Conversations with Smiths- Part 6

I'm a fan of good vocabulary words. As is my sweet husband.

He used to have a word of the week he would hang up on the inside of our front door for the kids to learn and use, so dedicated to the task of making sure our kids had a good vocabulary was he.

The other night, I was able to teach everyone at the dinner table a new and very useful word. (It would have been exceedingly useful in Part 5 of this series of conversations)

*All names of friends have been changed to protect the identity of those who are both hot and not.

Me: Wait, so what was the name of the friend you were hanging out at the pool with last night? I thought that was John, the human bologna.

Benjamin: No! That was Joe.

Me: Really? Who's the human bologna, then? 

Benjamin: Jay.

Me: Hm. Oh, wait. Joe is the one who is bff's with Mellie who is a total diva and Brady doesn't get along with at all, right?

Benjamin: Exactly. Joe is Michael's brother.

Me: Michael who?

Benjamin: You know, the one who played the older brother in the first show we did this year?

Me: Really?? Wow. Poor Joe.

Todd: Why poor Joe?

Benjamin: Because Michael is hot.

Me: And Joe just...isn't. He's squidgier.

Benjamin: Yeah. Michael is fine.

Me: And callipygian.

Caleb: What does that mean?

Me: Callipygian: having well-formed buttocks.

Benjamin: He really does.

Me to Todd: He really does.

Todd: [shaking his head at the both of us]

Nathaniel: Is this discussion really happening? And why do you know this word?

Me: I read. It's a good word to know. Now that you know it, I expect you to use it in conversation this week.

Nathaniel: I don't think I have those kinds of conversations.

[We then went on to use the word at least a dozen more times in context before dinner was over. Vocabulary for the win! Incidentally, Caleb has been the best at incorporating it into his vocabulary.]

Seven Things Sunday

1. This week Caleb received his Arrow of Light award from Cub Scouts. His birthday isn't for several more weeks, so he technically has a little time left in Cub Scouts, but we're nearly to the end of our time in Cubs with our own kids. Check out his uniform. As only Caleb can wear it, a shirt from an old pack (so with the wrong numbers on it), shirt untucked, no shirt, kerchief, belt, or even shoes. It reminded me of many moons ago when I went to pick up popcorn from the then Pack Leader. She saw 3 year old Caleb in the van and said, "Oh! I don't think I've ever seen him with clothes on. He's usually just in a diaper." She wasn't exaggerating.

 2. My kids are goofy. This isn't exactly news, but I have photographic evidence of it tonight. Yes, that's Benjamin underneath everyone.

3. Our middle school did a fundraiser at Chipotle this week. It worked out best for me to phone in an order and have Todd pick it up on his way home from work, but when I called they were so swamped, they asked me to do the order online. This I then did. Unfortunately when Todd picked up the food, he was told that because I'd paid online they couldn't credit the fundraiser. I was irked since, we don't eat out hardly ever as a family and certainly wouldn't have that night except for the fundraiser. I sent an email to the corporate offices that night, and by the next morning had both and email and a personal phone call apologizing, and letting me know that they'd credited our school with our bill as well and telling me how much our school had raised. I once heard someone say that you can tell how good a company is by how easy it is to contact them. I'm not sure that's the best measure, but in this case it made me love Chipotle even more than I already did.

4. I cleaned my closet yesterday. I have no before and after pictures, but trust me when I tell you that it was terrifying and now it is not. Now to tackle my nightstand!

5. I've mentioned before that our family quotes Mr. and Mrs, Bunny Extraordinaire. A LOT. After another particularly gut busting evening of laughter of quoting (while reading scriptures, no less. We're bad.), I decided to email the author. I was still high from Chipotle responding to me. Anyway, this was the email I sent:

"Ms. Horvath,

Each year our family sets off across the USA on long road trips. One of our favorite things to do is listen to recorded books. Your books have proved to be some of our favorite. Everyone from the 5 year old to the adults love them. But I have to tell you how much my 15 year old son loves to quote the foxes from Mr. and Mrs. Bunny. He's forever interjecting the word, "Hooman!" into sentences, in just such a way that we all dissolve into laughter.  As communication between a 15 year old boy and his family isn't always an easy thing, I just wanted to thank you for your stories and the laughter that we've all shared and continue to share as a family when we think of some of your characters and their lines.

Sincerely,

[etc.]"

I went to bed that night not really expecting to hear back from her, but glad that she'd have a nice email to read. I mean I assume that authors like to know that your family loves their characters. Anyway, I'd told her. We were all excited when the next morning this came through:

Dear Ms Smith
What a great letter to start my day.  Thank you for troubling to write it.  And might I say that your fifteen year old son has remarkably good taste.  I wish you and your family many more happy road trips in the years to come.
Best
Polly Horvath

This week has been a great reminder that there are living, breathing people with feelings behind all the "institutions" we tend to think of as nameless and faceless. It has reminded me that before I go using social media to whine or complain, I should remember to try to just find a way to communicate with whomever I am having an issue. 

6. Speaking of social media, someone posted this on a friend's facebook page the other day and it was a balm to my weary soul. I have sung this one several times, but not for many years. I've listened to it several times just today and each time have been grateful for such simple, yet profound lyrics.  I'm so grateful for all those involved in music who share their many talents that we can all feel within us.

7. We had more snow last night into much of today. I was exceedingly grouchy that we still had church this morning. I really want a snow day. One honest to goodness, don't even think about going anywhere snow day.  We've had lots of snow, and lots of cold, but nothing that anyone else seemed to deem worthy of shutting everything down for. Anyway, as I took my little black storm cloud to church with me, I realized that I was probably about to have wonderfully spiritual  church meetings. It seems that when I am grouchiest about being at a church meeting, that is when the spirit is the most present and I therefore have a choice. I need to get over myself and bask in the opportunity to learn and grow, or I can be grouchy and miserable for hours on end. Sunday School today was fantastic. It was the first time in a long time where everything was really clicking. I felt like the entire class was learning and growing together with the help of the Spirit. I suppose in the grand scheme of things that is worth far more than a snow day.

Seven Things Sunday

1. The kids were supposed to go back to school this week. Just like last year right after winter break, the kids had one day off built in to the calendar and then ended up getting two more off thanks to snow and frigid temperatures. This actually worked out well for us, since we happened to have orthodontist appointments on the first snow day, and annual physicals on the second day off. So, my kids didn't have to miss any school to go to those appointments! They were less pleased with this outcome than I was.

2. Caleb got braces this week! I now have three kids in braces at the same time and I pretty much just look away when I pay my bill at each visit. He's done remarkably well with them, though, and was so in love with having his palate expander out that he pretty much looked like he was french kissing himself because he was so happy to have his tongue reach the roof of his mouth for the first time in forever!

3. Lilyanna signed up to join a French class with other 3-5 year olds here in the neighborhood. We haven't attended the first lesson, but she's excited for it! (We've been listening to French language lesson CDs in the car to and from preschool for the last few weeks, so she told me today that since she's going to be going to French class, she doesn't need to pay attention in the car anymore.)

4. I have discovered how wonderful an electric blanket can be in the winter time. My electric bill may be waaaaaay up from this past week of super coldness.

5. There are so many fun book challenges going around right now. I am a voracious reader, so the challenges that are just a number, don't really stretch me. I'm considering this one, though. There are a couple of tricky ones on it for me. For instance, I read every book in school that I was supposed to read. My cousin's wife's take on that was to just read one that other people read in high school that she never read even though it wasn't assigned.

6. The boys and I played the board game "Ticket To Ride" the other night. Caleb, who doesn't usually play games with us, anniahliated the rest of us. I nearly wet my pants several times throughout the game thanks to supreme silliness on the part of my boys. So much laughing! Much of it because of the audio recording of the book "Mr. And Mrs. Bunny Detectives Extraordinaire". If you haven't listened to it, you should!

7. We took all of Christmas down yesterday finally. I always try to leave it up until Jan. 6th at least, but even with all the snow days, we weren't able to take care of all of it until yesterday finally.  I'm always sad to put it all away. Everything looks very bare and utilitarian without it. It also makes it so I see all the things that need to be fixed or painted that were hidden by the relative splendor of extra decorations up on the walls, etc. Ah, well.

Happy Sunday!

A Month of Books (January)

This month my kids had 5 snow/cold days off from school, 3 previously scheduled days off, a scheduled late start and a delayed opening.  We had a lot of together time.  And while we were able to have fun together, the fun was predicated on chores.  If they had a day off from school, I handed them a list of chores to do before they could really have a day off.  I'm mean like that.  But frankly, all the together time after winter break was A LOT of together time.

Because of this, I read both more and less.  More at one sitting, but it felt like fewer books overall.  When I did sit and read, I devoured.  For the first time in a long time, I was reading entire books in a day.  Escapism, anyone?

Anyway, here's this month's haul:

Gilt Trip

Home from the Sea

Jane Goes Batty

Jane Vows Vengeance

The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane

Rules of Murder

To the Moon and Back

Tales of the City

More Tales of the City

Resolution Wrap-Up

Spiritual: My goal was to read the entire Book of Mormon, Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price this year.  The good new is that I kept with it. I read every day, but didn't always read enough each day.  So, I'm 100 pages behind which means this goal will take approximately 12 months and 2 weeks to achieve.  I'm okay with that.

Physical:  Ugh.  This one was the worst.  Between my injury in the spring when I did something nasty to my posterior tibial tendon and getting walking pneumonia at the end of August, running was no bueno this year.  That being said.  I would like to try again.  But, I'll start small this time.  Maybe just try to run 38 miles before my 38th birthday in a little less than 3 months.  I'll have to run between 3-5 miles per week, but I think that's manageable.  And if my body can handle that, I'll make a new goal for the spring.

One thing I found was that I am terrible at training while on vacation.  We travel for at least 4 weeks in the summer and between all the driving and the wacko schedule and staying in new places, I'm terrible at sticking to a fitness routine.  Although, I did discover some really fun fitness apps for my phone that I used a lot while travelling.  I could listen to scriptures in my room in the morning and spend 20 minutes doing the fitness apps for sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, planks, and squats.  My phone became my trainer.  It worked really well on vacation, even if my normal routine didn't.

Financial: We were doing really well with financial goals until last month.  And now we need some pretty major (major=expensive) service done on our van, a new refrigerator, and going over our financial's we realized that we needed to make a larger tithing payment than we'd originally budgeted for thanks to some stock sold earlier in the year that I didn't factor in.  So, we paid the tithing, but are in some cases literally holding things together with duct tape until everything else is sorted.  Just like last January, we're planning on spending money for the two family birthdays we have coming up, and signing up for the next round of classes at the rec center, but food will come as much as possible from our own cupboards and pantries, so we will have a much smaller grocery bill this month.

Last year I started off with a financial fast.  We didn't do it for more than a few months, but it did make me more mindful about what I was buying when and more importantly, why I was buying it.  At the beginning of each month, I would make a list of the things we needed to purchase that were outside of our typical budget and it definitely kept me more focused on our goals.  I will definitely carry that over.

Organizing:  The challenge was great for me.  I confess that I didn't follow everything to the letter, and I didn't finish all the mini-challenges within, BUT it was great to take some projects by the horns, so to speak and get rid of a lot of clutter.  There is still A LOT of room for improvement, so I'll be doing it again this year.  I'll also be doing another month of winnowing, where I donate, throw away, or sell at least one item every day for the month of January. That's something I've been much better about doing this whole year.  And while I still feel like I'm drowning in toys, clothes, papers, etc. I also feel like I have a better handle on it.  

Books I Read this Month:
The Holy Bible (well, I finished it this month, anyway.)
Miranda's Big Mistake
The Nature of Jade
Awaken
Boundless
Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince
The Secret Life of Prince Charming
Unspoken (WARNING: If I had not had the 2nd book in the series already in my possession, I would have thrown this one across the room at the end.  WORST ENDING EVER! But very compelling story and the sequel left me more satisfied, though anxious for the 3rd to hurry up and come out already.)
Untold
Blackmoore
Sweet Tea Revenge
Also, I was able to read a friend's manuscript and it was fantastic! I'm so excited for it to be published! 

Keeping Myself Honest 6

Spiritual: I'm behind but catching up. I've been listening to scriptures while I do tasks in the kitchen during the day. Or while folding laundry. I'm only about 15 pages behind, which in the grand scheme of this project is not much, but which I've been fighting hard to not let get any worse.

Physical: In an effort to be kind to my posterior tibial tendon, I was a total schlubb in April. Other than working in the yard, which I've been doing a lot of, and belly dancing I've barely gotten my heart rate up. The good news is that my tendon feels as good as new! The bad news is that I'll probably need to start if not from scratch, probably back several weeks in my training.

Financial: Better this month, but not as good as I would have liked. Still, we were able to increase our mortgage payment even more, which should shave an additional few months off the end. The long term goal is to have the house paid off by 2017. (13 years from the time of purchase.) We'll have kids graduating in 2018, 2020, and 2022 which seem like pretend dates as I'm typing them, but which are disturbingly close. Not having a mortgage to pay right when we will potentially have 3 kids in college or on missions all at the same time sounds pretty awesome.

Organizing: The challenge was good this month. One of the challenges was to clean out my email inbox. This is a daunting task, but I did take the time to unsubscribe from quite a few companies that I just don't need to be getting email from, especially at the alarming regularity with which they send it. The one that amused me the most was Roy's. Roy's is a restaurant that used to be in the financial district in NYC (It exists in cities all over still, but shut down their NYC location many years ago).  Todd and I haven't been there since our 5th wedding anniversary.  We've been married for 14 years.  I really don't need to hear about what's going on at Roy's.


Books I Read this Month:
Notorious Nineteen
The Beekeeper's Apprentice (The very fact that the Mary Russell books exist makes me happy.)
Thale's Folly
Wicked Appetite
Wicked Business
A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Edenbrooke (Charming.)
Minding Frankie
Heavens to Betsy
O Jerusalem
The Builders (This novella is part of an adult literacy series. I love the idea of "easy" readers for adults that don't bore the reader to death in the process.  At only 87 pages for the entire story, it's a quick read, but enjoyable.)

Keeping Myself Honest 5

Spiritual:  I'm a few pages behind in my scripture reading, so I'm cutting this short tonight so I can go catch up!

Physical: I was doing FABULOUS until 2 weeks ago when I did something unfortunate to my posterior tibial tendon. I am trying to behave so I can start running again in a few more weeks. It was completely my fault. I did not listen to my body one night and am losing a month of training because of it. grrrrrrr!

Financial: Not so great this month. We had several unexpected things pop up, but also, I just wasn't as diligent about being prepared when I went grocery shopping. I did a lot of "I'll just run out and get..." type trips to the grocery store. It's amazing what a difference that makes! 

Organizing: The challenge wasn't very challenging this month, because I was already up to speed in those areas covered. April is a whole different story!

I'm ready for a new month and the chance to start fresh, so to speak!

Books I Read in February: (Slightly higher number thanks to the lack of running.)
Stay
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
The Importance of Being Seven
Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled
Smokin' Seventeen
The Mark of Athena
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
Forever
Explosive Eighteen
In the Garden of Beasts
Code

Keeping Myself Honest 4

Spiritual: I am completely up to date on my scripture reading. Mostly because I have started listening to scriptures while I run. Do you know what doesn't help you run faster? Leviticus. Or Numbers. Or Jacob, Chapter 5.  However, I'm not really going for speed. I'm going for not dying before the end of the race, which I think is a worthy goal.

Physical: I ran 34.75 miles this month. It should have been closer to 40, but I started out the month sick and then had a couple of days where I had to short myself a mile because there just wasn't time.  My proudest moment was when I ran 2.5 miles in 28 minutes a few weeks ago. I know that for a real runner, that isn't at all impressive. I also recognize that I have run much faster than that in years past. But for me right now with this body, that was awesome!

Financial:  We've done pretty well! There were some things that we needed to purchase, but we did a much better job of keeping our spending in check.  Next month will be more of a fast because   the last trimester of dance tuition is due. Also, I'm going away for an overnight of alone time on my birthday weekend, and buying a new vacuum. I'm all done with the vacuum that has literally been held together with duct tape for so long. I hate having to re-duct tape the hose each week, too. I found someone in the neighborhood who can use our old vacuum, so as soon as I get my new one, I will pass the old on to her.

Organizing: The challenge is going okay. I went through much of Lilyanna's toys and dolls and dress ups the other day and got all of those organized. And I'm still doing great at winnowing things. I've been donating and selling left and right. It makes me feel lighter.  Stuff really can weigh you down.

Books I Read in February:
Postcards from the Dead
Time after Time
Virals
Seizure
Heaven is Here
True Colours
Drop Dead Healthy
Why Can't I Be You

Happy Things that are probably Wrong

I know it's sick and wrong. Which must be why I get fits of giggles every time I see it. The giggles may have more to do with the line "with Ultra-violent zombie mayhem". How can you not laugh at that line when used in conjunction with Pride and Prejudice?

Tragically, I don't own it.

Yet.

But I will. And I will put it right next to Miss Austen's other works on my bookshelf by the fire place where it belongs.

Twilight Fans

I had to try really hard to not fall asleep in church today because I was up all night reading Breaking Dawn. I'm not finished yet, so don't tell me anything! (I'm waiting for the sun to go down and the Sabbath to be over....not that I started the Sabbath at sundown last night, but in my head this is making sense. Don't judge me. ;) )

Anyway, friend Anne Marie provided this link on her blog which totally amused me. Read and enjoy. Then make your husbands read it.