Those Summer Ni-hites

So we had the best time at the Drive-In movies with some friends of ours. I swear, HotDog had a great time too in spite of his frowny face. We got all the kids dressed in their pajamas before heading over to our friend's house for dinner. It was BYOM (bring your own meat). Afterwards, my friend popped a bunch of popcorn and we all drove over to the Point Drive-In Movie Theater. We saw Kung Fu Panda, followed by Indiana Jones. (Two movies for the price of one!) We sat on chairs and blankets for Kung Fu Panda and the kids all caught fireflies and pigged out on candy and popcorn. The night air was warm and breezy. I felt like I had walked straight into Grease with Danny and Sandy, but alas, no cool kitschy candy and hot dogs marching across the screen. 

You could buy cotton candy, popcorn, regular candy, hot dogs and FUNNEL CAKE there though and after the first movie everything is half price in the concession stand. We didn't buy anything that time because we had just eaten dinner and the yummiest cake in the world at my friend's house. It had 10 candy bars mixed into the frosting. I think I'll get it from her and post it. Beau and I were chowing down on candy bar cake during IJ because she kindly packed some for us in a Tupperware. Once Indiana Jones started, we put pillows and blankets down in the back of the car and the kids went to sleep.

The only cons were that the sound wasn't great since it was coming from a radio station and out through our car speakers and the movies started really late to begin with so I dozed off a few times during both movies.

The Drive In movies get a big thumbs up from our family, a really fun start to our summer. I highly recommend it, especially if you are a night owl.

A Vampire for me but not my Daughter

So I'm reading the vampire series. I, like most women who read the book, am into Edward. He is the archetypal male. His got the hair, the eyes, and the body. He also has the charm and the protective nature that most women find appealing. But here's the catch, he is the type of guy that I'd want my girls to stay clear of. If you just examine the way he treats Bella (take away all the meant to be love stuff and the fact that he is a vampire) he's behavior would alarm me as a mother of a teenage daughter. He tells Bella who she can be friends with, where she can go, and what she can do. He also uses he's charm to get his way with Bella. Now to see my point you'll have to step away from your love for Edward and examine his behavior from an outsider looking in. So if you've read the books what's your opinion?

The Good,

I had such a blast at Girls Camp this past week! The theme was Reach for the Stars. I went up as a cook and a fill-in adult leader. In the kitchen I learned how to cook for a large group of people (start three hours ahead and make use of crock pots). I also got put in charge of making things pretty. (See my two cakes for 100 people.) I squirted ketchup in star shapes onto people's plates and fancied up the desserts a little.

I got to know a lot of young women pretty well. When I showed up at camp some of the girls and the adults thought I was a youth leader, age 17. No one believed that I was 30 and had three kids. One of the girls said, "You don't look a day over 25!" This made me realize that each year seems like an eternity when you are a teenager. It felt nice to know that I was young looking. 

The young women were for the most part really warm and fun. I noticed that I was drawn to the mischief makers, but not the jealous haters who tried to make some girls cry. 

I read my scriptures at camp and went on two mountain bike rides. The hike, while it lasted was really beautiful and semi-challenging. There was an 80-year-old woman hiking with us, I was inspired by her. I was asked to give a devotional and was terrified. I absolutely hate standing up in front of a bunch of people and talking about spiritual stuff. I came up with something pretty good and managed to deliver it shaking and bawling my eyes out, but I didn't throw up or toot so I felt pretty good about that.

I got to teach the parlez vouz francee (I know I am just murdering the spelling here) cup game and the girls already knew the other one with the hand clapping and slapping the cup and sing some silly songs I remembered from when I went to girls camp.

I felt like I bridged the gap between the adults and the teenagers and felt comfortable in both camps. One of the teenagers even invited me to her graduation party which made me feel cool. I had tons of fun with the girls and the women (but more with the girls probably because I am so immature). I became a lot closer to some of the women in my ward. I have a new BFF who is 20 years older than me.

There is an awesome little hole in the wall handmade ice cream parlor called Eder's on the way to camp. I got chocolate crunch: light chocolate ice cream with marshmallows, caramel ribbon, and chunks of dark and white chocolate.

If they want me, I will definitely go back next year, but leave my knitting and books at home since I didn't really get much free time. I really appreciated my kids (for still being little and without too much attitude) and my husband for taking care of them so well while I was gone. There is nothing like a week of real live drama to make you appreciate your own life and make you feel appreciated upon your return.

the Lame

The girls only went on one hike. Before the hike they sat through some kind of boring compass, plant and animal identification lectures which took about 2 hours. We started on the hike which was looking really rocky and cool and then about halfway through the sky started dumping down rain with thunder and lightening. We had to hightail it back down to the cars and by then we were all soaking wet. I had just purchased a new raincoat which turned out to not be waterproof. It soaked through in about 2 minutes. Some of the girls were crying and being dramatic and everyone was telling all the stories about people they knew who had been struck by lightening at Girls Camp.

Some of the pranks were malicious. Someone put poop on one of the soap dishes in the shower, luckily it was discovered by a girl who managed not to touch it as she reached for the taps, but smelled it instead. Someone else wrote a cruel note to a adult leader and signed another girl's name to it. Fortunately, we saw it before it every got to the adult leader. Some girls must have been sippin' on Haterade that week. The girl whose name was signed was crying her eyes out because she knew who had done it and had been continually bullied by that girl and had just gotten on good terms with that particular adult leader.

Some of the innocent pranks went South. A handful of girls were dying to prank somebody, but the rule was that they had to get permission from an adult leader to play their prank. They had brought saran wrap, shaving cream, silly string and cornstarch with them to camp. As adult leaders we felt that they shouldn't prank the younger girls and were trying to come up with a solution that would please everyone. Some of the adult leaders were very reluctant to help out around camp and some refused outright to do tasks they felt were beneath them. In frustration, one of the adult leaders told these pranksters that they had permission to prank those adults. I was so tired of hearing the pranksters say that they were going to get someone that night and we couldn't stop them, that I finally said, "Sister so and so already gave you permission. What are you waiting for?" Those girls were up and dressed and armed in about 10 seconds and flew out the door. They got some younger girls to come with them and sprayed shaving cream and silly string all over the chosen adult leaders and then ran back to our cabin. We sat giggling and waiting for them to come back and get us with silly string and the like because we had sent the girls over there. In a few minutes we saw flashlights heading our way and suddenly our cabin was pitch black and filled with fake snores. The younger girls who had assisted in the prank came in crying. Two of the adult leaders had yelled at them. One said a swear word (the mildest one). One had an asthma attack. The pranksters and the guilty leaders had to go over and apologize to the adults and the younger girls who got yelled at. Everyone was crying (except me, I'm not a crier). I thought I was going to be sent home or have to drive some girls home in the middle of the night. Instead, while we were walking back and the repentant pranksters were crying away, I accidently let a loud toot slip out because I was so nervous and cold. Those girls kept asking me if I was nervous the rest of the week:) That was pretty embarrassing and probably belongs in the funny post. Luckily, coming from the family I have, I just don't get embarrassed that easily. I think my mom, dad and step mom knocked the embarrassment out of me with all their crazy antics.

The food was kind of badish. Everything was swimming with butter and fat and the menu was unbalanced. The kitchen often had too much of one thing and ran out of another. The ovens burned the bottoms of everything while leaving the tops raw. The four slot toaster one had one working slot. The flies were having an extended family reunion in our kitchen. The food was not to my taste at all: hot dogs, sausages, mayonaisy tuna, baloney, soggy egg casserole. Plus I had to be in there every morning at 6 a.m. to prepare food I wouldn't be eating. I did bring some food for myself and the cook did make me a bunch of hard boiled eggs.

I kind of felt like a combination babysitter/prison guard at times. There were a few nights that another woman and I were out patrolling the grounds at 3 a.m. and putting girls back in their cabins or breaking up some suspicious activities. (I don't care if people have same gender attraction issues, I just feel that a church camp is not the place to act on their feelings.) Then I would have to get up to work in the kitchen a few hours later. There was a lot of teen girl drama to sort through and I had forgotten about the emotional roller coaster that teens and tweens go through. I was mystified by some of the problems we had at camp that I had to get involved in. My mom said that it was karma coming to bite me in the butt for being such a troublemaker as a teenager myself. I hate it when she's right;)

. . . and the Funny

A lot of funny stuff happened at camp. There were a bunch of harmless pranks, the girl pictured had her sleeping bag cornstarched by her friend. It was all in good fun because they are both pranksters who played pranks together. 

Another girl stole a bunch of bras and underwear from some adult leaders and before she could run them up the flagpole or freeze them, the camp director came out and said absolutely no pranks. So the girl silently opened a locker in the bathroom and pointed to the unmentionables in front of me. I put them in a plastic bag and was trying to decide what to do with them when an adult leader came up and said, "Give me back my bra! I know you have it." 

One lady grabbed her sleeping bag during the day and went to take a nap in a different cabin, clouds of cornstarch were billowing out of it as she walked along trying to find somewhere to take a nap (she had been up until 5 a.m. sorting out drama). She felt bad because someone poured cornstarch in her sleeping bag after she had officially banned pranks. She took her nap in the nurses' station and then started walking across the camp. A girl (I nicknamed her Sporty Spice) came running towards her:

 

Sporty Spice: Sister K, I've been looking all over for you!

Sister K : I bet you have! (Thinking it was this girl who had pranked her.) 

Sporty Spice:What are you doing with my sleeping bag?

Sister K: This is MY sleeping bag!

Sporty Spice: No, it is my sleeping bag.

Sister K: (Looking down) Look, here on the label it says . . . oh you're right, it is your bag.

Then Sister K felt better because she had pranked herself and it wasn't one of the girls. 

Someone put a hair net in my secret sister pouch with a note: hair net, please use. I started worrying that one of my hairs fell into someone's food and seriously considered wearing the hair net the next time I was in the camp kitchen. It turned out that the head cook stuck it in my pouch as a joke.

Some of the girls were big Rugrats fans and kept singing, "Cynthia, Cynthia, she's a really cool dancer," from Rugrats the movie. We had a lot to discuss in terms of cartoons. BTW, the way to say, "I'm ready, promotion" from SpongeBob the movie in Spanish is, "estoy listo, asenscio."

Hairbaby gets her hair washed

I had to post this picture - its my favorite of Hairbaby's birthday photos. Headbanger and Hairbaby look completely different, but they both have huge cheeks!

Chicken Little's New Chick

The Hair Baby

Flashlight and I are thrilled to announce the early arrival of Hairbaby. She was born on Monday, June 23 at 12:57 pm weighing 7 lb 11 oz and 20 in long.

Hairbaby was scheduled to be born by cesarean section on July 9th, but on Sunday night I started having frequent contractions and Flashlight and I went to labor and delivery to get it checked out. After monitoring me all night, my doctor decided that it would be best not to wait and she was born a few hours later by c-section.

Getting the spinal block was a little scary, but the rest of the birth experience was really positive. Flashlight was with me during the surgery and I got to breastfeed her soon after she was born. She seems to be a content baby but starts screaming when I change her diaper or clothes. Hopefully she'll get used to that soon. I had fantastic nurses who spent hours helping her feed. She hasn't got the hang of it yet, but I think that she'll do much better when my milk comes in.

We came home last night and we're both doing very well. With thick dark hair, she looks the opposite of Headbanger, who only recently decided to grow hair.

Laugh with me about lingerie

My niece, on Flashlight's side, is getting married in a few short weeks. Her bridal shower is a few days before the wedding and I've been asked to buy lingerie. I'm pretty excited by this as I'm 36 weeks pregnant and feeling very un-sexy. Looking through lingerie collections online has helped me feel a little sexier. I keep thinking "ooh, when the baby's born and I've shed the water weight, I can't wait to try something like this..."

The problem is that I don't really know my niece that well. She's LDS (they're getting married in the St. George Temple) and 19 or 20 years old. She's tallish with a slim/medium build and I've been told that red and pink things are out of the question. At the moment I'm leaning toward this (I'm a big fan of Victoria's Secret) in white but I'm not sure. To me, it says innocence in a subtle summery-sexy way, which, in my opintion, is probably good for an inexperienced woman. I often feel out-sexed by lingerie and tend to prefer tamer stuff.

After having a good laugh with Flashlight over some of these, especially the ones in the top row, he suggested something other than white, because white is the color of her regular underwear. He liked this one, which is, um, a little less subtle.

So I need some help here, ladies. What would you recommend for a first-timer on her wedding night?

Treat yourself to a retreat

All this talk lately has taken me back to a few retreats I've taken in my last twelve years of parenting and housewifeing.  Most of them have involved either camping or backpacking alone or with a good friend, but one of my favorites has to be when I went to Kripalu, a yoga retreat center  in the Massachusetts Berkshires.  At the time, the program I did was called Danskinetics,   Danskinetics is all about exploring inner rhythm and expressive movement.   The first day felt a little awkward for me because I felt very exposed in a way that I was unaccustomed to, but after half a day or so, something opened up inside me that washed it all away.  My favorite moment of all was a mid-day dance to the music of  live world drummers.  There were so many people having such a great time that some of us ended up outside dancing barefoot in a rainstorm for an hour.  There was another moment where the instructor played music and asked us to dance through a painful experience we'd had in our lives.  Ok, I know, it all sounds a bit new agey but it was really amazing.

At the beginning of the retreat, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I might learn and I analyzed everything.  After a short time I realized that I learn more by doing than by analyzing every step.  So I checked reflection at the door and threw myself into life and tried to soak up every moment of freedom and movement and sensational organic, vegetarian cooking,  yoga and long walks and going to bed/waking up when I darn well felt like it and just having fun.

Several days after I got home, the things I learned starting surfacing.   I  took away from the experience a greater sense of genuine self-acceptance and acceptance of everyone around me.  I  took away a real understanding that taking care of myself is a crucial piece of fulfilling my desire to be a good mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter, etc.  Wow, it makes me want to go back...

If you could have a few days away to do anything or go anywhere alone, where would you go and what would you do?  Have you ever had a formal or informal retreat that hit the spot?

My First Braids by a Pro

I am going camping with a bunch of teenage girls next week and wanted to put my hair in braids like I used to in college and at Girls' Camp. I have actually done it myself or had a friend do it many times, but I have never had it done by a professional. 

I have an African American friend who very generously spent 6 hours straight braiding my hair today. She put a lot of Carol's Daughter Loc Butter as well as gel in my hair as she was braiding it so it is a little greasy feeling. To make it last as long as possible I have to sleep with it wrapped in a headscarf, wash it very gently and wrap the top part up until it dries to keep it from getting frizzy. 

When she was doing the straight down braids in the back it felt really nice, like when Beau Brummel plays with my hair when we are watching TV together. The top/front of my hair was a different story though, it hurt a lot. Tears were coming out of my eyes when she was doing the little corn rows on top. I think she got excited that she was so close to being done that she hurried and got a little rough with lots of yanking and pulling. But it was worth it. She keeps her own hair in dreadlocks, but braids her daughter's hair in lots of different styles every week.

She was telling me funny stories about when she would get her hair braided in Philadelphia by women who only spoke Patois. Once she ended up staying in the salon until 1:30 a.m. to get it done because the braid were so tiny. Sometimes getting your hair braided is a 2-3 day process. She also said that often her head hurt so badly after getting it braided that she would have to take Tylenol and lay down for the rest of the day. I guess I got off easy with a slight headache, but it looks so cool I don't really mind. Beau Brummel says I look like I could be half African American. When I first looked in the mirror after she was done, I said, "Wow! I look like Alicia Keyes!" (I know, wishful thinking:)

Just Get Out There and Do It!

I went on a longish (18 mile) bike ride with a good friend of mine early this morning, let's call her Farrah Funtime. It was relaxing because it had some gentle hills and stimulating because  Farrah Funtime is a great conversationalist. We talked a little about a friend of ours (let's call her Wanda Wish-a-lot) who is always saying that she wishes she could just wake up and be someone else that she really admires. Farrah Funtime was saying that she would like to say to Wanda Wish-a-lot that instead of wishing to be someone else she should just love herself and if she really wants to, she can work on developing the qualities she admires in other people. What a great piece of advice! 

I feel like for a long time I was doing some similar wishing, but just not verbalizing how I felt. I got tired of listening to my own pathetic mind-whine. Gradually, I just starting do the things I really wanted to do and being who I wanted to be.

 

I think it makes a big difference that we are somewhere we hope is permanent and can put out little friendship rootlets without fear of moving in a year or two like we have been during our whole married life. My kids are all old enough to entertain each other or themselves and are actually fun for me to play with. 

I am finally starting to be the spunky woman I have always wanted to be, a facilitator if you will. Instead of just thinking about being a cyclist, I am a cyclist. Instead of wishing I could get together with friends more, I make it happen or accept other people's invitations and let the housework hang (until the house starts to smell, then I do an intervention). I think it is so important for women to do things that they enjoy for themselves that have absolutely nothing to do with the house, or husband or kids. Farrah Funtime was saying that it is good for kids to see their mothers doing things that they enjoy for themselves so that they know it is healthy for women to have interests outside of the home.

Here are some things I enjoy: cycling, reading until I can't keep my eyes open, knitting, sewing, making earrings, cooking exotic foods, playing board games, laying out, scrapbooking, decorating cupcakes, blogging and trying to grow vegetables. I guess a lot of those things have to do with my family, but you will notice that cleaning and childcare are nowhere in sight.

What do you all enjoy? What are some new things you want to try? What do you plan to do with your life once your children are grown? (I plan on becoming a children's/Young Adult Librarian in a school or possibly opening my own cupcakery.) What makes you glad to be alive? Get out there and do it! Find a babysitter, it is worth the money or babysitting trades to feel like your life isn't just an endless stream of diapers, dishes and laundry. I challenge you to make time for yourself to do something you already really enjoy or take up something new.

I think I might start a local women's cycling group. Beau Brummel is kind of a nay-sayer at this point because he thinks I am spreading myself too thin. But I say, nay to you Beau! Life is for living and I am going to live my brains out.

Keep trust in myself

I recently reached a point where I realised I had to regain trust in myself. I felt crappy and did not know exactly why, considering the fact that I look like a happy mother, a happy wife, have a house and 4 adorable kids at 30. What was wrong?
The answer is now clear to me. Because of my health problems! The French saying is : quand la santé va, tout va. In the opposite, when health is not au rendez-vous, nothing goes well (in the head at least). Reading the post on Lady doctor, I felt a little better thinking, oh, I'm not the only one getting in trouble.
Since June 2007 (my first period after my 4th pregnancy) and May 2008, I had bleedings and spottings continuously, and I have had about 6 cystitis or urinary tract infection. Having taken 4 times antibiotics, having had inbetween that either vomiting or diarrhea (stomach pain anyway) I have been more or less very incomfortable since a year now.
It takes time to analyse and point out what's going wrong. Today, being again sick and taking antibiotics, I know for sure that: what changed after my 4th baby compared with the others is that I started to take the pill and that pill was based on progesteron, then I had a DIU with progesteron as well and the bleedings kept on. Since the gyneco took it out end of April (telling me that I lack obviously oestrogen hormon), I had my first normal cycle since ages in May. I told my husband, "you don't mind if we use condoms the time my hormons get back to normal?" but then, I started to have a cystitis again. I read on the internet that lack of oestrogen and lack of vaginal secretion can lead to vaginal infection and thus urinary infection as well after sexual intercourse. My gyneco told me as well to gain some weight because lipid help produce oestrogen hormon. So, now, I am in a much better mood. My action is : gain weight, produce more oestrogen, to produce more vaginal secretion, to protect better the area from germs! Simpler to say than to do, but at least, I have a plan! I weight 45kg instead of 48kg before marriage and 50kg after giving birth. Even the Wiifit tells me I am underweight...

Banoffee Waffle

I have not lived in England for almost two years now so my memories of our time there are currently rose coloured:). One of my favourite things to eat at the Coton Orchard was their version of banoffee waffles. I craved these constantly and ate them about once a month. You can leave out the Heath bits and mini chips or sprinkle them on top of the waffle instead of inside it. It will still be yummy. I think this would be a nice breakfast to make for Father's Day. Here's my version:

Waffle Batter mixed from recipe on Bisquick box (I know, kind of lame, but with little kids you have to take all the short cuts you can)

heath bits or mini chocolate chips

whipped cream whipped with 2 t sugar and a drop of vanilla

Smucker's Caramel topping

Hershey's syrup

bananas sliced into circles

chocolate bar to shave with microplane grater

Make your waffles in the waffle maker by pouring 1/3 c or more batter in and sprinkling sparingly with Heath bits and mini chocolate chips (about 5 or less minutes to achieve crispy on the outside, soft on the inside). Put on plate, top with whipped cream, then bananas, drizzle with caramel sauce and chocolate syrup and shave a little chocolate on top. 

YAY! We made it to 100 posts!

Housewives Out Loud is now officially . . . official. That was a little anti-climactic. Anyway, good for us! Now in celebration I will reveal a few cupcaking secrets. These include the dip and swirl method, basket weave frosting technique and mini-marshmallow flower petals.

Has anyone had any life changing events they would like to post about? Posting is cathartic and comments can be really supportive. Also, if you have a poll you would like me to put on the blog, email me.

If you were a spice...

This evening, several of the Relief Society Presidency came over to visit. I'm almost 35 weeks along and they wanted to see how I was doing and if they could help with anything. I've been impressed with this presidency, as they seem to be a pretty well-oiled machine.

One of them made the comment that I'm "spicy" - that my life experience is so very different from the other sisters in our ward, who have spent most of their lives in Southern Utah. I was surprised at the word "spicy" and the sister clarified that I was "good spicy". I wasn't offended but thought that this was a funny comment. To me, I'm fairly tame Chicken Little. Sure, I've lived in Scotland, England, have a doctoral degree and some other unusual experiences, but I really don't see myself as spice-material. Maybe a bland spice - like garlic salt or dessicated onion (to me, garlic and onions are mild), but definitely not cayenne pepper or cumin. Heck, I'm not even as exciting as pre-ground black pepper.

Are you spicy? What kind of spice do you identify with?

Lady Doctor

If anyone is uncomfortable talking about women's reproductive health please look away right now . . . 

OK, I warned you.

So I have been skipping 2 or 3 periods at a time and then having one long old horrible heavy period for a month. It really sucks! So I went to my lady doctor (who happens to be a lady) and was chatting with her about it today. 

She told me I should consider endometrial oblation which is where they take out your lining, but she said I couldn't have any more kids if I did that. That sounded way too scary to me. I don't mind have regular periods, just the super-heavy-housebound-for-a-month kind. She also suggested an IUD, but I have too many friends and family members who have had trouble with theirs and I don't like the idea of something foreign taking up residence in an area I like to keep vacant most of the time. She told me she has had a lot of complaints of weight gain from women who get the depo shot. Hmmm . . . all less than ideal or downright crappy.

What I want to do is start taking birth control pills to have more regular and hopefully lighter periods and also clear up this pesky adult acne I can't seem to shake. I have seen tons of ads for YAZ with its catchy "we're not gonna take it" music and wanted to try that. LD said it is one of the best pills out there for stabilizing hormones and controlling acne, but that some insurance companies won't pay for it. She gave me a prescription for Yaz and also for a generic pill. 

LD renewed my prescription for a medication that will stop the bleeding if my current period goes on for more than 7 days. 

As a bonus, I got a Pap smear (after the nurse told me I didn't need one since I had one 11 months ago). I do have to give Lady Doctor props for being thorough. But dang it! I hate getting Pap smears, I always feel kind sore inside afterwards. Lady Doctor also had me get an ultrasound. It would have been very relaxing with the dim lighting and 3 cd player on the wall that changed colors every few minutes (I was mesmerized by that thing) and the warm jelly on my belly, but I did have to drink 32 ounces of water 2 1/2 hours prior to my appointment and then hold my pee through the ultrasound. I thought that was a uncomfortable, but then I got a real treat . . . a transvaginal ultrasound to determine if I had polyps or cysts on my uterus that might be causing the bleeding. That machine looked like a really space age dildo and felt just as creepy as it looked. Oh, and I had to insert it myself. It just doesn't make sense to me that a doctor can stick a speculum, or as I call it, the pinchy duck, in you or gloved fingers, but make you put a transvaginal ultrasound probe in yourself. I was so stunned that I laughed. I felt kind of dirty. Ugh!

Later on, my husband was kind of testing the waters and I said, "I think I've had enough vaginal invasion today, thanks anyway." (I just growled when he suggested we just fool around.) Oh, to be a man and actually be comfortable with your nether regions. 

How can I come to terms with my lady parts? I am tired of all the trouble they are causing. I am sick of their fragility. Bleh! I'm just plain sick of being a woman. How did you all come to terms with visiting the LD, having sex, episiotomies and all that vagina crap? Right now I feel exactly the opposite of the song I Love Being a Girl. The best part of having a vagina is that it brought my kids into the world, with that important job completed I would now like my V to retire in the country somewhere pleasant and far away and return only when I am in the mood (very rarely).

These Cupcakes are Dedicated to Chicken Little and her Chick(s)

HotDog had a preschool program with a barnyard theme and his teacher asked me to make some animal cupcakes. See horses, pigs and sheep here.

Best Anniversary Present Ever

Our beautiful new piano.

Flashlight and I been talking about buying a piano for the last few months. We've read the official piano-buying guide, been to several piano stores, played lots of pianos and got lots of advice from others. We decided on a small Yamaha grand from a local shop and were waiting to figure out how to pay for it and possibly play some other pianos in Las Vegas.

Today is our fourth anniversary and Flashlight woke up at 7 and announced that the piano would be arriving around 8:30. I thought that he was joking, but it turns out that he wasn't. I was so happy I cried, though pregnancy hormones may have helped. The piano people arrived on time and now we are the proud owners of a piano!

Having a piano means a lot to me. I've had about 11 years of lessons and playing got me through difficult patches in high school and at home. Recently, Headbanger has shown great interest in pianos and we hope to get her lessons in a few years. She has Flashlight's long fingers (not my short stubby ones) and loves to bang on the piano. Unfortunately, the first thing she did with our new piano was to bang her head against it. Fortunately, I don't think it will put her off.

My Child Eats Bugs

Q. What is more revolting than find a dead bug on your child's lip?
A. Finding half a bug on your child's lip.

Recently, my sister-in-law told me a story that a friend had told her. The friend is watching her toddler play in their back yard, when the toddler spots a large cockroach (they're everywhere in the Southwest). As the toddler reaches for the roach, the conversation goes something like this:

Mom: "No!"
Toddler "I eat the bug!"
Mom: "NO! NO BUG!"
Toddler: "Mama, I EAT THE BUG!"

The scene ends with the mother wrestling the child away.

I would love to be able to tell you that Headbanger has never eaten a cockroach. I really would. But twice I've seen her chewing on something suspicious and have pulled out cockroach pieces. We have a clean home and routinely spray for pests, but these awful creatures love the climate.

Its been a while since the last cockroach incident, but yesterday I found half of a dead fly on her lip. There's no doubt in my mind where the other half went.

So what's worse - eating cockroaches or eating flies? Or are they equally gross?

Easy Camper

How do two women who shared the same camping experience every summer for 6 years (except that one time when you decided to be a cheerleader???) come away with such different experiences? I don't know.

But, I do love camping. I've been dying to get back to nature ever since I married my very non-outdoorsy husband, Muscles almost nine years ago. It's not really his fault that he doesn't like to camp. If I grew up in the hot, humid, swampy, rainy, bugs the size of small birds paradise that is Orlando, FL, I too would think twice before committing to a few days of living in the great outdoors.

So, I go it alone. Not really alone. Just without him. I have had the incredible opportunity of being a leader twice at our Stake's Young Women Camp. (I don't know when they became Young Women instead of Girls at camp but whatever.)

I love to hike and backpack. Seeing the sights that no car-bound person could ever see is breathtaking. Swimming in a snow-melt (read: freezing) lake while the warm August sun shines down on you after a long dusty day of backpaking is beyond refreshing. Campfires at night with smores, who doesn't love that? Stargazing while beyond the reach of light pollution from the SF Bay Area reassures you that there is a Divine Creator and He loves you!

In August of 2008 I will have my third opportunity to see the sights and commune with nature. Expect more posting then.

So, here's to camping, hiking, backpacking, nature walks, and campfires!

Camping Virgin Gets Laid

So I have never been a big fan of camping. My camping experience was pretty much limited to Girl's Camp as a tween and teenager and while I liked the spiritual atmosphere, the hiking and camping parts kind of stunk. There was one year when the leaders underestimated the amount of food we would need and we spent a week backpacking through Yosemite, with severely rationed food for the last 3 days. I used to have allergic reactions to mosquito bites as well (they swelled up to half golf ball-sized lumps on my face on group picture day). Fun times. I have been very very very resistant to camping because of those experiences. Now I feel major anxiety about wild animals, weirdoes with guns, being outside in the dark and getting lost.  So much so that every time anyone asked us to go camping I always had many excuses not to go. 

A friend of ours invited us to go camping with a bunch of families this past weekend and I decided to bite the bullet and go (after Beau Brummel accepted without consulting me and I had to save face). I felt like I was being ridiculous in my fear of camping. If other sane parents can and have been doing it for years why couldn't I? The weekend before we visited some friends who took us kayaking and fishing. It was pretty fun and segued beautifully into our first family camping trip. 

The State Park we camped is about 1/2 an hour away so it is perfect for the outdoorsly challenged folk like myself. If it rained to hard or I got scared I could pack up and drive home in the middle of the night. There is a 300 foot white sand beach by a lake which has a playground and a concessions stand and bathrooms. The lake water was brain freezing cold so we waded. Only Beau Brummel was extreme enough to go all the way in. The kids dug holes and buried each other in the sand and played water tag with one very fun adult (not me obviously). At night we ate potluck style and everyone brought great food: pasta salad, rice salad with cashews, hummus and veggies, crackers with pesto and tomatoes, grilled chicken and shrimp. I brought a pasta salad and rhubarb muffins. Then we all sat around the fire and some of us sang and played the guitar (not me again) and made s'mores. (BTW, Marshmallow Peeps make THE BEST roasted marshmallows because the sugar on the outside caramelizes similar to the top of creme brulee.) One of the dads is a local singer and sang some Elvis. During one of his songs I was roasting marshmallows and they caught on fire. I foolishly started shaking my stick to put out the flames and one of the marshmallows flew through the air and landed on my sleeve, still flaming. Surprisingly no one panicked, not even me. I blew it out and ate if off my slightly singed sleeve. The singer, a true professional, finished his song without pause and then thanked me for supplying the pyrotechnics. 

I got to do a little Camping Mythbusters as well. Did you know you can make biscuits in a campfire using a stick and Bisquick mixed with water? Did you know you can boil water in a paper cup? It is true! The only thing I didn't get to test out was frying an egg in a paper bag with bacon on the campfire, but I am not going to let the grass grow under my feet. I think I will go camping again when my mom and sister are visiting this month.

I also got to eat mountain pies which are made using a cast iron pie iron, bread and canned pie filling. That was thrilling since I had read all about mountain pies the week before. Beau Brummel says I can't have a pie iron until I go camping 6 times. With all the campfire cookery I tried, I neglected to make a tinfoil dinner. I will definitely try it out next time. I didn't want to run before I figured out if I could walk the camping walk.

I did have a couple things that interfered with my newfound camping lurv: once I thought Sassafrass was lost and I had a heart pounding 15 minutes running around trying to find her and at the same time not scream her name and demand that everyone allow me to search their campers (she was at the beach playground with all the other kids and the dads, I knew she was going with them, but didn't actually see her go with them). On our way back from the beach, Jedi took us on a short cut which turned out to be an un-scenic trek through the woods in the dark carrying HotDog on my back and holding Sassafrass' hand while she thought she saw burglars, bears, and wolves. We walked past our campsite and made a 20 minute loop in the dark before we finally found it after tripping over roots and rocks in the dark (yes, this unseasoned greenhorn forgot to carry a flashlight). My final and most potentially embarrassing mishap was when I woke in the middle of the night because my bladder was screaming to be emptied. I couldn't find a flashlight and I was too scared to try to find my way to the bathroom so I went pee a little ways from my tent out in the open with tons of other tents of people I had met close by. Luckily I think they were all asleep, but the whole time I was peeing I was thinking, "what if a bear sees me and bites my butt?" or "what if a wolf smells me and starts running over here?" 

Jedi like burning leaves, sticks and pine needles best. He started an unauthorized fire with another child. HotDog's definition of camping is, "when you get to sleep in your clothes in a tent and you don't need pajamas." Sassafrass' favorite part was wading and catching minnows.

Our family was slightly out of place in terms of granola-ness. We were probably the least crunchy family there. I think I was one of the few women wearing a bra and I'm almost positive I was the only one who shaves her legs and armpits. I think our kids were some of the only non-homeschoolers too. But with kayaking and fishing one weekend and camping the next, I think we're well on our way to crunchiness. I did actually make and bring my own toffee granola which was a big a hit as the camping itself.