All Parents Believe Their Children Rock

Ace emerges from the water fountains at the park with a cool look of triumph.

Miss E helps Ace get some breakfast.

Miss E helps Grandpa build a crib for her baby doll while looking effortlessly stylish.

Miss E shows off the cool loot she got at her 3rd birthday party.

Ace really enjoyed celebrating Miss E's birthday.

Miss E riding a train at a local theme park. By herself. *sniff* My baby is growing up.

My Newest Love

So, hi. I just haven't felt like blogging. I've been reading oodles, which has been lovely. My kids are bigger. My husband is still in grad school. But I tried a new product recently and am so in love with it that I thought I would send out the news to the ether, in case someone else is also searching for something better in the makeup department. The product:




I've been reading in fashion/beauty magazines for literally years that cheek stain is the way to go. But seriously, who named that? I don't like stains. They get on my kids' clothes and sometimes render said clothing unwearable (because yes, ugly = unwearable). I can hardly ever get those puppies out. So in my mind, cheek stain = scary red blotches on my face.

I was at Sephor@ the other day with my m-i-l (I know, kinda weird) and I saw the above cheek stain, and thought oh what the heck, I'll try it. I put it on and instantly fell in love with how I suddenly looked a bit like Snow White (in my own fanciful mind). Loved it. Bought it on impulse.

Then lo and behold, this stuff stayed on my face all day. No reapplication required whatsoever. I'd been using Neutrogena blush, but had to reapply about every three hours to avoid reverting to my natural deathly-pale shade.

This stuff is so easy to apply. No scary red splotches! It's easy to layer to build up the color, and just a little bit of rubbing and then you're completely done for the day. My pallor is gone.

Goals

So I was reading the February Redbook* horoscope this evening and it talked about how one of my dreams was going to start coming true on the 9th. Since the 9th has obviously already passed, I tried to think back a whole eight days to see if I could pinpoint the magical dream unfolding in my life. First of all, I was unsuccessful in remembering the 9th. And second, I couldn't really think of any dreams that could come true at this point in my life. Let's see if I can articulate this. I have a great man and two beautiful kids. My husband has a solid job and we have a nice house and nice cars (with no car payments). I'm satisfied with my life right now. Whatever goals I have right now are small:

• Don't yell at Miss E when she shoves her little brother over on purpose.
• Calmly maintain control of self when Ace rolls over on the changing table whilst covered in poop.
• Be nice to my husband.
• Improve cooking skills.
• Read the scriptures more often.

See? Little things. Little things that will take me my entire frickin life to master, but nothing huge. Later, when my kids are older, my goals are going to change. Then there will be "dreams that will start to come true in my life on the 9th." But for now, being a good mother and wife are my major aspirations.



*I think I might be out of the Redbook demographic, i.e., too young, but unlike magazines geared for my age bracket, Redbook often has articles with actual substance. Aaaaand there's where I sound like the middle-aged woman I apparently am underneath.

Light of the Moon

Light of the Moon by Luanne Rice

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
How did I get tricked into reading a romance novel? I'll tell you - the author lured me in with a main character who is (supposedly) an anthropologist. Unfortunately the best word to describe this book is "hokey."



First of all, no anthropologist worth her salt would use the word "exotic" as much as the main character Susannah does. I didn't believe for a second that she was actually a cultural anthropologist. The post-modern world of anthropological academia has no time for self-absorbed mysticism. Susannah had no sense of current anthropological theories. It was like Rice read a few journal articles, browsed a few university websites, and felt like she knew quite enough to make it convincing. Only she didn't.



The relationship that developed between Susannah and her love interest was melodramatic and unmoving. I laughed many times during what I'm sure were supposed to be romantic, thrilling scenes. I finished the book to see if it ended as ridiculously as I thought it would (it did). Also to write a scathing review here. Ha ha



The book's one saving grace was some sincerely moving passages about the love between mothers and daughters.


View all my reviews.

Winter Weight Loss

It is raining here. I don't like to be wet or cold. My outdoor excursions during the winter are currently limited to: walking to the post office or movie store (2 miles round trip) on the rare occasion that it's not pouring down rain. That is about once every two weeks.

But my scale shows the lowest number since October. My secret? Stop eating so freaking much. I ate whatever during the holidays. The holidays only come once a year, right? But now Dh and I are being more strict on our budget. That means no more ice cream, root beer, etc. And I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into our diet. And voila! I lost a few pounds.

Now if I actually started moving my butt, I would fit into my prepregnancy pants!

Some Recent Pics

Ace sleeping unswaddled. This is a very recent accomplishment.

On our Sunday walk, it was unaccountably cold. Like, I thought I lived in a temperate zone. But apparently I live in the arctic. Miss E rocks the princess sunglasses and strange medieval-style cap, while Ace is dapper in his Winnie the Pooh hat.

The laundry basket as bathtub, an age-old imagining. The empty baby food jar as medicine, Miss E's innovation.

This picture is not that great, out of focus, but I like it because it captures my kids pretty well. Miss E runs around with messy hair, and Ace sucks on his binky and watches Miss E's shenanigans.

The Children of Men by P.D. James

The Children of Men by P.D. James

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I give this book 3 1/2 stars. The plot was compelling, the concept intriguing. It follows a man through 10 months of his life in a world where mankind has lost the ability to reproduce. There is not a fertile man in the world, and the youngest people are now twenty-five. James' imaginings of the impact of worldwide infertility are well-realized and believable.



I took the rating down from four stars because James' sentences are quite convoluted and she gets really bogged down in descriptions. In the midst of the climax of the book, she has a paragraph taking up most of a page which describes the trees around a lake. No thanks.


View all my reviews.

It's Christmas Eve

My husband told me he doesn't like White Christmas by Bing Crosby. That sounds awfully close to blasphemy to me.



I've felt recently that I need to work harder to keep the Sabbath holy - specifically, not read novels on Sunday, but instead read religious books. The first two Sundays I felt this, I just ignored the feeling. The past two Sundays I have read The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis instead of whatever novel I happen to be in. It was so hard. I spent far less of the day reading than I normally do. I'm kind of embarrassed by how difficult this is for me. But at least I am making progress. I know I need to make Sunday a special day, set it apart from the rest of the week.

So Long, And Thanks For All the Fish

Blogging just isn't doing it for me. I never want to update my blog anymore. Opening my Reader and seeing eleventy-million updates stresses me out. So instead I just close it and read no one's updates. This is all just feeling like a pain for me right now, instead of fun. So I'm quitting.




I'll probably pop in to your blog occasionally to see how you're doing. Just don't expect anything out of this blog. Posting will be erratic to non-existent.





If we've emailed privately before, drop me a line if you want the link to my private family blog. That will probably be the only one I update (for the grandmas).