schmath

The Great Organ Install of 2012

2012-02-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

The most exciting part about having a basement is that the organ doesn't have to live in the garage anymore. Ryan had to take the organ apart to fit it through the door, but there were a bunch of wires that he couldn't put back together because his labels had wiped off. He figured there were too many possible combinations to try, (neither of us can remember how to do the math. If there are 13 wires that connect to 13 other wires, is it 13 factorial? Cuz 6,227,020,800 possible combinations seems absurd.) So Ryan did some complicated experiments, and figured out how it the wiring worked. He tried to explain it to me, but it was way over my head. I think I might've married a genius or something.

Sully woke up in the middle of the night, while Ryan was getting the organ back together, so he got to be there for the big moment. He was like, "What? A piano I can crawl on? This is awesome!" The kid is kinda obsessed with pianos.

I love that kid! And I love having an organ in my house. My life is awesome. How'd I get so stinking lucky?

Basement!

2012-01-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our basement is finished! It still needs light fixtures and wallpaper and furniture and stuff, but there's carpet! And paint!

We're gonna need a baby gate ASAP. Anyone got any recommendations?

Sully Walks!

2012-01-25T23:14:00.001-07:00

Sully reeeeeally didn't want to walk. We'd beg and bribe, but he'd only take a few steps before reverting to crawling. If he wanted to carry something while he traveled, he'd walk on his knees rather than use his feet. Then last night, he stood up and walked laps between his chair and mine for 30 minutes strait. I guess he just wanted to wait until he was good and ready. If that attitude carries over into potty training, I'm doomed.

Wallpaper

2012-01-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm having a hard time choosing wallpaper for my basement. The main room is going to have one little accent wall with the rest of the walls grey. I wanted to do something yellow:

sources: left, middle, right

I love the middle one, but I'm having a hard time committing to it. What if someday I get tired of the yellow? It's kinda expensive, so I have to like it for a long time.

We're also doing an accent wall in the laundry/craft room. I want something whimsy, bright, and girly. Like maybe one of these:

sources: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

Or one or these:

sources: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right

This is so hard! What would you choose?

Almost all of these are British, and don't ship to the US, so I have to have my samples sent to my brother-in-law in England, who will ship them to me. Why don't they ship to the US? And what are some good websites with wallpaper I can get here? It's kinda frustrating. But it's also frustrating to go to the wallpaper store and flip through endless books, especially with two kids in tow. Wallpaper shopping is the worst!

Bedazzled D

2011-12-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

One of Ryan's friends fabricated our gate, and he put a giant D on it as a joke. But we liked how it made us feel like wanna-be millionaires, so we kept it. Now, a few years later, we came home from vacation to find it painted gold and bedazzled. I think it's awesome, and you couldn't pay me enough to paint over it, but I can't help wondering what was going through the person's mind who did it: "Hm, I think I know how to help Schmath and Ryan make their white trash home a little more ritzy." Or "Have you seen that pretentious D on Ryan's fence? That thing is just begging for gold and sparkles!" Or "I know exactly what to get them for Christmas! Let's bedazzle their house! Wait, it's too big. Let's do the gate! Still too big. The D!" Anyway, it's nice to know that people are thinking of us enough to notice our awesome D and give it a little love. Sometimes, when life starts to get a little serious, something exciting like this happens and reminds me that life is fun. I'm glad I got the bedazzled D that I never knew I was missing.

Anyone want to fess up? Here are my guesses: 1. Mandy-because she's good at bedazzling. 2. The Nakayas-cuz they're good at painting 3. Matt and Celeste-because they always give awesome Christmas presents. 4. The whole Davis family-because we skipped town for Christmas. 5. One of Ryan's friends-because Ryan's a dude, so he shouldn't like sparkles, so it would be funny if his gate was girly.

Grandpa's Money

2011-11-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

Ryan: (pointing at a picture of his parents) Who is this?

Hanne: Grandpa.

Ryan: Did you know Grandpa in heaven?

Hanne: Yes.

Ryan: Did he say anything to you?

Hanne: Yes.

Ryan: What did he say?

Hanne: I can have some of his money!

Hahahahahaha. Where did she come up with that? It must be true.

Halloween

2011-11-18T23:14:00.001-07:00

Sully was a minion.

Hanne was an owl, but I guess she didn't look like one because every door we went to, they said, "Batman! And uh, those hats are cute."

After trick or treating. Hanne's already scarfing.

Sully wasn't nearly as excited as he should have been.

Awwwwwww. That's the best.

Mullet

2011-11-16T19:48:00.001-07:00

Hanne gave herself a nice, little mullet today. It goes well with the neon green, don't you think? She would've been so stylish in the 80s.

Faces

2011-11-12T11:44:00.001-07:00

Hanne's at that age where every time I have the camera out, she wants me to take pictures of her, and then she makes weird faces the whole time;

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

2011-11-12T10:56:00.001-07:00

Ryan left his iPad charger in California, so he hooked up this clunker and said, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Phone Pics

2011-10-26T18:58:00.001-06:00

Napping buddies. Sully was sick, so he crawled over next to Lando, plopped himself down, stuck his thumb in, and gave up.

Ryan made me giant knitting needles on his lathe. That's why we're perfect for each other.

I didn't want to look 5 months pregnant anymore, so I started using this old, hand-me-down machine. I don't know what the kids did to it, but it's already broken. Good timing though, cuz I'm already over exercising. I give up. I guess I'm just gonna have to die of heart disease.

Sheddy dog + crawling baby in fleece PJs =

Yeah, my life is gross. Hardly worth living, if you ask me.

I won't let her play with my make-up, so she makes do with what she can find. Dry erase marker lipstick,

hair clip earrings,

and my personal favorite,

ketchup eyeshadow! Freaky right?

She calls this birdhouse her baby brother. He takes naps in her bed and she says things like, "I need to take mine little brother to the park."

They love Lando. He doesn't love them, but he's pretty patient anyway.

Marble Jar

2011-10-13T12:18:00.001-06:00

I'm always harping on Hanne when she's bad, and I really need to give her more positive reinforcement, so when my friend, Ruth, mentioned that she drops a marble in a jar every time her kids are good, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I found a big, ugly jar and used a pie tin to hold the marbles, but it was always in the way on my kitchen counter, and it was also pretty ugly. So I started rifling through my cabinets, looking for something that would take up less space, when I saw these coke bottles. They'd been in our cabinet for ages because Ryan wanted to keep them, even though I thought they were a waste of precious cabinet space. As it turns out, the opening on them is the perfect size for a marble, and they are skinny and tall, so they take up way less space than what I was using before. Plus, I think they kinda go with my kitchen decor, with the red and all. And now they aren't hogging the cabinets anymore. It's a win win win situation.

Sully's One!

2011-10-08T15:46:00.000-06:00

It's Sully's first birthday! I wish we were the cool kind of parents that throw awesome birthday parties, but the truth is, I didn't even remember it was Sully's birthday until after he'd gone down for a nap. I don't plan on getting him any presents either, and his cake is going to come straight out of a box and into a 13 x 9 pan. It won't even have sprinkles. Poor kid. I guess I just figure that he doesn't know the difference, so why make all the fuss? The problem is that Hanne knows the difference, so this may be the last time I get away with skipping a birthday.

I love how one-year-old Sully is so social. It seems like one day he was happy playing by himself, then the next day, he suddenly started chasing Hanne around, doing sign language, and motioning for me to sing different songs to him. Yesterday, Hanne was in her room in time out, and I noticed Sully crawling around looking for her. When I went to let Hanne out, I found Sully and Hanne laughing at each other through the crack under the door. Moments like that make me glad that they've got each other. Hanne always seemed so lonely before Sully was born.

I also love how one-year-old Sully drinks from a cup. I love not nursing. It's like after 21 months, I finally get my body back to myself. I started weaning Sully a couple of weeks ago, when he was sick and refused to drink. He'd already been through several nursing strikes, and I knew my milk supply couldn't survive another one, and there was no point in trying to get it back if I was just going to wean soon anyway. The problem was that Sully wouldn't take a bottle or sippy cup. I was paranoid that he was going to die of dehydration, so I just kept shoving the bottle back in his mouth when he didn't want it, and he eventually got the hang of it. He didn't like formula or cow's milk, so in my desperation to get him to drink, I tried vanilla soy milk, which he loved, but my sister-in-law told me that there was some controversy about whether or not it was safe, so I looked it up, and holy cow! I don't think all the stuff I read can possibly be true, or else it wouldn't be FDA approved, but just in case, I switched to cow's milk with a little vanilla creamer to sweeten it. He still doesn't drink nearly as much as he should, but his diapers are wetter than ever, so I guess my milk supply has been wimpy for a while.

I don't love that one-year-old Sully thinks he's too big for baby food. It's such a pain to feed kids fruits and veggies when they don't have molars.

I also don't love that one-year-old Sully still wakes up inconsolable in the middle of the night. I think it started out when he was teething. And since he kept teething for two months strait, it's now become habit. Boo. Our lives were so perfect before those teeth reared their spiky, little heads.

All in all, I love my little Sully. People don't know what they're missing. If they knew, they'd be lined up around the block waiting to come play with him. He's Utah's best-kept secret!

Big, Scary Cat

2011-10-04T22:26:00.000-06:00

via

Lando is terrified of thunder. When he hears it, he walks around the house with his limbs trembling and his tail between his legs, trying to find some tiny hole to squeeze into. Tonight, as Lando trembled through the kitchen, I told Hanne, "Lando's a big scaredy-cat. He's scared of thunder."

Hanne piped in, "I'm scared of thunder too."

"You're a big scaredy-cat too?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm a big, scary cat. I'm a hungry, big, scary cat!" Then worry crept into her voice, "Big scary cat come get us?"

"No," I reassured her.

"Big scary cat nice. Don't worry, Lando. Big, scary cat away," Hanne said, trying to convince herself. Then after chewing her bread for a few seconds, Hanne got that worried look back in her eye. "I'm scared of big, scary cat. Lando scared of big, scary cat. Big, scary cat come get us, Mom!"

Ever since, I've been trying to convince Hanne that there is no actual big, scary cat, but she's fixated on it. After I tucked her in, she clung to my arm like a baby monkey and wouldn't let me leave, so we said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father to keep her safe from the big, scary cat. Afterwards, she kept saying, "Heavenly Father save me," and I thought we were out of the woods, but as I got up to leave, Hanne's little fingers grasped onto my arm for dear life. I told her I would guard the door to make sure no cats come in. She seemed to think that was important, and I finally escaped.

I feel sorry for poor Hanne, alone in her bed, imagining big, scary cats coming to get her. What a horrible thing to be afraid of!

Little Bassist

2011-09-26T23:30:00.000-06:00

Dying Moose

2011-09-13T23:59:00.002-06:00

I've just confirmed something that I've long suspected: when I play the bass, it sounds like a dying moose. I got my first clue when every time I practiced, Sully squinted his eyes like he was hearing nails on a chalkboard and crawled away as fast as his little limbs would carry him, and Hanne yelled, "Quiet! It's too loud!" Because "too loud" are the only words in her vocabulary to express, "that sounds like 200 flies drowning in a puddle of syrup."

I was going to play a bass solo tomorrow morning at the Life Care Center, but after hearing the video of it played back, I'm contemplating working up a piano solo instead, since this is what I imagine it sounded like when the dinosaurs stumbled into the tar pits.

You probably don't want to watch this video, but I'm posting it anyway, just in case anyone out there is a masochist.

Vitamin D

2011-09-10T22:20:00.001-06:00

I used to spend all day sprawled out on the couch, too exhausted to get up for anything. It was a huge chore just to feed the kids and change their diapers. Bath time seemed like an insurmountable task.

But then one day, I noticed that the dishes were piling up, so I washed them. Then the next day, I did the laundry, and the next day, I organized some cupboards. Cleaning was all of a sudden something I did subconsciously; I no longer had to psyche myself up or force myself off the couch. I started to wonder how I had the energy and motivation to act like a normal human being. My mom asked if I had started taking vitamins or something, and I realized that I had just started taking Vitamin D supplements.

It turns out I'm not a ridiculously lazy person, I'm just a normal amount of lazy, and mostly I'm just Vitamin D deficient. I'm a much awesomer person on Vitamin D. I wonder what I'd be like if I got a full night's sleep every night, or if I ate better, or if I exercised. Maybe I wouldn't be lazy at all. Maybe I'd be strait-up ambitious. That'd be awesome.

If You Play the Piano, You Need to Read This

2011-09-08T00:11:00.001-06:00

If there was ever a book to read, this is it. (if you play the piano or organ, anyway.) I'm putting it in the life-changing-books-to-reread section of my bookshelf, right between the Scriptures and Parenting with Love and Logic. You need this book. Trust me. I just wish there was a version for bassists.

I've always experienced some degree of pain when I play any instrument, and I've been terrified that I would permanently injure myself to the point that I would not be able to play anymore. I've also been afraid that if I ever taught lessons, I would pass my ignorance on to my students. A year ago, at the BYU Organ Conference, one of the presenters recommended this book, and I jotted down the title but never followed through until a few weeks ago when some parents approached me about teaching their kids piano lessons. I knew I had to read this book so that I wouldn't produce little, injured pianists. But now I'm excited because maybe I can retrain myself to play without any pain, and if I'm really lucky, maybe I'll be able to transfer the principles over to my bass playing too.

More Phone Pics

2011-09-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

These ones are from Ryan's phone.

Just wearing sunglasses in church, no biggie.

Hanne found the one puddle in the entire salt flats.

Grandpa loves a good baby.

Going Overboard

2011-08-31T21:06:00.000-06:00

When Ryan decides to clean something, he really cleans it. It all started because he wanted to put an amplifier in, and then it turned into this:

Phone Pics

2011-08-30T13:46:00.000-06:00

Even though my phone pictures are always blurry and crappy, I like them because they show how we live in real life. For instance, you can tell that I rarely do Hanne's hair, and she wears either pajamas or a dress all the time.

Sully's first time driving a shopping cart truck.

Sneaking a swig of Daddy's coke.

"Mama, I go potty."

She likes to pretend she's a mermaid with blue hair.

She was riding her bike, then found her old potty in the garage. We replaced it with a Baby Bjorn because it was gross. Why did I not think to read the reviews before buying it? Lesson learned.

Not too happy that Lando ate her food.

Just chillin'

We visit the farm store just to ride the horse. It's only .10

Yoga with Aunt Kelly

Little Pianists

2011-08-30T13:27:00.001-06:00

Every time I practice the piano, Sully and Hanne try to play along, then after a while, they get bored and go play with toys, then after another while, they both start to cry, then when they run out of tears, Sully stands next to me with his head resting on my leg and holds on to my pant leg with one hand while he sucks his thumb with the other, and Hanne curls up in her bed in fetal position. I have such needy, little children.

It's the little things

2011-08-29T12:31:00.000-06:00

Hanne can barf in a bucket. Life is beautiful.

World Records

2011-08-28T20:45:00.000-06:00

1. Neither of my kids have ever pooped in the tub. When Hanne was first born, I was scared to death to bathe her because I knew it was only a matter of time until I was staring at a tub full of poop with no idea how to clean it up. But now she's potty trained, so it looks like I dodged that bullet! (Although, now that I think of it, I'd take poop in the bath any day over any of the poop I had to clean up after Hanne learned how to take off her diaper.)

2. Sully has gotten a new tooth each week for four weeks in a row, and now I'm pretty sure there's a fifth about to bust through. I don't know how long it's been since we've had a decent amount of sleep, but it sure feels like we're breaking a world record over here.

3. For the first time in our six years of marriage, we went out of town this weekend and came home to a clean house! When I was a kid, my mom always cleaned the house before we went on vacation, just in case we died, so that people wouldn't think we were slobs if they had to go through our stuff. I think about that every time I pack for a trip, but this is the first time that I actually cleaned. (Although if I were to die, people would still know I was a slob as soon as they opened the first cupboard and felt the unorganized clutter crash down on them.) I also unpacked my bags on the same day I got home. I'm feeling pretty, freaking awesome right now, (even though I wonder if I will ever get a full night's sleep again.)

Not Pregnant

2011-08-28T20:14:00.000-06:00

Usually people don't have to announce this, but I seriously look like I'm 20 weeks pregnant, which would be awesome if I were, but I'm not, and I'm afraid people are gonna start asking. So I just thought I'd warn everyone not to ask, even though you might spot me wearing maternity clothes, cuz it would be awkward. I guess I'm gonna have to start exercising. Craaaaaaaaaaap.

Peter Pan

2011-08-23T23:52:00.000-06:00

When Hanne's thumb-sucking started becoming habitual, I went to Walgreens and picked up this stuff called Thum:

Biggest waste of $7 ever. Two minutes after I slathered the stuff all over Hanne's thumbs, she was back to sucking. So I ordered some Mavala Stop from Amazon:

It took a while to get here, so in the meantime, Hanne has become completely addicted to her thumb. Today, when I found it in the mail, I put a tiny dab on the tip of each of Hanne's thumbs then forgot all about it, until 10 minutes after I put Hanne to bed when she started franticly yelling, "Mom! Mom!" I usually let her yell-it-out, but she's been sleeping so well lately, (probably cuz she's a thumb-sucker now) so I figured something must be wrong. When I opened the door, she held up her thumb and in an alarmed voice, said, "This thumb yucky!" Haha! I explained that it was the nail polish we had put on earlier, and she wanted me to remove her nail polish immediately. (Maybe this stuff will cure the thumb addiction and the nail polish addiction!) I told her that she was too old to suck her thumb, and she said, "No, me little!" She's got a Peter Pan complex, and she's two! It took forever for her to fall asleep, and every 10 minutes or so, I'd hear a whimper, and I knew that she had accidentally stuck the thumb back in her mouth.

Part of me just wants to let her suck her thumb because she really is little. But the other part of me knows I need to try to wean now, while she has only been sucking for a few weeks, before she becomes too attached, because then I might have to wait until she's 8. I don't plan on trying to wean Sully at age 2, but I think that's different because he started as a baby, not as a two-year-old.

View From the Porch Swing

2011-08-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

Ryan got me a porch swing for our anniversary, and it's a game changer. Hanne used to beg to go outside, but now she has to beg to go inside, cuz I just want to chillax on my swing all day long. We eat on it, we paint our nails on it, we nap on it, and it makes me wonder why people don't use these as living room couches. Seriously, if you don't have one of these, don't waste any more of your life away without one. Life is just better with a comfy porch swing.

I Give Up.

2011-08-10T17:40:00.000-06:00

We weaned Hanne from the pacifier a couple of months ago. Her speech immediately improved, and she spent two glorious months pacifier-free. Then she noticed that Sully just uses his thumb. So now, at age 2.5, Hanne has turned into a full-blown thumb-sucker. Seriously? Fine, mess up your stupid jaw if that's what you want. I'm giving up. Sheesh.

TV's Top 3 Most Annoying Characters

2011-08-05T16:41:00.000-06:00

Why does Hanne like all the annoying shows? Heck, why are thy even on TV?

Olivia wins the title for the 3rd most annoying TV character. She's just such so snooty to her brother, Ian. Also, her voice is super annoying. And her mouth is ridiculously huge. And she always plows over her classmates because she has to be the star.

Ruby and her little bunny scout friends are the second most annoying. Once again, what is it about cartoon big sisters? She's always bossing Max around. And she's such a know-it-all. And bunny scouts are not as cool as she thinks they are.

The top most annoying character on TV is Dora. SHE ALWAYS TALKS LIKE THIS. STOP YELLING AT ME! Her head is huge, and her eyes look like she is trying to hypnotize me, which she probably is, and that's why all kids want to buy her stuff. Then when she's solving a crisis, she talks sooooo slooooooow while I'm over here sweating bullets thinking they can't possibly make it in time. I can't stand Dora.

Is anyone else afraid that these shows are going to turn your kids into brats? Hanne needs to find a new hobby before she turns into some bossy, little, yelling machine.

Swimming Lessons

2011-08-05T00:25:00.000-06:00

Future Nail Technician

2011-07-31T23:12:00.000-06:00

Every time I turn around, Hanne is "painting" her nails. She likes to rip the heads off little dolls and pretend that they are nail polish brushes. In a pinch, she has even used a nasty, plastic lizard's claw to "paint" her cousin's nails and then used the lizard's tail for the tiny nails on her cousin's doll. If Hanne finds a writing utensil, you'll know about it because she will have scribbled all over her nails.

One day, Ryan took Hanne for a drive and gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Hanne ate about half of it before it occurred to her that it could beautifully color her nails. When Ryan turned around, this is what he found:

It's kinda crazy since she's so OCD about sticky hands. Maybe she thought it would dry like real nail polish.

Hanne has been biding her time, waiting for me to be off my game, so she could sneak into the real nail polish. I keep it on the top shelf in the hall closet, or at least I used to keep it there, until today.

Usually I lock Hanne in her room while I take a shower, but today Ryan was home, so I didn't. The only problem was that Ryan was dozing on the couch. I thought maybe I should wake him up and let him know that he needed to keep an eye on Hanne, but I figured surely he would wake up if he heard Hanne trying to drag a kitchen chair around, since that is where all Hanne mischief starts. I always keep an ear open for the scraping of the kitchen chairs, even when I'm asleep.

Sure enough, when I came out of the bathroom, Ryan was asleep, and Hanne was on the floor painting her nails, right next to the chair she had dragged from the kitchen and used to climb to the top shelf in the hall closet. I guess Ryan doesn't have supersonic, parenting hearing like I do. Luckily Hanne has had a lot of pretend practice, so she didn't spill any paint. But still, not cool. If I can't keep the nail polish on the top shelf of the closet, where the heck can I keep it? Can I even keep it at all? Sheesh.

List of Grievances

2011-07-30T13:14:00.002-06:00

1. More and more often, when I try to feed Sully, he either bites me, sticks his thumb in his mouth, or pinches me with his little fingers. Today it has escalated to a full-blown nursing strike. I'm not doing this for my health, Mister!

2. Whenever I put Hanne to bed and try to use the logic that mommy needs to sleep, she throws a fit and takes forever to fall asleep, or doesn't sleep at all, making it impossible for me to have a nap or early bedtime.

3. It seems like every time I make something amazing for dinner, my kids scream the entire time I'm preparing it and the entire time we eat it. We might as well eat bologna for dinner every night if none of us are going to enjoy dinner anyway.

4. Every day, I eat my lunch while spoonfeeding Sully, and Hanne insists on climbing all over me, choking me with her little arms around my neck. I wish I could have a lunch break.

I think it is lame that kids are born as selfish, little demons. Would it kill them to give their parents a break every now and then? Sheesh.

What Should Sully Be For Halloween?

2011-07-17T23:25:00.000-06:00

A. Bum

B. Minion

C. Something Else?

I don't know how much I want to knit this year for Halloween or Christmas, just because it makes the holidays stressful, but it might be worth it for these costumes.

Hanne Proofing

2011-07-13T18:52:00.000-06:00

Today while I was cleaning the bathroom, Hanne opened a cupboard with a baby proof latch on it. I thought I must not have closed it completely, so I asked her to do it again, and she pushed down on the latch and pulled it right open. Keeping my house Hanne-proof is getting ridiculous.

Rude Kid Alert

2011-07-09T17:45:00.000-06:00

Hanne is scared of everything these days. She insists that I carry her if there is a dog or a bug in her path-even Lando. At the aquarium, she clings to me and pushes away if I get too close to the glass. The other day, she was sleeping, and started tossing and turning with a concerned look on her face. A few seconds later, she woke up, jumped out of bed, and insisted that there was a snail in her bed.

I think it's cute when Hanne tells me she's afraid of fish and snails, but today at the grocery store, every time we passed a particular old lady, Hanne would point and then tell me she was scared. Luckily, Hanne's speech is bad enough that the lady probably had no idea what Hanne was saying. But I was caught off guard. I didn't know what to say without bringing attention to what Hanne had said and offending the lady. In this case, the lady had high, dark eyebrows. If Hanne thinks that's scary, what is she going to say when she sees her first burn victim? I want her to be wary of strangers, but not because they look differently. And I don't want her to point it out unless there is a reason to-someone is following her or staring at her or something. But how does one explain all that to a 2-year-old? Yikes!

Purple Shoes

2011-07-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

Hanne wears these shoes day and night. She insists on wearing them with every outfit, whether they match or not. The problem is, she has never once worn them with socks, so they stink up the entire house no matter what room they're in. I tried washing them in the washing machine, but they still stink, so I hid them in the basement because I didn't have the heart to throw them out. Hanne asks for them every time I do laundry, every time she gets dressed, and when she's sad and needs a little comfort. I think she misses them more than the pacifier. I feel guilty because first I took away the diapers, then the pacifier, and now the purple shoes-all within the last couple of months. She just can't win.

Parenting Books

2011-07-06T09:47:00.000-06:00

When I was pregnant with Hanne, I got this book for free by participating in a survey:

I had to choose between this, a book about breastfeeding, and one about Lamaze. I was pretty naive. I didn't even take a class about giving birth and couldn't imagine how anyone could fill up an entire book with breastfeeding advice. Once Hanne came out and couldn't latch on, I immediately regretted my decision, and this book went to the back of the closet. I don't know if that was the reason or if it was because the book was free, but I assumed it was no good.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw my sister counting to three with her kids, and it worked, so I decided I'd better dig up that book about counting to three. Sure enough, counting to three is magical, but only for behaviors that require short bursts of motivation.

If I need Hanne to go to bed, that's another story. The book doesn't say what to do if the kid stays awake for hours in her room after the parent closes the door. Last night, Hanne smeared raspberry-colored chapstick all over her white sheets after scaling the five-foot dresser to get the chapstick. If we had somewhere else to store the piano and dresser, we would place Hanne's bed in the middle of the room with nothing else, like in a crazy asylum. It'd be perfect because her bed and sheets are white, and she acts like a crazy person at bedtime. In the mean time, I put a hold on this book at the library:

I'm really excited about it. I read the version for teachers once upon a time and loved it. I didn't even know there was a version for parenting little kids. I'm sure the teaching version didn't have a chapter on bedtime. Any self-respecting book about parenting has to address bedtime though, so I'm expecting answers!

If you've got any favorite parenting books, I need to know about them, especially if they know what to do about bedtime and church.

Hanne's Cabin Adventures

2011-07-04T17:37:00.001-06:00

We spent the weekend at the cabin, where Sully slept in the bathroom, and Hanne slept in the adjoining bedroom. One night, Sully started screaming, so I went up to check on him, and sure enough, the bedroom and bathroom lights were on, and Hanne wasn't in bed. As I turned the corner to peek in the bathroom, I found Hanne in Sully's pack n' play, jumping up and down, covered in green powder, shaking a can of Comet all over the bathroom. Sully was lying in the corner of the pack n' play, dusted with Comet, screaming and kicking. There were mounds of Comet on the floor, and every surface was green. I wish I had a picture, but I couldn't take the time to take a picture because I was afraid the Comet was going to burn their skin if I didn't wash it off immediately. After the bath, Hanne's face was the cleanest I've ever seen it. It might just be my imagination, but her hair looks a little blonder too.

The next day, Hanne got into someone's purse, finding a bag of ibuprofin. We didn't know how much she ate, so I called Poison Control. The lady was really mean, making me feel like an idiot for not knowing my child's weight or how much she ate. I think she just didn't want to be held responsible if the numbers were wrong, but her attitude made me think she was going to report me to DCFS. I wasn't about to tell her about the Comet incident the night before. I think the Poison Control people should be nice, otherwise people will be afraid to call. Anyway, she said Hanne would have had to eat 13 to go to the hospital if she were the size of an average two-year-old. We assumed she didn't eat 13, since they were really gross and didn't have a candy coating. As it turns out, she only ate one, and she spit it out in her grandma's purse before even getting through the top layer.

I'm not too excited about our next vacation. I just want to stay in my little, babyproof house until my kids are adults. Vacation is supposed to be fun and relaxing, but there is nothing fun or relaxing about chasing Hanne around all day every day or rushing her to the hospital every time she poisons herself. I wish the world were babyproof.

Shawl

2011-06-28T21:26:00.000-06:00

Damask by Kitman Figueroa

I know I look downright frumpy most of the time with my hair in a ponytail, the same clothes I've been wearing since college, and no foundation on my skin. I should probably take more pride in my look.

Fashion is ridiculous though. Why should I have to buy new clothes every year just to look like the rest of the world? Not that there is anything wrong with dressing fashionably. People who dress with style look awesome, but I'm too cheap to be fashionable. Plus, I prefer to wear things that don't show off my fat. You will never catch me in a pair of skinny jeans.

The reason I've been thinking about this is that there are a lot of beautiful lace shawl patterns out there, and I really want to knit one. I asked my sister if that would make me look super grandmotherly, and she said, "Suuuuper." I told her I would wear it like a scarf, but she didn't believe me. She said I would wear it like a poncho, which is probably true, at least in the comfort of my own home.

Since I'm not stylish in the first place, I might as well knit myself a shawl, right? I guess I will knit it, and then decide later if I dare wear it in public. I can always save it in my closet for a few decades. Then when I'm in a wheelchair, (if I live that long) I can bust it out. It's a shame that pretty things like hand-made lace aren't always fashionable outside the knitting community.

Hazel

2011-06-26T15:06:00.000-06:00

Hanne played with a girl named Hazel today in nursery. Everyone got a kick out of how Hanne said her name:

Sistine Chapel

2011-06-22T23:46:00.000-06:00

Sully learned how to point today, so we've been acting out the Sistine Chapel scene.

Bubbles

2011-06-20T17:05:00.000-06:00

Hanne emptied a bottle of bubble bath on the bathroom floor, and my first instinct was to sop it up with the beach towel that was wadded up in the corner. But now what do I do with the towel? If I put it in the washing machine, will the suds go out of control and destroy the machine while overflowing my laundry room? Maybe I should just toss the towel before Ryan unsuspectingly puts it in the wash.

Unravelling

2011-06-17T23:41:00.000-06:00

When you're in the middle of writing a blog post, and don't know an editing rule, do you guess or do you look it up? I usually guess and hope people either won't notice or won't care. (I've already made two guesses, and I'm only three sentences into this post.) Every time Ryan wants to write something like, "It's pizza night at the Davises'," he asks me where the apostrophe goes, and I can never remember, and then I wish I had an app called, "The Layperson's Guide to Editing." (I'm up to four guesses.)

Some editing rules are kind of complicated. Did you know that when a person's name ends in s, and you want to use an apostrophe because something belongs to that person, you should add an apostrophe s, not just an apostrophe? For example: Jess's desk. Sometimes I have to bust out my reference book when people don't believe me. Here's the weird part: this rule doesn't apply to Jesus or Socrates or anyone biblical or ancient and famous. It seems overly-complicated to me. Kim says the rules are different depending on what style guide you are using, so maybe I just need to switch style guides. (I'm up to 8 now. You can see why I don't want to look them all up.)

I wonder if there are people out there who notice and care when people break the complicated rules? I admit that I get a little bugged when people consistently break rules that I think are simple. But I'm a hypocrite because my editing mistakes probably seem pretty simple to smart people.

I wish I could stop being a hypocrite and stop caring about apostrophes so much. But I'm scared that people are going to start thinking it's correct to put apostrophes in words just because they end in s. I assume that most people who make this mistake know the rule, but make the mistake absentmindedly. Heck, I probably accidentally stick apostrophes in plural words every now and then too. But the next generation won't even know the rule because the mistake happens so often, and next thing we know, my future grandkids are going to try to convince me that I should be putting apostrophes in my plural words.

It's a scary world. With the explosion of the internet, our written language is unraveling, and most of us are too lazy to bother stopping it, and even though I'm worried enough to write this post, I'm not going to bother looking up the rules when I can't remember them. I guess in the scheme of things, it's just not that important because society, morals, governments and families are unraveling just as quickly. I feel so small and helpless.

Bangs

2011-06-08T17:56:00.000-06:00

This is what I get for leaving Hanne to her own devices while I feed Sully:

I've been trying to grow out those bangs for probably a year. Sad day.

Any ideas on how to rescue it? Pixie cut? I just don't want her to look like a boy.

Peeth Hold It Moon

2011-06-07T23:20:00.000-06:00

As Hanne and I sat on the front porch today, Hanne reached for the moon and insisted that I let her hold it. I told her it was too high to hold, and she started begging, "Peeeeeth" (please) over and over, as if I just wasn't willing to get up and grab it for her. Then she started saying "ump" (jump) as she let out a series of little hops, thinking she'd be able to reach it then. I wonder if this is normal two-year-old behavior, or if she has some sort of depth perception problem.

P.S. in case you were worried that we were drowning in pee, it's been a week and a half since Hanne's last day-time accident. I'm probably going to jinx it by reporting this though. We could still drown in her bed-wetting pee, so don't uncross your fingers yet.

Photoshop and Potty Training

2011-05-22T22:32:00.004-06:00

I took these pictures in the shade, and they looked kind of dull, but Hanne looked cute, so Ryan and I tried to fix them in photoshop. We're not professionals, though, so don't expect too much. I like the first and last one okay, but the middle one kind of has alien eyes.

Potty training update: Hanne is not so excited about the potty anymore. It really doesn't help that if she leans back on the potty, the pee goes shooting out the front, getting her clothes all wet anyway. I don't know if that's why, but she holds it for a long time, and then has accidents before she can get to the bathroom. I also have a hard time getting her to try before bed, which means she pees the bed. So we're not done after all. I feel like she's so close, but I don't know what to do to get her back on track.

New Camera Pics

2011-05-21T11:02:00.002-06:00

I got a new camera for my birthday! It's a Canon Rebel XS. Today was the first day that we could go outside and try it out because it's been so gloomy. Here are some of the pics:

My worst nightmare is that Hanne will fall off this ledge and break her neck:

I love a good cry face:

Done?

2011-05-19T14:52:00.007-06:00

Golfing in her undies

Holy cow. I think Hanne's potty trained!

After my last post on potty training, a friend told me about a 3-day program, which kept me up at night wondering if I had the faith to throw away all the diapers and make Hanne sleep without one like it required. As my diaper supply dwindled, I tried to psych myself up, but I was still exhausted from my last failed attempt. But Hanne kept taking off her diapers, so I bit the bullet and started the program.

Last night, at the close of the third day of potty training, as Hanne had just finished peeing on her pillow and was begging for a diaper, I thought there was no way we were going to be done in just 3 days. But then this morning, she woke up dry. Still, I gave her massive amounts of liquids, all geared up for a 4th day of potty training, but then she told me every single time she had to go. No accidents. She even ran in and pooped all by herself.

I think we might be done! It just seems too good to be true. Surely, as soon as I publish this post, Hanne will have an accident. But even if she does, I'm happy with the results of those three days of hell.

Babies

2011-05-10T19:29:00.003-06:00

Today, Hanne took off all her clothes and put a brown, elastic headband around her hips. She saw her reflection in the glass on the fireplace, and said, "Babies!" And then she wanted to watch the movie. She really looked just like the African babies in the movie, with their stringy, little loincloths around their hips.

Recent Phone Pics

2011-05-08T16:58:00.005-06:00

She spent all morning happily buckled in. We should bring in the carseat more often:

Climbing out of the goat pen:

In all his sitting glory:

This was supposed to be his blessing outfit, but I make him wear it as much as possible because it took forever to knit:

Hanne vs Piano

2011-05-07T10:25:00.003-06:00

We have this beautiful piano:

We call it Lord Pramberger. It's only a few years old, which is practically brand new in piano years, and it's probably my most prized possession if you don't count people. Our house is tiny, so Hanne shares a room with Lord Pramberger. She often plays it when she should be sleeping, and it is covered in her fingerprints, which makes me cringe, but we have nowhere else to put it, so I just dream of the day in the near future that our basement will be finished, and Lord Pramberger will have a room of his very own, with a lock on the door to keep out prying 2-year-olds.

I'm really careful about keeping everything out of reach in Hanne's room, so that when I lock her in for her nap, she won't have anything that can scratch the piano or keep her awake. But yesterday, Hanne somehow found an orange crayon and drew all over the closet and piano. I was steam-coming-out-of-my-ears livid. I really wanted to spank her, but she has a hitting problem, and that would just make her think hitting was okay. So I cleaned the piano with special piano cleaning solution, and then cleaned the closet with Windex. I made Hanne scrub the closet, but I didn't dare let her scrub my precious piano. Then I put the Windex on the bathroom counter, and we all went to bed.

Today, while I was trying to rock Sully to sleep, Hanne came in covered in Windex saying, "Clean." At first I was afraid she'd eaten some, but then when I went on a search for the bottle, I found, even worse, the piano was covered in Windex! I seriously wanted to give Hanne a good dose of shaking baby syndrome, but I didn't, cuz I'm not abusive like that. I guess that's what I get for not putting the Windex back in the child-proof-cabinet where it belongs. I'm just glad I didn't use something more abrasive to clean the closet.

Can I pay someone to potty train my kid?

2011-04-18T21:09:00.004-06:00

Hanne has been running around bare-bummed all day long, and she's been peeing her heart out. Sometimes, when I notice she's not in the room, I start searching franticly, cuz what if she's off doing her business in some corner?! Then when I find her, she's sitting on the toilet, and it's awesome. But other times, she pees on her chair or under the kitchen table and probably in other places that I haven't discovered yet. My fear is that Lando will think she's marking her territory and feel like he needs to do the same, and before I know it, everyone will be peeing all over the place. It looks like I'm in for some craaaaaazy dreams tonight!

Roly Poly

2011-03-22T16:54:00.007-06:00

Sully is broken. About a week ago, he rolled onto his stomach and slept for 12 hours. Then the next night, and every night since, he has been rolling himself into the corner, where he screams and hits his head on the bars, and now he doesn't sleep for more than three hours at a time. For a minute there, life was looking so bright. I was imagining long nights of uninterrupted sleep. Then Sully got all rolly on me and dashed my dreams to pieces. Figure it out, Mr. Tron! Mama wants to sleep!

Awkward?

2011-03-10T14:53:00.003-07:00

The other day, as I entered the poo bathroom at church to feed Sully, it occurred to me: Why do I have to nurse him in seclusion? Anywhere besides church, I just whip out my handy, nursing cover and feed my baby no matter who is around. But the church has a room for nursing, and I've never noticed anyone nursing anywhere besides that room. I can understand that maybe it's distracting for kids and maybe even men, so I wouldn't nurse in sunday school or sacrament meeting. But relief society if full of women, most of whom have kids of their own. It shouldn't be awkward for me to feed my baby, especially since I'm fully covered. But I'm afraid to do it because no one ever does it. I kind of want to feed my baby in relief society and see what happens, mostly because I'm afraid of finding poo explosions in the bathroom. Do you think it would be awkward?

Granite!

2011-03-10T11:46:00.002-07:00

I never had a problem with the tile in our kitchen, so when Ryan wanted to put in granite, it seemed like a splurge. But he thought he could do it himself for cheap. He found a slab of granite that was pretty cheap because it was too small for most people's kitchens. That's one of the benefits of having a tiny kitchen. The other benefit is that we don't have to feel guilty for never feeding the missionaries. We've had that slab for a year, and Ryan never got around to putting it in, so he finally hired someone.

Before:

Demolition:

After:

Ahhhhhhh.

Now I feel so classy when I do dishes, except when I accidentally scratch myself on the old tile glue where the backsplash should be. Just imagine it with a pretty backsplash. Hopefully we'll get around to that soon, but lets be honest, it could be another year, or two. Or five.

Newest Obsession

2011-03-05T21:02:00.006-07:00

My first tatting

I never blog anymore, but I should because blogging is fun, and fun is good. Can you tell that I read Dr. Seuss books all the stinking day long? When I'm not reading Dr. Suess, my new favorite hobby is tatting. It's a method of making lace out of tiny knots, and I crave it.

I think I was born to do this. My mom says I started tying my shoes at age two, and I'm wishing she had signed me up for tatting right then, cuz now I've missed lots of years of tatting, and I've wasted lots of my parents' money on piano lessons, when they could've just bought me some thread and a shuttle. But I'm guessing my parents didn't know about tatting because I didn't even know it existed until about a year ago. Plus, you can't go wrong with piano lessons. It's just a handy skill. And who hates the sound of the piano? Probably no one. Even tone deaf people can play the piano. The only excluded people are the ones without fingers.

Even though I crave tatting, I don't really know what I'm doing. I signed up for an online tatting class, but just as the first class was about to start, both kids started screaming, and it took me until the class was over to get them back to sleep. It was crazy because they rarely cry at the same time, and even if they do, they are usually pretty easy to soothe. I took it as a sign from heaven. Tatting can wait until after my kids are grown, but I only have a narrow window where my kids will need or want my attention. Sully doesn't even let me cuddle him to sleep anymore. He prefers to cry it out until he finds his thumb.

I'm not going to stop tatting altogether. After all, I was born to do it. But I'll try not to obsess over it. And speaking of obsessions, do other knitters think about knitting every day? Do they day dream about all the sweaters they want to create? Do they do countless google searches for knitted airplanes and elephants? Maybe I just have an obsessive streak.

By the way, if you want to find a pattern for tatted baby booties, DON'T do a google search for tatted booties. We live in a dirty, dirty world.

Now, to get any nasty images out of your head, here are some pretty doilies made by Fox.

I don't know her, but I love that she uses colors and beads. I want to cover my walls with colorful, dainty, little doilies. But alas, my kids are needy. Maybe it'll happen when I'm an old lady, although if my eyesight starts to go, I can forget about tatting, cuz the knots are microscopic.

P.S. If I ever find time to tat again, I'll post my projects over on my knitting blog. I'm just assuming the general populace doesn't want to see every little knot.

When did your kids stop napping?

2011-02-15T15:15:00.003-07:00

Hanne just barely learned to reach the light switch, so all of a sudden, she stopped napping. Instead, she sings, empties the laundry basket, dismantles the heating vent, sorts her diapers and toys, and explores the closet. Sometimes I peek under the door and see her lying on the ground with her blanket, talking to herself. If she really needed the nap, she'd fall asleep, right? She seems so tired. It's weird. Maybe it's just because she has a cold.

Today, I tucked Hanne in and promised her that if she slept, we would go to the park when she woke up. She kept the light off, but it still took her two hours to fall asleep. By the time she wakes up and we get to the park, it's going to be freezing out! Maybe she'll forget. I'm not sure how much she understands. She knows what the park is, but does she understand my promise to take her there when she wakes up?

When did you give up on naps? I reeeeally don't want her to be done!

Capitalization Rant

2011-02-09T21:54:00.006-07:00

There seems to be a trend in the blogosphere to stop using capital letters. It's distracting. Rather than paying attention to what the anti-capitalization people are really writing, I can't help wondering what subliminal point they are trying to make. At first I assumed it was just that they were writing from their phones, but most phones autocorrect capitalization. Are they trying to look humble? Using i instead of I just makes a person look smaller, you know? Or maybe they are trying to defy the rules of writing, just to show that they are above the rules? It seems like they are trying to add voice to their writing with mechanics rather than words, but unless they are trying to use an uneducated voice, that doesn't really work.

It just occurred to me: maybe they don't realize they aren't capitalizing! The horror! It reminds me of 6th graders not using periods out of pure laziness. Please tell me it isn't laziness! I need there to be a reason. If we, as a society, are going to let our language decline, at least let it be for a valid reason.

I don't remember much from the History of English class that I took in college, but one thing I do remember is that there are two schools of thought on the evolution of language. Some people want to put every new slang word in the dictionary and let English evolve. Others insist on keeping the language as stagnant as possible because they don't want reading Shakespeare to one day be like reading Chaucer and reading Chaucer to be impossible. Maybe the anti-capitalization people are subconsciously in the slang camp, and those of us who try to follow the rules are in the Shakespeare camp. Shakespeare was a genius, and I want my great, great, great, great, great grandchildren to be able to read his stuff, so I'm just gonna keep capitalizing. But I'll also keep using words like "ain't" and "gonna" for the sake of voice. But let's be honest, my writing isn't going to make the English language evolve. It's the published people who make the biggest impact. And they aren't afraid of capital letters.

Wallpaper

2011-02-05T19:32:00.002-07:00

I'm having a hard time choosing wallpaper for the basement. I'm just no good at decorating. Anyone know where to look for cute wallpaper? Here are some Amy Butler ones I like:

The Crap You'd Never Expect to Find at Church

2011-01-30T14:38:00.006-07:00

This morning, as we scrambled to get to church early enough to play prelude music, I was feeling pretty flustered at the thought of playing the opening hymn cold turkey, and I thought it was gonna be a pretty rough Sunday. Little did I know, the music would be the least of my worries.

If poo grosses you out, now might be a good time to consider skipping this post.

When Sully got fussy, I took him to the restroom to change his diaper and feed him. As I was changing him, I heard an old lady breathing heavily as she exited a restroom stall. She staggered out the door without washing her hands. After she left, I made my way to the mother's lounge, but glanced under the bathroom stall as I passed and discovered a huge pile of diarrhea on the floor. Then on closer inspection, I noticed that the old lady had tracked it out the door. Worried that someone would step in the mess, I put Sully down in the mother's lounge, then laid some paper towels on the floor to begin wiping up some of the mess, but Sully started screaming bloody murder, so I quickly wiped up the bulk of the tracks and shoved the towels into the stall with my foot.

Sully was purple from screaming by this time, so I fed him, thinking I'd try to clean up afterwards. We don't have a church custodian. Church members take turns cleaning the church on Saturdays, so if I left the mess, someone else would have to figure it out or it would sit for a week. But I'm not much of a problem solver. I just couldn't figure out what I was gonna do about all that poo.

When I looked in the stall after I finished feeding Sully, I discovered it was worse than I'd thought. Poo was everywhere. It was smeared all over the toilet seat, dripping from the outside of the bowl, and in piles all over the floor. There was enough toilet paper in the toilet that flushing would surely cause overflowing. I didn't know where to start. I didn't even know where the cleaning supplies were kept.

I went back to class and told Ryan about it, thinking he'd know what to do. He didn't, so we just sat there for a while, but I couldn't pay attention to the lesson because I had poo on the brain. So I went back to the bathroom and found Kay scrubbing the carpet. She'd discovered the poo too, and she didn't know where to start either, but she figured she'd at least get it out of the carpet outside the bathroom. Then she had the brilliant idea to use a trash bag to scoop the toilet paper out of the toilet, but she didn't dare do it in her church duds. So I did it, and it worked like magic. We continued to give each other moral support until the poo was gone. Now we share the bond of poo, and I may never be able to look at her again without thinking of poo. I will also never be able to use that stall. And I will always check to make sure the pew I sit in is clean because I don't know where that incontinent, old lady went after she left the bathroom.

Phone Pics

2011-01-11T19:58:00.002-07:00

Here's Hanne trying to knit:

It'd be cool if she really could knit, but mostly she just messes up what I've been working on.

Here's Sully matching his chair:

He spends a lot of time in it these days because his head is getting flat on one side:

We're really hoping he won't need a helmet. They're just so stinking expensive. But at least it would disguise his cradle cap, right?

Sullitron 5000

2010-12-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

Poor Sully is getting the 2nd child shaft. He rarely gets to lie on the floor or play with toys or wear cute stuff or get his picture taken. I spend all my energy just protecting him and his paci from Hanne. When he looks back at my blog someday and realizes I didn't post much about his babyhood, I'll have to explain that with all the poking and smothering that Hanne tried to do, he's lucky to be alive and with his eyes still in tact, and he should be glad his mother didn't get distracted by her blog, otherwise his sister might have done some real damage. So here's a post about Sully, cuz he's awesome and deserves a little fame.

Sully's about 2.5 months old now. He wears 3-6 month clothes, and I really wish he would slow down on the growing and just be my little baby. Ryan started calling him Sullitron 5000, so I've started calling him Sully-tron, or just Tron, or sometimes Tronny, which is a little too close to tranny for comfort. The name Sullivan means "little dark eyes," so it's lucky that Sully's eyes are browning up.

When he was one month old, we took him to the doctor, and she noticed some thrush in his mouth. Some of it was in the shape of a molar, but the thrush went away with medicine, and the molar stuck around! It still hasn't poked through, but it's funny that such a little dude is growing a molar and no other teeth.

Sully slept through the night three nights in a row! It turns out that all I needed to do was swaddle his arms. I wish I had started doing that when he was born. But better late than never, I guess.

I regret not getting some of those fancy newborn photos of the kids. I meant to do it this time, but we called a photographer and found out it costed $500. That was before we'd paid Sully's medical bills, and we were nervous about spending money (although we're probably too stingy to spend $500 on pictures anyway.) He was a month old before we stopped worrying about money, and before I even realized he wasn't new anymore. But my sister-in-law took some shots of him at 2 months, so here you go. I could just stare at his little face all day long if Hanne would let me.

And here's a shot of Hanne. She's cute too.

Death

2010-11-29T21:39:00.004-07:00

I haven't been blogging much lately because people have been dying left and right, and it just makes all the flippant stuff I usually whine about on my blog seem petty. Ryan lost his brother last week, and before that, some friends lost a grandbaby. Then before that, the girl that used to rent my basement was murdered. And it goes on and on with one heartbreaking story after another. Ryan and I jokingly call it "the draft," because surely there must be something crazy going on in heaven that they have to draft all these amazing people up for.

Watching the people left behind, as they're overwhelmed by sorrow, puts a pit in my stomach, but I'm starting to realize that death is just a part of life. It's one of the crappiest parts, but no one makes it out of here alive, so we're all going to lose someone eventually, unless we're lucky enough to go first. But I truly believe that death is triumphant, that when people die, they go somewhere awesome. We spend our whole lives searching for a career we enjoy, a spouse to love, real friends, knowledge, and religious truth. But on the other side, I bet we will all have fulfilling work, and once all our family and friends pass over, we'll get to hang out with them just like we do here. And we'll have access to lots of knowledge and truth. We'll have perfect health, and no fear of death. It just sucks for the broken-hearted people left on earth without their loved ones. But at least it's temporary, right? 100 years from now, when we're all on the other side, maybe we'll be able to look back at the hard times without any sorrow. In the mean time, I'm going to hold my kids more and try to live each day without regrets, just in case one of us gets drafted.

Little Singer

2010-11-16T11:57:00.003-07:00

Hanne loves to sing, but she can't really talk. I only just realized this was a real song when she did it with the motions. Can you tell what she's singing? It's only the last two lines of the song:

Need a hint? Watch this one:

I love that she doesn't let her lack of speech get in the way. She just sings the three words she knows and makes up the rest.

Homemade NoseFrida

2010-11-16T11:19:00.004-07:00

Sully has been congested, and the bulb syringe and saline drops just aren't cutting it, so I wanted to get a NoseFrida. It's a booger sucker that uses the mouth to do the sucking. It looks kinda gross, but it has a filter, so it's sanitary. But it turns out that NoseFridas are hard to find, and we were desperate. We couldn't wait for one to come in the mail or for the one Utah store that sells them to get more in stock. So Ryan decided to make his own. The American Red Cross brand aspirator has a plug in the bottom:

Ryan simply opened the plug and stuck 1/2" vinyl tubing in the bottom, and voila! NoseFrida! Only there is no filter, so I made Ryan do the sucking, but the boogers stay in the bulb, so it's really not that gross. I used it when Ryan wasn't home because I was desperate. But if we found some foam to make a filter, then it'd be perfect! Or we could just buy a real NoseFrida.

Halloween

2010-11-16T11:04:00.004-07:00

Hanne insisted on wearing her Halloween costume today. Can you tell what she was? If you read my knitting blog, then you already know.

Sully was a doctor:

And a moose:

You gotta have two costumes if you're a barfer!

Sully's Sock Monkey Nursery

2010-11-08T12:17:00.009-07:00

I'm kinda in love with Sully's room. If I gotta be up all night, at least it's in the cutest room in the house.

My sister and I made the drapes, crib skirt, and mobile. Okay, mostly my sister did everything, while I pretended to help. I stole her idea for awning valences because I thought it looked circusy, and circuses and monkeys go together, right? The awnings make it feel like we're at an outdoor cafe. Ryan and I like to hang out in there just for that ambiance.

Ryan's brother, Matt, is genius. He found us a framed Bill Monroe record because Sully is named after Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass. I kinda want to bust it out of its frame and listen to it.

Ryan is also a genius. He put a Sonos speaker in Sully's room. I can control it with my phone, making it play music from my itunes or from Pandora. It makes those night time feedings much more bearable.

Favorite Darling Aunt Debbie is also a genius. She made Sully and Hanne the cutest sock monkeys ever. Here's Sully's:

Kim and I made Sully some bunting and a bulletin board. If you look closely at the shelf, you can see the sock monkey Jack-in-the-box that my mom found:

Here's a close-up of the bulletin board:

And here are close-ups of the pictures on the bulletin board:

Sully with his troop

Hanne loving her monkey from FDAD

I found the sheet online:

My sister-in-law, Mandy, made Sully's luxurious blankie:

So, all in all, I'm lucky everyone was on board with the sock monkey room because the only thing I did myself was buy the sheet and a few other knick-knacks. I didn't even buy one monkey! Thanks everyone!

Pen Hold

2010-11-02T20:28:00.001-06:00

That's a pretty decent pen hold for someone who still sucks on a newborn pacifier.

Just Cuz They're Cute

2010-10-30T15:27:00.002-06:00

Who says baby boy clothes can't be cute? I wish I could take credit for dressing him, but my friend, Melissa, made Sully's hat, and the outfit was a gift from my sister-in-law, Jen.

The watermelon pic is a bit outdated, but it was sitting on my desktop, and was too cute not to share.

Project Runway Spoiler Alert

2010-10-30T14:26:00.003-06:00

I once knitted this for a baby:

Gretchen won Project Runway by putting a bunch of knitted diaper covers on fully grown women:

It's cute on babies, but what adult woman would wear that? The fashion world baffles me.

Paci Stealer

2010-10-26T09:56:00.000-06:00

Growing Up

2010-10-25T20:56:00.004-06:00

Sully gained 1.1 pounds this week. I hold him all day long because he's only gonna be little for a millisecond. But at the same time, I want him to grow up enough to sleep through the night. Anyway, here's a poem about babies growing up. It's sad cuz it makes babies sound like leftovers in the refrigerator:

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Reaching for the light

2010-10-22T22:31:00.001-06:00

Sometimes Hanne sleeps in her bed, but sometimes she sleeps on the floor wedged up against the door. I thought she must still be awake when I saw her little hand peeking out under the door:

But it turns out she's totally asleep. Why on earth would she choose to sleep like that? It makes me feel like a troll locking up an innocent child.

Sully's Mobile

2010-10-19T20:13:00.002-06:00

I just finished making Sully's mobile for his sock monkey room:

The best part is that the monkeys are Christmas ornaments, so when we're done with the nursery, we can put them on the tree.

Regression

2010-10-18T17:50:00.001-06:00

We took away the pacifier in January, and here it is coming back to haunt us in October. She also wants to use the bouncer, bumbo, and boppy pillow; and she climbs into the crib. I'm afraid to get out the swing. She's turning into Peter Pan.

We're Home!

2010-10-16T17:05:00.001-06:00

Sully Update

2010-10-11T21:35:00.004-06:00

It turns out that even though Sully's condition isn't very serious, and even though he is constantly improving, he still needs to stay in the hospital for a while. They don't know how long, but the nurse thought maybe a week and a half. Luckily our hospital lets moms of babies in the special care nursery stay for free. So it looks like Sully and l will be living here for a while. But I get to hold him now, so that's awesome. Here are some pics:

Sullivan Monroe

2010-10-08T20:19:00.002-06:00

Presenting Sullivan Monroe:

Sully is in the special care nursery cuz he's got some amniotic fluid in his lungs. It's nothing serious, but he'll probably be there for a couple of days. I haven't met him yet cuz I feel nauseous every time I sit up, and it's killing me not to see the little guy, but it won't be long now!

I Hate Being Green

2010-09-28T07:17:00.007-06:00

About a month before our other dishwasher died, we started getting white film on all our dishes. We thought the filter was clogged, maybe from washing jars that had paper wrappers. But the same thing happened with our new dishwasher. It turns out that there was some legislation that went into effect in Utah saying that dishwasher soap can no longer contain phosphates, so all of a sudden, dishwasher soap started leaving white crud on dishes.

Anyone else having this problem? It's probably partly because we have really hard water. I've found that Finish works better than Cascade, and that Lemishine or Glass Magic work amazingly, but it's pretty expensive to put Lemishine or Glass Magic in every load. I've read that using a solid rinse aid rather than a liquid one works better because more of it comes off in every load. I've also found that not using the heated dry option helps. I'm wondering if getting a water softener would fix my problem. Is anyone else in Utah having this problem? And if not, do you have a water softener?

I hate that this article says that "If that means we need to be a little more careful of taking food products off our plate and not just relying on the dishwasher to do that, I think that's a small price for us to pay for an improved environment." It's not that the dishwasher doesn't get the food off, it's that it leaves other gunk all over the dishes. Obviously, this guy doesn't do the dishes in his household, if he even has a dishwasher. I think the detergent companies need to figure out something soon or else we need to go back to letting fishies die.

Two More Weeks!

2010-09-25T17:14:00.001-06:00

Only two weeks until the baby comes! We're getting excited:

Help!

2010-09-14T20:49:00.003-06:00

We got a new DVR, but we can't remember what was on our old one, and the fall shows are starting this week! It'd be a tragedy to miss the season premier of something like Community or Chuck. What if I'm missing something good? Everyone comment with your favorite shows, k?

Sock Monkey Mobile

2010-09-13T16:28:00.003-06:00

These mobiles look pretty easy to make:

The question is whether I should use all monkeys or get some other animals in there. They're all the same price.

Sock Monkey Bedding

2010-09-12T20:50:00.003-06:00

I'm thinking about decorating Future Baby's room with a sock monkey theme, but sock monkey bedding is kinda pricey, so I'm going to buy the sheet and make the bedskirt and drapes. I wasn't going to use a bumper because of the SIDS risk, but I'm considering buying a breathable bumper. It won't be cute, but I'm willing to sacrifice cute to avoid anxiety and baby death. The colors I choose will probably depend on what fabrics I can find and how the bumpers match the fabrics, but here are the options:

Option A: Brown Bumper

So it'd look something like this:

Option B: Ecru Bumper

It'd look a little like this:

I have no eye for this sort of thing, so I'm open to suggestions. My sister-in-law said the ecru is better, so I'm leaning toward that. Any thoughts?

By the way, you can design your own bedding at babybedding.com. That's where I made these samples.

Wimpy Outlet Plugs

2010-09-12T20:35:00.005-06:00

Either Hanne is brilliant or outlet plugs are a scam. We've got two different types of plugs, and Hanne can pop 'em both out in milliseconds. So naturally, I'm terrified that I'm going to wake up to this:

Anybody know of a more child-proof way to child-proof the outlets? We're going outlet plug shopping first thing tomorrow morning . . . that is if we can make it through the night without getting fried.

Three Cheers for the New Dishwasher!

2010-09-11T14:54:00.005-06:00

My new dishwasher is heaven sent. I just put an oatmeal encrusted bowl on the top rack, and it came out sparkling! Plus, this dishwasher is huge inside. The top rack is deep enough to hold full-sized plates and pots and pans. Maybe we're lucky our old dishwasher broke because its top rack was pretty much useless.

Shopping for a dishwasher was a pain. They all had mixed reviews, making me terrified that I'd get a lemon. I was going to go with Bosch because it seemed like people liked those, but then I visited my mom and looked inside her dishwasher and realized that I could fit all my dinner dishes plus the pots and pans and mixing bowls in her dishwasher, while I'd never be able to do that with a Bosch. Lucky I visited my mom last week, eh?

After I bought the dishwasher (with a 5 year warrantee, just in case) I felt a huge surge of relief that I wouldn't have to make any huge buying decisions for a while. Then I realized I have to choose bedding for Future Baby's room. Ug.

Lesson Learned

2010-09-09T15:59:00.003-06:00

Lando stole a grilled cheese sandwich from the table that was made from spicy buffalo wing cheese. He immediately went to the toilet where he drank for several minutes, then he didn't steal any more table food for the rest of the night, even though there was still a normal grilled cheese left out. Is it cruel that I couldn't help laughing at him?

I think I might actually be a house

2010-09-09T15:35:00.002-06:00

One month until the baby comes, and I'm feeling quite housish. Hanne moos every time she sees a pig, and she won't stop mooing. I gotta wonder if it's me she's mooing at.

Potty Mouth

2010-09-03T09:24:00.000-06:00

After I changed Hanne's diaper yesterday, I bent to grab her pajamas from off the floor when she shimmied off the bed and bolted into the bathroom, snatched my toothbrush from the counter, dipped it in the toilet, and began brushing her teeth-all in the time it took me to grab the pajamas from two feet away and run after her. It'll be a week before I dare kiss that germy, little, potty mouth again.

NOOOOOOOO!

2010-08-29T14:01:00.003-06:00

The dishwasher stopped working, and WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE if we don't get another one right now! Seriously, I was not born to do dishes by hand. It's why I was born in this generation of dishwashers and feminism. Anyone have any recommendations? There's actually an old, white one out in the shop that we've been meaning to get rid of, so we'll use it temporarily, but it'll look garish in our black kitchen, and I doubt it works well. I want a nice one that is baby proof (or at least has hidden controls) and won't leave food and stuff on my dishes.

The Day I Learned Something in Shakespeare Class

2010-08-26T20:44:00.004-06:00

When I was in college, I had this one really mean Shakespeare professor. He thought he was leagues above everyone in the the whole world. He talked trash about his nephew, his wife, his mom, and the couple out in the hall that was kissing goodbye. I didn't learn much in that class. But one day I did learn something.

The professor was passing back our essays on Hamlet, when he came to mine. He held it up for the class to see, and said, "I liked Stacey's paper, but I gave it an A-. You might be wondering why." Then he proceeded to read a passage from my paper where I had used the word, "thing." He explained that one should never use the word "thing" because there is always a more precise word to use instead. I was kind of humiliated. But at least I learned something other than how much the teacher hated people.

Now every time I write "thing" or "stuff" or any other meaningless word, I feel a pang of guilt. In fact, the whole reason I'm writing this post is because I used "stuff" four times in my last post. I just feel like I should apologize, in case anyone else has been programmed to hate the word. But I'm no professional, so I figure it's okay. And may the rotten professor from Hell die a painful and lonely death. Just kidding. I don't really care what happens to him.

By the way, before we turned in our Hamlet papers, we had to have two people in the class read them and grade them. The husband and wife sitting in front of me read my paper and gave it a C-! Some people just need to get off their high horses.

I Just Wanna Eat Sand

2010-08-26T20:07:00.002-06:00

The other day, I was shopping in the dollar store, when I came across some little jars of sand. I couldn't stop staring because all of a sudden I realized that I desperately needed to eat that sand. It took some serious willpower not to open one of those jars right there in the store and chomp on a mouthful of the stuff.

When I'm pregnant, I crave weird stuff like sand, dirt, ice, and even dishwasher detergent. But don't worry, the only one I actually eat is ice. Although I wonder if I'd be able to hold back if I lived on the beach. I also wonder if anyone has ever given in to a dishwasher detergent craving.

Dirt really is tasty; I remember from my childhood. But there's no way I'm gonna go dig some dirt out of the goat pen and eat it with all the goat poo mixed in. And the dirt in the flower beds has compost and pesticides and fertilizer. I guess I could go find some dirt around town, but I'd never know if a dog peed on that dirt, so that'd be gross. Ryan kicked up some dust working in the basement the other day, and it was like driving by one of those hamburger joints that pumps the smell of food into the air. It made me crave dirt like crazy. I just wish there was some nice, clean dirt somewhere for people like me. It's kind of tempting to go back to the dollar store for some of that pristine, white sand. I've never tried sand before, but I bet it tastes kind of like dirt. Mmm. But I also bet the dollar store sand has chemicals in it. I guess I'd better just stick to ice.

The doctor is doing a blood test, something about my hypocrite levels or something. If a little unbalanced blood can make me want to eat crazy stuff, I wonder what makes people want to chop off their arms or change their gender or stuff like that. What if it's just a little imbalance somewhere in their system, and they go in for surgery, and then the imbalance clears up, but it's too late? Freaky stuff. I'm just glad my biggest problem is craving sand, cuz I definitely don't want to be a dude or chop off my arm.

Is it worth complaining?

2010-08-17T21:39:00.005-06:00

I crave Taco Bell burritos at breakfast time, but Taco Bell doesn't open until 10, so that hour between 9 and 10 is kinda tough. Today, Hanne and I were in the backyard, and I thought surely it must be getting close to 10, so I strapped Hanne into her carseat, only to discover that it was only 9:37. But strapping Hanne in is kind of a pain, so I decided to wait it out in the Taco Bell parking lot. As soon as 10:00 hit, I started the car and drove through the drive through, only to be greeted by a recording that said they were closed. Sometimes they forget to change the recording in the morning, so I tried to order anyway, but to no avail. The recording just kept repeating itself really annoyingly. It was so annoying, that I couldn't sit there and wait for them to open. I had to settle for Del Taco, which was gross and which ended up all over Hanne's white shirt.

So, the question is, should I complain? This happens often enough that I aim to get to Taco Bell at 10:15 most mornings, which is hard when I've been waiting for my burrito since 9. If they say they're going to open at 10, then they should be ready to open at 10, right? Not 10:05, cuz no one wants to sit in the drive through listening to that annoying recording for 5 minutes. Or 2 minutes, or even 1. It's that annoying. The problem is that I am probably the only person who goes to Taco Bell at 10 every morning, and if I complain, they will know it was me, and then they will spit in my burrito. I just wish Taco Bell would have a little pride. I also wish they'd remember to give me hot sauce. But I'll only be prego for 2 more months, and then hopefully the cravings will go away, and none of this will matter anymore.

Ryan insisted I complain, but I think that was because he was in the complaining mood himself. Our city required that we pay a $600 deposit before Ryan built the shop, just in case the driveway approach got damaged during construction. They were supposed to come back afterward and check, and then give us our $600 back. Well, the shop has been built for a few years now, and we never got our money back. Ryan has been hounding the guy in charge for several months, with no success. So he asked the guy's secretary if he could leave the guy a message, and she said he had disabled his voicemail. So Ryan said he'd had enough, and he called the city manager and the mayor. I think it's wise to complain in that situation because that guy is paid with our tax dollars, and he's not doing is job, and there are a lot of people looking for work right now who deserve to have that job. Plus that guy can't spit in Ryan's burrito. Plus it's $600. Also, the whole thing sounds a little shady, like maybe the guy is embezzling the money or something. I mean, can a government employee really just disable his voicemail and not give people their money back? I just hope he doesn't come looking for us when he gets fired. I guess he could do a lot worse than spitting in a burrito if he's crazy.

Horse Dog

2010-08-11T08:55:00.002-06:00

Lando barfed all over the front room this morning, so I put him outside, and he started grazing grass like a horse. He really is a horse dog! I'm mad at him though. Why does he only ever throw up on the carpet when we have plenty of tile? I liked Lando so much better when he was an outside dog. On days like today, I just want to go drop him off at the pound.

Trashy Clerk

2010-08-09T12:26:00.004-06:00

I'm throwing a baby shower this week, and I need a game. I thought a bottle chugging race would be entertaining, so I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of baby bottles.

Trashy Clerk: How many babies do you have!?

Me: These are for a baby shower.

Trashy Clerk: So everyone who comes to your shower gets a bottle?

Me: We're having a game where we race to see who can drink a bottle the fastest.

Trashy Clerk: (rolling eyes and disgusted voice) Have fun.

I think she was mad at me because I entered the wrong pin and because I didn't know exactly how many bottles I had in my cart. But still, I thought she was rude to act like my game was so beneath her. Is it really that lame? Personally, I think there is nothing better than an eating contest. All parties should have one. Pie eating would be funner than drinking apple juice, but it's not really that babyish.

Troublemakers

2010-08-08T21:37:00.004-06:00

I was sitting on the couch today, when I heard a mysterious clinking sound. Worried that Hanne was into something, I hurried into the kitchen to discover Hanne standing on the kitchen counter stabbing butter with the butter knife. She'd pulled a chair out from under the table, then climbed from the chair to the table to her highchair to the counter top. Other trouble she's gotten into today includes starting the dishwasher, pouring her milk on the floor, eating coins, washing her hands in the toilet, drinking Lando's water, feeding all her food to Lando then complaining that she's hungry, hiding my shoes, and climbing from the rocking chair onto the changing table. Plus she has yet to find a "child-proof" cap she cannot open. She's been trying to rip her diaper off too, but luckily hasn't mastered it yet. And she thinks it's fun to take a drink, then let it dribble down her chin onto the floor. She's craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy! She's getting her first little taste of time-out tomorrow, and the baby gate is going back up.

Then there's Lando, who started jumping fences so he could roam the neighborhood, covering himself in burs that get stuck in the carpet. He also likes to take naps in the mud, then bark to come inside. And his breath smells like a pile of rotting skunk carcasses.

I can't wait to see what kind of mischief Future Baby gets into.

We Need Better Babyproofing

2010-07-29T11:08:00.002-06:00

I couldn't find my debit card, so I canceled it. Guess where it was:

I also found my keys in the recycle bin. Hanne is crazy.

Hanne's First Haircut

2010-07-29T11:05:00.001-06:00

Hanne had her first official haircut yesterday. Now she looks like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber.

Thirsty?

2010-07-19T21:58:00.002-06:00

Next time you're in Ryan's shop, bring your thirst. Ryan's ready for you:

Cover Your Sneeze

2010-07-18T19:43:00.005-06:00

Does anyone else think it's hard to sneeze into your elbow? I have to crane my neck to get my elbow anywhere near my mouth. Then once it's there, a third of the sneeze hits the elbow, while another third goes right over the top, and the rest flies underneath. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of covering the sneeze in the first place? Time to fatten up my elbows! What shall I eat first? Or should I wear elbow pads every time I get a cold?

Sweet Gig

2010-07-14T13:43:00.005-06:00

I recently started playing the organ in church, and it is seriously kicking my trash. I have to give up napping during Hanne's naptime so I can practice. No nap + pregnancy + life = exhausted Schmath. But I figure I have to build up my chops before the baby comes because I don't know if I will have time to practice at all at that point. So I've been practicing an hour or two a day, and even then, by the end of the week, I'm nervous that the hymns aren't sufficiently prepared, and church becomes a little stressful. And then it's over, but I have to start all over practicing for the next week, so it really never ends. One day I was practicing in the garage, in the blazing Utah summer heat, and someone came over looking for Ryan. Ryan wasn't home, so we started talking about being the ward organist, and he said "That's a sweet gig." So I said, "Yeah, it's pretty awesome," but on the inside I was thinking he has no idea. If he thinks practicing two hours a day in the blazing heat when he could be napping is sweet, then yeah, it's a sweet gig. I'm sure it will be a sweet gig once I'm good enough that I can sightread.

But really, what calling is a sweet gig? I thought being the primary pianist was awesome, cuz all I had to do was show up and play. I didn't have to put in any time outside of church. I thought it'd be great to hide behind the piano, where I wouldn't have to talk to anybody, but eventually, I started to feel banished to the corner. After 4 years of it, I was bored out of my mind, since all the lessons were geared for little kids and really shallow. I suddenly understood why gifted kids have so much trouble in school. They need to learn the same concepts as everyone else, but they need more depth. Plus it's hard being a teacher and watching other people teach. It drove me nuts when the kids got crazy, and the teachers didn't know how to manage them, or when the teachers expected tiny kids to listen to a 20 minute lesson with little visual stimulation and no tactile stimulation. So, I guess what makes a calling a "sweet gig" is all relative.

Ryan and I always dream about how great it would be to be a counselor in the Sunday school presidency, because surely those guys have little to do. But really, we have no idea. Maybe they have to fill in for absent teachers every week, planning lessons on the spot. That could be challenging.

Anyway, back to the organ. I've decided to play one of the hymns without pedals this week, cuz the pedal part is a real doozy, and could potentially be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I figure most people won't care or even notice, but then I told Ryan and he seemed bugged. He's one of those guys that notices, and not only does he notice, but he gets frustrated when he can't hear the bass because he is trying to sing it. I say if he's not a good enough musician to sing his part without help, then he certainly doesn't deserve to judge the organist's musicianship, but really, it's hard to help being bothered at lousy music, whether or not one is a good musician.

So I'm going to conduct a poll. If you attend a church with an organ, do you notice whether or not the organist uses the pedals, and if you do notice, do you care? I think most people notice wrong notes, messed up rhythms, major registration changes, or if the hymn is too slow, fast, loud, or quiet, but I think lots of people don't appreciate the subtleties, like good legato technique, or phrasing and registration changes that match the lyrics. I think the subtle things make the music sound musical and inspirational. Pedals are one of those subtle things for me. They add beefiness when the lyrics call for beefiness, or they can just add a solid foundation, but I never listen for them. I really don't notice any of the subtleties when other people are playing, but I hear them all when I am the one playing. Maybe I'll start to notice now. I guess in the end, it doesn't matter what people notice, just whether or not the music brings the spirit into the meeting.

But seriously, do you notice the pedals? Cuz I'm dying to know if people are going to be judging me on Sunday.

And sorry this post was so long and scatterbrained. If you made it to the end, you deserve a prize.