. - but hey - it was heaven. I could read books - sip my Italian Soda - and let the little one run like made playing with their trains and chairs and books. It turned out to be a haven. It's much better than sitting at home trying to sleep and being climbed all over and losing your temper. I'm just glad its all over. Welcome Back Husband!

Walking and Riding - from June 9, 2007

This last week I had a very enjoyable time walking and riding. Not really - because motion still makes me very ill - but I did enjoy what I saw. We went on an Art Walk through the UCSD campus, and I truly enjoyed it. UCSD is where Eric goes to school, but I haven't spent hardly any time walking around there. It is a newer school and so there hardly isn't anything "classical" about the whole campus. Everything is very modern looking and feeling and sounding - their music program is all a-tonal stuff. I thought it would be a bunch of abstract obnoxious pieces - but it wasn't. I haven't had the greatest experiences with abstract art - yes I know - I just don't understand it; perhaps it has something to do with the whole wall with a single red dot on it in the Smithsonian that is called "Ode to the Drag Queen" or the French Fries placed at USU which means nothing to me that has tunred me against a lot of modern art. I was pleasantly surprised to find thier Stuart Collection scattered through campus to be truly entertaining and thought provoking. What I loved was that most of the pieces, you can walk right by and not suspect anything of it - but on second look you find these amazing things - and the bigger pieces that stand out - are pretty great too. A few of my favorites were the 3 Trees - real trees encased in some kind of metal, I forget which kind - but one is the Silent Tree, one is the Talking Tree and one is the Singing Tree - and yes they really talk and sing. While the actual talking is rather annoying, it was still enjoyable. This tree talks spouts a poem about scabs - the kind you get from cuts - for 5 minutes, amongst other things. But it was neat walking through the groves of Eucalyptes Trees and stumbling upon 3 very normal looking trees, with hidden secrets. Another favorite was a marble water fountain. I guess its pretty common to have a flag pole in the middle, a war memorial on one end, and a huge water fountain on the other. Well instead of a huge water fountain, you find a marble office drinking fountain (it really works). It speaks about water conservation in CA, etc. I just got a kick out of it. I could go on and on - because I really enjoyed it - The Tree of Life (the Geisel Library named after Dr. Seuss) with a snake path leading up to it and a Garden of Eden, and the red shoe - but I won't keep babbling. It was nice to be outside and see something different. If anyone is interested you can check out this link to the Stuart Collection http://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/StuartCollection/index.htmI also watched a fantastic movie called Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles. I think my in-laws recommended it to me - or someone did , because I never put foreign films in our Movie Queue. I was glad we watched it though. It just had amazing acting in it. One of the actors said so little, but said so much. It was just gripping. There was very little plot to catch your attention, there was only one really lingering question you didn't know, but it didn't much matter. It held your attention with what the humans said by what they didn't say. Even the Cadet was fascinated by the movie. He still runs around asking to talk about "Takata and Yang Yang, Yang Yang and Takata" (two of the charachters.) It was just refreshing to watch a clean movie that deals with real human interaction and emotion and loses all the special effects and fast paced scene changes. I felt like I was at a high quality theatre production - with the bonus of the splendid images of the Yunnan Province in China. Anyhow - I've enjoyed my week walking through art and riding through a movie - but now its back to the reality of my messy closets and housework that I've neglected for the past three months. Sigh.

May Music Madness - from May 30, 2007

May is almost finally over! Whew. I am just glad that I made it through. It seemed like everything under the sun had to be scheduled for May this year. What exactly did I go through this month? Well....I've been busy preparing 3 of my piano students to participate in Certificate of Merit. A California based MTAC event. It was pretty intense. They had to prepare 3 pieces, be able to pass a sight reading exam, a theory exam, and an ear training exam - as well master a page of technical exercises. It was a little much for 10-11 year olds if you ask me. But - they finally finished their evaluations and all passed. 2 of my students participated in Composer's Today - and then had a recognition recital that I had to attend. Even though they had the most rinky-dink compositions there, I'm so glad they did it. It was a lot of work getting it on paper - but they learned a ton from it too....and I was reminded at the recognition recital why I'm perfectly content for my kids to be "average" or "great - but not insanely out of the ordinarily talented." There were all these kids there who were phenomenal (winning national events, having their pieces played in New York, etc...). Then you talk to them at the dessert table - and whoa. Cocoa Puffs complete....and the parents are even more bizarre. I think I would much rather have a family picnic in the park on a Saturday than try to push my kids to that end - or my students. Of course, you want your students or children to excel and be their best - but moderation truly is a principle not to be overlooked!

4 of my student's participted in the Spring Festival at USD here. I was supposed to be in attendance at this event, helping out...but it was scheduled at the same time as my dress rehearsal for the San Diego Children's Choir....so I completely missed out on this one, but their comments that came back were pretty good.

We had our final concert of the year for the San Diego Children's Choir in Copley Symphony Hall on Mother's Day. I'm really glad that one is over. Although, I'm still having nightmares about the piece I started one beat ahead of the choir TWICE!!! (The second time the director just kept going.).....and then there was the page turn fiasco. I was turning for the other accompanist - and I missed a repeat sign. I went forwards instead of backwards - and whoa. In 2 and a half beats of one measure, I heard every foul word under the sun under her breath, as well as seeing my life flash before my eyes. It's my pregnant brain....or at least that is what I"m going to blame all the mishaps on.

I had my last board meeting of the year for MTAC this month too. Hallelujah! ....and I put out my last edition of the newlsetter for this season. I get a nice 3 month respite from that now. Even though the Children's Choir got out on Mother's Day I've been doing extra tour rehearsals for them the last few weeks. I'm almost done, though. They are leaving on tour to Switzerland in July - but since they are doing everything acapella - I only have one more rehearsal in June, and then they don't want the piano. Yippee!

I turned down a High School Choir and a Flute Choir Recital - and boy am I glad. I don't think I could have crammed another event into all of this.Add to all of this Madness - Mega Morning Sickness - a Primary Drive In Movie Activity I was in charge of - taking on 3 new piano students - and increasing 2 students lessons to 1 hour each this month - and 2 trips to the Urgent Care (1 for a ruptured ovarian cyst for me - the other the very next night for hubby's face crazily going numb all over) - and a 2 year old and its not wonder why I never though May would end. I'm pretty excited for the summer indeed. I have no Choir Rehearsals and half my piano students ditch out on me for the summer (Korea/Japan/India/England vs. piano lessonsin CA - which one would you pick?) I might actually have time to be bored. I can't wait. I also can't believe I'm saying that. I am a little worried about being bored, but I will adjust. I tried to enjoy this month because I know that things will change. We might move - but even if we don't right away I will definitely have to scale back with 2 kids. It's time to move into more of a mommy mode for me. I might not ever have another Music Madness Month - but I'm positive there will be plenty more months with other types of madness running rampant through them!Already things have calmed down.....and its nice to have a few moments to play music for fun. Granted - I'm only 3 lines into the Rachmaninoff Etude Tableux that I wanted to learn for fun - but the Cadet is getting a real kick out of listening to my glorious renditions of "I love Trash" from the Reader's Digest Songbook - and every song from the Star Wars Songbook. His giggle when I sing Jedi Rocks is worth it all. Its just a reminder to me of how much fun music is - and it doesn't have to be that stressful. Hooray for the nigh dawning of June!

Darth Vader and Dynamite - from May 21, 2007

Times are a changing and quickly. Thanks to a spectacular showering of morning sickness from above I have been glued to the couch incessantly moaning for the last few months. Yes I'm ecstatic that this has happened to me - but the endless days of extreme nausea are pretty crummy. I've only thrown up once in 15 years - but I could be throwing up every day if I didn't keep swallowing it back down. Yuck - apologies in advance for those reading these details. I wasn't sick at all with number one. I had no idea it could be this bad. But hopefully things will improve since I'm out of the first trimester now! Baby Number 2 is on its way December 4th.

One of the byproducts of my inability to function, is that Cadet has been getting a LOT of television time....and for the record I surprisingly am not concerned about that in the slightest. I had to do what I had to do to make it through the last few weeks. A significant developmental leap has been made in his television viewing habits in the last few weeks. I think we may have skipped a few stages - but we've moved beyond the simply animated land of Cars andTelletubbies into a brave new world. His favorite movies are now Star Wars and Napolean
Dynamite. Part of me is lamenting how fast childhood vanishes (really whatever happened to Big Bird and Barney? We skipped right through children's live action television) - but another part of me is relieved to have some movies that I can actually somewhat stomach. Darth Vader is Cadet's particular favorite. I don't think he has grasped onto the notion that he is the bad guy yet, and so he isn't afraid - he is simply mesmerized by the black man. He walks around the house dooting the theme song and saying, "Mom - I am your Father." (He hasn't quite got
the line mastered.) Darth Tater is his new best friend, and he just gets a kick out of our Yoda Furbi. Yes, we have a Yoda Furbi. My mom gave it to me to give to Eric when we were dating. I thought it was a weird thing to give to him then - and I assumed Eric would think it even
weirder since he barely knew my mom at the time - so I tucked it up in my closet. A few weeks later when my mom came to visit and I grabbed my jacket form the closet and Yoda started chanting - um ...well....I had a bit of explaining to do to her.About a year after we were married I was cleaning out some old boxes and found it and gave it to Eric. We had a good laugh over the whole thing.

I digress. Cadet gets a kick out of grabbing what he calls "Yoda Crackers" (Soda Crackers) and trying to shove them in Yoda's mouth whilst Yoda is maniacally laughing and saying, "Mmmmm. Stop This you Must. Put me Down you will. OBEY THE FORCE!"

Cadet's other favorite movie is really quite a bit of a mystery to me. I have to say I am not really a big Napolean Dynamite fan. When the movie first came out it was all the rage in California. I was working with the Young Women in my ward at the time - and they all started to wear moon boots to church in September ( I KID YOU NOT) so that they could be like Napolean. And...and it wasn't just the LDS youth that took to it - Dynamite played in our theaters here forever! Everyone loved it. I reluctantly went, mainly just to get everyone's incredulous eyes off of me when they found out I was from Idaho and I hadn't seen it. I watched it and I barely laughed. I couldn't laugh. See --- laughing at Napolean was like laughing at myself. I couldn't laugh at the male high school version of me. I could just relate to way tooo many of the characters of that movie. (Thankfully not Kip or Rico.) It just made me uncomfortable. I had moon boots like Napolean in elementary school. (In fact I lost one playing in the snow. I put my foot in some
snow,came out without a boot, and couldn't ever find it. My mom made me put up reward signs all over the school - "REWARD $2 for a missing pink boot." I still remember people laughing and asking me, "Why didn't you just put your foot back in the same hole?" Well duh - I thought I had. I never did find the boot until the Spring. It was too soggy to salvage by then.) I also had the same white dress that two girls in the dance wore. My name is Debby - way too close too Deb. I'm guilty of the whole side ponytail crime. My mom once set me up on a date with a
strange boy who had goats in his front yard....and of course I'm from Idaho. I used to eat at Big J's with Eric when we were in college. It was just too much for me. It seemed too real to be very funny for me.

Here in California - Napoloean was a strange novelty a character they'd never really come in contact with before. But for me - I felt like my hometown was crawling with Napolean's - and at times I was a Napolean. My huge jingle bell earrings I wore in High School at Christmas time come to mind right off - not quite tater tots in the pockets - but not real smooth either. I refused to buy the movie at first. Jump forward 2 years - and my friend made me promise to watch it at least one more time before she moved to New York. She thought I needed to give it a second try - and come to grips with Napolean being different, but cool, and well, funny. I acquiesced eventually. I found it for $2 on VHS - and so - I bought it because it was cheaper than renting....and yes... I did laugh the 2nd time around. It does get better with subsequent
watchings. I don't get why Cadet - a 2 year old - is so attracted to it, though. Eric was the one who suggested it to him as a bedtime movie. It is calming and slow - and does put him to sleep. But, the fact that Cadet likes it so much.... frankly it scares me a little. I'm not sure I want him modeling too much of Napolean. It's only a matter of time before he starts asking for Hammer Pants with Pockets and a Perm. He already had us name our fish La Fonda and Summer and he does a mean Napolean Dance.

So there you have it - about all the thoughts I've been able to muster up in the last 2 months that don't have to do with upchucking.....it's been a tough little bit. Thanks to our powerful ally the Force we have survived.

Spam Jell-o - from March 29, 2007

There it is. The Prize winning Jello. Our church ward had its 2nd annual Jell-0 Bake off. Last year I took home the prize for my "Potty Jello." (A super sweet concoction consisting of Lemon Jello sprinkled with Chocolate Pieces). I wasn't sure how I would ever top that, but I tried. Indeed, I won again with Spam Jello. It was green jell-o pickles, spam, and tabasco sauce. Hey....it got me a free movie ticket - which almost recoups the cost of the spam. It's the only cooking contest I will ever win! I felt kind of bad, because everyone else tried a very serious jell-o recipe. There were some deluxe jell-o layer molds and cakes and the like. They spent hours on their recipes....and well...I spent a few minutes. Cooking and me just don't agree. Poor Hubby. He knew what he was getting into, though. He will often tell our son, "now be sure to marry someone who does all the diaper changes and cooks every night for you....unless they are as pretty and talented as your mom and then it's okay." I just don't have the patience for cooking. When I'm hungry I want to eat...and I want to eat NOW. However, if I have already eaten, I don't mind cooking, but then who wants to cook if you aren't going to eat it? It's a vicious cycle. I actually do cook some during the summer months. During the school year its a little difficult, because I'm working nearly every night. I want to eat at 4 - and Hubby and Child want to eat at 5 when I'm gone....so we are anxiously awaiting summer months when we can dine together on Debby's disasters!!!! Bon Apetit!!!!

Crabby - from April 13, 2007

One of the things that I have inherited from my inability to say no is a crab. Yes....a pet crab. I have an animal. Its hard to believe. Anyone who knows me knows that I am just not a pet person. I did have a dog growing up who was very devoted to me. He would always crawl under the piano and listen to me practice - but I would never touch the pure bred mut. I just don't like petting dogs. Granted, when he died I went into some pretty extreme mourning for a dog (my poor college roomates got so sick of the funeral march) - but I'm still not a pet person. We do have fish. It was pretty easy to select fish as a pet. Considering you can't have dogs in our condo - and you have to pay cat rent if you want a cat.....and well the good husband does everything for the fish. I just get to sit and watch them procreate.....rather....I DID get to sit and watch them until Mother Theresa our female fish was chased to death by Maxmillian. The poor lady was in high demand. RIP. I digress, though....back the the crab. Its just funny that I have a pet. I was helping a friend move and when she gave it to me I couldn't say no. Of course, since I couldn't say no - its all my responsibility. I won't touch it ever - and I've never cleaned out its tank area - I hope that's okay. All I do is pour in some water once a week and dump in some food (leftover popcorn and some prepackaged crab food). It was the middle of the night 2 nights ago, though and I realized that the poor thing was probably dying of thirst. I had forgotten to get it some water. We keep crabby in the bedroom - so at 2 A.M. his escapade to the water bowl woke me up. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a jug of water from the fridge and just poured it in the bowl and then went straight back to sleep. Yesterday our bedroom began to smell completely discusting. We couldn't figure out for the life of us what was the culprit. I just closed the door and stayed away all day. Last night we went on a hunt for the smell. We nailed it down to coming from the crab. My first thought was great - I killed it. I'm a horrible crab carer - my next thought was I am NOT going to touch it to remove it from the tank. Upon further examination, though, we looked in the water bowl and lo and behold there was the nastiest concoction of curdled MILK ever! In my sleep deprived state I had poured milk into his bowl instead of water. Way to go Idaho. So....here is just one more reason why I don't have pets. I'm just not made to facilitate their survival. I haven't seen or heard from crabby in 2 days....so it remains to be seen if he is alive or if my microbial milk killed him. Oh the poor crab. Anyone want it?

I said No!!! - from March 20, 2007

Here goes nothing. I never thought I'd be blogging, but I'm going to try. The age of technology is catching up with me. I'm blogging and wearing a bluetooth borg earpiece etc....I used to be a dedicated journal writer until the Cadet came along. Now every time I try to write - he pilfers my pen and pencil and demands attention. He knows better than to touch my computer. I truly enjoy reading other people's blogs, but that is because they have something interesting to say. This is the tough part, thinking of something worthwhile to post. I think that has been holding me back from writing anything. I don't want to say something that isn't worth saying. I realize I've already done that a zillion times and since you never get better unless you keep trying...here's my document of pointless drivel for the night. I had a breakthrough a few days ago. I said no. I'm actually getting quite proficient in the art of saying no - at least to kids. I think it has something to do with being a mom to a 2 year old. I find myself saying it a trillion times a day to him. "No, don't unload the dirty dishes. No, don't rock the rocking chair into the wall. No, don't close the lid on my piano student's hands. No, DON'T open the fish tank. No you CANNOT drive my car." But....for the first time in my life I decided to practice transferance of this skill. I'm quite proud of myself. I said no to an adult. This shouldn't be such a hard thing to do, but I find myself in over my head all the time. March has been such a crazy month, and it was surprisingly easy to say no when it happened. I was in a music store getting materials for my students who are trying to complete a Certificate of Merit program they have here in California. The music teacher's association president owns the store, and she stopped me and asked me if I would like to be a part of the Certificate of Merit Board. Since the current Board Director is set to become the Music Teachers Association of California President this June, they need to replace him. She sat explaining all the duties it would entail while the Cadet was busy ranshacking her store. In a way his running amuck made it pretty simple to say, "Well, I'm flattered, but I don't think I can find the necessary time to do such an important job." That was that. I said no. It wasn't that hard...and I'm really glad I did. It would have entailed hours of volunteer computer scheduling for a massive event. I'm already the San Diego Branch's Communications Secretary and am in charge of sending out a newsletter to abour 150 teachers every month. I just can't take on any more. So I said No. It was quite the breakthrough for me. I think I should try it more often.

New Blog

I'm going to try out this blog. I've been using livejournal, but I think I might like this format better - we'll try it out and see. I'm transferring my posts from the other blog so that I have it all in one place. So....this won't be current yet.