New Furniture

My parents gave us a new kitchen dining set for Christmas - which we needed. We were using an old dining room table as our kitchen table, and it really was just too big for the room. We updated. After some funny assembly problems (I'm not allowed to talk about them yet because Paul doesn't think they're funny yet, but trust me, I've been laughing all day), the set is in. Looks good, yes?

Good Christmas

This is my baby seeing the loot Santa brought her for Christmas. Her awed expression was PERFECT.

Thank you Santa!

My Baby

Today, I was cleaning out Elizabeth's closet so that she could play in there. I had been storing stuff in her closet, but it occurred to me that it is her space and as such should not have storage stuff in it. I cleaned it out and put shoes on the floor (they had been on a shelf) and put blankets on the shelf. I turned around and she was putting the shoes back up on the shelf. Then we moved into the room where we are storing Christmas gifts. This room has an empty closet, so I was putting her closet stuff in there. I turn around and she is gone. I rush out to the kitchen, where our tree is and she is putting one of the presents under the tree.

I love her. She is so cute.

Elliptical

I finally - in an effort to lift my flagging spirits - went to the gym this morning and worked out. 45 minutes on the elliptical, got my heart rate up to about 150, sweated like a pig, and burned 350 calories. And hopefully worked the toxic ju ju out of my system - no more unexpected bills!!!

Also - felt great!

$1300

So - my fabulous crash into the CURB - yes, the CURB, will cost me $1300. I tried to make a claim in car insurance, but apparently, after 6 years of perfect driving, I've never had an accident, and paying them $900 a year for basically giving me a piece of paper, they said, if we pay for your crash, you will owe us $1250 a year for the next three years.

Here comes a tangent - I really do not understand this at all. I pay thousands of dollars to an insurance company which does nothing for me for maintenance of my car nor in the event I have an accident that is my fault. I pay thousands of dollars to health insurance, but they cover my maintenance and if I fall (due to my negligence of walking on ice) they would cover my cast. Car insurance must be like 100 percent profit. Seriously. Off the tangent now.

We decided that $1300 now which we can pay off a credit card over the next 3 or 4 months with little interest accrued is better than the extra $350 a year for 3 years plus the $500 deductible.

AHHHHH!!!!!

So My Life Can't Get Any Better ...

Today I was driving my family to get a haircut. Going 10 mph I hit an ice patch, could not get control of the van and we slammed into a curb. No biggie, right? Wrong. Smashed up our hub cap. And did so much damage to our alignment that when you are driving straight, the steering wheel is about 45 degrees off center. This takes constant vigilance while driving.

Seriously - can I have 2 weeks without having to shell out some ridiculous amount of money?

Parents Just Left

I just had a great week with my parents, Elizabeth's grandparents. They came in, they played, they cuddled, they had much fun with the child. Good times were had by all!!

Now it's back to a normal schedule and routine. Which means gym tomorrow morning. Argh.

Grading Fog

I am in a grading fog. When I come out of it, I will post again.

My Baby in a 70s TV Show

I love this photo. She's running down the hall to her daddy - but I can't help thinking that she should be in a 70s show - maybe Charlie's Angels or something.

ARGH

Our furnace just ended, died, caput. It was 20 years old, it will cost $2k to replace it. And we were already broke and already running a bit in the red - ARGH!!!

Working Out

So - I've been a bum the last few weeks and have not exercised at all! And it shows - on the scale. This morning I got my arse out of bed early and went to the gym - finally! It felt great! Hopefully I'm back for good! I do much better when I work out.

Not much else to report other than I have given my last lecture of the year - woo hoo!

It's Getting Bad

So I am reading and re-reading Twilight and Midnight Sun. Now I read the scenes right next to each other.

I have friggin lost my mind. It hasn't been this bad since X-Files - for which I needed a 12 step program.

Not an Unknown Fever

Today at the store I look down at Lily and she is covered with spots. I think, heat rash is the best possible explanation but I am pretty damn sure it's scarlet fever and didn't that blind Mary Ingalls?!? So off we go to the doctor. She has roseola - which does this: you have major fever for like 4 days for no apparent reason and then you get better and POOF a rash appears all over your torso. Kind of like shingles or chicken pox, but only kids under the age of 3 get them.

Seriously?
Seriously.

This means we've been to the hospital about 7 times in the last 21 days - that has to be some kind of record. I said to my daughter today, our goal, Elizabeth, is to make it until 2009 before we go back. She just kind of laughed at me and then pulled my hair.

Lusting Lusting Lusting

It has happened again. I have fallen in love with people who don't exist a number of times in my life, Will Hunting, Harry Potter, a character in a cartoon when I was very young (don't ask, it's ridiculous, but if you ever see the comic book Battle of the Planets you'll see why), and now Edward Cullen.

Love love love...

Twilight

So - I am completely lame. Completely lame. I am meeting a group of girlfriends for a late dinner at IHOP and then we're going to drool over Edward in Twilight. My husband says the reviews are bad. I said - SHUT UP. You may or may not know that I was a'lusting after Harry Potter. At least Edward isn't like 12.

Seriously. When will I stop behaving like a teenager?

My Baby has a Fever

I am exhausted. I was up most of the night because Lily had a fever. Everyone in the house was sleeping, including my daughter, but I was up. I can't sleep convinced something will happen if I shut my eyes. The thing is she has only had 2 fevers in her 16 months on this planet - which is pretty good for a baby, but means I have no skills. Luckily a good friend was up and called at midnight to talk me through the process - which was very helpful. But today I am a zombie.

I am praying she'll be okay today!

Swimming

Well - finally I woke up and went to the gym before 6am to work out. Fridays I swim - and it was grueling because it's been 3 weeks since I've been. But it feels good to have gone - even if my shoulders and core are killing me!! My goal is to go every day - Mondays to run or to ellipse; Tuesdays to spin; Wednesdays to body pump; Thursdays to kick ass (kickboxing); Fridays to swim; Saturdays to yogasize. That's the plan. Then maybe I'll be in good shape for the summer this year!

Library Card

Today I signed up for a library card. Why I haven't done this in my adult life until now is a question I have no good answer to. But - I always had a community library card until I went to college and then since then - no. Today, Goggi family West headed down to the library and got cards. We played, Paul got hugged by some random kid which made Lily nervous, and we took out new books.

One of our money saving plans is to not buy books anymore (we used to buy a couple a week) and only take them out of the library. Pretty cool!

My Baby is Free

Well - that was traumatic.

We drive over to the hospital. We walk into the ortho trauma unit and she starts to scream - she's no dummy, she knows where she got the annoying cast in the first place - and scream and scream. So I put her in my arms on the floor and give her a hug. They come in with a vacuum/saw and turn it on. She screams louder - she doesn't like our vacuum either - and grips me tighter. They saw off the cast - which takes a while. She screams the whole time. Then they come in to do an xray. She tolerates this but screams a little bit. Finally, the ortho trauma doctor comes in and says it's fine but if she's not using it 100% in a week we come back in for therapy.

But she's happy now. So it was worth it.

Off to the Hospital

Today Lily and I head to the hospital. I am hoping that they will cut off that cast and she will have use of her left hand again. Interestingly, she reaches for everything with her left hand and she uses utensils with her left hand. I think this is interesting because maybe she's left handed while her parents are both right handed. Anyway - the cast is on her left hand so it has stunted that growth.

I hope we haven't broken her forever!!

Thank God

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/us/politics/11south.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Finally!!!

My Baby

So yesterday I put the Princess down for a nap. I hear, after a lengthy suspicious silence, the 15 month old equivalent of "WOO HOO" and I run in to her room. I think, with the help of Hobbes, she takes off her cast and launches it across her bedroom. I stand there for half a minute and think, can I just shove it back on? Call the doctor when reason prevails and off we go to the hospital. She's dancing and singing and thrilled. She sees the cast doctor and screams for 20 minutes straight. They put a new cast on her, above the elbow.

I love parenting a mischievous Princess.

But I'm exhausted.

November 5

I am sad today. It's been 3 years.

Election Night

I just spent some time with my students at a restaurant watching the results come in. It was fun. I've done this now 3 different times and it is so much fun to sit with a whole new generation of political junkies.

It reminds me of watching the returns in 1994. I stood there crying because the world had ended - remember Republicans won everything, including some idiot from Peekskill beating Mario Cuomo. I was devastated. And my professor looked at me and said, Leah, children will still eat tomorrow. It's not the end of the world. And he was right - kind of - smile - and now I realize I'm the professor saying, half the country survived the last eight years, you'll survive the next eight.

I love my life.

My Goggis

Aren't they cute?

My Baby

My baby broke her pinky last weekend. I feel so badly for her.

But - she is an adventurous sort and will probably have many broken bones in her life. And the fact that she didn't cry more than once because of it is an indicator she's a tough little person.

I am so sad for her...all on Halloween too!!

Me and My Baby

Here is my Princess

So - I live in Ogden Utah, which kind of kicks ass, because it has all this very cool kid stuff! Including the Treehouse Museum. Goggi Family West just spent the afternoon playing and learning and it was wonderful. Here's my baby sitting in a throne in the learn about Medieval Europe section of the museum - they had HUGE chess pieces. It was very cool.

Um - I love living here.

Seriously.

This is my backyard over Columbus Day weekend. Seriously.

Back on the Diet

So - I'm back on the diet. After the summer off and then lazily through September - back on. I lost 6 pounds this week, which is pretty good. I imagine I will not maintain that level of loss but hopefully I can get myself into my skinny jeans (well - what would have been my fat jeans in college but now are my skinny jeans) by Christmas.

I also am very cranky when I'm dieting - which apparently amuses my husband no end. Bastard.

My Utah Family

When I moved to Utah my mother in law said strangers would raise her grandchildren. I took it for what it was - she didn't want her son living so far away and now that I have the Princess I understand much more than I did then. The best thing that happened to me here was I met Eris who introduced me to the Numismatist who has become my adopted family. Here is Elizabeth among her crowd of Utah family - a whole pack of girls.

I am very lucky because strangers do not raise my children - my family does.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So I just settled in to watch Grey's Anatomy and my Tivo screwed up and taped some ridiculous Betty show. OH MY GOD!!! Grey's is my favorite little guilty little pleasure. I am SO sad and upset.

Body Pump

Again

Today they rolled out the 67th version of Body Pump. I'm not sure I see much difference between 67 and 66 - they both kick my ass. But it's great. I am on a big kick to get healthy so poke me and annoy me if I don't go to the gym every day!!!

Climbing

The Princess's new favorite thing to do is climb - especially the stepstool. Unfortunately I can't reach anything in my kitchen without the stepstool. So - now I can't reach anything.

Kumi Tucker Time

Click to this link to see how famous I am: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4425980

Oh and - scroll down and pick vice presidential debate creating interest and see how I'm famous on Fox: http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/

Our New Downstairs

Beautiful

Aren't they gorgeous? Our new wood floors - well wood laminate, but we like them just like they are real wood!!

Interesting

Sitting here grading like crazy and all of a sudden I come across a paper held together by a hair pin - that's new, never had that before.

Um - gross!!

New Macbook Pro

So - I am so important that I need 4 computers. I have 2 PCs and 2 Macs. It's a battle for my computing soul.

But - I'm liking my little Macbook Pro thus far. I've got the parallels (sorry Scott!) and it looks pretty cool. I'm going to check it out and see what I think (and what the husband thinks) and then maybe we'll get parallels on the big boy!!!

But this lappy is fun!

Oh and...

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic' and 'different.' Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're an American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, and you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, then you're well-grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, help register 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, 8 years as a State Senator of a district of 750,000 people, chair the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people, sponsor 131 bills, and serve on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

If your resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town of 7,000 people, 2 years as governor of a state of 650,000 people, you're qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

If you teach responsible, age-appropriate sex education, including the use of birth control, you erode the fiber of American society. If you staunchly advocate abstinence-only education, while your teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, you don't represent America's family values. If your husband is called 'First Dude', has a DWI conviction, didn't register to vote until 25, and was a member of a group that advocated secession of Alaska from the USA, yours is the quintessential American family.

Random Postings

Here's the life.

• Got a macbook pro due to a fabulous grant at work - IT guys recommend parallels instead of boot camp - thoughts?
• Working out at 530am group exercise class is really hard and really invigorating at the same time.
  
• Princess is doing well - Musikgarten is back in swing and she's enjoying the music.
• Having the floors in the downstairs redone on Friday - that's terrifying in the amount of work it will take to clear those rooms out and the lay out of cash to get it done - but it will look great (I hope)
• Oh - and - FOR ALL OF YOU MFERS WHO VOTED FOR REPUBLICANS FOR THE LAST DECADE OR SO BECAUSE YOU HATE ABORTION OR LOVE GUNS - REAP WHAT YOU SEW ECONOMICALLY (can anyone say Bush is not worse than either Buchanan who let half the country secede or Hoover who sat on his ass while the Great Depression started???)
  

Arrested Development

My one friend's husband said we're Trekkies. And I think he's right. We, periodically, have theme parties. We've done a Harry Potter theme party, at which I was Ginny and Paul was Harry and Elizabeth was Lily. This time we did an Arrested Development party at which I was Maeby and Paul was Michael.

Last night I was watching a commercial for the newest Jim Carrey movie in which he makes fun of theme parties. Smile.

Swimming

Today I added swimming to my exercise repertoire. I "swam" laps for 35 minutes while my gorgeous friend Eris dolphined around the pool. I swallowed water a lot. I looked lame with Mr. Eris's goggles on. I didn't kick my legs alot.

But - I didn't drown, which was the ultimate goal.

Ice ice baby

dn dn chk dn dn dn dn

Yes - today in my body pump class we did our biceps to, wait for it, Vanilla Ice Ice Baby.

I was laughing so hard I forgot that my arms were like jelly.

Body Pump

This morning I was very well behaved. I got my ass out of bed at 515am and went to the gym. I did body pump next to my gorgeous friend, Eris, who was wearing the latest trend in gym clothes (I was wearing an old 'Cuse t-shirt and old WSU shorts) and had a do rag on (I had my hair in a floppy pony tail). I was a rock star...smile...but the nice thing is, when you go to the gym with someone who looks like Eris, no one notices how lame you are that you can't even do the cheating dips.

BTW - I read somewhere that if you hang out with skinny people you are more likely statistically to be skinny...how long do you think it will take before standing next to Eris at the gym will rub off?

My Two Faves

Here they are - the cutest two females in the world - the Princess and the Duchess (um, no the cat is not the blog poster, the blog poster named her blog after the cat)

Back to the Gym

Thanks to my very good pal, Eris, I actually got up today and went to the gym. I was so excited to go and I was looking forward to working out with her! It was great.

And then I realized that I took husband's shuffle instead of mine own. I have fun music on my shuffle. You can dance to it or run to it or bike to it. It's fun. Paul's music is either screaming or bleep blooping or is generally in some key that I'm not sure a real musician could find on a real instrument. It ruined my whole morning. I got into a work out funk and left after only working out for 30 minutes.

I am sorry Eris for being such a bum...but seriously, who can work out to that crap???
Oh - and I also think I offended Eris's friend as I said, rather loudly, this music f***ng blows...

More Evidence She's Mine

There's lots of evidence that the Princess belongs exclusively to her father...but here we have it, evidence she is part Duchess.

Why I Love My Husband

Last night in a relatively snarky mood I complained that I didn't have lunches, ever. This morning my husband made me a sandwich and put it and an oatmeal bear into a paper bag with an apple and put my initial on it.

It just makes me grin to think about it.

My Blood is Boiling

http://jtaplin.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/stopping-students-from-voting/

So - my friend sent me an email with the above blog post and suggested my blood would boil.

He was right. I am so pissed.

Just when I think maybe the Republicans will be normal and maybe I could vote for a woman for VP - they pull this shit. And - today the Florida blah blah of Republican of Women are boycotting Oprah for not having Palin on her show. I thought, that's cool. Then the MSNBC reporter asked, were you as angry about Clinton not being on Oprah? They were like, oh no because Palin is more common folksy. And my head exploded. People - if we are trying to be all go women, it should be ALL women, not just women who you happen to like.

ARGH - what a way to start the week!

Palin - Crap

I have never (since 1992 as that's as long as I've been eligible to vote) voted for a Republican for President - so I have a .500 batting average, 2 winners and 2 losers. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary (catching a whole lot of flak from my friends and colleagues in the process). Last night I was one of the Hillaryites (who knows where the media gets these names) who was wooed by Obama. And then McCain this morning announces Palin.

My husband says she's very conservative. He says, don't worry, in Utah it's not like your vote will matter in the Electoral College.

But here's the thing - she's a woman and I feel pretty powerfully that it's important to have women in these positions so that young girls feel like political leadership is an identity they could have. And after 220 years of white men (save the very rare or very non-viable exceptions), a woman in the vice presidency that's not in a movie is very appealing to me. My grandfather once told me that it was ridiculous to vote based on identity and that you should always vote on issues (except he's a white, anglo-saxon Protestant male whose ancestors founded the nation - and I pointed out to him that if everyone who ran for office looked like me too then maybe I could have that principled position - he told me to move to Mexico - not one of our better exchanges). And I do think we should vote on policies - but I am powerfully tempted here to vote for the evil old man who hates women (apparently in Arizona he referred to his wife as a pretty bad c-word) because of the role model effect.

And - she's a mother of five who went back to work 3 days after she had her last baby. She has a degree in journalism and political science and was a sportscaster for a while before she went into politics. Does that sound familiar?

Crap!

Ummm Okay

Welll - I'm in. Hook, line and sinker. I will vote for Obama and advocate for him and all sorts of the fun stuff for him. I sat here and watched his speech and I cried.

You know the thing is, I am a Democrat because I think it is too easy to be a Republican - I think they take all the easy positions - and I think we are better than that. That we need to appeal to our better natures and we need to earn this. And here's this guy who says, we're better than this.

So I'm in. My state won't be (as my previous post demonstrates quite clearly) but I will be.

God willing we can get rid of these greedy bastards...

History Proves Utah Wrong

I have heard, on any number of occasions in any number of venues, that Utah used to be a bipartisan state back before the evil Democrats switched their position on Abortion in 1980 or before they fell in love with Reagan in 1980 - anyway, I keep hearing that 1980 was the turning point.

Really? Below is the history of Utah's voting for Republicans for president. Um - when exactly was Utah Democratic? Before Reagan they voted well above a close race for Nixon and Ford. They ranked first in the nation for FORD! This is after there was a coup attempt by Utah Republicans to get Reagan on the ticket instead of Ford. So you see, even in the year that Utahns didn't really even like the Republican candidate, no other state voted for him more than Utah.

Please - just stop pretending you used to be good people who became Republicans because of the abortion issue - the Nixon election happened before abortion was even an issue and before the Equal Rights Amendment issue - you all are just Republicans. Acknowledge it. Own it. Just say - we love wealthy people better than poor people and there is no moral reason for it.

Jeesh!

1968: 57% for Nixon; rank of 3 for Republican
1972: 68% for Nixon, rank of 14 for Rep
1976: 62% for Ford, rank of 1 for Rep
1980: 73% for Reagan, rank of 1 for Rep
1984: 75% for Reagan, rank of 1 for Rep
1988: 66% for Bush, rank of 1 for Rep
1992: 43% for Bush, rank of 8 for Rep (Clinton vote was 50 rank)
1996: 54% for Dole, rank of 1 for Rep
2000: 67% for Bush, rank of 3 for Rep
2004: 72% for Bush, rank of 1 for Rep

My Baby

So today I was getting ready in the morning and it hit me that I'm a mom - like a role model of a mom. Not that it shouldn't have hit me much earlier - but there I was, getting dressed for work and putting on my make up and Lily was sitting right next to me with her hand on my knee watching every stroke of my make up brushes. I was thinking - kind of sadly - of how many times in the future we'll do this and when she'll want to use my make up and then she'll show me some new ways of applying it.

I love being the mom of a baby girl!

My Beautiful Puppy

Here is my Hobbes who is in his tenth year - you'll see the gray at his mouth and he has gray around his temple. He is very good with the Princess and she loves loves loves him.

Day at the Pool

Here we are - my family visiting my Utah family at their pool. Don't we look like a movie star family set against this backdrop of blue??

Juno

Okay - I've been a parent for a year, so shoot me for not having seen this movie yet. But holy shit, this was a good flick. Jennifer Garner was so understated and Jason Bateman was fabulous and the theme that she didn't want a baby but couldn't kill something that had finger nails.

Excellent soundtrack!

The Bronx

For all my friends in Utah who think the whole state of New York looks like a Sex and the City episode (or Manhattan) - here's a photo of the Bronx. Notice - trees. We're driving on the Major Deagon Expressway through the Bronx.

Smile - wink Mr. Eris

Report From New York

I am now allergic to New York. This is what happens when you move away from your home state - God punishes you and makes it so you can only live in Utah. Smile.

Here are the fun things I've been dealing with:

1. Major blister from walk
2. Major case of poison sumac all over the backs of my lives
3. Sunburn
4. Contact dermatitis (which brought along a hospital stay)

I'm going home Monday - next summer when I return I will make sure to come with long sleeved clothing...

I am Very Funny

So - last night a group of my close girlfriends (Eris is among them) and I got together to scrap (yes this is a verb - deal with it) and chat for close to 7 hours (we had a good time). In the middle of the evening - well, here's the play by play.

Noelle: ooh, spider
Duchess: AHHHHHHHH
Aubrey and Duchess move to vacate the premises from the big bad spider. Duchess proceeds to knock Aubrey down as she flies down the hall - reminiscent of the Seinfeld when George knocks over the old lady to get out of the burning house.
Eris, Michelle, Noelle: LOL LOL LOL
Eric (Noelle's hubby): um, is there a spider?
Michelle: Don't worry, I've killed him with your Birkenstock.
Duchess: What? Now all the spiders are going to kill me.
Duchess proceeds to glare dirty looks at Michelle every once in a while for the giant affront of using her shoe for killing the spider.

My Baby

Well clearly it's been too long since my last post. Sorry.

Here's a photo of my baby.

Conference

I am currently at a fabulous conference at Snowbird Resort in Utah. Here's why it's fabulous:

1. We have a very good team.
2. We have a very good project which we finished early leaving us plenty of fun time.
3. My parents brought Elizabeth up to see me.
4. Today I got to spend the day walking around with my husband and daughter.

It's a good life.

Women and Politics

Because I am a chick and also political, I am very aware of women in politics and the treatment of women politically in the media, and so on and so on. There was a montage on You Tube a couple of weeks ago that made me so angry I was scraping my brain matter off the ceiling for hours as my head continually exploded.

This post cracked me up - made me laugh at something that would have normally really pissed me off - it has a bad word, though, so don't go to the link if you are afraid of bad words.

http://feministing.com/archives/009410.html

My Friend has Left

Here's my friend Autumn - who has moved to Wisconsin today. I miss her already and I'm pretty sure her flight has not even taken off yet.

Thank you for all the daily routines - here's to a lifetime of new and fun visits!

Dancing

Here's my baby. Dancing away. Whenever she hears music she dances.

My Friends

Tonight my friends and I went to Sex and the City. It was fabulous! Then we went back for some good conversation - emulating the Sex and the City girls.

Here's how that went!

Why I Live in Utah

Just another reason why I live here.

This week's U.S. News and World Report listed the top 30 hospitals in all the areas of child care - basically saying, if you're baby is sick, here's where you have to go. And guess what? Salt Lake City's Primary Children's Hospital is in all the lists. This is the place Lily went to get her hips checked for dysplasia.

It's 40 minutes away. And it's the best place to be, because all the other places are in very expensive places to live.

At the Sanctuary

Here is my family (not the random women in the back) visiting the bird sanctuary. We had fun, we looked at cute bird families, we laughed, we walked about half a mile and talked. Our plan is to go out at least once a week - and if people want to join us with children, they should!

What cracks me up about this picture is there are many many cute birds waddling about right in front of Paul and Lily, but when she senses someone is going to take her photo, she turns on the cheese.

The Shiva Is Over

I left my blog about my Mac because it is Jewish tradition to have a Shiva - seven days of mourning. While I am not Jewish, I kind of like this tradition. Technically you are supposed to do nothing for seven days. No showers, no cleaning, no fresh clothes, nothing. I did shower and I did wear fresh clothes, but I thought a seven day blog would serve.

I love you Machy and I miss you.

I'll be back tomorrow with fresh blogs!

My Macamoo

I just sat on the floor of my dining room and watched my Machy leave the house for the last time. Two days ago, less than 48 hours ago, he snapped at Elizabeth. After much soul searching and advice seeking we have decided to put him to sleep. I won't be there for his last minutes because Paul decided I shouldn't be there and I am letting my husband take care of me.

I have loved him from the minute I saw him in the PetSmart that day five years ago. I have been his favorite person ever since and he has loved me unconditionally and faithfully. I will love him until the day that I die - because something I've learned about loss is that you never stop loving the soul who has left if you truly love him or her - you just kind of adjust to always loving.

I like to think that he's in heaven, because I think he gets to go to heaven. And I think that maybe Mary is there and will pet him and love him as he is the second member of our family to arrive. He'll get to chase all the UPS trucks he wants and his leg won't hurt and he won't have to eat his food immediately because Hobbes won't be there waiting to attack. And then someday, hopefully far in the future as I have so much more to do, I'll get to be there with him and he will take care of me.

I will miss you my macamoo for the rest of my life - thank you for a wonderful five years together.

Tee Ball

Tonight I went to see a family member play tee ball - this is my Utah family I'm speaking of - and it was fun. Allie was fantastic! She basically played baseball like soccer and I can't say that her version of the rules didn't make the game much more dynamic and exciting to watch.

Of course Elizabeth was bitten by a bug of some sort so now I have to worry all night whether she'll die...but other than that, it was a great evening!!

I Love Old People

I went today to volunteer my time and speak about the elections at a nursing home. I spoke for 65 minutes. I was answering questions and queries the whole time. At the end of the time an old woman said to me, you know, you would have cut your time in half if you hadn't kept asking people if it made sense. I just kind of looked at her. And then she said, I'm telling you this for your students, it will be better for them.

Smile.

I love old people.

Twilight

Thank you friends for sucking me into this new series.

ARGH!

I am SO in love with Edward. He's perfect.

Last Week

Thank the Lord!

It is the last week of classes. In fact tomorrow is the last day of classes, in which I am doing reviews, so technically I'd say the last day of classes was yesterday. Students are on high overdrive - I wonder if that happens in places where people can and do drink - and can be a bit annoying. They have a million questions, they are freaking out, it's annoying.

But Saturday, it's done. Grading and then a full four months of no students at all....woo hoo!!

Scrapbook Expo

Yes I scrap. It's a verb - deal with it. So I scrap. I have girlfriends who scrap. I went to the scrapbook expo in the South Towne Auto Mall. And just so you know, my friends got there at 5am and I got there at noon. I had fun. I bought some stuff with the small amount of cash I brought with me. It was great. It's my guilty pleasure that no one knows about...

Until channel 5 news at 4pm sat down to chat with my table about scrapbooking for the live shots...OH MY GOD...

Why I am an Idiot

Well, I let a salesman into the house last night and sell me a 5 year commitment to a security system I don't need or want. All I can say in my defense is that I was tired and vulnerable. So today I wake up and cancel everything. You have 3 days to cancel so I did. Then the ass of a salesman called me to make me feel guilty. I'm Catholic, this works real well. Paul said, please just don't let them into the house anymore.

ARGH!

Snowing

I have a sunburn and there's snow on my lawn. It looks like someone took confectionery sugar and shook it all over the neighborhood. But the most embarrassing thing is I have a sunburn when there's snow out.

Where in the hell do I live???

My Dad's Sick

So my dad just got put into surgery in a hospital that is many miles away and many hours away. I can't get to the hospital so I am sitting here, totally ineffectively. While I love living in Utah, this is the one zinger that makes it hard to be away from home. I should be at the hospital, buying my stepmom coffee, making her eat food, she should not be there alone.

I am scared but I am not freaking out. I am sitting next to my baby who has eaten finger foods for the first time by herself today and smiling.

Keep up good thoughts for Grandpa Murray.

--Update

Dad came out of surgery a little worse for wear but should be okay. Thank you for the good thoughts.

Annual Sunburn

I am still unused to the Utah sun. Today I sat in the sun for a couple of hours, being silly with my girlfriends. I am now so sunburned it's ridiculous. Seriously! I am a grown woman, it is completely inappropriate to have sunburns in your 30s. Smile.

I am miserable. I have a head ache. I should never go out in the sun. No SPF, nothing.

ARGH!

But in other news, my good friend came and spent the day. Which I love.

Mac Office 2008

Very cool.

I just installed Mac Office 2008 on my new Mac, and they don't have the damn ribbon. So they kept all the cool features of the Mac Office and didn't switch over to their lame PC version.

Woo hoo!

BSG

Well BSG is back on. And I LOVE it, as much if not more than ever. But I am saying this officially, if Apollo is done and has left the show I will NOT watch another frakking minute.

Certification

I am now clear of all charges. I went to South Ogden, I paid the fees to take an online course and 30 minutes later I earned a 100 percent on a driving test.

Smile.

Obama Again

So, here's a few reasons why I don't want Obama to be president.

1. He joins a shot drinking contest and drinks water (loser!)
2. He wants the U.S. to boycott the Olympics (he's never been an athlete, so seriously who cares about those athletes, and he doesn't realize that when you bring the Olympics somewhere shit changes...like in Utah, now we can drink a little bit more than we could in 2001)
3. He doesn't have Elton John doing concerts for him and he doesn't have Carole King supporting him and he doesn't have Maya Angelou supporting him (he has Matt Damon - which is almost a plus, but then Matt Damon also roots for the Red Sox - I just want to have sex with him, not figure out why he roots for who he roots for)
4. He looks like the Green Lantern.
   

Cops

So, last week I was pulled over.

I was learning a short cut from a friend so I wasn't paying attention, seriously and literally. We were chatting, she was telling me where to go, blah blah blah. Here's the story.

The sirens go on. My friend says, Leah I think you are being pulled over. I say, I think you're right. I pull over. The cop says, ma'am do you know why I am pulling you over? I say, because my tags are expired? He says, I didn't even notice that, so no, I am pulling you over because you rolled a stop sign back there and you were doing 40 in a 25. I say, I didn't even see the stop sign so I'm pretty sure I didn't roll it, I bet I ran it. And, are you kidding, it's not 35 through here? He says, no. He continues that he'd been following me for 2 blocks with his lights on and I didn't notice him until he put on the sirens. I say, no kidding? Well, as you can tell I'm chatting with my friend and I'm not looking around or in my rearview. He says, do you have a good driving record. I say, yes, I've never gotten a ticket. Which is true, in Utah. He says, give me a minute. He goes back to his car. He comes back with an invitation to traffic school. If I go to traffic school, it's like I never got pulled over for the 2 (oh yeah, 3 things since I gave him the expired tags) citation opportunities. My friend says, you just missed like a $200 ticket. I say, no shit, I'm lucky.

Today my husband says, Leah, is this the cop that pulled you over. I say, yes it is. He says, look closer. I look, and there is a picture of me in the city newspaper getting pulled over by the cop, in a story about meth use. Just for the record, I am not a meth user, I don't even know what meth looks like. But there I am in all my minivan driving glory, getting pulled over.

I can't catch a break!

NCAA Championship

I came in second place in my bracket. I didn't win any money, but my friend gave me some cookies. I beat people who actually watch college basketball.

Pretty cool!!

Good Day Yesterday

I am trying to lose weight. Other than those four years in high school and the other four years in college, during which time I was very thin because I was working out constantly, I have been trying to lose weight my whole life. I am incorporating working out, trying to emulate what I had while in college and high school, and I am doing weight watchers. I have lost 10% of my body weight, which is the first big goal when you are losing weight. My next goal is to act as though I have just started weight watchers and lose another 10%. From there another 10%, and then another 10% and then I will be as thin as I was in college...odds of my getting there, pretty slim, but those are the goals.

I am pretty proud of myself and feeling good about my progress. It's slow, but I don't see weight watchers as a six month diet, I see it as a way of life and I have no deadlines for getting healthy. Every day that I choose good foods and see a little loss is a healthy day, and that's a good day.

Why I Love My Poof

Here's a fabulous photo of my baby meow meow who I have had for 11 years, she's been through all my bad times and my good times. Giving me a bump on the nose when I need it and giving me 'tude when I deserve it.

housework

Both our front door and back door locks broke at the same time. Paul said, who cares, we have 2 huge dogs, who is going to rob us? I said, I care. Our friend Scott said, you'll have to hire someone to come because it will be impossible for you to do. I said, fine.

I took myself to the Home Depot, bought two new door knobs, and installed them. Please take a look at my fabulous skill in fixing our doors. It took me one hour to do both.

I know I have to paint the back door, clearly, but I will get to that in May when maybe I do the whole kitchen. But at least now the door closes, which is a plus!

Funny

I teach political science, which includes math. Sometimes this is how I feel the students must think.

Why I Love My Baby

Enjoy this photo:

My Husband at Play

I married my husband because he was really smart. I just ignored the general messiness and clothes everywhere and books in piles because he was really smart (and cute and a good kisser and gentle and kind and all the stuff you want in a guy).

Now I know that he is also a comic book artist. Enjoy the attached comic strip he and the Princess made while I was away.

Yankee Fan

Oh yeah, the Yankees are SOOOO evil. It's amazing how evil they are. After Katrina, the NFL gave 1 million dollars to Louisiana, the Yanks gave 1 million on their own. And last year, after the VTech shooting, they gave 1 million dollars to a fund at the school for victims. And this year, the big guns from the team showed up to play the VTech baseball team. Oh yeah, they suck, so bad, they are so evil, jeesh.

PUHLEASE!!

New Gym

I joined a new gym this week. For a couple of reasons: first, it's 5 minutes from my house (which is a 15 minute drop in commuting time); second, it's brand new so it's awesome (machines are great, colors are great, not dirty at all); third, the husband wanted a switch and I am a good wife; and finally, but perhaps most importantly, I love the mayor (wink).

But today I went at 530am for my first group exercise class, which is exactly the same as the Club: body pump. While the product was the same (you know, like Pepsi is a cola and so is Coke) the delivery was SO much better. I loved the teacher, I loved the music, I loved the class, I loved loved loved it. So, just like Coke is so much better than Pepsi (smile)...

Paul went later and saw the mayor working out and apparently he is very buff. So, that's good. I mean, if you're going to have a mayor you should have a buff one.

Famous Famous

The other night I was on KSL Local News at 630pm being interviewed about Eliot Spitzer. I figured there were probably 3 people watching, and those were my Utah family who had to watch because the Princess was with them being babysat and they felt obliged. But yesterday I received all sorts of emails from really random people...so that was kind of cool.

Again, if only I were six feet, weighed 100 lbs and had blonde hair, I swear I'd have a career on television.

Eliot Spitzer

Well, how the mighty have fallen.

My good friend who is an Obama fan called today and said, "a woman just wouldn't do this." And I said, yet again, another reason why I am voting for Clinton. And she said, well, I won't repeat it as it was bad language.

Smile.

Interesting Note

Today the husband and I filed our taxes. It was nice seeing how much money we get for Elizabeth. America loves the children. Anyway - we were chatting about the rebate and our accountant said that the rebate will have to be paid back next year dollar for dollar.

WTF?

Disproportionate Response

My husband has suggested that my reaction to Hillary Clinton is disproportionate...or that I may be losing perspective.

I am rooting for Hillary Clinton like I root for the Yankees or the Orange, with every last visceral part of my soul. I have constructed vast conspiracy theories about Obama in my mind and I am often heard making comments about people with penises about the house. Luckily for our marriage Paul is also a Clinton supporter while not being so opposed to people with penises, or we might be divorcing soon.

Is this the wrong response? Have I gone completely around the bend? Intellectuals all around me say Obama is the guy, he's the next JFK, he's the hero...blah blah blah. Why? Because they have a single-issue approach to politics and believe that someone who voted for the war in Iraq should be shot (umm, here's some evidence of perhaps my loss of perspective). My response to this is I am from New York and any Senator from New York who didn't come out hawkish after 9/11 would be wrong; oh and I as a presidential scholar actually believe in a strong executive so I've got no problems with that either (I just want the strength behind the policies I believe in); oh and I am a woman. And for the love of God, since time immemorial men have been running this planet and we are now in an environmental crisis and we are now on the brink of another world war and we are now treating the poor worse than ever and religion has been allowed to dictate to every political decision forever - so, yeah, I'm tired of the penises and I am rooting for the woman.

And for the sake of my daughter, who I will teach that women can do anything, I am rooting for the woman.

Not at all out of perspective.

*** Follow up: yesterday on Jack Radio, I heard a commercial that said something along the lines of "if you listen to our radio station we will make all those promises Obama makes" ... hmmm, my opinion on him seems to be seeping albeit slowly into the popular culture ... seriously, doesn't he remind anyone else of that guy in high school who was full of crap??? Never mind that when he joined a shot drinking showdown he drank water ... PUHLEASE!!!

Primaries

I'm just sitting here watching the primaries come in...yeah Rhode Island!!! I always knew I liked that state!!! McCain is delivering the MOST boring speech I have ever heard, even the people who are there for him are bored. They don't know when to clap. Someone hire this man a speech writer so we don't have to listen to this crap all summer! And, holy crap, how many times do we have to look at his wife who looks like a Barbie doll?!? Oh no wait, the song they are playing is Johnny Be Good...bleh!!!! Oh and now the Bushies are having him over for dinner.

Well at least we're pretty sure we'll get a Senator, which we haven't had since LBJ...and while many may hate LBJ, he got more done legislatively than most presidents in history. And as a fan of Congress, I'll be happy about that!

And, has anyone else noticed that Clinton is the Republican of the Democratic party, she wins all the rural areas. Does it occur to anyone that this might actually be a good candidate to run?

Dinner With Friends

The husband and I have a couple of friends whom we met when we first moved here. I'm not sure we've seen them alone in years. They have given us a TON of stuff for Elizabeth so we decided to have them over to say thank you. We had a great dinner, great conversation, and realized we really enjoy seeing our friends in one on one situations. And, we have all these great dishes and a great dining room, so we really should do this more.

It was great.

Body Combat

I almost died this morning.

First, I got out of bed at 515 am, which is always a problem and seriously, if God isn't up yet, I don't see why humans should be.

Second, I drove to the gym in big ploppy snow, which made the roads treacherous in Utah.

Third, I attended body combat where an instructor who hasn't taught this time in 2 months decided to put us through our paces. We shuffled in circles, we ran while punching, we jumped, spun, and generally didn't stop moving for a breath for about 50 minutes. I almost fell twice. I almost threw up the entire time. My good friend, who was attending for the first time in a while, shot me dagger looks and I think I need to be worried about running into her later with a weapon of some sort.

Fourth, I drove home to two giant labradors who thought it would be fun to see how many times they could step on my feet as I tried to walk down the stairs.

Happy Monday.

R.I.P. Omar

Well, tonight was not a fun night for the Wire and its loyal fan, the Duchess.

I'm not happy about it.

My Life

I once heard it said that a woman had happy moments, not a happy life. I imagine in many ways this is true. Women bear quite a bit of the burdens of this world without any of the managing, this impotence is hard on the psyche, and women have been in this position for millennia. For a long time I had a relatively sad life, due to some of my own rather spectacularly bad choices and also due to others' bad decisions. Now I am sitting here doing some work from home while waiting for Lily to fall asleep and she is cooing away and discussing the world with the many stuffed animals in her room. She is a very happy baby mostly due to rather good choices I have made lately - including marrying her father and moving to Utah and choosing to have a good job that allows me to be home a lot. I envision her heading down the path to a happy life with sad moments, rather than the other way around and while I get to travel this path with her - not for her, but alongside - I get to live a happy life too.

She's seriously the most perfect and wonderful thing that has ever happened.

Skiing

Yesterday I had the BEST time skiing. I went up with my husband's family and then quickly diverted to spend the day with my good friend Michelle. I skied trails I never would have gone on alone because she was so supportive. We chatted on the chair lifts and in the gondola and a couple of times we skied with her husband who is actually a fabulous snowboarder. It was such a GOOD time.

Today I am very sore. That's the only bad thing.

Battle of the Planets

I'm sitting here watching my favorite childhood cartoon that aired from 1978 to 1985. My whole life (even recently I must admit) I have wanted to be the Princess superhero from Battle of the Planets. I love this cartoon. And while it has lost some of its appeal as I am now an adult, I still love it!

It makes great grading white noise.

Sean Hannity

Today I listened to Sean Hannity. I have a number of students who are tracking him for a media and politics course so I thought I would give it a try. He was interviewing some black author who claims that academics (that's me!) are teaching blacks to believe they are "behind" because of slavery. I didn't know I was teaching students that. It was interesting to hear that apparently I am responsible for blacks across the country feeling badly about themselves because of slavery. If I weren't doing this, blacks would perceive themselves as in a bad place because of their own individual problems...I guess is the point. His argument was that Democrats (aided and abetted by the academics (me again!)) need blacks to feel white racism (I like that term, I'm not sure what it means, should we refer to male sexism?) so we make them listen to Jesse Jackson and then they feel badly about themselves...so they miss out on the fabulous policies the Republicans have for black America - his one example was vouchers (how that's connected to black America escaped me but perhaps he explained it earlier in the show).

I would like to note that my black friends (of whom I have quite a few and all of whom are doing very well) feel racism. They explain to me how pervasive it is. I would also like to note that none of them think there is racism because of slavery, but because of a lack of tolerance in certain pockets of the U.S. population. It also could be that Republican legislators in Utah say things like:

Well, I think Brown v. Board of Education is wrong to begin with. That’s a whole other subject. Call me again and take a half-hour to talk about that.- Sen. Buttars

It could also be that Clinton was the first president in history to actually get above 10% in black appointments while the Republicans around him were noted for destroying the Civil Rights Commission.

I imagine Sean Hannity - white anglo saxon male that he is - is very tolerant and very understanding of race in this country. Do people seriously listen to him???

Conference

For the longest time I had thought a particular brand of pedagogy was bullshit. I did not like discussions about service-learning. I was not persuaded it had any value. I thought it was a way for people to not do good teaching in the classroom. This weekend I was invited to a S-L conference, and as I have an open mind I went. As it turned out, I was completely wrong. The deal is most people of my acquaintance have been doing S-L wrong (or at least not well) and so what I thought was crap actually was crap but was not what the pedagogy entailed. I am persuaded. I am excited to move forward in trying this out. Students were there telling stories about their experience, and while most of the students were idiots, these were very compelling for why this pedagogy is good.

Thanks to my colleagues for having such a naysayer along.

Conference

I am sitting in a dorm room in St. George getting ready to attend a conference tomorrow. Can you imagine that? I am in a DORM ROOM! I am lying in a bed that is very narrow. We are staying in a hostel in an effort to cut costs, and it's adorable! Luckily, I turn on my lappy and the internet worked. I have no idea whose wireless I am on, but I don't really care, I am just happy I can play on the internet if I want to, especially since there is no tv or radio.

I had a great ride down with two women I barely know and one woman who I'd like to know better. What's interesting is one of the women thought I was a student. She said to me, haven't you graduated. I said no. She said when do you graduate? I said, I'm a professor here. She said didn't you used to be a student? I said, no, I got a degree from Albany and Syracuse quite some time ago. She said oh my god, I thought you were a student and were Scott Rogers's protege. I said, no, I am not Scott Rogers's protege......lots of fun for all involved. I laughed and laughed.

Super Tuesday

Today is Super Tuesday and I am voting for Hillary Clinton, my office assistant says if she wins she's moving to Canada. I highly doubt this is true, but let her be ridiculous if it makes her feel good. Here are my reasons:

1. She's a woman. For the first time in 220 years we have a viable female candidate. I would like my daughter to grow up in a world that doesn't require you to have a penis to be a leader. And I do not, unlike Michael Savage, think this is an affirmative action election.
2. She's actually a policy wonk. When you read Hillary Clinton's policy initiatives she actually knows what she's talking about. Her health care policy is light years beyond her Democratic opponents, and seriously she's way ahead of the Republican idiots. She's been thinking about health care for 14 years, she's already had a policy go down in flames, she knows how to negotiate on this particular issue. Never mind that it's better.
3. She actually shows up for voting. Obama missed 1/3 of his votes and all of the other votes he voted exactly the same as Clinton. I'm not sure how this relates to change if he's exactly the same as Clinton, but I'm not voting for him so I don't have to reconcile that inconsistency.
4. She is very very very intelligent. She will be very very very good for this country.

Oh yeah, she wants to revoke Don't Ask Don't Tell (it's one of her policy agenda items) which means she's actually a bit further on gay rights than any of her opponents.

17-14

Do not ever underestimate the power of the cuteness!

Go G-Men!!

Snow Day

Thank God! I have been burning the candle at both ends. I have been exhausted for weeks. Then today snow came and school was canceled. I was able to move some furniture around, feed my baby her first food, and relax. I've gotten so much done and now I can watch some of my soaps and read a book and just relax.

Thank you God!

This is My Baby

Here's a cute picture of my Lily, who is currently sitting next to me in her exersaucer checking out a kitty. She is so into the animals, she always wants to pet them and follow them around. Maybe she'll be a vet??? Maybe I don't need to plan her future career when she's 6 months old.

Political Rant Coming

The other day I was standing in the hallway chatting with colleagues, one of whom said (as though we all agreed) Glenn Beck said now you liberals know why we all hate the Clintons. I've been chewing this over in my brain since the comment was made because I can't figure out why we hate the Clintons. "Liberals" supposedly hate them...of course liberals tell me I'm a conservative which often makes me chuckle. Nothing cracks me up more than a non-political scholar telling me my politics as though I didn't understand what liberal and conservative was...but that's an entirely different tangent. Anyway - here's my list of possible reasons why "we liberals" hate the Clintons:

1. 8 years of economic growth where the poor didn't get screwed in every tax cut
2. health care that would have made all these children health care policies unnecessary
3. making the military stop bouncing homosexuals
4. the biggest scandal was the president got a blow job
5. no wiretapping
6. no enron - BTW it was Clinton who put into place the rules which prevented that from happening
7. worldwide acclaim for economic security as a way of handling international affairs rather than national security
8. surpluses that helped pay down the debt
9. no ridiculous wars
10. policy wonkiness rather than charisma being the currency of politics

Oh, no, wait, I just can't seem to hate them enough. Let me hate them more for all this badness they brought to the world and vote for someone who keeps saying he has vision but never actually says what that vision is...but hey, he's charismatic, right?

Why am I an Academic Again?

It's like being in college. For the rest of your life. You wait until the last minute to do work. Then you have deadlines and you are up all hours of the night to finish it. It's like finals week. Jeesh!

Now I have to go teach classes and I am exhausted. And I don't drink diet coke anymore, so no caffeine.

Elizabeth's Education

I live in Utah where about 60% of the people are Mormon. Mormons are getting quite a show this year what with Mitt Romney running for president. For those of us non-Mormons here in Utah we know what's coming. I am a firm believer in public education. If I were a benign dictator, there'd be no private schools and all the wealthy people would have to invest in their local public schools and make them better. As a result, more children would get a good education. As you can imagine, I am opposed to vouchers and home schooling. And, for the longest time, I was opposed to religious schools, specifically as a Catholic, parochial schools. Until I moved here.

Since I have lived in Utah a number of my non-Mormon students and friends have explained to me what it is like to live here and be a non-Mormon in the public schools.

• Catholics were not allowed to wear crucifixes in public schools while Mormons were allowed to wear their CTR rings - both a symbol of faith.
• In an identity politics course, 4 students wrote about the Catholic faith as an oppressed identity - um, nowhere in the world does this happen except here.
• One Jewish student was told that in the year 2000 the world would end and if he didn't switch to Mormonism he would go to hell - this from his physics teacher.
• Many many non-Mormon children were told they were not allowed to play with their neighbor children because they were not Mormon. I can cite at least four different sets of kids living in different parts of the state.

Now I offset this by the fact that a couple of my very dear friends here in Utah - the Eris's - are Mormon. They are practicing Mormon and are wonderful people. They have never been odd to us. They attended my daughter's Christening. So I figure you hear these stories and it must just be the crazy people because my good friends never say those things or espouse those things.

Last night I was told by my little Catholic babysitter - who is 14, very intelligent and a very good person - that her friend (a boy who would like to be her boyfriend but she is not allowed to date until she is 16) was in seminary (to which he was sent from school and had no problem missing school classes to attend) last week and was told that if he dated anyone other than a Mormon that girl would take him to hell with her. The entire seminary class was told this - last week. And, his grandmother, who loves my babysitter and has her over for dinner and thinks she's wonderful, said to him, what will the people in my ward think if they found out you were dating a Catholic.

Now I realize that my friends are the anomaly and that most of the people feel this way. The reason, probably, they are my friends is that they are okay with non-Mormons. I do not, when I teach Catholic religious education, ever tell my students who to date. I do not tell them that Mormons are going to hell, or any other religion for that matter. I do teach them that we believe the Catholic church is the best religion...of course we do, why would we be in it if we didn't? But we do not teach that other people of faith are going to hell because we do not believe that. I also know that what I teach my students in Catholic religious education is sanctioned by the Catholic church. I can only assume that what is taught in Mormon seminary classes is sanctioned by that church, thus the LDS religion is okay with telling young people that people who are not like them are going to hell.

How do I send Elizabeth to a school where she will be vilified for no other reason than the majority faith thinks it's okay to teach children hate like this? How do I send Elizabeth to a school where she will be told she is going to hell because she is not a Mormon? How do I send Elizabeth to a school where her opportunities may be limited because she does not see the teacher in the ward on Sundays? I'm not sure I can...I am almost pretty sure I will not be.

Working Out

So we're having another blizzard. So no one showed up this morning to body combat except three other women besides me. So the two crazy women at the front can see everything I do. So I had to actually shuffle and jump and punch and I could never cheat at it. So I am very sore.

But! I had a great time with my girlfriend Jaynie chatting at the coffee shop drinking Chai Latte afterward so it was totally worth it!

Well - They Didn't Ask Anything About Gender

83% John Edwards
81% Mike Gravel
80% Barack Obama
79% Chris Dodd
78% Hillary Clinton
75% Dennis Kucinich
75% Bill Richardson
74% Joe Biden
43% Rudy Giuliani
36% John McCain
32% Tom Tancredo
31% Mike Huckabee
27% Mitt Romney
23% Ron Paul
20% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Body Combat

This morning I did body combat, as I do most Monday mornings. It generally kicked my butt, which is the point. I end up being so sweaty that my eyes hurt from it running into them. Today I was feeling okay. I wasn't the fattest person in the room and I certainly wasn't the most uncoordinated person, which was good. I was doing well, kicking and punching with the best of them. And then we went down to do push ups. I've never been too good at push ups so until my abs come back more I do my push ups on my knees. I happened to look up at the mirror while we were doing this and all the good feelings I had went away. Let's just say, thank god no one was behind me!!!

Plowing

I have often discussed the differences between Utah and New York. But this is the one that makes me so annoyed my head explodes. In New York we have snow. We have wet, blinding Nor'Easter snow. You can stand beneath a streetlight and know there is a light there because the snow looks a little whiter, but there is no pole that you can make out. And you could drive everywhere - why? because we were taxed and we had plows. I have many students who come through and who think any type of government means communism. I have friends who think this. And I always wonder what they think as they go slipping and sliding into other cars because our free western society (that doesn't let us drink beer or wine or liquor or go to the movies on Sunday...but that's a different rant) doesn't tax and therefore doesn't have money to plow.

This morning I got up to go to the gym to work out with my girlfriends. 20 minutes later I had gone 3 streets, so, I'm pissed.

New Year's Resolutions

Due to a challenge from the Numismatist, I am posting my resolutions here. And yes, I do write them on New Year's Day, so these are from last week.

1. Eat healthier - basically track everything I eat.
2. Exercise every day - my plan is to be at the gym MWF, yoga TR, running when I can.
3. Take the puppies out for a walk every day - since I got pregnant last year my puppies have been seriously underloved, so it's time I get back to it.
4. Practice piano every day - I want to be able to be good again, again, it's been since I've gotten pregnant that I've let that slide.
5. Run a race that allows me to earn a t-shirt - this is the 5K that the Numismatist is talking about...but mostly I want a t-shirt that makes me look like I'm cool...um, this requires 1 and 2 since now it would take me about 2 hours to run a 5K.

None of my resolutions have anything to do with other people, isn't that horrible, but this year is all about me...

Parking at my Campus

In most of the world professionals are given a parking spot. Here in the academy, we have to pay some amount of money to get a parking pass and then we are launched into a Darwinian competition with everyone of the 17000 people coming to campus a day to find a spot. I arrived for my first day of the semester 1 hour and 15 minutes early, thinking I'd have time to unwind, settle in and then teach. I drove around for 45 minutes, thus arriving almost late and had to hike through the cold weather to get to my office.

Insert all sorts of big swear words here.

The Juice

On New Year's I decided to drop the juice. I am no longer drinking diet coke. For those of you who know me, you understand this is my one vice (other than eating too much dessert) so this is a big deal. On January 2nd I called a friend who I know doesn't drink soda and I said, what do you drink? She said water, lots of water. I've stuck to it, basically because I won't let Elizabeth have soda and it doesn't seem fair to me that she can't and I can. If I am going to make healthy food choices for my daughter (and hopefully spare her the years of weight battle I have been engaged in) then I need to also make them for myself. I had crazy headaches for the first 3 days, one was so bad I had to nap through it to survive. I've been drinking ounces and ounces of water.

Interestingly, today when I hopped on the scale I had dropped 4 lbs since Tuesday. If it is the case that diet coke makes it more difficult to lose weight, I will be really pissed. The only reason I drink it is because when I was a young dieter I needed something I could order out with friends that had no calories. But it feels good, so no more diet coke!

Classes

Holy crap!

Classes start Monday here at WSU. What is wrong with these people? I mean, seriously, 2 weeks for Christmas holiday? We need more time. More time. I have been working like crazy to get my courses in order. CRAZY!

How am I going to ski more if I am expected to be at the office so much?!?

My Husband

So this morning I awoke from a very deep sleep because my husband had fallen out of the bed.

Let me let you laugh at that.

Apparently the alarm went off and he went to get up to turn it off. His first motion, unfortunately for all of us, was not to sit up but to roll over which sent him careening off the bed into the bedside table and onto the floor. Any of you who know me well know that I had to suppress laughter. Once the swearing was done I was able to laugh, and he laughed with me.

I am still tearing up when I laugh.

Holy Skiing

Well, clearly this is why I moved to Utah and I didn't know it until now because I didn't go skiing until now. I am never moving anywhere else and I am saving a ton of money so next year we can get a season's pass. Here's what I forgot I missed about skiing:

1. the smells, nothing smells so good as snow outside
2. the sounds, the swish of the snow when you stop
3. the breathing, fresh air on a mountain is fabulous

Oh and, Utah is SO much better than New York.

1. The snow is better.
2. The air is cleaner.
3. The view is amazinger.
4. The runs are longer.

Thank God for Utah!