Sad, sad news

Just as I was typing the previous post, my husband turned on the news. Suddenly he said,"That guy is in my class!" I looked over to see a report that this young man, a state police trooper and Army National Guardsmen who served deployments in Saudi Arabia & Italy, was killed on his way to assist another officer. 2 other cars, both driven by drunk drivers, crashed into his vehicle, which burst into flames. He leaves behind a wife, his parents, and ten siblings. According to my husband, he was one of the nicest guys. I didn't ever know him, but am deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will certainly be keeping his family in our prayers.

Yippee!!!!

I survived my talk! It even went okay! Now that it's over, I can "hibernate" and read my 5 library books.

And I was extended a calling today... in my favorite Church organization!!! Yea!!!

Is there anything cuter...

...than this little guy?



Really. Seriously. I do not think so.



If that face doesn't make you smile, nothing will.

I just love this kid!

Why am I so crabby?

Hel-loooooo!

So I thought if I went a longer time between postings, I might create some anticipation for the next entry... Judging from the very small number of comments I get and my mostly empty inbox, I'm guessing that I haven't waited long enough. Or something. Actually, The Husband has been monopolizing the computer lately with his papers and projects and presentations, etc., etc., etc. so I don't get so much time to post.

So here I am... and boy, have I been in a bad mood a lot lately. I don't know for sure what it is. We are all healthy, with a roof over our heads. The kidlet is mostly delightful. I've gotten emails this week from friends Camille & Amy C, adorable photos of the Allen kids, and have been thoroughly entertained by posts on friends' (& cousin's) blogs. My dear friend, Melissa, has called a few times in the past week. I've gotten to talk to my Mom, one of my sisters, and two of my fantastic nieces. I'm almost caught up with the laundry. I got five cards made. So what is my problem?

Maybe it's that all those wonderful people live so far away. Maybe it's that the daylight hours are getting shorter. Maybe it's that I hate the way grad school eats up all of my husband's time and most of his energy. Maybe it's because there's always more dirty laundry, and I seem to no longer be capable of keeping a neat house. Maybe it's because I keep getting headaches and when I tell my husband about it, he helpfully suggests, "maybe you're pregnant," when, ahem, quite obviously I'm not. Maybe it's a profound case of ingratitude. Maybe it's that I miss being in Primary. Maybe it's even hormones. Probably it's a little bit of "all of the above."

And also...

I agreed to give a talk in Church this Sunday. Bro. Richards said my reference was the Spring 2007 conference talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin. Great. I love Elder Wirthlin. I love his talks. Then he tells me the topic is "diligent work." Now what in the heck do I know about that topic? Or, how am I supposed to become an expert on that by Sunday? I wish I could just say "no, on second thought, how about we wait for a different topic?"

Help!!!!

Baby Hercules

Okay, I'm not sure this will be as funny to anyone else as it is to me, but here goes...

Our little man-child is extremely strong, especially when it comes to his upper body. I don't know where he gets it, but sometimes it's a little alarming. We had sort of hoped that he was like Samson, and that after we cut his hair he'd be at least a little bit weaker. No such luck.

At one point while discussing this with the Daddy, he said, with just a little bit of pride, "I'll bet he could lift a chicken over his head!" Okay, what? That just cracked me up. Heck, it still cracks me up!

This weekend at Aldi, we bought a three-pound bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken. While I was off getting something else, the little brute lifted the bag out of the cart with one hand. The Daddy was so impressed that he just couldn't stop talking about it.

Later it occurred to me, and I told the Daddy, "Well, you know, he doesn't have access to a real, live chicken. So maybe he did want to see if he could lift a chicken over his head and thought he'd try frozen chicken instead!"

I'm sure that was it, right? ;)

A brief rant

Yesterday, I got some much needed Mommy-time and went to see Harry Potter 5 at the discount theater, which I really enjoyed. But while I was in the restroom, I found further proof of something I guess I've always known. RACISTS ARE SUPREMELY STUPID!

Written on the wall: "Niger's."

Unless this great brain was about to impart some wisdom about the country of Niger before she was interrupted, I think she was showing that she can't even spell the hideous racial slur she felt so compelled to scrawl. I tried to wipe it off, but no such luck.

Veggie Tales

Our little guy has developed a new interest-- vegetables.

Last night he picked up a raw, unwashed potato and tried to bite into it.

This morning, at the farmer's market, he insisted on holding one of the green peppers and carrying it all the way to the car. When we told him it was a pepper, he kept delightedly calling out, "pep-uh! pep-uh!"

This evening while I was cooking dinner, he found an onion, tried to remove the skin, and then rolled it on the kitchen floor.

So I guess maybe we should add farmer or produce man to his list of potential future careers-- along with doorman, clock/watch repairman, musician, dancer, engineer, or photographer (that's a whole other story...)

Hey, wait a minute!

Maybe you can post comments on this dumb blog now! Hooray!

But, wait, how did that happen?

Okay, I promise, no more posts today.

By the way, do you think I should change the name of this site to "this dumb blog?" :)

Have a muy fabuloso day (no idea if that's correct Spanish).

Who are you calling "Big?"

Our little kid had his 15-month appointment today and is very healthy, as usual (thank heavens). He is now 33" (95th percentile) and 28 lbs, 6 oz (85th percentile). The Daddy is quite proud that his son now weighs "two stones."

The new pediatrician isn't concerned about his lack of walking or the size of his noggin, either. She says he is strong enough to walk independently and will just do it when he feels like it. She also says that he's a big kid, so it's normal for him to have a big head. The funny thing is, while she was saying all this, the kidlet was just staring at her like, "what do you mean, 'big?'"

But here's the real "funny": when we were taking him out to the car on the way to the appointment, the Daddy was complaining about all the baby sundries and library books he had to carry. I replied, "Well, all of those things together don't weigh as much as he (the kidlet) does." The kiddo looked right at his mommy and said, "HUSH."

Priceless.

Why you can't post a comment on this blog

We-ell, I don't rightly know. In fact, I haven't a clue.

My uncle tried to help me out, but the changes I made didn't seem to make a difference for this dumb blog. I must have really messed this up somehow.

So, anybody have any advice?

Any ideas?

My husband just hates people talking about him. He's not really into sharing personal info. So I was wondering what I should call him on this blog. I've seen people use "DH" but that just seems so generic. And, you know, my husband is anything but generic!

My thoughts so far:

The Daddy-O

Mr. Man

He Who Shall Remain Nameless (HWSRN)

He Who Wishes to Remain Anonymous (HWWTRA)

or, maybe,

My Very Weird Husband (MVWH)?

What do you think?

Just call me Rosie...

...because I've jumped on the bandwagon and created a Blog. But I promise, no haikus!

I know, what am I thinking? Being a real-life female equivalent to Charlie Brown, I'm just sure no one (other than maybe my mommy) will ever read this. But I'm going ahead based on the following reasoning:

+ It will reduce the number of times I send the same "stuff" to different people. With my aging Mommy brain, I find it somewhat difficult to keep track of what I've told to whom.

+ It will reduce the number of people who have to read my nauseatingly cute stories about my baby. I'm sure not everyone who receives them via email really cares to read them, so if I just post them to a blog, you can choose if you're really in the mood to read one today. Although I guess you could already just be deleting my emails...

+ Sometimes I read such a good book, watch such a good movie, or find such a good bargain that I just want to share it with someone, and blogs seem like a suitable place for such trivia.

But I'm still not sure what all I'll use this for. In my paranoia, I am hesitant to post photos of my darling little baby. Somebody, please reassure me that perverts and random weirdos won't be logging on to check him out! I'm even almost hesitant to post his name-- I was thinking of referring to him as My Little One, but then I remembered that when I was little, my mom had a friend who owned a huge cat named Little One who barfed all over the carpet when we were visiting. So suddenly, that doesn't seem like such a cute nickname!

Anyway, I hope somebody does read this and posts a comment every now and then. Otherwise, I guess I'll just try to keep a regular old journal like other unpopular people.

But please, don't actually call me Rosie. She bugs me! :)