37 Things About Me

I haven't had much to post lately, so I thought I'd throw this in. Copy and paste it into your blog and see if there's anything we didn't know about you. :)

1. Do you like Blue cheese dressing? NEVER!!!

2. Have you ever smoked a cigarette? No (if I had, I wouldn't admit it on here!)

3. Do you own a gun? No

4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? Grape, maybe...it's been so long.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No

6. What do you think of hot dogs? With mustard, ketchup, onions and pickles!

7 Favorite Christmas movie? Muppet Christmas Carol

8 What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange Juice

9. Can you do push-ups? Nope, never have (not even when I had my Pilates body!) and probably never will. (I don't know why the font changed on this question...weird.)

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? The earrings Robert got me for Mother's Day.

11. Favorite Hobby? It used to be reading, but Robert felt left out, then it was crocheting, but Craig felt left out, and now it's spending time with Robert and Craig, by default. But I do really enjoy going for rides and outings as a family.

12. Do you have A.D.D.? No

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? I should sometimes for distance, and I have some, but I don't wear them. I can pass the test at the DMV, so who cares.

14. Middle name. Lee

15. What are you thinking about at this moment? My middle name and how is sounds funny with my last name.

16. Name 2 or 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, juice, Coke Zero (it really does taste more like Coke than Diet Coke.)

17. Current worry? Money

18. Current hate right now? Robert's long shifts and not having transportation while he's at work.

19. Favorite place to be? At home, ironically.

20. How did you bring in the New Year? Went to a party at a friend's house with no kids. Played fun games, ate junk food.

21. Where would you like to go right now? California to visit (thanks Josephine for making me home sick! :))

22. Name three people who will complete this. Probably not anyone, but maybe someone will surprise me!

23. Do you own slippers? Yes

24. What color shirt are you wearing? I'm not wearing a shirt...;) I'm wearing my blue nightgown.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, kinda sweaty.

26. Can you whistle? Yes

27. Where are you now? On the computer (duh) in the kitchen.

28. Would you be a pirate? For Halloween? I have been, I think. In real life? Only if Orlando Bloom were there, too. And only if he dressed up as Legolas.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I find it difficult to sing in the shower--I have my face under water too often.

30. Favorite Girl's Name? Hmmm, I forget. I've been racking my brain for boys name so much lately.

31. Favorite boy's name? Ethan right now, maybe Isaac.

32. What's in your pocket right now? I don't have pockets.

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Craig spontaneously cracking up when he put the ties from my dress in his mouth (why would that seem so funny to him?) Or maybe it was watching The Office. They were both happening at the same time (Dwight's such an idiot.)

34. What vehicle do you drive? Jeep Grand Cherokee, occasionally.

35. Worst injury you've ever had? Sprained ankle from falling off a horse. Worse than the broken arm I had. One of the worst parts was it happened in Sweden and even though everyone at the hospital spoke English, all the paperwork they gave me to help manage the pain was in Swedish.

36. Do you love where you live? Sure.

37. How many TVs do you have in your home? One, and it's plenty (the stupid thing is the size of four friggin' normal T.V.s)

Do you live in the Phoenix area? Are you a "manscaper"?

I was looking on craigs list for jobs for Robert and came across this. I don't think Robert would...um...be...um...willing, but if anyone else out there has this special talent, by all means, check it out!

Looking for somebody to shave my back for me, possibly regularly. I am overweight, if that is an issue please don't respond. I would prefer a male.

If interested, please let me know and include your rates.

Does someone out there actually have rates already set? How much would you charge?

Bon bons (shhhh--don't tell anyone)

So, I'm supposed to still be on this "no sugar" thing for 6 more weeks (any longer and I'll scream), or until the baby comes. But sometimes, you have one of those days: it's 110 degrees outside, you're 8 months pregnant, the only parking spots at Wal Mart are 100 yards from the store, and as you carry (because the cart guy just came through and there are no carts) your 14 month old 26 lb. son across the asphalt Sahara you notice half of the close spots are filled with people just sitting in their cars with the air conditioner going. And I had more to complain about that day, but I try not to complain. :) I just get ice cream. So, I found these wonderful little things in the ice cream novelty section. I tried to find a picture online, but I can't remember the name of them, so I will describe them. They come in a box of 12, there are a variety of flavors (I got strawberry), they are dipped in real, non-waxy dark chocolate (I think some kinds have milk chocolate), and there is a yummy, chewy, fudgy cookie on the bottom. I ate 6 on the way home, and the other 6 later that night. They're not cheap, mind you...about $5 for the 12 of them, but more than worth it that day, let me tell ya. Hope you find them and that they make your stinky days that much better!

A Day Away

Last week I had a doctor's appointment and it was going to last all morning. There was a lot of catch up work that needed to be done. The new Harry Potter movie came out the night before so Robert said, "Since you'll be gone a while anyway, you might as well go see Harry Potter." I was so excited!!! Neither of us have been able to do anything fun (date nights or anything like that) since we moved and Robert's been looking for work. For one, we don't know any baby sitters down here and on top of that, we haven't had any money to spend. But, Robert said I could spend $7 and see the movie. It was so nice to have a day to not worry about nap times and everything. Oh, and I really liked the movie.

What's the story about JK Rowling writing another book?

Monsoon!

Something I've learned about this area is they have this thing called Monsoon season. It starts pretty much in July and goes through the summer. Every night for the past couple of weeks, the clouds have rolled in and we'll get thunder and lightening in the distance, but no rain. Finally, last night for the first time, we got The Rain. It was quite the show. The thunder was so loud I was afraid it would wake up Craig, but it didn't. The cat got pretty freaked, though. The wind, the rain, all of it was pretty cool. I really love storms like that. I've missed it since Montana's primary form of precipitation is snow, not much rain and certainly not many summer thunder storms. By the way, I didn't take that picture, but you can pretty much see the lightening as clearly as that.

As a side note, we've decided that Craig isn't going to make his first words clear to us for quite some time. For now, he's content to speak his first language...Ewok.

Me: Craig, will you bring me the remote?
Craig: Yib wada wob doooooooooo! Daba dish?
Me: Thank you, love.

Yesterday, I asked him to find the calculator and bring it to me which I wasn't sure if he knew the word "calculator" or not, but he dutifully marched off with the gleam of a quest in his eye. A few seconds later, he came back and triumphantly thrust the bag of cough drops into my hands and smiled at me so proudly. I just said, "Oh, thank you Craig! What a good boy! You're so smart!" I can't wait until he begins actually speaking English. Oh the funny things he'll say. :)

Updates

Things have been kind of busy lately. Robert's been out doing the job search thing. It's tough right now. Since we've been married (and we've moved and changed jobs a lot) it has never taken Robert longer than two weeks to find a job. And we've lived in much smaller places than this. I know we hear about the economy and unemployment statistics, but until you live it, you don't quite realize how bad it really is out there. But we continue to be greatly blessed in many, many ways. I just keep thinking that this time is meant to build our faith and to literally put everything in the Lord's hands. Everyday I think of that scripture that says not one sparrow falls from the sky without Him noticing, so then we should feel confident that He will notice and take care of us, too. Don't worry, though, I'm sure something will work out. I feel oddly at peace. :)

On other subjects...I believe in karma. Right after I posted that last thing about men and colds and being sick, I got a cold. It hasn't been bad, but enough to tire me out and make sleeping difficult, especially since I'm limited on what medicine I can take. Now Robert is getting it. So far he's being womanly about it :). If it gets any worse, I may have to take my own video of him and his "man-cold", which we all know is much worse than what I have right now. Oh, I guess I shouldn't say that. Now I'll get the stomach flu or something.

Craig had his first little bleeding accident, the poor little guy. The other day he was squeezing himself between the recliner foot rest and the couch next to it and tripped on something. His body barely fits into that little space, let alone his head, so when he fell he really mashed his face along the side of the foot rest. We weren't too worried since the foot rest is padded, but he was crying really forcefully. I just held him and shushed him, then he pulled his head away from my shoulder and his mouth was covered in blood! We cleaned him up, gave him a Popsicle to eat and numb the pain, then he let us look. His lip must have caught on the edge of the foot rest because he had completely torn the flap of skin connecting his top lip to his gums! Wow, that must have hurt. He had a little fat lip for the rest of the day, and whimpered a few times when he accidentally bumped his lip a couple times, but he's fine now. We haven't looked at it again, but I guess it's healing. Those mouth wounds just bleed so badly, it really freaks you out. He's a boy, so we'd better get used to it. :)

Do you know someone like this?

It is just my husband, or do all men think that when their wife has a cold and he sees her still tending to her daily chores, taking care of the kids, and making dinner, that it must not be that bad, but then he gets the cold, and is bed-ridden for a week, he must have gotten something much worse because he couldn't possibly get up and do things for himself? Do all men think a stubbed toe, a lost night's sleep, or going up the stairs for the fifteenth time that day are somehow easier for us than for them? I think the answer is here (scroll down to the video after clicking on the link):

http://tokenasianfriend.blogspot.com/2009/07/on-my-mind.html

And then ask yourself this: Why did more women survive the Donner Party than men?

Whoop!

Still haven't heard from the Food Network people yet. Oh well.

I made some noise the other day and Craig thought it was hilarious. So I took a video, of course. I haven't really had anything else to post. I've just been really busy with my classes and I have a test to take today, so I have to run.

Update

Sorry it's taken me a couple of days to get back to this. I'm taking these online classes for the summer and they are consuming all of my extra time. I'm still not caught up and the house is a mess, too. Anyway, Robert's audition went well. They just do a short interview. He said the interviewers were really interested in him, though. For those of you who don't know, he has quite a story about how he got started working in restaurants and risen to the level he's at now. They said a couple of times that they wished they had more time to talk to him. They are doing callbacks within the next couple of days, so I think he might get a call. We'll see. Well, there's more stuff I want to post, but I have to run. I have some cute stuff about Craig, but I'll try to get it on here later.

Could this be the Next Food Network Star?

We found out last week that Food Network is doing auditions here in Phoenix today for next season's Next Food Network Star! Of course Robert wanted to go. Not only is it a great experience (and "positively providential") but he doesn't have a job where he has to get time off work either. (There's for looking on the bright side for ya.) This is no small feat.

First, there was the 11 page application. Then the laundry list you have to read of all the terms and conditions, where they tell you that if you are selected, you agree to sign a contract stating that Food Network owns you. (I am not exaggerating here.) They say that during the filming of the show, they can tape you anytime, anywhere, 24/7 and you have to let them. They also say that you are allowing them to use the recordings for anything that they want, including slander. Of course, I don't think they actually do tape you that much, and they probably don't want to slander anyone that is representing Food Network, in essence, but it's kind of a scary thing. Then they ask you to sign the application in your own blood.

They also require two pictures and an optional video. If you're attending a live audition, you don't need to come with a video, but Robert thought it would add a little oomph. So last night we stayed up until 11:00 (since we couldn't start until Craig went to bed). Robert demonstrated how to make Chicken Feta Ravioli with a Creamy Pesto Sauce. (Yeah, he made it up--what a stud.) He handmade the pasta, too. It went really well. You know, I think he has a shot, but I guess everyone thinks that. But we were tired and hungry by the end. Luckily, we had some awesome ravioli to eat. And it was so dang good, too. I'll see if I can post the video. It's about 30 minutes long, but you can skip the parts where he has to wait for the oil to heat up and when he's filling all the ravioli. They say that they don't want you to edit, so he had to do all that on the camera. If I can't get the video on, then I'll just try to post the recipe.

The next thing they needed was five original recipes. So, this morning we spent about 2 hours typing up his recipes since the last time we did that they were saved on the work computer in Montana, and they're still in Montana. Then they tell you to start working on 25 more recipes, because if you're selected, they ask for that many.

The auditions started at 10:00 this morning. He's there now and I'm anxious to find out what they have him do and how many people were there (and if any of the current Food Network stars are there)! I'll keep you posted!

Children's Museum

So I am finally getting these pictures posted. I was just so glad I remembered the camera! Last Thursday Robert and I met Josephine (some of you know her) at the library in Phoenix. It's an awesome place with a whole area for little kids to play and you can sit and read. It's also like 5 stories high and they have a ton of books. We got the pass wanted (to the Children's Museum) and it was just right down the road. First, Robert had an interview (also down the road) so we went down there and waited for him for a minute. (The interview went well--boy it's tough getting a job these days.)

Then we went to the museum. It was really neat. I can't tell about everything, so I will just narrate the pictures that I have.

This is hanging on the wall when you first walk in. There's a big open room that goes all the way up to the third story balcony. These CDs are all strung together and hanging all the way down from the third story. It was pretty neat idea, I thought.

Then there was the car wash area. They had trikes and little scooters for the bigger kids, but I just took Craig through in the stroller. Again, pretty darn creative!

I think this was one of our favorites. It was really hard to get a picture, though. The green things are those pool noodle things. They have a billion of them hanging from the ceiling really close together. You can't see anything and at first Craig was a little confused. But then he started hitting them and flailing his arms around and was laughing. I took this between smiles. We put him down for a minute and he liked walking through it on his own, but it was too easy to lose someone in there so we picked him back up.

They had an area for 3 and under, and this was probably his next favorite place. They had this tree-house type thing built in there and this was part of it.
Here he is with Matthew, Josephine's youngest. I think they are playing with kitchen stuff.

This is another part of the tree house.

He kept wanting to climb up the slide. His sticky little hands would get him about 1/4 the way up, then he'd slide down. I showed him how to go up the stairs and then slide down, but he still needed one of us to sit him at the top of the slide and give him a push. I love the concentration on his face, like he's calculating his landing.

This is the last picture from the 3 and under room. I think these were here for the really little guys, but Craig liked it. It was cushy (I wished they had something like this for the parents to lay in) and it moved. It was a bowl on a pedistal so Robert was rolling it around while I tried to get a picture. This was the best one I got of him smiling. He really liked it.

Last of all, we went out through this big, noisy room. Craig loves to bang on things with other things, so he got the hang of this pretty quickly. Little Matthew there was a regular Ringo! He had one stick in each hand and went for it! Benjamin, Josephine's other son, is the one in background with his head cut off (sorry kiddo).