Calling All Mo's!!

It's been rumored that Mormons are a boring lot. We are, indeed, a different group of people. But what do we do for fun? When we gather at our church houses for social purposes, what is it that we enjoy doing?

Beats me. And I have to come up with some ideas, since I am a member of our Activities Committee. So all you other Mo's out there with a developed sense of fun... please share your ideas. We can do indoors or out. Kids are invited. Meal v. Dessert is still open for discussion.

And if you REALLY love me, and have nothing blog about yourself today, please put a link up and send all your Mo friends over here to share their great ideas. If I have to choke down one more moldy, dry game night, I'm converting to the Holy Rollers. So do it for the sake of my eternal salvation.
Thanks

Not Showing My Face...book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs&feature=related
(sorry, the embed code is wrong, so i can only put up the link. but check it out. if you haven't seen it, you should.)

I'm sure everyone has seen this video clip by now. Every time I see it, I crack up. It's perfect! I've been really intrigued by facebook lately. Let me put up my apologetic disclaimer straight off: if you enjoy facebook, good for you. I don't think any less of you for using it, not that it matters what I think of you.

I just find it to be the stupidest thing ever. Alright, alright, I can see how it's a fun way to keep connected to friends and family. And I will confess that out of curiousity, I checked it out. I asked my friend to let me on his page so I could see what it was all about. And I will admit that I laughed when I saw all the ridiculous pictures he had posted on there from high school. And the comments left by old friends were even funnier. I perused through his 389 friends, and saw a lot of people that I had completely forgotten about. But it was weird. There were moms of my high school friends on there. There were people I used to babysit. There were people I hadn't given thought to in literally twenty years.

So what's the point of it all? Are you really "friends" with all those people? If your nephew's girlfriend's brother "pokes" you, do you accept just to be polite? Why do you care what these people are doing? If there is a picture from high school 15 years ago of two people making out, and everyone is joking about it, is it really funny? I mean, I would not find any humor in seeing a picture of my husband making out with some girl from high school, and reading along while everyone reminisces about it. Do you feel better about yourself when your number of friends goes up, even if you don't like half the people you're friends with?

Here's the other thing. Remember Friendster? And then MySpace? Is Facebook the upgrade from each of those? They start off fine, and then people realize they can "pimp out" their page, and their header gets glitzier, their pictures get racier, and their friends get more and more ghetto. Facebook seems to be the suburban MySpace. Like the special place middle class white folks go to get away from the vermin infiltrating their previous social networking domain.

I get that online social networking is here to stay. And like I said, I can see where it could be fun. I think part of my irritation with the whole thing is that I really don't know why I despise it so much, and I am trying to find some legitimate arguement other than "It's so gay."

But gay it is, at least to me. And I will not be joining the masses. So Poke on, all you facebookers. Enjoy whatever it is that draws you to this bizarre pastime. But when your streamlined pages get cranked out with glam, when the high schoolers take over and start showing off their anatomy, when you start whining "There goes the neighborhood", don't say I didn't warn you.

And I'm sure the online community will devastated by my absence on Facebook. But hey, at least I'm on Blogger, right?

...and photography.

And my other love for the day is this whole picture taking stuff. I'm getting the hang of it. I think. I did my first pictures of a family with their newborn, and I was really happy with how they turned out. The weather here is miserable, so we had to be inside. It was cloudy, the lighting was not good, but I was still satisfied. That's saying a lot, since I'm rarely satisfied with the things I do.





We did have a nice day last week, so I got to take some outdoor shots of my friend's daugther. I used my new zoom lens, and I loved the results. I keep trying to decide if I want to eventually do this for money, but I feel like that would take the fun out of it for me and put the stress on high.

So there. Boring post, yes. But my husband is gone, the kids are outside playing, and I'm really trying to find things to love so I don't get all cranky about Valentines day without my Valentine.

Sarcasm, Breakfast, and A Gift

Love Journal:
Entry Four

I do love me some sarcasm. So here you have it: I LOVE that some genius of a planner scheduled a "tour of post" for the cadets on VALENTINES DAY WEEKEND. I love that my husband has to drive almost seven hours with 19 and 20 year old boys in order to walk around an army post for a day and a half. I'm sure I'll REALLY love going to bed by myself tonight. I'm sure I won't feel at all self-pitying or annoyed by the whole sitch.

That said, I did make him a lovely steak dinner last night. Noe helped with the dark chocolate fudge brownies for dessert. I don't love chocolate, but I do love good brownies.


Oh yeah, there are three other family members who live in this house besides me. So I stepped outside my own private pity party and decided to make the day nice for them. They woke up to cool new ipods, and cards that Skip left them. They thought it was awesome, and I love that the two little ones are still young enough to act like they have REAL ipods now.


Then I whipped up a surprise breakfast, which is my favorite meal of the day. I love smoothies, I love muffins, and while I don't love sausage, the kids do. Repeating mantra to self: It's NOT all about you, Andrea.

I love winning at random. I won on Gabi's blog the other day, and I got a delightful little surprise in the mail. This is me, probably a little too early for picture taking on a Saturday morning, with my fun new love book from Ms. G. Thank you muchissmo Gab!!

The Nuts and Bolts of It All

Love Journal:

Entry Three

If you recall, I love Sadie. She is the daughter of one of my best friends. She is also extremely talented. I hired her this year to make my Valentine Cards. Here's what the genius girl came up with:

There is a box of candy underneath the paper. And the earbuds are Hershey's Kisses! So now, not only do I have fabulous valentines to hand out, but I didn't have to lift a finger other than to seal the envelope containing her cash payment. What's not to love about that?

And then, of course, I love the kids' analysis of the Vday loot. This guy came home, discarded all the paper cards, and set out to conquer the candy. Doesn't really care who gave him what; he got candy, he's happy.

And then there's this girl.

The analysis of her take was not to be believed. "Why James give me a boy card? Why Caira give me a Transformer card? Mommy, some of these cards are boy cards. I need more Barbie cards. I gived Tonna Monna Hannah cards. Why JJ no gived me a Tonna Monna Hannah card? I can eat all my candy now Momma? We make cookies and put frosting. The frosting all was white and pink. No boy frosting. Just girl frosting. I love it Valentimes Day, Mom."


"Momma, what is it, this candy? I no like it. You can have it Mommy."

And I love natural consequences. This kid gets in the car with his dyed-green mouth and says, "THIRTEEN FUN DIPS, MOM. I'M DYING. MY STOMACH IS KILLING ME. THIRTEEN!!!"

To which I reply, "Wow. Thirteen is a lot! I'm so happy that you won't be burdening the family this evening by complaining about your less-than-stellar choice. It'd be a bummer if you had to go to bed at 7pm because your stomach hurt so badly."


And there you have it. My loves of the day.

(*Tomorrow is a teacher inservice day. No school. Hence the early party today.)

Young Love, Unrequited

LOVE JOURNAL:
ENTRY NUMBER TWO

I love to observe people. I LOVE it. I could spend hours doing it, which may be a pathetic statement about me, but whatever. We, as a human race, are fascinating; particularly when it comes to displaying emotion.
Why do we offer our feelings up so brazenly, when we are sure they will not be mirrored? I find this such a twisted aspect of human emotion, and yet it entertains me.

Take my son, for example. Head over heels for a girl in his class. She has already made it clear she doesn't like him. She did this by telling his friend (who had been sent to inquire as to whether or not she liked him), "No. I don't." Pretty straightforward. No mincing of words or toying with emotions. Logic would dictate that my son would move on. But like most humans, he now likes even more that which he cannot have. And what better way to express that than buying her a THIRTY DOLLAR BOX OF CHOCOLATES. Are you insane? While at the store with my husband, he asked for a loan. Needless to say, a "conversation" was had, and they settled on this:






A giant Hershey's Kiss. It fell within the $5.00 budget we set on "gifts for girls who want to break your heart."


Then, at the end of another love rainbow lies this tragic amour. My son received the following early Valentine this week:

In case you are having a hard time reading any of it, here's what it says: "Happy Valentines Day. You make class very lively. Love, name witheld to protect the poor child"
"P.S. Keep teasing me please!"
"P.P.S. Keep making class lively!"

Poor Mika has mentioned to this young lady, via ten year old messenger boy, that he does not like her. And yet, the valentine.

In the end, it all makes very good entertainment. I do love the innocence of childhood... they have a few more years I suppose before this just becomes pathetic. But for now, it's sweet, it's confusing, and frankly, it's funny as hell. And along with loving oberving people, I love funny.

Love is in the Air

Denae is doing a love-week, and has encouraged others to do the same. I tend to be a bit pessimistic, more so of late, and have decided it would be worth my while to participate. So all week, in honor of Valentines Day, I will post about things I love.
First off, I love to mock. Take this delicious event concerning Michael Phelps, for example.
It has been reported that "Phelps explains that he fuels his body by eating between 8,000 and 10,000 calories a day. Since the US Olympian doesn't cook, this means eating (not-so-short) stacks of pancakes, buffalo enchiladas, and towering sandwiches packed with turkey, cheese, mayonnaise, and vegetables." I mean, he does that to fuel his body and succeed in his sport, right?

Um, yeah. That's why. Not because he's insanely hungry at 2:00 in the morning...













I also love this. I am determined to solve more than two sides. I can get two, but after that, much like MP's recreational time, it all goes to pot. But I have committed myself to trying for at least three sides. And oddly, I really enjoy it. I even love it, hence it qualifies for the week o' love.

That's it for now. I don't want to go overboard on the warm fuzzy stuff.

It stands for: Come On! Overpriced Produce

As I'm sure many people do, I have strong feelings about this:























So. My issue of the moment is the CO-OP. The natural, organic, earthy-crunchy stores across the country that tout all things biodegradable and sustainable. The stores that would have you believe your produce comes from this guy:

instead of this guy:

Ever been inside one of these places? I won't lie, their little cafe serves up THE BEST pesto roll with prosciutto that I've ever tasted. But somewhere amid the aisles and aisles of all things basil, tofu and democratic (yes, Virginia, there ARE politics in the produce) you can find stuff like this:

Flaxseed. If you know what to do with this stuff, I'm seriously impressed. I think it comes in my shampoo, but apparently other people eat it. Or who knows, maybe they're making their own shampoo.

I can't do the CO-OP because I cannot afford $2.50 for a tomato. I'll have to settle for the .34cent, insecticide-covered, cancer causing variety from WinCo. What a bummer! Care for some milk? If you don't mind paying $6.00 for the hormone-free gallon, head on down to your CO-OP! Otherwise, $2.79 for the kind from the cows on steroids. O.M.G! Does that lady have a plastic sack? Yes, I'm "re-using" which is on par with the "reduce, re-use, recycle" mantra, right? Ma'am, we'll have to ask you to leave. However, if you'd like to purchase this sustainable green "mother earth" tote for $5.00, you are welcome to use it to carry the 7 grocery items that actually fit into it out to your car.

How do people fall prey to this scam? Do they really feel that much better about themselves because they pay 9 times what I do for their groceries? If their kids behave well during grocery shopping, are they promised some of these?:

"Yes, honey, I WILL buy you some carob-coated raisins, but if you ask me again, the answer is NO."

I don't get it. I really don't. I've been living off of regular grocery food for about 35 years now, and frankly, I'm doin' alright. My farmers may not hug my eggplant before they ship it to me, but I'm also fairly certain they don't poison it either. I mean, I'm still alive, right?