Gold medal, and I love my DVR

Well, it took me about a year and 3 weeks - but my goal was to do it before my 39th birthday on March 8 and I made it! Woo-hoo!

For those of you who don't know, I've been working toward a Presidential fitness award. You log your workout points online and they accumulate toward a bronze (20,000 points), silver (40,000) or gold medal (80,000). I liked having the extra motivation to work out. Now that I'm done, though, I might need something else to motivate me to stick with it, especially through the rest of the winter.

Anyway - yahoo!

Unrelated subject: I really LOVE having a DVR. Buzz says it revolutionizes your TV watching and he is right. I am having fun watching shows I have heard about but never seen, like What Not to Wear. I recognize myself way too much in that one. A friend told me a couple years ago she wanted to nominate me for it, but I doubt I would ever do it. The whole new wardrobe would be nice though.

awkward moment

So I'm standing at the voter sign-in table this morning at 7:15 a.m. when an acquaintance of mine comes in right behind me. He went to my alma mater, Wheaton College, and we've known him and his family on friendly terms for years here in Salt Lake. We used to go to the same church. He is a conservative Republican, politically active, and though we have rarely if ever discussed politics I think he's pretty darn committed to Republican ideals.

So in our state, if you're unaffiliated (as I am) the voter-sign-in dude has to ask you which ticket you want to vote on. So I answered "Democrat" right in front of my die-hard Republican acquaintance. It's not exactly an invasion of privacy, but it did make me uncomfortable. I am pretty moderate actually and have voted about equally Republican and Democrat in the past, but in the past few elections I've been swinging more to the Democratic side. These days, the war and the environment are on my mind as I approach the candidates. Every election year is different.

Oh well - in the grand scheme of things, I am extremely grateful that elections here are so calm and well-tempered, especially in light of what's happening in Kenya and what happens in a lot of the world around election time. I don't think our friendship with this guy and his family will change much because he knows I voted on the Democratic ticket - but all the same, I think the party affiliation rules in this state are kind of silly and annoying. Why can't we just cast a vote for whichever candidate we prefer, regardless of party?

voting, and why are the flags at half mast?

Tomorrow is our primary and I still don't know who I'm voting for.

This is a cry for help. I'm informationally-challenged when it comes to finding out the real scoop about the candidates. So for all you politically-savvy people out there, how do you get good information? I have tried random internet searching but it seems I just get a lot of opinionated propaganda and not much substance. I'd like to be an informed voter, but I'm pressed for time so I need an efficient good source of (hopefully relatively unbiased) information.

For this primary it may be too late, but I have confidence that the people of Utah will vote overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney so my vote will not count for much here. But I would still like to become better informed.

BTW, I will not be voting for Mitt. :-)

Second issue for the day: Why were all the American flags flying at half mast this weekend? Was there some national tragedy I was unaware of? They were already half mast before the super bowl, so it couldn't have been out of pity for the Pats. :-) I have a suspicion, and this is only a theory, that it is because Gordon B. Hinckley, the LDS president, died and his funeral was Saturday. Now, I have nothing against appropriate ceremonies to mourn for Mr. Hinckley, but it makes me wonder what are the criteria for deciding to lower all the American flags? I remember they were lowered at Ronald Reagan's death, and September 11. But am I being silly to think it is a little out of place to lower the flags for the death of a religious figure? I don't know why - something about the connection between the LDS church and the American flag just bothers me. Something about separation of church and state. Or, is this not the reason at all for the half mast flags?

Anyone? Anyone?

electronics deaths, new shoes and my new inner domestic goddess

Electronics deaths - slowly the entropy is taking over the electronics equipment in our home. We have been watching the old computer monitor slowly fizzle away, the printer/fax/scanner is crotchety, and our video camera (2 years old) has been getting more and more obstreperous until finally last night it refused to finalize the disk or do anything at all - resulting in the loss of our precious Christmas 2007 videos, with the kids discovering the train table and everything. Sigh. Sam broke our CD player a couple months ago, too. Suddenly I'm looking at the cost of replacing all this stuff - and hoping we can find some good deals.

On the bright side, it looks like we are going to get Dish network, a DVR and a new HDTV. I'm looking forward to watching only the programs I want, when I want, with no commercials. Oh yeah - probably will want an HD-DVD player along with the list above. Ouch! If anyone sees any good deals on electronics stuff - let me know, we seem to need one of everything. Maybe we will get a tax refund and I will go crazy at Circuit City. That's as good a plan as any.

New shoes - I got new walking shoes this weekend and I think they are cool. I'll post a picture. Sometimes retail therapy really does work. :-)

My new inner domestic goddess is coming out. I never knew she was there. It must be all this cold weather with nothing to do outside. I have made my bed every day for over a week now. That's more than I've made it in my entire life, I think. I've also planned menus and cooked real food for the past month - another thing I have never, ever done. I've also done a fair amount of decluttering, and dusted for the first time in about a year (I'm not kidding) and the place is looking decent. I even bought a feather duster on a long pole, which inspired Bryan to go around de-cobwebbing all over the house. Cool!!! The kids have also enjoyed "dusting" the baseboards and each other with it. Anyway, I'm enjoying the inner goddess and hope she will stay for a while.

Justice is served in the VA parking lot

Have I really not blogged since Dec 17? Wow.

Well, it's been going on for several months and I'm sick of it. Unauthorized people (mostly VA employees, from the looks of their parking permits) have been parking illegally in the designated spaces for myself and my Building 4 compatriots. There are signs clearly stating "OIFO parking ONLY". But even if we arrive before 8 am, often all our spots are taken and we are forced to drive around in circles, park across the street or in the "back 40", and then walk through the snow and ice.

So today, I parked within inches of a large snowbank because it was the only spot I could find. I walked into my office with one wet and cold leg and, disgusted, called the VA Police and complained. Previous complaints were made to a different office and were never acted on.

So today - After months of futile protests to the deaf bureaucracy - I look outside and YES! There are tickets on the windshields of the 5 cars next to mine. Victory dance!

It's funny how much this has made my day. I have never been one to gloat excessively over others' misfortune - but seeing the parking vandals get ticketed gave me a whole new taste of Schadenfreude.

Christmas Preview

We opened gifts at our house this Saturday because we're going out of town this week. Bryan and I were up until 1:30 a.m. assembling the new train table. As we were finishing, Bryan said, "Now I know why my parents were always so tired on Christmas." Yes, we are just now figuring this out. I anticipate many sleep-deprived Christmas days for years to come, until the kids are old enough to request gifts that do not need complicated assembly. Of course, by then we will probably be waiting up for them to come home...

The late night effort was SO worth it though! I held the kids at bay until Bryan had the video camera ready. They walked in, saw the train table and raced straight for it without a word. Alex soon discovered stockings, candy, and presents, though Sam remained happily in Train Heaven for most of the morning.

Alex and I had been talking a lot about the song, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which she has requested as her bedtime song for the past few weeks. I also explained to her that good kids get presents, toys, and candy - while "bad" kids get coal, which is like rocks and isn't much fun. When she saw the presents she said, "I was GOOD!" and "I did not pout!" and "I did not get rocks!"

Sam's fun was interrupted by a much needed bath, to his dismay. He did get to keep his Tootsie Pop in the bathtub though, which was a good receptacle for the copious amounts of green drool.

I am loving Christmas with a 1- and 3-year old! It is so easy to make them happy. And fun to see the innocent, surprised happy expressions. I'm glad we get to do it again in another week or so.

"Just" adopt

I really enjoyed this article by Sarah Kelly. It's about the well-intended phrase tossed out by so many people who don't know what else to say when confronted with infertility - "You can always just adopt."

https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1380

Not sure if the link above will work - and don't want to violate any copyright laws but here are some excerpts -

"Which is why you cannot tell someone to “just adopt.” As if there were anything “just” about it. It’s not like, “Hmm, what should I do today? Oh, I know! I’d love to fill out 500 government forms! I’ll just do that today! And then I’ll just schedule multiple visits with social workers, request letters of reference, declarations of good health, a complete financial inventory—I’ll lay bare every aspect of my life that can be summarized on paper. And then I’ll just have everything notarized. In triplicate.”

The complicated process aside, before making a new map for your life and choosing to adopt, you need to go as far as you feel comfortable going with treatment, mourn not being pregnant, and say goodbye to the future you assumed you’d have.

I liked the last paragraph too:

After everything my husband and I went through in our quest for the “miracle of life,” I know now what the real miracle is. Through everything—through miles and oceans and air and time and loss and grief and healing and acceptance and love—we found a way to our son and he found his way to us.

Kudos to you, Sarah Kelly - lots of heads are nodding in agreement and appreciation for what you put into words.