Rediscovery

Jake got me this bike for my birthday.

I know. Don't you love it? I mean, LOVE it? With cute little hearts instead of Os?

Amaya loves it almost as much as me. We've been biking every day and only almost biffed it 23 times. (It's very hard to hold a bag and bike with a baby on board. I guess there's a reason the xtracycle is too expensive.)

I told Jake I wanted a bike for my birthday after I rode around the waterfront in Portland this summer, with a couple of old high school friends. I remembered how much I liked biking.

I mean, wouldn't you just really love biking after going with these guys?

And here's Cody with his GF just in case this picture freaks you out.

(Sorry, Dan, she's just way cuter.)

Anywho, we went biking to Voodoo Doughnuts, which is Norwegian for "We are doughnut geniuses and you have to stand outside in a line if you want them." I got a mango doughnut with mango sparkly sour sprinkles on top and an oreo cookie doughnut with peanut butter drizzled over the whole thing. My friends only hassled me a little for buying two doughnuts (because look at these guys-- you know they only ordered one each) when I really wanted to buy 10. I hope I didn't confuse my sudden urge to bike with doughnut satisfaction. Sigh.

Here's Serious Cody, for the road.

Good Day, Bad Night

To-Day: Amaya gives lots of kisses and hugs all day long. She likes to sing "Ain't it great to be crazy" and say "Ska-doosh" when she's holding our hands as we walk to church. She pretends to be a cat (which is one stage of toddler-dom I have always somewhat disliked, but I try to humor her) and when you ask her what she's going to be for Halloween she says "trophy." Which in Amaya language is "Dorothy." She babbles "katchakatchakatchakatcha" when she knows she is being naughty. She requests we take a walk in the rain on Sunday afternoon and she makes a little "fire" out of sticks so we can roast our kukui nut "marshmallows". We throw and kick kukui nuts all over BYUH parking lot.

To-Night: We get a whiff of something strange, and come in to find that she has pooped her diaper but is asleep. When we turn on the light there is poop all over her mouth, her hands, on the wall, and on the bed.

And this is the 10th time that's happened this month, so we are none too pleased. This also reminds me of all the disgusting things I had to sweep out of her mouth today (and some of them got swallowed quickly).

If she would wake up at 7am instead of 6am, I might be able to forgive her. But I already know that tomorrow morning, when it's 6 am (or before) and I say, "Amaya, go back to bed!" she is going to say, "I want to wake up EARLY!"

It's a good thing she's got all day to make it up to us.

All By My Self

...don't wanna be... All By My Self...

Please come to my cooking blog and join my almost no sugar challenge.

What's your incentive?

Hmmmm.

I'll get back to you on that one.

How about, if you live around here, I'll make you something extra duper special on my birthday. How's that sound?

If you live far away you'll have to make something extra special for yourself on my birthday.
Not such a bad deal.

Plus, you can whine all about how hard it is to do this, and everyone will feel sorry for you. So it's like a win-win situation. And we can complain about it together while keeping our eyes on each other. Not in a weird sultry way, but a "if you mess up I can mess up too" kind of way. And then we can blame each other for slipping up and accidentally putting oreos in our mouths when really we meant to eat granny smith apples. Mmmmm. Apples dipped in milk. That's what we meant to do anyway.

Otherwise I'll just shame you into it, so you might as well get on now, before I tell everybody that big secret you told me that one time.

HA. You totally know what I'm talking about, don't you.

There's time to eat sugar later. Even Nutella can wait until Christmas, Sydney.

Ask The Universe

Question: Why do the ants think they can leave their carcasses in one corner of my bathroom?
Universe: They leave their carcasses in the middle of the bathroom too, but you walk on those and move them around the rest of the house corners.

Question: Why does peanut butter have to taste so good with chocolate?
Universe: And bananas. You forgot about bananas.

Question: Why does my daughter eat random nastiness off the floor or in the windowsill but refuses to touch my vegan mac and cheese?
Universe: I don't think you really are ready to hear that answer.

Question: Why do parents expect teachers to do the same amount of work for a lot less money?
Universe: Sucks for you.

Question: Why do I even look at Reader's Digest?
Universe: Reader's Digest is anti-time. It sucks the life out of anything it touches.

Question: Why do I even bother scrubbing the floor?
Universe: Because 15 minutes of clean floor feels sooooooooo good.

The Commitment Pattern

I have a serious commitment problem.

If I watch one TV episode of a series that looks interesting, I will go through a series of stages before committing myself to that series. I always hear about these shows from someone else, because I don't trust myself to find a good show with all the crap that's out there.

I do have rules about this. NO reality shows whether humorous, dramatic, fix-your-house, game-show or otherwise, NO. This doesn't mean I don't want to be on those shows, however. I would love to be on Wipeout. It looks dang fun.

If I decide that I liked the episode, I will actually have to start watching the entire series. Not just the season that is currently on TV, but every season before that one. I will have to watch the deleted scenes. The gag reel. The "next season" promos. The actor interviews. (I skip the commentary. I'm not that dedicated.) However, if the show has a formula where you can walk in and out like a revolving door, then I can just watch an episode here and there like a fair weather friend who eats the sausages off your pizza slice.

Now, since I haven't had a TV for 11 years, and TV on the internet and on DVD is a new phenomenon, this can lead up to a lot of commitment.

You're thinking, yeah, she does have a commitment problem. An addiction problem.

But PEOPLE. I haven't even told you the problem yet.

The real problem is that I actually feel guilty if I decide not to watch that series.

Like, if the series isn't that good, or it's crass, or sort of weak on interesting characters, or has cheesy music, I tell myself that 7 seasons is way too much to commit to.

But then I worry about it. I think, well, maybe I didn't really give it a chance. Or, so-'n-so liked it. Or, if it has 7 seasons it must be good. Won't the series feel bad if I just walk away now? What if it thinks there's something wrong with it? Is it fair of me to give an opinion after only one episode?

I also go through this if I have been previously committed to a show but we start having a series of episodes where they killed the main love interest or introduced an annoying new lead character, and I start becoming overwhelmed by the reality of watching 3 more seasons to catch up to the current, so I wonder if I was only having a fling instead of a committed polygamist relationship. This makes me feel dirty, and cheap.

Then I drop the show, but when it comes up in conversations where someone is telling me that they love this show, I immediately feel guilty. I clumsily mumble, "Ohhhh, yeah. I watched that once. It was pretty good." And soon I'm wondering if I should revisit my earlier rash decision.

So my new tactic is "don't start." I've had several shows on my list of "to check out" because of recommendations I've had lately. I'm sorry if you told me to watch something within the last month because I really really really am not going to watch it. Because I am really really really not wanting to start another show. Even though I really really really want to see that vampire show that Sarah recommended. And that "Psych" show that my students told me about (okay, so maybe I watched an episode of that). And I want to watch all the food network episodes they have on Hulu. It is totally eating me up.

But even more so, I just don't have time to watch a new show and that's because I have to watch the 3rd season of Friday Night Lights (recommended by Amy Palmer). Good thing there are only three. So far.

It must be good. Jake's been watching it with me. I give it my whole-hearted recommendation if you're looking for something to fill that slot you have open.