Monday, September 28, 2009
Videos
This first video highlights the chubbiness of our darling child.In these next two videos, there are a few tiny snippets of Penny goo-gooing, Penny hiccuping, and myself goo-gooing. If Penny weren't so darn cute and chubby, there's no way I would post this video of myself. :)And this last one I took the other night. It's pretty cute too.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Unfinished business
One of my special talents is to start projects and not finish them. Now that I have a baby, I've been developing this talent, and I'm proud to say I'm becoming quite the pro.
For example, from the couch where I am sitting, I can see about a hundred projects, small and large, that I've started but not finished.
The stroller is in the middle of the room from our walk last night. I should fold it up and put it in the corner. After all, that's why I got a small one.
Along those same lines, the Baby Bjorn is strewn across a chair from another outing yesterday.
The mail keys are on the cat scratching tower. (Not an unfinished project, but just disorganization-- another talent I'm perfecting).
Under the Baby Bjorn is the king of all unfinished projects: the quilt I made for our wedding. I stupidly decided to hand quilt the darn thing, and it will never be finished. If I am truly to perfect this talent, I need more items like this.
Thankfully, I have a pile of dishes in the sink. This is one of those wonderful projects that keeps multiplying like Elijah's widow's cruse of oil. Happily, I will always have this project. Yay!
On my coffee table, I have a pile of paid bills, waiting to be filed. Mixed into this pile are some letters, birthday cards, unopened mail, pages torn from a magazine, and pieces of a project I'm working on for Christmas presents.
My journal is another project that won't ever be completely finished, but I keep working on it.
I'm reading Anna Karenina, which is sitting on the couch to my right.
There's a spiral notebook that I put on my coffee table so I could write with my free hand while nursing. It is still blank. Bad, Chelsea!
My pantry shelf has several pieces of fabric flopped over my electric skillet and a sewing machine shoved underneath. I don't know that I'll ever finish the burp cloths I'd started to make.
On the kitchen table are two boxes of apples. Since I didn't feel like I had enough going on in my life and this teensy tiny apartment, I requested on freecycle for some apples. On Wednesday night I went and picked to my heart's content, and I've been working on making applesauce ever since. This is also why I have a huge canning vat on my coffee table, empty jars all over the kitchen counters, bowls and pans littering the stove, and a bag of canning supplies hanging from a cupboard.
Once I'm finished canning (which may be after the applesauce or possibly after some grapes I have my eye on), I'll probably go ditch the canning supplies in our apartment complex's Room of Requirement, moving forward on my project of cleaning out my closet to make room for Kevin's bike.
Once I'm done with all that, I'd like to spend some of my free time practicing the piano. I have been working on one of Brahms's Intermezzos, and I'd love to polish it and possibly memorize it. I miss being able to sit at any piano anywhere and just play something.
Perhaps I'll get some of this done sometime. But Penny helps me add to this list by waking up and being hungry right when I've gotten to the middle of another project. It's a good system we've got!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Literariness
Last weekend I took the Praxis exam so I can student teach in an English classroom next semester. I learned a couple things while taking it.
First, I learned that I don't know the difference between the different types of novel: Roman a clef, picaresque, blah blah blah. I'd never even heard the words. I'm pretty sure I missed a few of those questions.
Second, I learned that I miss being literary. I read a lot, but while Harry Potter and the Princess Diaries are fun, they don't feed your soul the same way beautiful literature does. I read some passages on the test, and just reading and contemplating them for those simple questions afterwards made me realize how much I miss reading.
So I'm determined to become literary.
Right now I'm reading Anna Karenina, which is Kevin's favorite book. He gave me a copy while we were engaged (it's easy to give gifts to your fiancee, as you know you'll soon be getting them back), and I read it that summer. However, even though I read it all summer, I didn't finish the darn thing, and now I've forgotten all of it. So I started over. I'm already almost 100 pages in, so in a few weeks I'll have finished it.
After that, I have a few books in mind.
On the test, there were passages or "name that author" selections from books I'd read in high school, and I felt pretty good about them. However, when I say I read something in high school, it usually (always) means my class read it and I just participated in the class discussion while reading snippets here and there. I'd like to go back and read some of those.
And then there are so many great novels that I've never read. I found a list of Time magazines "100 greatest novels" from this century, and I'd like to read some of those. 1984. A Passage to India. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Beloved. How can I call myself an English teacher when there are so many books I haven't read?
I was talking about this to my awesome husband, the Comparitive Literature major. I was whining about how I'd start some of these books (like Death Comes for the Archbishop), and they were just soooo boring! That one in particular just felt like reading an old day-in-the-life sort of diary with no drive or direction. But it was included on this list, and it's a "classic." But I couldn't get into it at all. I whined some more about how I could never figure out these books and why they were great or what there was to appreciate about them.
He said simply, "It's written like stained glass windows in a cathedral." (Um, and I'm the one becoming an English teacher?)
Now I want to read it.
Penny-ellopy
This is just a picture post.
Here is Penny after her bath:
I think she looks like Moses, which, of course, I would know from seeing the movie a hundred times. This is exactly what Moses looked like in his basket. Except Penny's not in a basket. And she's wrapped in a pink towel, while Moses' was surely not.
Penny is sucking on her fist some more:
And these pictures are centered really well because she was swinging while I took them.
Here is Penny after her bath:
I think she looks like Moses, which, of course, I would know from seeing the movie a hundred times. This is exactly what Moses looked like in his basket. Except Penny's not in a basket. And she's wrapped in a pink towel, while Moses' was surely not.Penny is sucking on her fist some more:
And these pictures are centered really well because she was swinging while I took them.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday night update
The other day (yesterday) Kevin took a nap, so Penny and I took a walk... to Carl's Junior. I wanted a milkshake. In my benevolence, I even thought about buying Kevin one. But they were $3.29-- each! I mean, I do have money coming out my ears, but I have better things to spend it on.
So we lengthened our walk a bit to go to the grocery store, picked up malted milk and ice cream, and came home to have unlimited milkshakes.... until the ice cream runs out.
And for other news in Penny Land, this week she discovered her hand. She now likes to chew on it and has been known to really go to town on it!
And this is Penny's first foray into literature: Anna Karenina. I started reading this the summer before Kevin and I got married. It's his favorite book, and I never read it. I restarted it just recently, and with all my time spent sitting around nursing Penny, I should get it read pretty quick here.
And this is Penny's first foray into literature: Anna Karenina. I started reading this the summer before Kevin and I got married. It's his favorite book, and I never read it. I restarted it just recently, and with all my time spent sitting around nursing Penny, I should get it read pretty quick here.
I have nothing to say about this next one.
And this is my dear little Penny doing her push-ups. This is about as far as she goes. When she's squirming and ootching on the ground, it reminds me of those Garfield cartoons where his tummy grew so big he couldn't walk but just flailed his legs helplessly. Yes, Penny in a nutshell. ;)
And in other exciting news, our toilet is broken. I mean it still does its little-but-vital job, but the water is constantly running. This really bothered us-- Kevin for the noise and me for the water wasting-- so I just cranked the knob and turned off the water to the toilet. Um, now it still runs despite being turned off. Ugh! Our apt. manager is coming to fix some other things on Monday (the kitchen light that blew out something and the front door that sticks shut), and I'll jsut tell him about it then.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Two months old!
Today Penny is 2 months old!! She is wonderful and cooing and doing all the stuff she is supposed to. She got her shots, and I thought she'd be frantically mad, but she just cried until they took the needle out. That's awesome! Way braver than I was, I'm sure.
Ok, so I knew Penny was pretty chubby. At her last appointment, she was at 75% for both height and weight. This time....
She's 23" long (3 more than when she was born). That's 75 percentile.
She is 14# 8 oz, which is.... over 97%. That's off the charts, actually. It's more than double her birth weight, which was 7# 3 oz.
What a chub!
And this video is like a second long, but it really shows her old lady back rolls. :)
Ok, so I knew Penny was pretty chubby. At her last appointment, she was at 75% for both height and weight. This time....
She's 23" long (3 more than when she was born). That's 75 percentile.
She is 14# 8 oz, which is.... over 97%. That's off the charts, actually. It's more than double her birth weight, which was 7# 3 oz.
What a chub!
And this video is like a second long, but it really shows her old lady back rolls. :)
Singing time!
At church, my new calling is to be the Primary pianist. It is so fun!!
I mean, the actual playing of the songs is pretty straightforward. I play, they sing. But then I get to watch Primary, and that part is hilarious!
Last week, my family was in town for Penelope's blessing. My niece, Rachel, got to go to Primary, and she was a hoot! She doesn't do so well at the whole sitting-in-her-chair-and-being-reverent thing. She is four. She loves to be involved and interactive. From where I was sitting, I was able to catch her eye and motion for her to zip her lips and toss out the key. She did that, and for about 20 seconds, she was quietly listening. We repeated this several times throughout Primary. I didn't expect-- or want-- her to be silent. But once she got too distracting for the other kids, I'd motion for her to zip her lips, and she'd do it. So cute!
But then the kids are supposed to sing, too. She doesn't go to church very often, so she doesn't know any of the songs. So while her teacher beside her was singing, Rachel would (loudly enough for me to hear it) tell her teacher to "zip your lips." Oops. ;)
Then as part of the game to keep the kids focused on singing, they had to answer some questions. The teacher would read the question, and before anyone had a chance to answer, Rachel would answer it. Once, the question was, "Why did God give us families?" The answer was supposed to be from the line of the song the teacher was about to read (To help us become what He wants us to be), but before she had a chance, Rachel had announced that the reason was "So we won't be alone." Yes, that's true, too. So she said that answer a few times. Then the little kid next to her thought that made a lot of sense and started saying it, too. The kid whose turn it was to answer the question, even after hearing the song lyrics, thought the best answer was, "So we won't be alone." Rachel's quite persuasive!
My favorite part of watching Rachel in Primary was when they decided to change gears to quiet down and say the closing prayer. The song we would be singing as the reverence song would be "Whenever I hear the song of a bird." Most of the kids didn't know this one (I know! Tragic!), but I could hear Rachel singing over everyone else the whole time: "TWEET TWEET TWEET TWEET!!"
Rock on, Rachel!
This week, it wasn't quite so amusing. There was one point where, while singing "I am like a star shining brightly," instead of waving his twinkle fingers like the little kids, one of the older boys waved his scheming fingers and looked just like that evil asylum owner from Beauty and the Beast.
My favorite part of this week involved bribery.
We have a fairly small Primary. I think there are about 20 kids. When they sing, it usually sounds all right for the first verse. Then any other verse sounds like, "mumble mumble mumble." The older kids know the words, but they sing silently. And the little kids don't know the words.
Or so I thought.
Today, since the Primary program is coming up, they needed some serious practice. Whenever we sang one of the program songs, if they sang it well, each kid would get one Skittle.
That. worked. wonders!
While it wasn't necessarily beautiful, we had a whole chorus of kiddos singing their pipes to the max. There WERE parts where they didn't know the words. But today made it quite apparent that they just get lazy about the parts they do know.
My favorite part was when they sang "How Firm a Foundation." They rocked the first verse. Then the next verse, they struggled on a few lines, and it sounded like this:
Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not afraid.
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause sadfk;lj thee to stand s;fkajdf
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.
I love Primary!
I mean, the actual playing of the songs is pretty straightforward. I play, they sing. But then I get to watch Primary, and that part is hilarious!
Last week, my family was in town for Penelope's blessing. My niece, Rachel, got to go to Primary, and she was a hoot! She doesn't do so well at the whole sitting-in-her-chair-and-being-reverent thing. She is four. She loves to be involved and interactive. From where I was sitting, I was able to catch her eye and motion for her to zip her lips and toss out the key. She did that, and for about 20 seconds, she was quietly listening. We repeated this several times throughout Primary. I didn't expect-- or want-- her to be silent. But once she got too distracting for the other kids, I'd motion for her to zip her lips, and she'd do it. So cute!
But then the kids are supposed to sing, too. She doesn't go to church very often, so she doesn't know any of the songs. So while her teacher beside her was singing, Rachel would (loudly enough for me to hear it) tell her teacher to "zip your lips." Oops. ;)
Then as part of the game to keep the kids focused on singing, they had to answer some questions. The teacher would read the question, and before anyone had a chance to answer, Rachel would answer it. Once, the question was, "Why did God give us families?" The answer was supposed to be from the line of the song the teacher was about to read (To help us become what He wants us to be), but before she had a chance, Rachel had announced that the reason was "So we won't be alone." Yes, that's true, too. So she said that answer a few times. Then the little kid next to her thought that made a lot of sense and started saying it, too. The kid whose turn it was to answer the question, even after hearing the song lyrics, thought the best answer was, "So we won't be alone." Rachel's quite persuasive!
My favorite part of watching Rachel in Primary was when they decided to change gears to quiet down and say the closing prayer. The song we would be singing as the reverence song would be "Whenever I hear the song of a bird." Most of the kids didn't know this one (I know! Tragic!), but I could hear Rachel singing over everyone else the whole time: "TWEET TWEET TWEET TWEET!!"
Rock on, Rachel!
This week, it wasn't quite so amusing. There was one point where, while singing "I am like a star shining brightly," instead of waving his twinkle fingers like the little kids, one of the older boys waved his scheming fingers and looked just like that evil asylum owner from Beauty and the Beast.
My favorite part of this week involved bribery.
We have a fairly small Primary. I think there are about 20 kids. When they sing, it usually sounds all right for the first verse. Then any other verse sounds like, "mumble mumble mumble." The older kids know the words, but they sing silently. And the little kids don't know the words.
Or so I thought.
Today, since the Primary program is coming up, they needed some serious practice. Whenever we sang one of the program songs, if they sang it well, each kid would get one Skittle.
That. worked. wonders!
While it wasn't necessarily beautiful, we had a whole chorus of kiddos singing their pipes to the max. There WERE parts where they didn't know the words. But today made it quite apparent that they just get lazy about the parts they do know.
My favorite part was when they sang "How Firm a Foundation." They rocked the first verse. Then the next verse, they struggled on a few lines, and it sounded like this:
Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not afraid.
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause sadfk;lj thee to stand s;fkajdf
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous
Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand.
I love Primary!
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Random catch-up post
We live within sight distance of the BSU Smurf Turf. Their big game (remember, the "big game"?) was last Thursday against Oregon. They won. But the more exciting part was the Oregon player punching the Boise State player after the game in the spirit of good sportsmanship.
I love how the Boise stadium color coordinates their games. Each section was assigned a different color, and apparently most people got the memo. When I was looking at this spectacle, I was kind of confused why there were the sprinklings of yellow and green-- I mean, obviously they missed the memo when they got their seat assignments.
In this next photo are the world's biggest sports fans. We went on a walk that evening, just to poke around and see the tailgate parties. Kevin decided to wear green, although he would have preferred an actual Oregon shirt-- just to be obtuse. I was wearing purple, and Kevin was wearing Penny, so none of us got punched in the face. We did see one Duck fan nursing a bloody nose and some loose teeth, though. :S
Note to self: always support the right team.
Or keep rude comments to self.
Just to continue my series of "Penny and her dad," here is how they spend their evenings.
And on my birthday (August 26th for those of you who forgot), we went to this concert. Every Wednesday in downtown Boise, they have this free outdoor concert. The first time we went, it was about 100 degrees, I was 8.5 months pregnant, and we didn't have any shade or seats. This time we brought chairs, set them up in the shade, and still dripped with sweat. So we, being some of the only adults NOT drinking beer at the event, decided to jump in the fountain and run around in it. After that, it was much cooler and much more enjoyable!
I love how the Boise stadium color coordinates their games. Each section was assigned a different color, and apparently most people got the memo. When I was looking at this spectacle, I was kind of confused why there were the sprinklings of yellow and green-- I mean, obviously they missed the memo when they got their seat assignments.
In this next photo are the world's biggest sports fans. We went on a walk that evening, just to poke around and see the tailgate parties. Kevin decided to wear green, although he would have preferred an actual Oregon shirt-- just to be obtuse. I was wearing purple, and Kevin was wearing Penny, so none of us got punched in the face. We did see one Duck fan nursing a bloody nose and some loose teeth, though. :SNote to self: always support the right team.
Or keep rude comments to self.
Just to continue my series of "Penny and her dad," here is how they spend their evenings.And on my birthday (August 26th for those of you who forgot), we went to this concert. Every Wednesday in downtown Boise, they have this free outdoor concert. The first time we went, it was about 100 degrees, I was 8.5 months pregnant, and we didn't have any shade or seats. This time we brought chairs, set them up in the shade, and still dripped with sweat. So we, being some of the only adults NOT drinking beer at the event, decided to jump in the fountain and run around in it. After that, it was much cooler and much more enjoyable! Penny slept through the whole thing.
Well, I guess she woke up for part of it:
And that catches me up to this weekend.....
Well, I guess she woke up for part of it:
And that catches me up to this weekend.....Coming shortly.
Cute but sticky fingered little theives
This is my fabulous, flourishing garden on my front porch. It is mostly tomatoes, but there's also an Anaheim pepper and a petunia. Unfortunately, it only gets about 3 hours of sunlight per day, and so there are proportionately only a few tomatoes growing on the vines. In fact, in this picture I'm pretty sure you can't even see a single one growing.
Oh wait, what is that I see down yonder? Could it be? I think it just may!
Oh look, a beautiful red-ripe tomato. It looks like whoever the sticky-fingered little culprit was, he took a bite or two, realized it wasn't a pine cone, and chucked the rest of it. Or maybe he realized he couldn't jump from the balcony to the tree while carrying my tomato. Or maybe he was full.
And this was my audience as I ran about taking pictures of the evidence for squirrel court.
Awww... aren't they cute?!
Oh wait, what is that I see down yonder? Could it be? I think it just may!Oh look, a beautiful red-ripe tomato. It looks like whoever the sticky-fingered little culprit was, he took a bite or two, realized it wasn't a pine cone, and chucked the rest of it. Or maybe he realized he couldn't jump from the balcony to the tree while carrying my tomato. Or maybe he was full.And this was my audience as I ran about taking pictures of the evidence for squirrel court.Awww... aren't they cute?!Thursday, September 03, 2009
Big game!
Today's the "big game." I put it in quotes because everyone knows the REAL big game is this Saturday, BYU vs. Oklahoma. That's HUGE!!! But the "big game" around here is tonight's Boise State vs. Oregon game. And it is big.
First of all, it's the hardest game for the BSU this entire season, and if they win this, there's a good chance they can go undefeated. It is always wonderful for a non-BCS school to go undefeated.... (even when it's Utah...). So go BSU!!
This town really loves their BSU Broncos. Everywhere you go, you'll see memorabilia. We have the normal stuff: car magnets, license plate frames, flags, window shades, posters,
But then we get a little bit wacky. At Carl's Junior, the drink fountain area is all blue and orange. People think it's okay to wear bright blue and eye-shockingly-bright orange together-- in the name of team spirit. I saw an old man wearing blue Crocs (which in and of itself is a sin) with an orange strap across the back bearing the BSU emblem. Blech!! Walmart, Target, and Joann's all have bright blue-and-orange sections selling more memorabilia. But then to top it off, at my OB-GYN's office, the little stirrups you have to put your feet into when you have an invasive exam.... yep, the little covers on those are BSU fleece!
This town is crazy. Awesome, but a little bit crazy.
First of all, it's the hardest game for the BSU this entire season, and if they win this, there's a good chance they can go undefeated. It is always wonderful for a non-BCS school to go undefeated.... (even when it's Utah...). So go BSU!!
This town really loves their BSU Broncos. Everywhere you go, you'll see memorabilia. We have the normal stuff: car magnets, license plate frames, flags, window shades, posters,
But then we get a little bit wacky. At Carl's Junior, the drink fountain area is all blue and orange. People think it's okay to wear bright blue and eye-shockingly-bright orange together-- in the name of team spirit. I saw an old man wearing blue Crocs (which in and of itself is a sin) with an orange strap across the back bearing the BSU emblem. Blech!! Walmart, Target, and Joann's all have bright blue-and-orange sections selling more memorabilia. But then to top it off, at my OB-GYN's office, the little stirrups you have to put your feet into when you have an invasive exam.... yep, the little covers on those are BSU fleece!
This town is crazy. Awesome, but a little bit crazy.
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