A Halloween Tale

Once upon a time there was a Robot Technician named Dr. Pygmalion.

He worked hard every day building robots.

He worked so hard, he never had time for anything else. This made Dr. Pygmalion very lonely.

One day, Dr. Pygmalion had an idea! He would build new robots and program them to be his family! Then he wouldn't be lonely anymore!

Dr. Pygmalion went to work right away.

He worked hard until he had all the pieces ready to assemble. He created Robot Wife-a through Wife-h, none of them worked!

Finally, he made an Wife-i

She was perfect!

So he brought her to life!

She moved, She cooked, She cleaned, she told jokes, she could throw a frisbee and liked to play board games.

Dr. Pygmalion and Wife-i fell in love

Soon, Dr. Pygmalion started on his next creation.

He assembled all the pieces...

And finally created Tot Bot!

At last Dr. Pygmalion had a perfect robot family. And they lived happily ever after.

The end.

Footnote:

The Tot Bot costume is made with an iphone showing this website: http://stormhorse.com/totbot

My Darling, I love You More Than Life Itself

Today my husband and I have been married for three years, three months, three weeks and three days. I have loved every second of that time. My husband is the best husband ever and I love being married to him.

When I spent a day at Disneyland, Drek took the day of work to take care of Ash. I kind of expected to come home to find the house a mess, Ash running around naked and maybe even porch on fire or something. On the contrary, the house was all cleaned and vacumed, dinner was all made (and delicious) and Ash was not only well cared for, but I think she would much rather spend a day with her daddy than with me. Drek even took her to the park. He is such an amazing dad.

That is my amazing husband. I'm looking forward to the next three decades, three years, three months, three weeks and three days together.

Let Me Explain; No, There Is Too Much. Let Me Summarize

Sunday I went to pick up Krisling. There was doom. We partied on Monday. Tuesday we woke up very, very early in the morning. So early, it was still very dark outside. Okay, now that you're all caught up, lets move to the story:

I got dressed in the dark. Drek was sleeping (or trying to sleep) on the bed. I walked out of the bathroom, came around the corner and WHAM!!!!! Ran into a wall. Apparently I cut the corner a little too sharp. It's okay though: my forehead took all the force. How much force? Well, the walls shook, it echoed through the house, and Drek shot out of bed, thinking a bomb had just exploded. Yeah. I had a good sized goose egg all day. Krisling said I looked like a Klingon.

But, we got ready, jumped in the car, and drove a long way to pick up Ali. Then we drove even farther to DISNEYLAND!!!
If you'll remember, at the beginning of the year, Disney did their "Give a Day, Get a Day" thing, which Krisling and I signed up for and completed. We volunteered at the Aquarium, and in return, got free tickets to Disneyland! So today was the day we redeemed those tickets. Hooray!

Here is a tip: If you don't like waiting in long lines, you should go to Disneyland on a Tuesday morning in October, on the same day they are having Micky Mouse's Halloween Party which is a thing they do after six at night. Everyone who is going to Disneyland that day (which is not a lot, since it's a Tuesday in October) wants to go to the party, so they go in the afternoon, not the morning. All morning the lines were five minutes or less. By the end of the day, we had to wait forty minutes for Space Mountain, Ghost Galaxy! which is the normal wait time.

The lines were so short, that by noon we looked around and realized we were done. We had ridden all the essential rides. We stopped for lunch looked at each other and shrugged "Now what?" That is the way to DisneyLand.

We had a wonderful time. Disneyland was decorated for October,
the Haunted Mansion was completely redecorated with Nightmare Before Christmas,

Krisling found a pet Praying Mantis.
We got stuck in an elevator, we watched the Jedi Academy,
we saw the new Tangled attraction, we took pictures of people in awesome Halloween costumes,

(Zero)

(Sokka)

and I got to ride on a lot of rides I have never been on before. I also changed my mind about my favorite ride. Before it was Splash Mountain, now it is Space Mountain. Or maybe Big Thunder Railroad. But not Splash Mountain. For one thing: I was too concerned about not getting wet to enjoy it. For another thing, I have never seen Song of the South, so I have no idea what all that animatronic stuff is referencing. All day I tried to figure out how a movie could get banned in the United States, with Freedom of Speech and all. Well the answer is: It's not banned, Disney has simply chosen to never release the full movie on video, ever. So why would you build a whole ride around it? It just doesn't make sense. They should really rename the ride. I recommend turning it into "Kuzco-topia" a log flume ride in which you go through Kuzco's palace, through Pacha's village, and, in the end, down a waterfall with sharp rocks at the bottom. Everyone would love that ride.

Let the Halloween begin!!

Friday we attended a Murder Mystery party. It rocked. It was 1940's Paris and the food menu was quite authentic. Everyone was dressed up in great costumes and surprisingly, the kids were fantastic. Drek was a very handsome British Spy, and I was a gossipy dressmaker. Drek and I had a wonderful time.

Saturday we went to a Halloween party! The decorations were wonderful and look at all this food:

Pumpkin cupcakes, white bean chili, chips, cheese, vegetables, crackers, apple slices with homemade Carmel sauce...delicious!

I was in charge of a drink:
And also the spaghetti:
Okay, so the spaghetti wasn't for eating, it was for a game. We filled a huge bucket/tub full of spaghetti and little plastic bugs. The kids dug through the "worms" and any plastic bugs they found, they got to keep. The game was a hit. The older kids loved looking for the bugs and the younger kids loved the spaghetti.

There were also some grown-up games. Everyone got candy corn to bet on three donut-competitors. Whoever had the most candy corn at the end, won! The donut contests were very entertaining:
It was so much fun. It was a wonderful party. We still have two Halloween parties to go before the 31st! Best month ever!

A Little of This. A Little of That.

I signed up for a four-week trial CSA here in my local city. All the food is from a farm nearby and all of it is organic. Today was box/week number three.

I really, really, love CSAs. I love the idea, I love the surprise of the different foods, I love eating with confidence, I love showing off what I got, I love trying new recipes... but I'm not so excited about the price. Sigh.

The first two weeks I got a bag full of orange bell peppers. Orange peppers! What do you do with orange peppers? I didn't want to treat them as any old bell peppers, they were to unique to throw in a stir-fry! But what to do?

The idea came as I was flipping through one of Mandy's Halloween magazines: stuff orange peppers with Spaghetti and cut them up like Jack-O-lanterns. What a cute idea! Alas, way to much work for just a family dinner, and the peppers wouldn't last until the party.

The next day my friend Bon wanted to come up for dinner. I was given about an hour's notice, so no time to plan or go shopping. I immediately thought of the pepper idea. The spaghetti thing couldn't be done but what if...

I improvised. I made up a recipe on the spot. It turned out FANTASTIC! Not only did they look awesome, but they tasted delicious!

7 orange peppers

1 cup brown rice

1 package mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, diced

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice.

Hollow out and cut peppers like jack-o-lanterns.

In a sauce pan, melt butter. Add onion and cook until clear. Add soy sauce and mushrooms. cook until tender. Turn off heat. Add Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. mix with cooked rice, stuff into peppers. place on baking sheet, cook at 350 degrees for ten to fifteen minutes, until peppers are tender.

While the Moon Drifts in the Skies. Stay Awake, Don't Close Your Eyes

With Drek away on a business trip, our daily schedule becomes very...loose. An hour after her normal bedtime I finally have Ash in her jammies and ready for bed. We crawl under the covers. Acouchi nestles up by our heads and closes her eyes. I sing Ash a lullaby and close my eyes to set an example.

Ash gets her foot tangles in my hair and starts kicking. I reach out and tickle her under arms, making her giggle. Her giggle makes me giggle. She realizes she made me giggle so she starts fake-laughing, and before you know it we're in a silly-noise-contest which turns into an all-out tickle-fight. Acouchi places her paw on my nose and gives me a look that clearly states: "Now, now. Calm down, children. It's bed time."

At least one of us a responsible adult.

That's No Moon. It's a Space Station

Ah! October! I love October! I think I love October because it houses one of the only 100% obligation and guilt free holidays. Halloween is totally optional. Want to spend it with your family? Great! Want to spend it alone at a massive party? Great! Want to throw a party? Great! Want to sleep through it? Great! No obligation to anyone, no vital traditions, no day of reflection. It's just fun. I love that.

How much do I love it? A few weeks ago I attended a Relief Society Activity. Since I've only been in the ward two months, I didn't know a lot of the women. I was talking about Halloween with someone and this women said "Oh, yeah. Your husband said Halloween was your favorite Holiday." I looked at her and blinked. "Um. Yes. It is. So...Who are you?" I had never met her. It turns out Drek Home Teaches her family, and the subject came up for some reason. Odd.

I've already started on our costumes. The idea is good, now it all comes down to design... Of course, as all great Halloween costumes should be, it's a surprise. I'll unveil it when it's done.

I'm on the Ward Activity's Committee and we're planning a Ward Halloween party that I am thrilled to be a (small) part of. Better Yet, Mandy is also throwing a Halloween Party and let me plan some of the games. Sqee! I can't wait for that party.

This Halloween will be have another activity. Are you ready for this awesomeness? Krisling and I are meeting in DISNEYLAND!! In OCTOBER!!!! Do you know what that means? Well, besides a day of crazy fun filled rides and such. It means the Haunted Mansion will be turned into Halloween Town!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! (As I'm sure you could tell from the over-use of the exclamation mark)

Yesterday Ash and I went shopping for pumpkins. For Family Home Evening last night we painted them. I think they turned out great:

Ash's first pumpkin!!
My creation. I call it "Pharaoh Pumpkinahmen."
And finally, the one you are excited to see, Drek's creation:

That's Twice This Month You've Slipped Deadly Nightshade into My Tea and Run Off

And it's crunch time.

The marathon I had my sights set on running is in four weeks. Minus one week for the easy run to warm up for the big day, and I am left with three weeks to get my miles up to twenty six. What am I at? Well, I was at fourteen four weeks ago. Meaning, I haven't been running in four weeks. So, I'm at zero I guess.

My big excuse is that I've been sick. Besides that, I just don't have time! Getting up early enough in the morning that I can work out for an hour before Drek has to go to work is hard enough when I'm not getting enough sleep at night (and let's face, I'm just not a morning person) but finding three to five extra hours on Saturday, the only day Drek and I have to play together, just isn't happening.

And so I need to make a decision. I need to figure out what my goal is with regards to running. Is my goal to check of my New Years Resolution to run a marathon? Then I need to buck up, train like mad for the next three weeks, and finish that marathon even if I have to crawl. It's only three Saturdays I'm sacrificing, and after that I'll never have to run again.

But I'm not sure that's my goal. Is my goal to be a long distance runner or to enjoy running? Then I should forget this marathon, start back at six miles, and work on my speed as well as my miles, so my Saturday long runs are squeezed into a time that only increases by a few minutes. I'll still have to get up early on weekdays and find time on Saturdays, but not nearly as much time, and I should be going slow enough that I can spend the rest of the Saturday playing instead of sleeping. I should focus on a schedule that fits me, and only when I'm ready should I look for a marathon that fits into my schedule.

Or is my goal to run to lose weight or stay healthy? In that case, forget the marathon altogether and just do forty five minutes of sprints on Saturdays (in addition to my hour runs during the week). That's the easiest solution.

I'm leaning more and more away from running this marathon. It's not just the training, it's the fact that it's three hours away, so we'd have to get a hotel, and I just don't want to spend the money. The Marathon registration fee isn't cheap, you know. I really don't want to pour all that money into it if I'm going to be crawling across the finish line.

So what do I want? Well, I do love running. I want to run, and I want to keep it fun. I want to run barefoot, because I love running barefoot. I want to see progress, not just pounds lost, but in miles gained. I want to see myself go faster and farther. I want run a marathon barefoot, and I want to enjoy it.

I guess all that points to option two: work on speed and distance, don't worry about a marathon until I'm running twenty miles every Saturday.

Thanks, blogging. Another problem solved thanks to you.

At This Point Some of You May be Thinking, That’s All Very Fine and Good, But What Does It Have to do With Flying an Airplane?

I've always loved General Conference, even as a child. I've found that more and more, I need General Conference. The talks are so important to my everyday life, especially now that I'm a mother. I've found that General Conference is vital. Even still, I've always had a hard time sitting through four two-hour sessions and then attending the Young Women or Relief Society Broadcast and reading the Priesthood session.

Thus, I really liked the idea of turning on every radio in the house, so no matter what room you were in you could hear the talks, and so were free to wander. I made it a sort of tradition that General Conference was my cue to deep-clean everything. The only disadvantage to this was that I absorbing all I could from Conference, but at least I was listening to every session, and I got the idea of most talks.

Last October after General Conference I decided to take full advantage of the LDS General Conference website. Every day (or almost everyday) I would listen to a conference talk in English, then replay it in Spanish for both my benefit and Ash's benefit. I don't understand all that's being said in Spanish, but it does give me an ear for how Spanish sounds. I think it helps my learning process, and by letting Ash listen at such a young age, I know she'll be able to pick up Spanish easily.

After we listen to the talk in Spanish, I listen to it again in Japanese. Well, I don't really listen, but I make sure Ash listens. I have no hope of ever speaking Japanese but I expect Ash to be fluent.

Besides boosting our language skills, this has the benefit of bringing these wonderful talks into the my home everyday. They bring with them this wonderful peace and hope that I love. It also has the added scholarly benefit that instead of me saying things like "I remember in conference sometime, this one guy said something about..." I can say things like "In the last October Conference, David Bednar gave a talk on being More Diligent and Concerned at Home in which he said..."

In April, when the next General Conference occurred I was even more diligent about listening to the talks. In fact, I zipped through the April conference so fast that I listed to it three times before diving back into older conferences. I've been excited about this session because it will give me new material. It's the first time I've been anxiously awaiting General Conference. I've been looking forward to it as much as I was the release of the Mockingjay book (which I got from the Library the day of our flight. I read it two days. I'm only a month behind everyone else).

Sadly, the circumstances were not ideal. First, we were not home; We were in HomeTown. We went there for Drek's Brother's marriage. This meant I could not clean, I could not turn on all the radios, and I could not move around. This also meant that I was antsy: I was only in HomeTown for the weekend! I had things I wanted to, people I wanted to see! I didn't want to be doing something I could be doing at home.

And then we got sick. Very sick. Ash was throwing up all over the place, Drek became deathly ill and so did Drek's siblings. Gross. I got sick right as we got home.

Also, I discovered that since I knew I would be listening to the talks several times over the next six months, I discovered it made my restlessness worse.

I think I absorbed less of this Conference than any other Conference, ever. I suppose that's an exaggeration, but still. I'm so grateful to have that website at my disposal. The talks are already up an waiting for me. The anticipation is still there, and I am very excited to start listening to them today. I need that peace and hope after such a horrible weekend.

This is Yet Another Example of the Late Neoclassic Baroque Period. And, As I Always Say, "If It's Not Baroque, Don't Fix It!"

We are trying to buy a house. In order to do this, we have to first look at a lot of houses. I'm not going to try and pretend this is a chore. I LOVE looking at houses. I love looking through photos of houses online, mapping them on gmaps to see what parks are closest, and looking at virtual tours. The best part is when I can actually physically walk through a house. Nothing inspires my imagination like a floor plan. I know, I'm weird.

This week my wonderful friend, Mandy, arranged for a bunch of us moms to take our kids on a tour or the fire station. The group consisted of four moms who had two boys each, and also me and my daughter. It was comical.

The fireman were super nice and took us on a tour of the dorms, the office, the classroom and then...

The kitchen. The wall you can't see is nothing but shelves and shelves of dishes, cookware, silverware. There is also a pantry. The other wall you can't see has four brand-new, top-of-the-line refrigerators.

I really must spend too much time viewing prospective places to living because this was my first thought went I saw the kitchen; "I'll take it. This is the perfect house."

Of course, it's not a house. It's a fire station. But, come on! A great location next to a park, A nice entryway, six small bedrooms, a huge family room, a dream kitchen and dining room, and a nice (very nice) garage. It's just what I'm looking for! Well, I'm not really looking for a house with six bedrooms, or a gigantic garage, or a kitchen with four refrigerators, but still.

The fireman explained that when you're a fireman and start your shift, you come in, do chores (including sweeping, mopping, taking out the trash...) and if you didn't bring your own dinner, you chip in $5 for one fireman to buy groceries and cook everyone a meal. You sleep in your little dorm, you play in the "family room" with it's huge flat screen, it's easy chairs and it's hundreds of games and DVDs and you occasionally save some lives.

I want to be a fireman. Alas, I'm not sure I'd look in the required uniform.

It's a little terrifying.

Hey, We Said No Powers!

Sure, you've played Frisbee before, but have you played by yourself? Throw, run and catch?

With three frisbees at a time?

Doing trick catches?

While hovering several inches off the ground?

They Will If You Set Up That the Dog is Evil. All You Do is Have to Show Him Doing This

We went for a walk down a very long pier. About halfway down, we spotted this;
I didn't zoom the camera in, nor did I crop this photo. I really did get that close to the bird. I think it would have let me touch it, but I really didn't want to touch it, so I didn't try. That bird wasn't afraid of anything.

After I took the photo, we kept walking down the pier. We saw some dolphins jumping out of the water. We watched them for a bit. When the dolphins went away we turned around and saw that same bird, right there, staring right at us.

We kept walking. At the end of the pier, the bird was waiting. He watched us as we reached the end, then he followed us as we walked around the end, and then proceeded to follow us as we walked back to the start of the pier. Sometimes he flew ahead, other times he walked on the wood rails with us.

It was a little creepy. Is that how he begs for food? Did he want compensation for us taking his picture? Was he a homeless bird that wanted to be our pet? Was he an alien taking the form of a bird sent to protect us from the evil invaders from Dimension Twelve? What in the world makes a seagull do that? I wish he could have lowered his eyebrows and looked around all with shifty eyes, then it would be clear that the seagull was, in fact, evil, and the mystery would be solved.

Everywhere we went, that bird was like this;

(Okay, I cropped that last one for dramatic effect)

Well, What Do You Think of It? Why, It... It's a Very Unusual Cake, Isn't It?

My dad's favorite cake is called "Tunnel of Fudge Cake." My mother has tried to make it for him on his birthday, but it's a tricky cake, and it never turned out quite right.

Three years ago I decided I would try my hand it. Knowing nothing about the cake I looked over the ingredient's list and decided to leave out the nuts, because my dad doesn't like to mix chocolate with nuts. Only after I made the cake did I learn that the nuts are important to the cake chemistry. The cake wasn't horrible, but it wasn't a tunnel of fudge cake either.

The next year I tried again. This time I underestimated how many nuts were needed, and I only put in one cup instead of two. Once again, I learned that the exact amount of nuts is vital. Once again it was edible, but not a tunnel of fudge cake.

My mom and dad flew out to Sunland today and the plan was to celebrate my dad's birthday today so I decided to try the cake again. I bought a bundt pan. I bought nuts in bulk. I bought organic butter and cage-free eggs. I was so ready for this cake! I read and re-read the recipe. I was meticulous about following it to the letter. Everything looked perfect. I poured it onto the pan and slid it into the oven with my finger's crossed. An hour later the cake came out of the oven looking and smelling amazing. As it was cooling I began to clean up the mess I created. I reached for the bag of flour and stopped cold. A startling realization hit me all at once; I forgot to add flour. I blinked and thought it out in my mind. There was no doubt; I forgot to add the two cups of flour. I forgot to add flour. To a cake. What was I thinking?

As you can imagine, the cake was more pudding than cake. I turned it out into a plate (and remember, it came out of a bundt pan, so it's got hole in the middle) and added the birthday candles. It looked awful. it did not resemble a cake. It resembled a lumpy circle of gooey mess.

But, there was no time to make another cake. My dad carried the plate of not-cake over to the hotel where they are staying. As we walked across the parking lot, three older women started cooing at Ash, who charmed them all immediately. We all packed into the elevator and the women noticed the "Happy Birthday!" candles on the lump of not-cake.

"Is it the baby's birthday?" One of the women asked, assuming the not-cake was made out of baby food.

"No." I groaned. "It's his birthday, I just suck at making cakes."

"You make good babies, though." The other woman replied. I laughed. What a wonderful thing for her to say. And then the three women laughed at the not-cake because it truly did look awful.

It tasted good though. In fact, it tasted amazing. If I had left in in the pan, it would have looked a lot better. Had I made it in a non-bundt pan, it would have looked even better. Huh. Have I just invented a delicious, gluten-free dessert? Because it was really, really delicious. I wonder if I could win some sort of cook-off with my new recipe...

And there is always next year for the tunnel of fudge cake.

Sir, I Think You Have a Problem With Your Brain Being Missing

Twenty minutes down the highway is a park with an old locomotion train that rides around a railroad park on actual rails and stops at an old fashioned train station. Not knowing lots about trains I can't really give specifics, but it's one of those parks little boys go crazy about.

Saturday that park had a huge Rendezvous and set up teepees and saloons and homesteads and such. People dressed up in civil war uniforms and marched to fifes and drums or dressed up as mountain men and told stories, or dressed up as prospectors and taught people how to pan for gold.

It was great. There were lots of activities and lots to see. Drek turned out to be very successful at prospecting (both in using a pan in using that washboard-looking thing)and I turned out to be a very successful gambler (at a game called Faro played in a saloon). What an honest and hard working couple we would have been.

The very first thing we did was take a ride on the train. We were lucky enough to be on the ride that became a part of the entertainment for the rest of the park. That is to say, we were robbed; A train job.

As out train passed an open field a gang of outlaws stopped the train and demanded the sheriff hand over the army's pay-roll. From the train we watched as a the whole scene unfolded; the sheriff handed over the money, but the outlaws began fighting amongst themselves and ended up shooting each other. Only the leader and the sheriff were left alive and during the shootout the sheriff grabbed a gun and in the end the leader was left with no payroll and no gang. The people on the train cheered as the sheriff climbed back aboard the train with a line like "justice and truth always prevail!" and we continued on to the station.

Later in the day we saw several army men getting on the train so we went to the field where the drama was staged to see what would happen this time. Once again the outlaws (magically resurrected) held up the train and demanded the payroll, but this time they had the army to defend it. The shoot-out was between the army and the outlaws and, of course, all the outlaws were killed while the the army men emerged unscathed. A true miracle.

The best part was when I noticed there was a new edition to the outlaw gang. "Hey, Drek." I said pointing to the new guy. "Isn't that the sheriff?" Indeed it was. He had taken off his badge, but everything else was the same. I guess his speech about truth and justice wasn't enough to resist the lure of a life of crime.

Down Here All the Fish is Happy, As Off to the Waves They Roll

Labor Day was a wonderful day for us. We drove forty minutes to a beach, despite warnings that it would be cold, windy, and the water would be freezing. We got there and met my wonderful friend, Bon, and her son (my baby!) Jord, who is fifteen years old. We also met up with a friend of Bon's who owns a Kayak, which was the reason we were there.

It was, indeed, cold and windy and the water was frigid. Jord was smart enough to wear a wet suit, but Drek and I were shivering in our swim suits. Jord and I went out on the kayak first. and over my swimsuit I had a life jacket to keep me warm (hah). Once I started paddling I warmed up and was grateful for the cool breeze, although I tried hard not to get splashed by the cold water. As it turns out, it was actually the perfect day to go Kayaking. The waves were fairly small and once we got out far enough the water was as smooth as glass. We kayaked down the beach to a group of caves and were stunned to see that the water was so clear we could see the coral and fish below! It was so beautiful! We also got to go into one of the caves and marveled at the pink rocks and the beautiful formation. Once we came out of the cave we noticed we were next to a few seals! Alas, I couldn't take out camera out on the ocean for fear of it meeting its death, so I didn't get any pictures. However, it was still a perfect ocean Kayak trip!

We made it back to shore and maneuvered the kayak onto the beach without tipping over. We climbed out and Drek and Jord took off. Alas, they had a lot more trouble than I did; The seat came loose and they spent a long time trying to figure out how to fix it. Once they got going again they were approached by a policeman on a jet ski who said witnesses had sworn they were fishing. Poor Drek and Jord had to let the kayak be searched before the policeman would let them go. After that, their time was up so they had to come back to shore and Drek never did get to see the caves or the seals.

When he got back to shore we watched the son of the couple that owned the kayak while they went out together. Drek and I played on Frisbee on the beach, had a picnic and took lots of pictures of Ash. We had so much fun!

That night we had a wonderful dinner with Drek's co-workers. We ate out on their deck which is on top of an apartment building so the view was wonderful. We had such a great time with wonderful friends and the most delicious food.

Happy Labor Day!

Oh You Mean This Gate Key

Drek and I spent Friday night babysitting a passel of children at a friend's house. Among them was our niece, who is almost four. A few days before she had locked herself in the bathroom. Friday night she locked herself in the same bathroom again.

I was very worried and tried to calm her down by sweet talking her to open the door; "It's okay, honey. I'm right here. You need to unlock the door, okay? That way we can get you out and you can come out and we can play a game! Do you want to play a game with me? Great! I want to play a game with you! Just come over to the door. See the handle? Can you turn the knob on the handle? I know you can do it!"

She informed me she couldn't get to the door because there was a spider on the stool. "Do you see a bath toy? Can you squish the tiny spider with a big bath toy?" But she informed she was afraid of spiders. Actually, at that point I was very impressed with her composure. If I was stuck in a small room with a spider, I would be in hysterics.

So I tried a different route. "Can you push the stool over by the bathtub? Great job! I knew you could do it! You are amazing! Now, come stand by the door! Are you by the door! Great! Now touch the handle! Don't worry, you are doing great! We'll get you out in just a little bit!" After about five minutes of sweet talking and gentle coaxing, we were no closer to getting her out. Drek walked over to the door and said in a stern/angry voice "If you don't unlock that door right now you'll be stuck in there forever."

Two seconds later I heard the door click and our niece walked out.

'Course, That Ain't Exactly Plan A.

I am very lucky that Drek's whole company moved here to Sunland the same time we did. I was a little afraid to move out here to Sunland because I wouldn't know anyone. I planned on spending a lot of time with Bonnies and Jord and Jes, but other than them I really didn't know what I was going to do.

One of Drek's co-workers live a few blocks away from us and his wife and I have become friends since we're in the same ward and are both new to the area. Her name is Jen. She is wonderful. She loves to plan activities for our kids, for just us girls, and for both our families. Anna moved here a few weeks after we did and it is wonderful to have her and her family here.

There are many parks here in Sunland. Jen and I started taking our kids around to a few different ones. While there, we made some new friends who are also SAHMs. Last night Jen planned an girls night out for us. It was so much fun! We ate bananas and strawberries dipped in chocolate, chips and guacamole and crackers and a yummy pesto sauce. We talked about things we wanted to do while we were in Sunland, and then Anna got out her buckets of craft stuff and showed us how to make these cute little fabric flower-hair-things. I made two for Ash and they turned out so cute! I'm very proud of my crafty self. A new friend from the parks came over and told us about all the great free and cheap stuff to do in the area for children. She's lived here for four years so she's like our guide.

As I drove home from our little party, I felt so energized. I loved having the girl's night out, but more than that, I had so much to look forward to! We have all these activities planned. Activities we can do on weekends and activities for the kids that we can do while the boys are working.

I love that I've not even been here two months and already have a little group to party with. Hooray!

You Have an Appealing Coiffure. What is Your Grooming Regimen? You're Asking Me What I do With My Hair?

I've been asked by several different people what to clarify the whole "giving up shampoo" thing. I decided to blog about it, since I don't really know I didn't just do that in the first place.

My routine for my hair was to wash it with Suave shampoo and conditioner once a day. Since my hair is long and thick, I went through those bottles really fast. I bought new bottles every one to two week. That worked for a few years, but last year I noticed my hair was damaged. VERY damaged. And I had flakes, split ends, and all around damaged hair. But why? I don’t blow-dry. I don’t use a curling iron or a straightener, I just shampoo, condition, dry with towel, spray in detangler, brush and go. Why was my hair so damaged?

So I tried using different products. The only one that seems to help the damage is Pureology, and those are insanely expensive. It would cost me around $50 a month just for shampoo and conditioner. And it wouldn’t solve my flake problem.
The product that works for my flake problem is the Neutrogena stuff that comes in a green bottle…I can’t remember what it’s called. It costs me about $20 a month. It does not solve my damage problem.

So I turned to the Internet. The Internet tells me my problem might lie within commercial hair products. Apparently, my hair has been stripped of all it needs to be healthy. That’s what commercial shampoo does. It’s a detergent and it strips your hair of what it needs. Conditioner is designed to put artificial good stuff back in your hair. It’s not as good as the original good stuff so you have to wash your hair more often, and therefore strip your hair more often, and in some cases your hair just ends up stripped-out. I think this is what happened to my hair. Not only that, but after reading more, I discovered that some of the chemicals in your shampoo are really toxic! Every time you shower, you are poisoning yourself. All the products I was using was cruelly and pointlessly tested on animals, and every time I bough new bottles I was contributing to the landfills.

So! I made my own shampoo. I looked at several recipes and came up with my own. I was warned that there was a fourteen to thirty day "transitions" in which your hair is all oily and gross, because it needs to learn to regulate itself, but then it's all better.

I didn't really like making my own shampoo. It was fun to make, but when I washed my hair is was a mess and horrible to brush and felt oily and blec. The best way to describe my hair during that time is flat. No volume, no nothing, just flat. It looked like I had gone a day or two without washing it (I was pregnant at the time so I just used that as an excuse).

After thirty days of that I came across the concept of "no poo" which is where you use baking soda as shampoo and vinegar and conditioner. Again, I was warned there is a fourteen to thirty day "transition" where you hair must adjust to regulating its own oils. However, the very first time I did it, My hair was AWESOME! I attribute that to the fact that I had already gone through transition and my hair was already used to regulating its own oils.

It's so easy. Baking soda + water = shampoo and Apple Cider Vinegar + water = conditioner.

I take about 1 tbsp (but really, I just eyeball it. I'm not going to stand in the shower with a measuring spoon)  of baking soda and mix it with one cup water. You can put that into a spray bottle or in a cup, whatever works for you. When I take a shower I wet my hair, then either spray or dump the stuff onto my scalp and massage it into my roots. I really don't worry about the rest of my hair. After a lot of massaging I rinse it out and then use conditioner;

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 2 cups water in a cup. Mix and dump over your hair. I've had a few people telll me they skipped the Apple Cider Vinegar step because they don't like the small. DO NOT skip this step. It's like shampooing your hair and not conditioning it; your hair will be tangled and yucky. If you don't like the small you can add a tsp of honey and vanilla.

The conditioner also works as a detangler to my hair is like silk when I try to comb it. I keep my hair long and it is full, shiny, clean and healthy. It always looks like I just washed it, even though I only wash it maybe twice a week, sometimes only once a week.

My hair is A LOT healthier. A LOT. I love it. No split ends, no damage, no flakes. It grows faster (because of all the massaging) and it looks and feels great.

And now you know. It worked for me, it was the best choice for me, but I can't say it will work for you. This is just my experience.