The Best of Both Worlds (dessert-wise, that is)

The day before yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed a certain package that arrived containing a certain delicacy from the west, courtesy of those kind enough to pick some up at their local store (thanks again!). Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to find another delicacy at my own local store, one which is usually found further east of here and which I really ought to send to my benefactors out west. Between shipping services and enlightened store managers, it seems that in my present location I can now enjoy the best of both the eastern and western worlds; at least as far as American-made desserts are concerned, that is.

Indian Fall

I went out this morning for a bit of cool air . . . and there wasn't any. And it was only about 8, maybe 8:30 then. The calendar says it's fall, and we've had a couple of days that have felt reasonably fall-like, or at least they did in the morning, but apparently fall is not yet committed. (Sigh) Maybe the weather will get the hint if I put a pumpkin out on the porch.

Cries versus Politics

Today was one of those interesting days in parent land. On the one hand, there was the younger bunch, who all seemed to spend a lot of time complaining this afternoon (not really their fault; life is tough with Zombie Mom; things got better after the pizza man came). On the other hand, there was the oldest, whose exploits drew the attention of more than one neighborhood mom and strained the bonds of an emerging friendship to the breaking point. The younger kids all go to sleep pretty well at night, and I know they'll all be fine in the morning. The eldest, however, is a bit more difficult at bed time, and will most likely be dealing with repercussions from today for quite awhile now. The take home lesson from today is that I will gladly deal with the crying babies; their problems are much simpler to fix than those of our emerging socialite/politician.

The Wonderpets Save the Bunstance (this one's for you, Father)

For those readers who may not be familiar with Wonderpets, it's a Nick Jr. show aimed at preschoolers, featuring a hamster, a duckling, and a turtle who are daycare/preschool pets by day and rescuers by afternoon/night. The disk we checked out today has a couple of stories involving Ollie the rabbit. Ollie is a cute little bunny, but also a very, umm, ADHD sort of bunny, to use the socially acceptable term. In plain terms, however, he is essentially an annoying rabbit. In familial terms, therefore, he is a bunstance. So, the Wonderpets save the bunstance on more than one occasion. But of course they don't quite bill it that way, even though I know the duckling would agree with the term if she knew it. :)

What I didn't do this weekend (volume 5)

This weekend's report is a bit delayed both because of a longer-than-usual weekend and because I actually (gasp) did something this weekend. First, though, the didn't do's. This weekend I didn't accidentally return my child's school library book with the big stack of public library books (hooray!). I also didn't run in, or even attend, the local 5K race that I've not attended for several years now (although we--as in more than just me--are actually thinking about possibly going to it next year; would the world survive if we did that?).

Now, on to the confessions of doing. This weekend I went to the local Labor Day Arts Festival. That event had been a "didn't do" more than once in the past, but I must admit to feeling strangely accomplished after actually going this year. I took a camera with me, which led to my other big act of doing: I finally took a kid picture that makes me feel warm and fuzzy about photography like my famous peony picture did way back when last year. Here it is . . .



Ta da! :)

How to be a coordinated dresser with minimal effort

The secret to being a coordinated dresser with minimal effort is really very simple:

Own nothing that clashes with anything else you own.

Tada. This principal can also be applied to the clothing of anyone else you are in charge of dressing. The easiest way to make it work is to only own simple clothing, i.e. mostly solid colors and only colors that work together. I could say more, but noting the basic principle will suffice. Now, to go purge the kids' drawers of clash-ables . . .

Extra! Extra! Baby sleeps seven hours after Mom eats See's candy!

Although experts cannot yet determine an absolute connection between consumption of See's candy by nursing mothers and the night time sleep of their babies, preliminary studies suggest that See's candy administered to the mother may be connected to longer infant sleep. This in conjunction with the immediate mood-elevating benefits observed for mothers consuming See's suggests that further research should be conducted. (Hint, hint; you'll be heading off to the area of a shop again soon, right, o faithful reader? Anybody know how to get See's to sponsor a study, like Dove chocolate did awhile back?) In other words, thanks again for sending me a treat, o beloved parents of mine! :)

"It's all Utah"

Then: Us/me with a new baby girl in the land where people shopped at Wal-mart with many children and seagulls frequented the parking lot. Also available nearby, the dollar theater and See's candy. All in all, a pretty nice place to be; even the heat could be tolerable, since it was dry heat (as evidenced by the very brown lawns all about). Did I mention I'm doing grad school at BYU?

Now: Us/me with a new baby girl plus three older siblings, one of the parents shopping at Wal-mart with multiple children. The next-to-youngest, age 16 months, was just the right age to appreciate the seagulls that came to scavenge the last bits of his snack that he'd thrown down on the parking lot before we headed home. It was hot today, and the lawns are showing it (or rather showing the lack of rain for who knows how long). However, even though the temperature sign we passed on the way home said 97 (and that was around 6 p.m.), it didn't really feel to bad, since it was dry heat. Besides, if we want to beat the heat, we can always go to the dollar theater. Or, better yet, I can hide in the basement with my box of See's candy. So nice to have just finished up with grad school at BYU; got my degree on my transcript now to prove it.

A couple of decades ago, before he became, shall we say, a little more sensitive to salt, one of my father's favorite things to tease me with was his "Utah time" clock, a clock that was perpetually set to Utah time, even though we lived neither in Utah nor even in the same time zone as Utah. Whenever any "just like Utah" things came up in our area, he would grin and exclaim "It's all Utah!" ("Utah" with the "yew" emphasized, by the way).

Well, despite all my annoyance back then, it seems to have rubbed off on me. In the "then" section related above, we lived in Utah. Now, however, we don't. Nevertheless, it seems as though at least today, "It's all Utah!"

One last thought: "Cottage cheese solves nothing; Chocolate can do it all!"