Stranks and Weaknesses

Marcelo is really liking his drafting classes. I'm just glad he found a major he likes. Now maybe we can get this graduation thing going. Anyway, in one of his classes he has to type up the minutes from the previous class and then read them out loud in front of the whole group. He's the class secretary (insert obligatory gay joke here).

Well last week, they had a guest speaker come to their class and talk to them about what they might encounter in a job interview. He gave them some potential questions that they might be asked, and one of them was "What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

Marcelo took one look and tried to find some other way of wording that phrase so he wouldn't have to say "strengths" in front of the whole class.That word scares him.

So I took a piece of paper and on it I wrote:

STRANKS

I told him to say the word "stranks" instead of "strength" because when you say it fast, it comes out as "stranks" anyway. He did, and it sounded perfect. He's lucky he has such a freaking brilliant wife that can make up semi-gross sounding words for him. I really need to start being paid for these ideas.

But first I need to jump in the shower. I just got back from the gym and I'm smelling pretty strank right now.

Book Review-My Sister's Keeper & Tipping Point

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really liked this book. I thought it was going to be "Meh" but it was amazing. Without giving too much away, this is the gist of the story: A husband and wife have a little 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl. They are "done" having kids. They notice that the 2 year old has some bruises and eventually find that it's leukemia. They decide that they will have another baby and use science to ensure that this baby is a perfect donor match for their first child. That way she will have a "live donor" at all times.

It's a sad story: anything involving the sickness of a child is horrible. But it gets sadder when Anna (the "live donor") decides that she doesn't want to be forced to do anything else medical for her sister. Her sister's kidney shut down, and now there is talk of her giving one for transplant. She gets a lawyer and sues her parents for rights to make her own medical decisions. See? Sad book.

But I really liked how it was written. From the points of view of the Mother, Father, Son,Anna, Anna's lawyer, and the court appointed "Guardian Ad Lidem" (kind of like a fancy social worker) assigned to look at the case objectively and give her opinion to the court.

I'm not going to tell you the end. But it did make me cry. This quote in particular did it. It's Anna's mom realizing that she probably won't be able to keep both of her daughters. And then she says this:

"We don't so much have kids as we do receive them. Sometimes it's for a much shorter time then we thought. But even that short time is better than never having them at all."

I don't know what I would do. I think like this mother I would do everything to save one of my children. Would I do it at the expense of one of my other kids? I don't know!! It's really a troubling question.

Anyway, I really liked this book. I thought the 400+ pages would be tedious, but before I knew it it was over. I think the different viewpoints and narrators does this.

Hug your kids tonight, people!!


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The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was very informative and a quick read. At the beginning it reminded me of "Freakonomics" because it starts to look at the hidden stories and meanings behind certain things. However, Freakonomics just points things out, while "The Tipping Point" talks about why certain things tip and others don't. It's kind of more saying, "If you want to tip your idea, this is what you need to know, and what you need to do."

I don't plan on ever trying to tip something, but it was really fun to read about it nevertheless. Part about Mavens, Connectors, Stickiness, Sesame Street and Blues Clues all had me riveted. Again, a quick read and totally worth the time.


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It's Baby Season

So I haven't posted in a while. I just didn't know what to write about. And I was reading a lot. And my mom just got into town. And why was she in town? Because it's BABY SEASON!!

First she made a stop off to Texas. Sarah had her 4th baby, and she was really hoping for a girl. She has one girl, two boys and I think she wanted to have another girl to make the sandwich family complete. Just like me, she didn't find out what she was having before, so it was a shock to her when she had a . . . .BOY!!! I know she's not upset. Her boys are BEAUTIFUL and brilliant and so much fun. I think she was happy about it.

Here is a picture of her kids and the new acquisition, Lincoln:















In the picture on the right you will see the three kids. From left to right their names are Jack, Noah and Isabel. Look at that smile on Jack. THAT IS ALLLLL MARSDEN. I don't know if they taught it to him or he came out of the womb looking like that. But he's got the look.

And here are some more family shots.

I just love this one of all three of them peering into the baby's face.

Sarah really does have some of the cutest smartest kids. Did I mention Jack is brilliant AND that he has a great lisp. Oh MAN, to hear him talk just makes you laugh.

So Sarah had this last kid natural, without an epidural. I'm totally going to do it next time. Now that I know what to expect and now that I know that drugs don't really work on my family's body, I'm totally going to go natural. She said she really couldn't tell a difference between going natural and the 3 previous with epidurals. I'm totally doing it.

So mom came to Utah but was saddened to learn that Nathan and Denisse's baby was being shy. She was a few days past her due date, and they told her that they wouldn't induce her until NEXT MONDAY, the day AFTER my mom will fly back to Eureka. This greatly upset my mom.

But then Monday night, we got word that some contractions were happening and then Tuesday morning we got a text saying they admitted her and THIS WAS THE DAY. My mom was SO grateful because it means that she gets to be here and spend the maximum amount of time with that baby.

And so they had their baby!! They named her Camila. Here are some pictures.















They were taken with camera phones, so please forgive the crappy quality. I'll try to get some better shots later. She was 7 lbs 7 oz and just teeny tiny. Holding her I felt like I was holding a shell of a baby. So light. So different from my massive chunker of a child and her ginormous thighs. I include some photos here so you know what kind of chunk we are dealing with:


The left leg is especially fat laden. (You can thank your daddy for those, Evi). Anyway, Denisse seems to be doing well. She leaves the hospital today so we'll see how the next few days & weeks go. Her brother, sister and mother are visiting from Mexico and will be here for the next month, so she'll have plenty of help. That's good. She'll need it!

And the 3rd baby of the season, Jake's baby boy, should be arriving in a few weeks. Mom will be coming out here again for that. I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I can. I bet that kid is going to be HUGE!! We should start taking bets now.

And finally, for all you doubters out there. Here is a video of my child walking.



Why yes, we DO lure here across the room with food. (Those are Cheerios Dad is holding.) If memory serves me correctly, the first time we got a few steps out of her was because she was going for a cracker. My kind of girl.

See, everyone thought I was lying or exaggerating the truth. Everyone thought that maybe she was standing, or cruising and that being a super-proud first time mother I called that "walking." I'm telling you, she's been taking independent steps for almost two weeks now.

My mother was one of the non believers. She told me that sometimes skinny wirey babies walk that early, but never babies as "healthy" as Evi. (And yes, by healthy she meant FAT). But she was instantly proved wrong when Evi proceeded to walk across the room the first time I put her down on the ground.

Anyway, that's what's been going on here. I hope your week is going well!!

Baby Season 2009!! PAAAAR - TAYYY!!!

Seriously? THE VERY SAME DAY?

So growing up watching Disney movies, I'm sure all of you will agree with me that "16" was that super magical age where it was ok to get married. Why does Disney perpetuate this lie that you are somehow an adult at 16? Ariel, Brier Rose, Jasmine are just a few of the girls I can think of off the top of my head that found their true love and got married when they were 16. (Well, maybe Ariel is justified. Who knows the life span of a mermaid. She could've been middle aged for all we know!)

Why would their parent's agree to this? Did they think that Medieval Europe was the best place to get married and have a baby right off? Didn't they know the death rate for childbirth? And the fact that they are a princess doesn't make life any easier. I mean half the time these people have to go through HORRIBLE life-endangering escapades to even be with their significant other. Obviously those were hard times, so why the need to get married so quickly?

But there is one story that has started to really bug me lately. And it comes from my favorite Disney movie. That's right. Sleeping Beauty. Let's go through the story:


1) Parents DESPERATELY want to have a child

2) Parents have child!! (hooray!!) But evil fairy comes and puts a spell on her that she will DIE before end of day of her 16th birthday.

3) Good fairy says "I'll fix it!! I mean I can't stop this, but I can make it better. Let's see, what can I do? Oh, I know! She will only sleep till her true love kisses her." Um fairy? I don't know where you are getting your facts, but that IS "stopping" her from dying. Staying alive till someone kisses you is the very opposite of dying.

And that whole true love kiss thing? That's the best you can do? Why not "Oh, she won't die, She'll just sleep until 3 pm the next day, then she'll wake up and everything will be fine". Or how about "she'll prick her finger, but she won't die. However, that one finger will be rendered totally useless. Better to lose a finger then your life!! Am I right Flora & Fauna? HOLLA!!" I mean if Merriweather can stop her from dying why muck it up with a qualifier? Moving on.

4) Parents, upon hearing the dreaded news that their kid will probably die (or have something else dastardly happen to her in less then 16 years), SEND HER AWAY. I don't know about you, but if I was told the exact day of my child's death and that I most likely will only have 16 years with my precious daughter that I cherish and worked so hard and waited so long to have, I wouldn't send her away at the first time of trouble. If anything I would keep her close, hug her tight, tell her I love her every moment of every day.

And then on the day of her birthday, instead of throwing her some "Super Sweet Sixteen" bash at Jay-Z's club in NY with 450 guest and giving her a Bentley, I would watch her closely and maybe put one of those leashes on her that parents use for their toddlers. So if she's anywhere near the spindle of a spinning wheel, I am too. But that's just me.

5) Parent's aren't smart, they send her away with the fairies to raise her. They get to see her first steps, hear her first words. Man, that would piss me off as a parent that someone else was doing that with MY kid! Especially when I am fully capable of doing it myself! And I've wanted to do it for so long! That would seriously rub me raw.

6) The ALL IMPORTANT 16th BIRTHDAY moment arrives. The fairies know some bad crap might go down. I mean, they were there when the curse was spoken, right? So I'm sure they have her on a toddler leash, right? NO!! THE SEND HER OFF TO THE FORREST UNSUPERVISED!!! We all know the Forrest has bears, and foxes in grandmother's clothing and strange men who are actually princes. Why would you send her off on that day, of ALL DAYS? Seriously? Did you guys even GO to Fairy University? Or did you just get a degree and a magic wand in the mail by correspondence courses?

7) Barely 16 year old girl of course "falls in love" with prince. Never mind it's the first guy she's ever seen. Never mind that she has no idea what marriage is (she was raised by 3 chicks, remember?) never mind she has no idea what a normal family is, she is GONE for this guy. Commence singing, dancing, gazing and sighing. AHhhhhhh.

8) Blah blah blah pricks finger, asleep.

9) Blah Blah Blah Prince rescues her, kisses her, all is right again.

10) The finale: Everyone is anticipating her return to the castle. This is it!! Especially her dearly loving and devoted parents. Remember, they don't know her. She's been hidden from them for a long time for her protection. She's been gone 16 years, but now that the curse is over, her life can go on as normal!!

Her parents are thinking, "She can live with us and we can have the life we missed out on!! She can learn Spanish and go backpacking through Europe and get some normal friends that don't have wings and be irresponsible with her text messages and max out a credit card and live the life that she was sheltered from all those years because she might've been. . . . WHAT? SHE'S ENGAGED?!?!? SHE'S GETTING MARRIED?? SHE'S GOING OFF TO BE WITH SOMEONE ELSE?? WHAT THE &%*#@*& ?!?!?!?!"

That's what I would've said if I were her parents. I would NOT have stood around and watched her dance around with some bozo she only met YESTERDAY. That's right, don't forget she met him less then 24 hours ago and they've only talked/sung/danced/sighed for MAYBE 35 mintues. But now he's going to take her away from them? Buddy, you got a dope-slap of reality comming your way, if that were my kid. Seriously, you take her away from them VERY SAME DAY THEY GET HER BACK? Back it up, son. You need to step away from the 16 year old and go take a cold shower.

So the moral of the story is, maybe Disney movies AREN'T all fun and lollipops. Especially not for the parents.

P.S. I love Sleeping Beauty and fully intend on letting my kid see it. I just wanted to make fun of it for a little while.

Count Your Many Blessings

Today I was going through my email box, and clearing it out. I came across an email that I sent to MYSELF back in Jan of 2008. (it was actually Jan 14, 2008). It was entitled "Something I overheard my boss say today".

Here is the preciously little gem I overheard:

"If it were my kid, I would put them in school with less diversity."

I'm just going to let that comment sit in your brains for a moment. Every day I count my blessings that I don't have to go there anymore. I may be poorer then before, but I am so much RICHER in other areas in my life without that stupid job.

I'm just so thankful to be free.

FRRREEEEDDDOOOOMM!!!!!

Penelope, My Love

I Love my Leatherman. I have named her Penelope. She's a Leatherman "Juice" and she's lovely. Penelope has never let me down. She's always there for me. Almost *TOO* much, if that's possible. She is never more then 5 feet away from me at any time, and I use her almost every day. But that creates a problem sometimes.

For example, back when Reagan lived down in Provo, she invited me to come with her to the county courthouse. See, for one of her classes ( I think it was a family relations class or something) she had to go to DIVORCE court and see people fight with each other. Apparently this was supposed to teach you that divorce was bad and that you wanted to avoid it at all costs. All that experience taught me was that 1) It's stupid to have a child and raise a child when you are still a teenage. There is a VERY VERY low chance that you and the child's father will have a normal amicable life, There are of course people that have done it, but I believe they are the exception, not the rule. This courtroom was FULL of 22 year old girls with 6 year old kids. Next. 2) if you EVER do drugs EVEN ONCE it will be brought up to show what a horrible person you are and how you shouldn't have custody of your child and finally 3) If you don't have good communication skills or intelligence you will most likely end up in court talking about the time that you got drunk and used pot and that you are a horrible mother.

But my point is that I forgot about Penelope and she was discovered hidden in the crevasses of my purse when it went through the x-ray machine. They pulled it out and I said, "oh yeah!! Sorry about that" Reagan was MORTIFIED. She thought they were going to cuff us right there and strip search us because I was "caught" trying to "sneak" a knife into the courthouse. It wasn't a knife!! It was Penelope!! She wouldn't hurt a fly! (A spider, yes. But flies? NO WAY!!)

I did the EXACT same thing a few months later when Marcelo and I went to the immigration building for his Green Card interview. What a place to bring a weapon, right? Someone that can make the decision about my husband staying in this country, and I try to bring Penelope into the office? Super LESS EFFECTIVE. Anyway, I saw the scanner and immediately remembered about Penelope and I had to take her back to our car.

But the real problem comes at airports. I *usually* can remember to take her out and put her in my checked on luggage. Or, if I'm only going for a short trip, I usually end up leaving her at home. She needs a vacation too, sometimes!! But what happens when I forget to take her out of my bag? Such a thing happened December 31, 2008 in the Dallas Love Field Airport.

I forgot to take her out and put her in my carry on luggage. And they of course found her. Penelope is much like me: we both cannot hide in carry-on baggage with ease. And she was found. *Luckily* you can now mail yourself things from the airport (for a ghastly fee, of course) and I chose to do this. I thought about just getting another Leatherman, but I couldn't abandon Penelope like that, not after all we had been through!!

So I mailed her to our address in Utah. The guy doing it said that it might take up to 3 weeks, but he was sure it would be faster then that.

He was lying.

I would listen for the mail every day. As soon as I would hear the door open and close, I would run out and check to see if it had arrived. I was skunked over and over again. No Penelope!! After 3 weeks, I started to realize she was never coming back to me. I mourned her loss. I had a little memorial service for her. I thought about getting another Leatherman, but the pain was too raw, too soon. I couldn't think about doing it and betraying Penelope, especially after all we had been through. So sad. My poor sweet Penelope.

It was over, our time together. Oh, we might've had some more good time, for sure. But our time was cut shor . . . .Wait. What was that? Did you hear that? Did you hear the mail being put in the box? Did it sound different to you? Hold on one second.

PENELOPE!!!!

How I've missed you!! 4 weeks and 1 day after we parted, you returned to me. I'm pretty sure that it was your sheer will and determination that brought you back to me. I know you are tough like that and I know that you missed me too.

We celebrated your return by fixing Evi's high chair, re-wiring my blow dryer, instaling new batteries in some water toys and fishing some hair out of the drain. (Penelope knows I hate touching that stuff with my hands. She doesn't mind taking one for the team) It was a happy reunion. See how happy she is?

I now realize that my life without you would be a shallow echo of what it is now. Let's never be parted again, ok?

Book Review-Which Brings Me to You

Which Brings Me to You: A Novel in Confessions by Steve Almond

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was so funny. In that PG-13 Steve Almond sort of way. It's a series of letters between 2 people who meet at a wedding. They almost jump in the sack with one another at the wedding, but at the last moment they decide to stop and get to know one another first. But because one lives in Philadelphia and one lives in NY they decide to do this by letters. They are "confessional" letters, and they have promised each other they will tell each other the whole truth.

And tell they do. About past loves, their families and their most impacting relationships. It's a very honest book. It's inspired me to be more honest with myself and with what I expect out of life and my marriage. The book is written for people who don't mind total upfront in your face graphic truth about nasty (and great) relationships and what makes them so.

What I really liked about this book was that it was written by 2 different people. So you really got the two voices of the individuals. I've become accustomed to the words and writing styles of Steve A. but the other author, this JENNIFER person is great. I really like her writing.

This book made me laugh out loud at times and I wished the characters tons of happiness. My wishes were mostly granted.


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