A Fisher out of Water: October 2009

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween

Our ward had a Halloween party last night. It was also a chili cook-off, which I never have understood. I mean, you invite a million kids to a party and then serve... chili? I brought macaroni and cheese.

And here we are in our awesome costumes. (And yes, I'm a flower.)

Penny is shocked to see that, even though she had no candy bag, cannot talk or say 'trick-or-treat,' and can't even eat solid

food, she came home with four (ahem, you can only see 2 in the picture... something happened to the other two) fun-sized candy bars.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Sharing

Even though this post says it was written by Kevin, it was not. I just added him as an author on this blog so I don't have to keep signing him out of his google account.

At Costco the other day, I decided to add to our food storage by buying a large bag of rice. It turns out that rice is rather dense, and while I can easily lift a bag of cat food that big, rice is quite a bit heavier. Twice as heavy, in fact.

The rice was on a low shelf, and I was able to lug one sack onto the lower bit of my trolley. It teetered on a support bar for my whole shopping trip, but it stayed on the cart.

When I got to the car and tried to heft it into my trunk, it was heavier than I'd thought, causing my body to lurch forward and my face to hit the handlebar. It hurt for several days, but didn't give me a glorious bruise, or else I'd have posted a picture.

Well, to make a boring story longer, today I took that 50-lb bag of rice, sewed little bags, and split it into several manageable-sized bags. They look like little panda-print pillows stacked on my shelf.

So there! My food storage may be embryonic and unorganized, but it's cuter than yours. Ha ha ha!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Boise in the fall

I know people travel to Vermont and the east coast in the fall to view the leaves. Well, thankfully, all we have to do is go on a walk. Boise is amazing in the fall!

This is just out our front window:

And this is just out on the main street:

There are a few streets around here that have really old, Victorian-era mansions on them (interspersed with some normal-sized houses, too). Apparently they are THE streets to do your trick-or-treating on. That being the case, there are some pretty fun Halloween decorations.
I thought these spiders were fun. I was just going to take a picture from the sidewalk, but Kevin made fun of me for being scared to walk up the front walk towards the giant spiders. There's a reason these pictures were all taken in the day time.

Some of the decorations are a bit hokey, like this inflatable ghost. But I LOVE the landscaping at this house. It's right near our apartment, and I walk by it and ooh and aah all the time.

This one showcases my awesome photography skills. If you look really close, the wind chime is little skeletons. (!!!)

This next one is kind of plain, but I thought it was pretty:

Then these next ones are getting a little more awesome. This first one has great Halloween decorations, but I think it would be a beautiful house all year round. I mean, porch swing, folks!

Coolest by far:

I wouldn't trick-or-treat at this house. They'd probably have someone sitting on the front porch pretending to be dead or something.

Heads on stakes!

And then this last one is my absolute favorite. I will not be heading in this direction on Halloween night, but taking pictures during the day is just fine!

That's a lie. I wanted to stick my camera through the gate to get a better view of all the ghouls and skeletons inside the yard. But I got scared. Seriously! The skeletons look like they're going to have motion detectors in them and start laughing or howling at you when you get close, and I didn't want to risk it.

So I did get this blurry picture through the side gate:

This was a random little friend we met along the road on our walk:

And this is the little autumn apple of my eye!

No, a picture post would never be complete without a picture of Penny. :)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Fatter and fatter

Back when I was in China teaching English, there was a track and field day at the school. All our kids were in running races, jump-roping competitions, and all sorts of other events. It was a fun, all-day event for everyone.

Now, most of our classes were little elementary school kids, but each of us teachers taught a couple classes of older students. In each of these classes, most of the students memorized the English words and phrases just fine, but spoke no English to save their lives. But there was always one student who spoke it brilliantly and would take on the role of conversationalist and translation representative for the class.

In my friend Sarah's class, this was a boy named Rainbow. Now, if I remember the details correctly, Rainbow was a chubby kid but one of the funnest and funniest in his class. His classmates adored him, and on the field day, he sat on the bleachers surrounded by chattering classmates.

Sarah went to talk to her students, and they all told her which events they'd been in and how they'd done. Then she asked, "Rainbow, aren't you in any events?"

And Rainbow replied in his fun Chinese accent, "No, teacher. I am fatter and fatter."

Sometimes Penny talks to me, and often I interpret for her, verbalizing what I am sure she is trying to say. And often she is saying, "Mom, I am fatter and fatter."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Lately

Well, it's been a bit of a drag lately. Kevin got sick on Monday, and I got sick last night. It's not horrible, but we're both kind of achy and blah. I still hope Penny doesn't get it. I'll keep sending her all my immunities and antibodies, so we'll see.

Another annoying update is that the internet doesn't work on my computer. Our apartment complex has had really spotty internet because the router would get overloaded and shut off. Now they've replaced the router, but it's a weaker signal. This means we can get internet on Kevin's computer with its big ol' antenna, but mine doesn't pick it up. Boo.

On the happier end of things, it's autumn here (as I realize it is other places), and it's beautiful. Right outside our front window, the maple tree has turned yellow, as has the locust tree behind it. The Redbud tree is on its way to yellow, and these are all framed by pine trees and some catalpas that are still green. See, I could be cooped up in a much more unpleasant place.

And the company could be much worse:

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Not that we're competitive, but...

Our baby's fatter! I mean, chubbier!

Sorry, other Fishers. :)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Three months (and a day... I wrote this yesterday)

Usually in my life, three months tends to just fly by. I mean, it's the better part of a semester, a fun summer job, a whole football season. Usually I just blink and it's gone.

However, this has been the longest three months of my life.

And Penny's.

Yes, Penny has just turned 3 months old. Her new tricks include LAUGHING! (as of yesterday-- gave us a chuckle), smiling a ton, rubbing her head back and forth to polish a nice bald spot onto the back of her head, jumping in her jumper, raising her eyebrows, and being generally joyful.

I mean, not right now. Right now Kevin is holding her because she wouldn't stop screaming when I put her to bed. The second time.

Sometimes I know what she wants. Like when she fusses between 10 and 11 in the morning, she is ready for her nap. But so many times I have NO IDEA what's wrong. I always thought moms just KNEW, but apparently it's something you gradually figure out. And the baby has no idea either. She just knows she's uncomfortable. But is it the beginning, middle, or end of the digestive system? Nobody knows. It's an amazing thing, this learning process. It just makes for long months. Thankfully, though, longer months means I get to enjoy them longer.

There are many things I LOVE about hanging out with Penny:

When Penny wakes up in the morning, she squeaks and squirms and rubs the hair off her bald spot. But then when I peek my face into the crib, she stops and breaks into the most joyous smile!

She is trilingual... at least. Some of her favorite words are A-Gu (Taiwanese for uncle), Unga (the running back for BYU), and ni (Chinese for mud). She's so smart!

Our apartment complex has a gym, but since Penny is such a chunk (about 18 lbs now), I don't need to go there to lift weights.

Now that we have cooler weather, the bare-leg look isn't as comfortable. Thankfully I somehow ended up with about a million one-piece pajama sets that fit her now or will fit her soon.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Costume Party!

These pictures are for Sarah's online costume contest.

Penny's expression on this one was just the last end of a yawn, and I thought it was pretty funny:

Then this one is a smile, but she blinked. Oh well. Bumblebees fly by sonar anyway, don't they? (um... no. But we can pretend)

Friday, October 09, 2009

Everything but the Potent Potables

Tomorrow Kevin is taking the Foreign Service Exam. He's been studying a lot, but it's kind of a Jeopardy-type test. You just have to know everything. I think he'll do wonderfully, and I'd like to request that you remember him in your prayers tonight.

And tomorrow morning.

Thanks!!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Jumping Baby

This is a video of Penny jumping in her jumper. She is amazingly skilled. The minimum age is 4 months, but Penny is just 2.5 months. That means she is an extraordinarily advanced child prodigy. At least we think so.

And for you folks who don't watch videos of babies (I never do), here's a picture of the star:

Since the weather has gotten so cold this weekend, we got to dress Penny in her way-cute fuzzy fleece bear suit. And that is my Guang Hua jacket. No comment.

Budget

Ever since we've moved to Boise and Kevin has his real job, my money spending philosophy has been basically to buy whatever I needed whenever I wanted. Now while this is an excellent philosophy, it was remarkable how, even though Kevin was making more money than both our previous jobs put together (not hard, btw), we were spending money at about the same rate as it was coming in. We went out to eat, bought a computer, went to the movies. Something needed to change.

Enter Chelsea the mega-budgeter!!!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Excuse me while I guffaw and snort for a while.

Just kidding. I HATE budgeting. The whole idea that I'm supposed to, for example, set $20 aside every month for car repairs so that when they happen once a year or so, I have $240 all sitting ready for me to spend on car repairs. Um, I'm not that organized. I never will be. Same goes for putting it into envelopes. Ew!

So we found a system that does work for us. We have a set amount that we'll spend on food for the month. Then for all my purchases, both food and otherwise, I keep the receipts and jot the amount on the list on the fridge.

And that has made all the difference.

Basically, instead of planning ahead, it helps me to see everything that I've been spending. I think just seeing everything-- instead of the amount having been spent and disappeared into thin air-- keeps me from buying too many things.

It's worked pretty well so far. Now I have money to contribute to the Chelsea's Disneyland Fund, the Cruise of the Orient Fund, and the House Down-payment Fund. Well, theoretically. Right now it's just in the bank.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Friends and food

We've lived in Boise for four months now, and just in the past few weeks I've felt like I actually have friends here. I guess it took a while because I met people the first month-and-a-half, then I retreated into my cave for the next month-and-a-half to birth a child, and now I've come out of hibernation again (just in time for winter).

For me, making friends involves small groups. I would love it if I could just jump into a ward or community and meet and love everyone. But it's overwhelming. Instead, I need smaller groups in order to get to know people on a "quality over quantity" basis.

For example: our Sunday School class. We were invited to attend the Marriage and Family class, and it's comprised of probably about 20 people. We all go and introduce ourselves almost every week for whatever new person may be attending. It helps sooo much. How often in a regular Sunday School class do I attend for months and months and still know the names of only 4 people?

On Monday our ward had a ward family home evening potluck at the church. We got our food and sat down with... what turned out to be a table of Sunday School classmates. Yay! We all talked, gabbed, joked, and held Penny. It's great to feel comfortable with people.

Then last night we had one of the couples over to play Ticket to Ride at our house. This couple in our ward just came back from living in Shanghai for 6 months--- which instantly gives us similar experiences and a lot to talk about. We played our game, but it was really just a backdrop to an evening of awesome conversation and excellent food.

I get on these spurts where I eat one type of food over and over and over. Sometimes it's something healthy like applesauce, PBJs, or bananas. Unfortunately, this month's food is milkshakes. I'd been eating (drinking?) vanilla malt milkshakes every day or so, enjoying the fact that they cost so much less than at a store. Then I discovered these pumpkin pie milkshakes. My world has been turned upside-down, folks! They may be THE most delicious thing I have ever eaten!!!

I've tried other pumpkin milkshakes before, but they usually taste like bad soft-serve with too much nutmeg. These taste like pumpkin heaven in a cup! You have to try them, my dear friends!! You haven't lived until you've eaten one.