Midnight writing

My little brother is serving a mission in Uruguay for our church.  Every Monday he gets to check his email.  I'm usually pretty good at remembering to send him a message but I forgot last week.  So I really wanted to remember to write him this week.

Last night when I was nursing Porter I remembered I hadn't emailed Tyler yet.  "It's my lucky day!" I thought as I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 1:50 AM.  I could still send him an email and he'd get it!  (Right now there's a 5 hour time difference between us and Uruguay and he checks his email pretty early in the day.)

Later this morning when I read his letter to the family he said a few things that made me think maybe he didn't get my email.  I was positive I sent him a newsy message.  So I checked my "Sent Mail" to make sure I sent the letter to the correct address.

I did send the email to the right place.  But here is the text of my email, copied verbatim (and I want you to know it was typed with one hand, so please forgive the typos):


"Dear Ty,

Merry Christmas!  We're all so excited to talk to you this next week!  

We're doing well.  The semester anf finals ended for Nate last Thursday.  He is enjoying time ff until January.  He quit his Dominos drive but so far they haven't noticed a big uptick in left since he died.

Christmas really snuck up on me this year!  I guess having a baby will do that to you.

love , Katie"

When I was a kid

When I was a kid, gas was under a dollar per gallon.

It was always in the ninety cent range but it was still less than a dollar.  Other things that were a dollar or less: a dozen eggs, apples (even out of season), and movies from Redbox.  (Okay, Redbox wasn't around when I was a kid, but the movies were just $1 when Redbox started.)

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college I remember the price of gas increased drastically-it reached the $1.50/gallon range.  I distinctly remember thinking, "Man, gas is getting expensive.  I'll have to cut down on my visits home during the school year!"

Did I?  No.

In fact, I think I started driving MORE.

The summer I bought my car, gas prices reached $4 a gallon.  I took public transit to work for a while until I realized it was still cheaper for me to drive than to pay to ride the train.  Take that for what it's worth, UTA.

Yesterday I bought gas for $2.999 a gallon.  Sure, it rounds to $3 per gallon but I LOVED seeing the 2 in the dollar position.  It felt amazing to buy gas for "less" than $3 a gallon!  I wanted to shout my good fortune from the housetops.  And I wanted to share with Porter that when I was a kid we would have been shocked to pay more than $1 per gallon of gas.  Or at least more than $1.10 per gallon.

So now that I have declared my good fortune, maybe I'll take yesterdays savings and rent some movies from Redbox!

First-timers

When we were preparing to leave the hospital I wanted to make sure Porter would be warm.  So I bundled him up in a warm sleeper and two blankets before we took him out to the car:

Of course I hadn't been outside for 2 days and I didn't know it was unseasonably warm for being the day before Thanksgiving.  I was shedding layers of coats and jackets as I got into the car.  I think Porter was warm enough!

We stopped on our way home to get Nate some lunch.  I'd been riding in the back seat with Porter (after being made fun of by the nurse - "You'll have plenty of time to look at him," she said when she helped me into the backseat) but after our stop I decided to ride shotgun where there is more leg room. 

On our hour-long drive home, I started to worry because I hadn't heard anything from the back seat.  Was my baby still alive??  I tried craning my neck to see, but to no avail.  Then I remembered, "Hey!  I have a cell phone!  And it has a camera!" So, being ever resourceful, I decided to snap a picture of him to make sure he could breathe. 

I took the picture and then looked at it.  I was slightly shocked at what I saw:

This isn't exactly what you want to see when you're headed home for the first time with your baby.  

We hadn't taken him out of his car seat when we were getting Nate lunch so I knew he still had to be in there.  After all, I had pictures that proved we'd put him in the seat in the first place (see above).

So I was rather panicked for the rest of the ride home.  We stopped at Walgreens to fill a prescription and I jumped into the back seat where I saw my poor baby with his head flopped down onto his body.  It is amazing how little babies can bend!

I straightened his neck out and then proceeded to watch him.  Nate came back to the car (he'd run the prescription in to get it filled) and he said we had 15 minutes before it would be ready.  So he also climbed into the back seat on the other side of Porter and we stared at Porter for the next 15 minutes.

First-time parents?  Yep.

When the prescription was ready Nate ran back in to get it.  Then we drove the rest of the way home.  

I sat in the back with Porter.  No more head-flopping on my watch!

Dueling Sunbeams

Last Sunday was our ward's primary program.  The chapel was filled with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, long-lost friends of the family, second cousins thrice removed, etc. all there to listen to the children sing and share what they've learned in church this year.

The program began normal enough.  The stand was filled with children - over 80 kids.  In fact, they didn't all fit up on the stand; there were three rows of kids sitting down in the congregation as well.  The younger children were, of course, squirming, not used to having to sit still for so long. 

The children sang the first two or three songs without incident. 

Then two of the sunbeams got bored.

Sunbeams, for those who don't know, are 3 turning 4 years old.  They are the youngest class that participates in the primary program.  This year, the sunbeams are the little children I taught in nursery last year, so it was fun to watch them participate in their first primary program.

The two children in question were standing next to each other.  At some point they declared battle; each decided to try to out-sing the other.

They didn't quite succeed in outsinging each other. However, they did manage to outsing the other 80+ kids participating in the program. 

Impressivley, they knew every single word to the songs they were singing.  Unfortunately, they didn't know every single note.  They were terribly out of tune.  Eventually they were shouting, "I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE!  I"M GOING THERE SOMEDAY! TO FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT!  TO LISTEN AND PRAY!"  Lets just say, that's not quite the normal rendition of that usually reverent song! 

The congregation loved it. I've never seen so much laughter during a primary program before.

At one point another one of the sunbeams covered her ears with her hands, turned to the duelers and said loudly, "SHHH!!!  Be quiet!"  This increased the chuckles in the audience.

The fun came to an end when the pianist (and mom of one of the duelers) got up and moved her daughter away from the competition, putting another sunbeam between the two.  Although they both continued to sing loudly, it just wasn't the same.  I think everyone was slightly disappointed.  Except maybe the mom.  This is probably one program she'll never forget!

If a picture says a thousand words...

...then I'm curious what my pictures say about me.

I love having an iPhone.  One of the reasons is because of the built-in camera.  No matter where I am I can take pictures of people and places.

Apparently I also like taking pictures of random things that make me laugh.  Most of the time I take those pictures I think, "This will make a great blog topic."  How many of those pictures have actually made it to my blog before now?  One.  It was the snake.

My little sister was flipping through my pictures one day and she kept looking at me as if I'd gone crazy.

Perhaps it's because I seem to like bugs...

I took a picture of this bug so
I could look up what type of bug
 it was.  Did I? No.

This was just a really cool cricket.

I liked the dragon fly's big blue eyes.
Too bad he was dead.

Or maybe it's because I take pictures of random toilets.  Like the double toilet I found in a local Arby's.  I was glad there was a deadbolt on the bathroom door.  I didn't feel like company.

Then there are pictures I take of signs that make me wonder about what led to the sign being necessary in the first place. 

Check out the note underneath the dog.
I'm glad they clarified to size of the dog.  I was worried.

Maybe she was impressed by the picture I took to prove how amazing my ability is to endure cold temperatures.  This picture was taken on Halloween.

Yes, it says -76 degrees F.

Or she may think I'm crazy because I take pictures of random hand-made bumper stickers:

Who is John Gault?
I still need to finish the book to find out.

Whatever the reason she looked at me like I was crazy, she's probably right.  But I enjoy having the random pictures to give me a laugh from time to time.  I hope you enjoyed them.  If not, you can look at me like I'm crazy the next time you see me.  

Names

I'm back!

Where have I been?  Well, I've discovered that summer pulls me away from my computer.  It's the honest truth.  I've fallen behind on my own blog, as well as reading other's blogs.  But now that it's getting dark earlier, I'm back.  At least I'm back for the next six weeks...we'll see after that!

Speaking of which, I've learned that time (aka pregnancy) goes a lot faster for other people than it does for you, when you're the one who's pregnant.  When people ask when I'm due and I say, "November 25," they respond with, "Wow, that's coming up soon!"

I know it's true.  I know it's soon.  It is now less than 6 weeks away.  But for some reason it seems like it won't actually come.  It is just always something off in the distant future.  Some days I'm cool with that - we've got a good system going, my little boy and me.  He goes everywhere with me and as long as he moves frequently I'm a happy camper.  I don't have to worry about diapers or feedings or anything.

Some days I can't wait for him to get here.  Especially on the days when I feel like he might just burst through - I don't know if there will be room enough for both of us in the coming weeks!

But enough rambling, and back to the topic of this post:  Names.

Choosing a name for your baby is a BIG responsibility.  You will be determining what this child will be known by to the world for the rest of his life.

I've had my favorite names picked out for years.  You can look at my journals from back when I was 12 years old and a lot of the names are the same ones I still like.  Names like Benjamin. William, and Joshua.

Then I met Nate.

Let's just say, we have different taste in names.

When we were dating he told me that he felt very strongly that he would name his first son Toivo.  That is a Finnish name meaning "hope."

Before we were married I gently (well, maybe not so gently) informed him that Toivo is a Finnish name and we are American.  So if the name was a deal breaker, he needed to know that I would be hard-pressed to name my son Toivo.  He accepted that, though I think he secretly hoped he'd wear me down in time.

When we found out we were going to have a baby we started making lists of names we each liked.  I kid you not, these names were on Nate's list:

Toivo, Oscar, Waldo, Jeddidiah, Ishmael, Usko (another Finnish name),

Earlier this week I received a link with an email to this quiz, which is supposed to tell you your baby naming style.

I was skeptical but took the quiz.  My results hit the nail on the head: Classic.

This morning I made Nate take the quiz.  Poor guy, he had some trouble with it at first because the questions are definitely geared towards women (he wasn't a fan of any of the movies or TV shows, he isn't thinking about "the kind of mama you want to be when the baby comes," etc.)  But out of the goodness of his heart he humored me and worked through the quiz.

His result: Unique.

I couldn't have said it better.

Pregnancy Brain

Before I was pregnant I vaguely remember hearing about "pregnancy brain."  I didn't know much about it except for that you seem to forget things a lot.

Well, I have pregnancy brain and I have it bad.

In the past month I have forgotten what I'm talking about while I'm in the middle of a sentence, forgotten to pay bills, forgotten half of my vocabulary, forgotten simple processes at work, etc., etc. etc.

My favorite episode, though, was the lunch incident at work a week or so ago.  Lunch time rolled around and I went to the break room to retrieve my sandwich from the fridge and to fill up my water bottle.  I filled up my water bottle and then remembered I left part of my lunch back at my desk.  So I walked down the hall, passing through a large group of people waiting for the elevators, and retrieved the rest of my lunch.

Lunch in hand, I headed towards the elevators so I could go eat outside.  As I walked, I remembered I needed a fork for my fruit.  So I walked back through the same group of elevator-waiters and went to the break room to get a fork.

As I grabbed the fork, I was hopeful that the people waiting for the elevator would be gone, because I felt rather ridiculous for walking back and forth past them several times like an idiot.  However, when I walked out of the break room they were all still there!  I stood with them and finally the elevator doors opened.  We all entered.

Just as the doors closed I remembered something.

My sandwich was still in the fridge.

I rode down all 23 floors with these people and then pretended to head to the bank located in our building's lobby, because I was too embarrassed to immediately turn around and go back upstairs while they all watched.  Once they all passed me, I snuck back to the elevators and rode back up to retrieve my lunch.

Fifteen minutes later I was finally enjoying my lunch and some much-needed fresh air outside.

Pregnancy brain is real.  At least, that's what I tell myself to make me feel better about my absent-mindedness of late.

Airbags and Seatbelts

If you are a facebook stalker, you know that I was in a pretty bad car accident last Thursday.  Let me just say, it was scary.  Here is how scary it was:

Yes, that is a car.  It is my car.  My very first car.  The car I own free and clear.

It has been a traumatic experience.  But I'm moving on.

So now I will answer the FAQ's:

Was the baby okay?
Yes, thank goodness.  If he wasn't, I wouldn't be writing this post.  They hooked me up to a monitor at the hospital and we heard the most beautiful sound in the world - his little heartbeat.  And then he decided he didn't really like the monitor, so he kept kicking it.  I don't think anything could have sounded better.


What type of car was that?
I know, it is unrecognizable.  It is a Toyota Corolla.

What happened?
As I explained to a friend (hi Melissa!), both cars wanted to be in the same place in the intersection at at the same time.  My car lost.  Not that the other driver's car was scratch-free.  But I think it will be reparable.  Mine...not so much.

Are you okay?
Yes, I'm doing fine.  Bruised and sore (please don't make me laugh too hard - that really hurts!) but I feel very blessed to have walked away from the accident in as good shape as I did.

Was the other driver okay?
Children, pay attention.  WEAR YOUR SEATBELT!!!  The other driver was okay, but she was more scraped up than I was.  Because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt she was thrown to the passenger-side floor.  She ended up having to get some stitches.  I've been told she's okay other than the stitches.

Did the airbags hurt?

Not when they were going off.  To be honest, I didn't know they'd gone off until after the car was still and I could smell something funny, kind of like something burning.  Then I noticed the airbags.  Every single airbag in the car deployed.  Which later explained why everyone kept asking me if I was the only one in the car.  I was frustrated that they couldn't tell by looking.  It wasn't until a few hours later that I realized the couldn't see into the car because of the side airbags in the windows.

Now afterwards, yes, I hurt from the airbags.  But I'd rather have a bruise on my chest and scrapes on my arms than my head through the windshield or my ribs broken by the steering wheel.  And now I'm no longer afraid of airbags deploying because you don't know it's happening until AFTER it happens!

Words of wisdom?
Okay, so this hasn't been a frequently asked question.  But you get my advice anyway.

Wear your seatbelt and drive a Toyota.  It may look bad, but the cab came through without much damage.

Nursery no more

The day has come.

Nate got a new calling.  Therefore, he was released from nursery.

Apparently I can't stay in nursery without Nate.  So I was released too.

I cried.

For as much as I may have complained about how our ward sticks all the young couples in primary, I really loved my babies in nursery.  I love how they loved me, too.  I'll miss their smiling faces and I'll miss singing with them.  I'll miss how they called me "Teacher" and how they tattled on each other.  I'll miss hearing the funny, cute things they say.

I'll also miss how much faster church goes when you're in nursery instead of Sunday School and Relief Society.

So I guess it is my turn to grow up.  Let's see how this goes!

That's How You Know

Last week in nursery we had a lesson on families.  As part of the lesson I asked the kids how they knew their families loved them.

I asked the first little girl, "How do you know your mom loves you?"

She looked blankly at me, not sure how to respond.  So I prodded, "Does she give you hugs?"

She nodded and said, "She hugs me."

I asked the second little girl, who has all sisters, "How do you know your sisters love you?"

She said, "They hug me."  I asked her if they played with her, too.  She said, "Yes.  They give me hugs and they play with me."

Then I turned to a little boy, who is the youngest of three boys.  "How do you know your brothers love you?"

He smiled and said, "They hursd me."  I thought I understood what he meant and it was a surprise.  But since the other kids had just repeated what had already been said, I assumed that's what he was doing too.

"You mean they give you hugs?" I said hopefully.  He shook his head.

"They hursd me."

"Oh, they play with you?"  (I don't know where I got "play" with out of "hursd" but I thought I'd give it a shot.)

Again, he shook his head.  "They hursd me."

Finally, I decided to repeat back what I was pretty sure he was saying.  "You know they love you because they hurt you?"

He grinned and nodded.  That's how you know.

An Announcement

Who:    Nate and Katie

What:   We're moving!

When:  Sometime before November

Where: TBD

Why:    We need a second bedroom.  We're going to decorate it blue.

Snakes

Yesterday Nate and I spent the afternoon at my parents' house.  While we were there, my little sister and her friends came in.

"You will never guess what disgusting thing happened to me!" she exclaimed as she walked into the room, her cohorts trailing.

"What?" we asked, thinking what she could consider disgusting.  Having been a teenage girl, I know a lot of things can be disgusting.  We weren't disappointed.

"I was in the yard and I looked down and there was a snake next to my foot."

"Was it dead?"  we asked.  No.

"Did you kill it?"  we asked.  No.

"Well, what was disgusting about it?"

She gave us a rather irritated look that we couldn't see how gross the situation was.  "It was a SNAKE!  That is what is disgusting!"

So then we all started sharing stories about our run-ins with snakes.  Who all had run over snakes with their bikes, who'd killed snakes, who'd eaten snakes.  My sister left the room more disgusted than when she came in.

A few hours later Mom, Rachel, Baby N, and I all went for a walk.  Lo and behold,  about a mile away we saw a snake.

This poor snake was lying in the road.  It had been run over by a car and it looked dead... until we saw it's little heart beating - outside of its body.  It was pitiful and sad.  So what did we do?

Mom and I took pictures and video.  Good old iPhone.  We debated putting it out of its misery, but we didn't have anything to do it with, so we left the poor creature to suffer a little longer.

In retrospect, it seems slightly cruel.  My sister Rachel did not approve of our callous treatment, taking pictures and video of a dying snake.

When we got home, I showed Nate and my dad the footage.  After all, it was pretty cool.  Dad's first question: "Did you put it out of its misery?"

I looked at him blankly.  "No.  We didn't have anything to do that with.  We were on a walk."

Nate shook his head, "Why didn't you stomp on its heart?"  I blinked and shuddered.  That would have been disgusting.

Reality Check

This morning the headline news story was, of course, about the death of Osama bin Laden.  After talking for a few minutes about his death, the news reports turned to reactions here in the States.

Apparently in D.C. hundreds of students gathered to celebrate in front of the White House.  The news reporter said, "Now, most of these students were 8, 9, 10 years old when 9/11 happened."

I was rather offended that he would say the college students were only eight to ten years old on 9/11/2001.  I was definitely older than that.

Then I remembered that I'm not a college student anymore.  And I haven't been for several years.  Oops.

Confessions

I have a few confessions to make.  WARNING: If you are sick of hearing about the royal wedding, stop reading now.

Confession #1: I did not wake up in the middle of the night to watch the wedding.

Confession #2: I youtubed the wedding this evening while waiting Nate's bus to arrive at the bus stop.

Confession #3: I did watch the live procession from the Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace live while I exercised this morning.

Confession #4: While I watched Kate and William wave I kept thinking, "Thank you for being here today." (Think Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway.)

Confession #5: I have seen Princess Diaries.  And Princess Diaries II.

Confession #6: Listening to all the talking heads on the news (who all seem to have an 'in' with the royal family) I was again reminded of Princess Diaries and Princess Diaries II.

Confession #7: I now have an urge to watch Princess Diaries II again.  Why not watch another fairy tale wedding?

On a different note, can I just say I felt sorry for Prince Harry?  He had to ride in the kiddie carriage from the Abbey to the Palace.  Seriously, he's my age and everyone else in the carriage was under the age of 10.  Poor guy.

Arctic Circle

It has been cold here lately.  Like the North Pole.  Don't believe me?

The temperature tomorrow is forecasted to be 49 degrees Fahrenheit.

The temperature in Rovaniemi, Finland tomorrow is forecasted to be 46 degrees Fahrenheit.  Rovaniemi is located 9 km (5.6 mi) from the Arctic Circle.  Santa Claus lives there.

Training Surprise

We have a blessing and a curse in our nursery: a small, child-sized toilet and child-level sink in a child-sized bathroom located within our classroom.  The blessing is that we don't have to spend the entire two hours hunting down parents when children say they need to go to the bathroom.  The curse is that we don't have to hunt down the parents when the children say they need to go to the bathroom.

Since we teach the two-year-olds who are turning three, about half of the kids are in the process of being potty-trained right now.  The other half wish they were being potty trained right now.

It usually begins around snack time.  One child says, "I need to go to the bathroom." So we open the door, turn on the light, and the child goes about his or her business.  (Lucky for us they're all very modest and don't want any help.)  Then it is as if every child in the room just drank a gallon of water and is now standing next to Niagra Falls.  A chorus of "I need to go to the bathroom!" erupts and a line quickly forms, often with the kids trying to barge in on whoever is currently using the facilities.

The problem arises when we have non-potty trained kids who decide in nursery that now is the time to begin their potty training.  And since we as nursery leaders don't know who is and who isn't potty-trained, we all take them at their word.

Take today, for instance.  A little girl told me that she needed to go potty.  So I opened the door, turned on the light, and asked if she needed help.  She said no and pointed to the door.  So I let myself out.  I checked on her periodically and after about 5 minutes she was finished.  She'd put her tights and shoes back on.  To my shock there was a wet diaper sitting on the floor.  She grinned up at me.

One of the other leaders left in search of the dad so we could get her a new diaper.  Meanwhile she strutted around the nursery, enjoying the feeling of being diaper-free.  And, to her credit, she did actually go in the toilet, too.

Her dad was chagrined when he came to get her.  "Don't take your diaper off any more!" he chided her as he picked her up and carried her off.  I, for one, think it may be time to get her some training pants!

April Fool's

The weather was absolutely beautiful today.  I gathered with the tourists around Temple Square and began snapping photos. This way, when it snows on Sunday, I'll remember the cruel joke nature played on us today.

Lucky Us

Last Sunday, Nate made a delicious dinner of lemon chicken, brown rice, and peas, covered in a homemade bechamel sauce.  Lucky woman?  Yes I am.

We had some brown rice and sauce left over so Nate decided to make himself some hard boiled eggs to go with it in his Monday lunch.  He started the eggs and when they began boiling I turned the water down to simmer.  Then we both settled back to relax and enjoy our Sunday evening.

Around 6 PM we got a text that my nephew N was born and at 6:40 we got the go-ahead to drive to the hospital to see the baby.  So I gathered my camera and we made the one-hour trek to the hospital.

N is beautiful.  Enough said.  We hung around long enough to watch him get his first shots (pitiful!) and his first bath in the nursery.  We visited with my sister and brother-in-law and even got to hold the little bundle.

Baby N, about 2 hours after his birth.

Then Nate said, "Katie, did you take the eggs off the stove?"

You can imagine our horror when we realized neither of us turned the stove off.  Nate started calling neighbors to see if they'd check on the apartment but nobody answered. ("What are they going to do anyway?" I asked.  "Watch it burn down?")  He finally reached his dad, who was about 20 minutes south of our apartment and who agreed to go check out the situation. (When we got home and met him, he said, "I don't know what I was going to do, other than watch it burn down.")  Did we try the complex's emergency line?  Yes.  No answer.

We rushed home without getting pulled over  and we booked it into the apartment. The water in the pot had completely cooked off.  Amazingly, the pot was fine as were the eggs.

Lucky us?  Yes indeed.

I married a statistician

Today Nate came home from school and told me that the statistics students each set up a bracket for March Madness.  Nate isn't terribly interested in basketball so he's not too familiar with the teams.

His plan to fill out a bracket:

1. Ask a friend questions about the likelihood certain teams would win.
2. Write a program on the computer that simulates flipping a coin.
3.  Weight the coin based on the information he received from his friend.
4. Use the results from his program to fill out his bracket.

Trying to be domestic

A few weeks ago I decided it would be a good idea to make homemade bread for our sandwiches instead of using store-bought bread.  My sister Rachel gave me a recipe quite a while ago that she said makes the best sandwich bread ever.  I actually made the recipe about a year ago and it turned out well.  This year...well...

Here is try #1:

As my brother-in-law so kindly said, "It looks like a brick!"

Try #2, using the SAF yeast called for in the recipe:

Surprisingly both loaves have tasted yummy.

I'm going to see if third time is the charm.  I have one more idea up my sleeve to try to get a loaf that actually rises.  If that doesn't work, I guess I'll be back to store-bought bread.

Sugar High

Lest you think I have forgotten about my little nursery babies, here is a story for you.

Every Sunday we have treats for the kids.  I want to state right off that the treats are supplied by the parents so the sugar content is not my fault.

Last week we fed them goldfish, teddy grahams, and fruit snacks.  Most of the kids ate calmly but one little girl devoured her fruit snacks in a flash and then started working on her teddy grahams.  When she ran out of her own snacks she started taking the snacks off the other children's plates.

"Her mom doesn't let her have any sugary snacks at home," one of our joint nursery leaders said.  I felt sorry for the poor girl and urged Nate to give her a few more teddy grahams.

About 20 minutes later I realized my mistake.

This little girl is usually rather timid.  She doesn't particularly enjoy nursery; the previous week she spent the first 15 minutes of class underneath the table while the other kids played with play dough.

Well, 20 minutes after her introduction to fruit snacks and teddy grahams she was having the time of her life.  She was literally running around in circles.  It was like watching a cat on catnip.

She shocked one little girl when she ran up to her, said, "I love you!" and gave her a huge hug.  Then she ran around in a few more circles, ran up to the same girl, said "I love you!" and hugged her again.

When her mom came to get her, the little girl ran and hugged her.  Then she immediately darted off again playing a catch-me-if-you-can game.  It took two of us to catch her.  I may have been bit in the process.  I'm hoping she doesn't have any diseases.

Needless to say, the little girl was not in nursery this past Sunday.

Cold Calling

As you know, I work in the nursery at our church, babysitting the two-year-olds for two hours each Sunday while their parents attend church meetings.  What many of you do not know is that I am also on the Relief Society committee.  This committee plans the monthly activities for the women in our church.

Lets just say, this isn't my favorite job in the world.  I was whining to Nate about it a few weeks ago and he told me that as soon as I start loving it, I'll be released (no longer on the committee).  I've never wanted to start loving something so much.

So, while I've been waiting to develop a love for this, I've had to help advertise for the different activities.  Tomorrow night, for example is a PJ night.  (I personally don't want to wear my pajamas out in public, but apparently it is a cool idea.)  I was asked to call 20 women to remind them about the activity.

I agonized about making the phone calls for a day and a half.  I have a love-hate relationship with the phone.  I love to talk to family and friends on the phone.  I hate calling people I don't know, trying to sell them on the idea of wearing pajamas in front of all their neighbors.

Yesterday I simply "forgot" to call.  It was actually quite honest forgetfulness.  I simply didn't remember.  Of course, I didn't do anything to help myself remember, either, like add it to my checklist of to-do items for after work.

Tonight I almost forgot again.  But I have this amazing guilt complex that brought the task to the forefront of my mind right as I finally sat down to relax after doing the evening chores.  Sometimes I think I should name my guilt complex, it plays such a major role in my life.  Tonight it kept saying to me, "If you don't call, you'll feel extremely guilty for the rest of the time you're on this committee.  You'll volunteer for jobs you don't want to do so that you can 'make up' for not making these phone calls."

Oh brother.

So I started down the list.  Mind you, I only knew 4 of the 20 people I had to call.  That's the problem with being in nursery.  I know the kids but not the parents.  Poor Nate had to hear me lament between each phone call, "Why are they all answering their phones?!  Why can't I just leave a message?!"

Three of the four women I knew on the list received my phone calls graciously and were quite pleasant.  The fourth woman I know didn't seem to know me.  The rest of the women...well, they responded like I would respond to a telemarketer.  Okay, maybe slightly better because they didn't say, "I'm not interested" and hang up.  But close to it.  There were long pauses after I told them who I was since they didn't want to commit to any sort of conversation.  After I told them about the activity, they said, "Uh huh.  Okay."  And that was that.

I can't say I blame them.  If someone I didn't know was calling me and telling me to wear my pajamas to church, I'd probably answer them the same way.  After each phone call I contemplated waiting until my lunch break tomorrow to make the calls, hoping to get answering machines.  But that lovely guilt complex would start to talk to me - "You're really not going to want to make those calls tomorrow-" and so I kept pushing on.  I finally made the last call.  It was the best of all:

Me:  "Hi.  I'm calling to remind you about enrichment tomorrow.
Her:  (tone of finality) "Okay, I appreciate the call."
Me: (Pause...waiting for her to hang up...but she didn't).  Um, okay, well you're welcome.
Her:  (Pause...waiting for me to actually give her any useful information, such as time and place).  Bye.
Me:  Bye.

So much for giving her the information she needed.  I just got too used to the telemarketer treatment and I was seriously expecting her to hang up at any moment.  Needless to say, I felt very stupid after that phone call.  But I would like to thank my guilt complex.  I don't have to make any calls tomorrow!

You know when

You know you're in Utah County when you're asked how many kids you have and after you say "none" the next question is, "Oh, are you newly-weds?"

You know its been freezing cold when the temperatures that made you shiver six months ago now make you contemplate wearing capris.

You know your car is dirty when it makes you giddy to wash it.

You know you go to the local hamburger joint too often when the owner recognizes you and asks what happened to your husband's splinted ankle.

You know it is winter when the best pictures you've taken on your new camera are of fire hydrants because they're the only things outside that aren't brown.

You know you've had a great weekend when you post about it on your blog.  We hope you had a great weekend, too.

Edit, Undo

The other day at work I was flipping through a pile of papers.  There were different sections within the pile, each section paper-clipped together.  As I rifled through the papers, one of the paper clips popped off. The first thought to enter my mind?  "Edit, undo."

Wow.

I think I spend too much time in front of the computer.

I have this thought from time to time.  If I'm carrying too many groceries in at one time and drop them, "edit, undo."

If I'm making a meal and add to much salt, "edit, undo."

If I'm climbing up on the counter, fall, and rip a hole in my pants, "edit, undo."

This thought comes to my mind subconsciously.  It's not me being funny to myself.  It is my true reaction.  And it always seems to happen when I'm doing something rather careless.  Something I could have prevented if I just paid a little more attention or thought things through before I acted.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could really just click a button and rewind?  Go back BEFORE we made the mistakes and correct them with no one the wiser?  Yes, that would be nice.  I could get used to that.

Photography Lessons

I've been wanting to take a photography class for quite a while.  I love looking at pictures on other blogs and websites.  The pictures are in focus and the colors are great.  On the flip side, most of my pictures end up looking like this:

Brad's Homecoming.
Unfortunately, I was the only one with a camera.

Well, most of my pictures aren't as bad as the one above but they could definitely be better.

A few weeks ago I registered to take an introduction to photography class through our school district's community learning program.  The class description states, "This class will cover basic techniques that will help take your photography to the next level.  Learn composition, lighting, exposure, camera controls, image editing, and more."

Lighting and exposure?  Sounds just like what I need.


Nate has a nice SLR camera he bought when we were in high school and so it uses film.  Last night he walked me through the basics on the camera so I would  at least look like I knew what I was doing when I got to class tonight.

"To focus on an object, you turn this," he said, turning a ring on the lense.

"If you want to make the flash pop up, you click this button," again demonstrating.

Nate also explained the mechanics of how the camera works.  "You see," he said as he removed the lens so I could look into the inner workings of the camera, "there is a mirror behind the lens.  The mirror reflects the image through a prism and then up into the view finder for you to see.

"Now, when you take a picture, the mirror lifts up and if there were film in the camera, it would be exposed, thus capturing the image."  He demonstrated by clicking the release.

I looked at him in shock.

"You mean there's no film in the camera?" I said, worry evident in my voice.

He laughed nervously.  "No."

"But I've been taking pictures with it!"

That's right, folks.  I've been taking pictures of decorated cakes, art projects, and delicious meals all with a camera that did not have film.  Nate bought me film a few months ago so I could start tinkering with the camera.  I assumed he loaded the film in for me.  Oops.

I need one more basic technique to be covered in this class: how to recognize when a camera does or does not have film.

Differences

Today the difference between men and women was reaffirmed to me.  To be honest, this difference is reaffirmed to me on a daily basis, but this situation takes the prize for the week.  (But Dad's mammogram story takes the cake...however, that is a different story for a different time.)

Last week I worked offsite reviewing year-end calculations for my company.  I spent three days, January  12 - 14, at one location with the same group of people.  I've been to this site several times and I know the people fairly well.

One of the individuals who works at this office is in his 50s and single.  If you don't know, to be a 50 year-old-man and single in the LDS culture is a little unheard of, especially if you've always been a bachelor.

Well, the bachelor got engaged on January 7.

DIFFERENCE #1:  He decided it would be cool to see how long it would take the rumor mill to spread the word...so he didn't tell anyone at work.

Hello.  I got engaged at work.  Literally.  But you can sure as heck bet that would have been the first thing I said to anyone the next day had I not gotten engaged there the night before!  I have yet to meet any girl who isn't bursting at the seams to shout from the rooftops that she is engaged.

So, said bachelor goes to work all week and doesn't tell anyone.  Well, let me amend that statement.  On Wednesday he told our boss.  But when you swear someone to secrecy, it doesn't count.  (It also doesn't help the rumor mill get going...)

On Thursday, some of his friends or relations talked with a fellow co-worker, as they all happen to be in the MoTab and were at rehearsal.  And thus the beans were spilled.

On Friday I finished up my last day at the site.  Apparently word had gotten around about the engagement.

DIFFERENCE #2:  I didn't find out.

Now, if a woman had gotten engaged, you can bet her girlfriends would have taken it upon themselves to make sure everyone was aware.

At noon a group of us went to Subway to grab lunch.  I was the only woman in the group. (When you are an accountant in Utah, you start to get used to this lopsided ratio.)  The bachelor had a lunch appointment and did not join us.

DIFFERENCE #3:  No one mentioned the engagement.

I don't know about you, but whenever a friend of mine gets engaged, that is going to come up at some point during the lunch conversation whether or not the friend is present!  It's not gossip, it is sharing information.

I did not find out until today, January 17, when my boss, (who is a woman) asked me what everyone's response was at the other site to news of the engagement.

"What?  He's engaged?" I said.  I guess that was answer enough about the response to his engagement!

Party Animals

New Year's Eve, Rohbock style:

6:00 PM Eat Pizza.

Playing Apples to Apples

7:00 PM Play games, take pictures.   

8:30 PM Watch a movie.

10:30 PM Send the pregnant sister and her husband home.

10:35 PM Send the exhausted husband to bed since he is sleeping on the couch but insisting "I'm awake."

10:40 PM Watch an episode of the Cosby show with 12-year-old sister.

11:05 PM Watch another episode of the Cosby show with same sister.

11:35 PM Wake up to the music of the Cosby show DVD menu.  Set alarm on cell phone for 10 minutes.  Take a nap.

11:45 PM Turn off the alarm.  Get sister ready for bed.

11:59 PM Find countdown online.  Count down the seconds - 10, 9, 8...

12:00 AM Shout "Happy New Year."  Blow kazoos.  Take pictures.  

12:01 AM Put same sister to bed.

12:05 AM Go to sleep.

Happy New Year!

Sarah looks a little frightened of 2011