Puppies for sale

I like to pick up the Thrifty Nickel/American Classifieds, specifically for the pet section. It never fails to make me at least a bit annoyed at the stupidity of people. I would think that if you are expecting people to pay $$$ for your backyard bred, non health/temperament tested dog, you might at least want to spell it correctly. A couple of weeks ago I saw “Winer Iner” pups for sale. This week there are “pekanize,” “brussel gruffon,” “German weierhaired Pointers” and “doxon” puppies for sale. I get so frustrated to see that so many people indiscriminately breed their pets for a few extra bucks when there are thousands of animals in the shelter system in Utah alone. Losers.

Intro or Extro

A discussion over at Feminist Mormon Housewives discusses being introverted in an extroverted church. I hadn’t really thought of the church as being extroverted, or rather working better for extroverted individuals, but it seems a good classification. All of the activities, the visits, the 3 hour meetings, etc. all seem like things geared towards the extroverts. In the standard personality profile, I think I generally fell out as an extrovert, but I am probably right around the middle of the spectrum. Big group gatherings don’t really do it for me, and I am certainly not a social butterfly. I do enjoy getting together with friends, and if I know the people, I can handle any size group.

In my cul-de-sac of apartment dwellers, though, I have no close friends, though I do have a couple of casual friends. I would really like to live rather near a close friend sometime, but I guess I accept that close friends are not so easy to come by and can’t really be forced. And I’m not bothered by not being “in” the loop of the neighborhood moms, mostly because I can’t imagine anything less enjoyable than hanging out frequently with a group of people I’m not very interested in talking to. I can do the once a week or less informal outside chat while the kids are playing, but I’m fine that we don’t spend hours at each others homes. But I do think that could change if I felt close to any of them.

I just don’t know how much of my hermit-like attitudes are actually me, or if they are a result of being in a place that I don’t feel suits my personality/interests. The first 2+ years of living here I was getting my MS in zoology, which really set me apart from the standard SAHMs around here. One friend had gotten her BS in botany, and she was interested in higher education as was her husband, and David and I really clicked with them. Unfortunately they moved in July of 2004, and haven’t been replaced by a family that we feel similarly connected to.

I do have a number of friends spread around the country, and I enjoy corresponding with them. But it isn’t quite the same as whiling away the afternoons together while the kids eat dirt in the yard. Maybe someday.

Da Vinci Code

David & I went to the Da Vinci Code on Saturday. I am one of the few people I know that hasn’t read the book, but sometimes I’m like that. When everyone else wants to read a book and really likes it, I don’t want to read it until the hype dies down, if ever. So, I hadn’t read it and David had, and we both enjoyed the movie a lot. Whether or not there is any truth to the idea of there being a massive coverup of descendants of Christ by the Catholic church is quite irrelevant to me, though interesting to think about. What I find more interesting is the obvious picking and choosing that was involved in establishing the New Testament as we now know it. Obviously, as Bibles were all hand-transcribed in that day, I’d be more surprised if they’d included all the “Gospels according to....” of which we are currently aware. That’s a LOT of work for the poor scribes. I’d start editing myself if it were my job.

But the most interesting thing to me is the fact that the Catholic church would feel so threatened by Jesus’ humanness. I understand, well not really but kind of, the whole “one in three, three in one” thing, but to actually wrap my brain around that would require a lot more mental gymnastics than I currently exert reconciling, say, the First Vision of Joseph Smith. I don’t think Jesus being mortal makes him any less divine. Why can’t He be both? Otherwise, why send Him down here? “Here I am, God embodied, and since you are all mortals you have no chance of ever being like me, but boy it was nice to see how crummy your lives are on this earth I created for you.”

I love the idea of Jesus being married to Mary, and would LOVE to have an inkling of his interactions with her, and hers with him. If you’re married to a perfect individual, doesn’t that make it really annoying when you have a quarrel with him. “Well, it’s OBVIOUSLY not his fault....dammit!”

Regardless, even with the obvious selective passing on of the gospels, there is still plenty of good left in the New Testament as we know it. Christ is an obvious exemplar of good, and I find much inspiration in reading of his teachings and actions. Though I am planning on reading some of the other Gnostic Gospels because I’m interested in what they say.

Wedding Pictures

These are some photos from my friend's wedding last Tuesday. I really like the candid shots, but the "real" photographer did a great job of posing them as well. I'd like to do weddings for friends & family, but it seems like it would be very high pressure. Of course, if I didn't charge them, they'd just feel like they were getting a bargain and probably be happy with anything, right?

Running

I did it! I got up at 6:30 to go running. On Saturday, David bought me an armband holder for my iPod, so I was able to use that this morning. The weather was wonderful. Overcast and a bit breezy, and I ran down along the river trail. The hardest part was getting up at 6:30, as I am more the sort who rolls out of bed at about 8:30. I do like being able to see David before he leaves for work at about 7:30, and it’s nice to have some quiet time before the kids wake up. So, really I guess there aren’t any drawbacks to getting up so early, though it does make for long mornings. Which can be good or bad, depending on how the day shapes up.

Whew! I'm back.

Last week was a full one. My good friend Libby got married last Tuesday, so I spent the day in Salt Lake for that. It was a beautiful wedding, and lots of fun to see her and her family. I took lots of photos and shadowed the photographer for a bit. Then the kids and I drove to St George on Wednesday to visit my sister and her family and stayed until Friday afternoon. It was a nice break from our typical routine, and David was able to work ridiculously long hours without me at home wanting him to come home. We're really hoping that he only has a few more weeks of this crazy schedule, and that it will then start paying off.

On Saturday, David took Noodle to her T-ball class, and I put Spud in the jogging stroller and went running, for the first time in a LONG time. I did pretty well, I think. Ran about two miles, then alternated walking fast & running on the way back. But after I got back, I was sitting at the table talking with David, and there were flickering lights in my peripheral vision of my left eye. It was kind of worrisome, but went away after about 20 minutes. We though it might just be due to the exertion of not having done any running in a while, but then I remembered that I'd worn my too tight sunglasses because I hadn't been able to find my others. I won't make that mistake again.

Then I ran errands with both kids, then came home and washed the car and vacuumed the interior. It looked SO good. Yesterday, however, the neighbor's sprinklers were overshooting the lawn by about 15 feet and got my car all water splashed. Grrrr!! I was so annoyed, and I'm still a bit annoyed, come to think of it. Our parking spot is under a carport, next to the shed of storage units, and the water shot over the shed and landed exactly on our car.

I'll be going through my recent pictures and will be posting some here during the week.

Spiritual Thought for the Day

“Fully understood and embraced, the gospel of Jesus Christ heals broken hearts, infuses meaning into lives, binds loved ones together with ties that transcend mortality, and brings to life a sublime joy…The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a religion of mourning and gloom. The faith of our fathers is one of hope and joy. It is not a gospel of chains but a gospel of wings.”

Joseph B. Wirthlin
April 2006 Conference

"While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord's language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve "the mother of all living"—and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born...Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us. Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate."

----- Sheri L. Dew

We had a visitor today

He was wandering the cul de sac, so we gave him some food & water. Both of these pictures were taken AFTER I spent about 40 minutes brushing the ol' boy. Poor guy was so matted--it was obvious that he LOVED being brushed and freed of all his extra fur. Here's the basket of fur (diameter about 12 inches--not a small basket!)...I think we had enough to build a puppy.

Never Cry Wolf

I finished reading this book a couple of days ago. It’s fantastic. Written in the mid-1900s, it’s the tale of a Canadian naturalist who is assigned to find out how much damage the wolves were really doing to the Arctic caribou herds in order to provide justification for the government’s campaign against wolves. While doing his study, he lived very near a family of wolves and as they became accustomed to him, he was able to observe their habits and behaviors from a fairly close proximity. There were a couple of times when his life was in their “hands” and they showed no ferocity, but let him leave in peace. It’s a wonderful read, especially if you have even the tiniest interest in wolves. I think the wolves are much less maligned then they were in decades past, but they are still poorly understood by the public. I wonder about our species, where any other “top predator” is so threatening to us. It’s obvious that we do not understand the ways of nature, and that the cultures that did learn to work with nature have repeatedly been dismissed as primitive or savage. I don’t know if we as a people (in the U.S. especially) will ever come to a collective understanding and appreciation of the natural world. I hope so, but I don’t really know if it will happen.

New Purse

It's called a "wristlet". I love it!!

Bird flu?

Yesterday Noodle and her friends found a dead bird and buried it. I found this out in a roundabout sort of way. Noodle asked me if I’d heard her and the other kids talking. I hadn’t, and told her so, and she was visibly relieved. Which of course made me suspicious. I asked her what they’d been talking about, and she said they found a dead bird and they wanted to be nice to it and put it in the ground. I asked her if they touched it with their hands. She looked at me, obviously knowing that the best answer would be no, but she said yes. So I told her how that isn’t a good idea because of disease, specifically the bird flu, and how she should use something else to move the bird in the future (I’m not about to tell her NOT to try and bury the bird, because I buried dozens of dead birds as a kid and I really don’t want her doing it secretly.) I also told her she could tell me and I could help them, because I know it is sad to see a dead bird.

This morning she brought it up again, and asked me to tell her about the diseases. She’s fascinated by all things health/body related, so I wasn’t surprised. She asked what if she saw a dead cat. I said she shouldn’t touch that with her hands, either. She asked, “Would it have cat walk?”

“Cat walk?” I asked. “What are you talking about? You said it was dead, so it can’t walk.”

“Well, it can’t fly like a bird, so would it have cat walk?” she asked again.

Finally it dawned on me. In her mind, bird flu = “bird flew”. I laughed at her cleverness, and how slow I was to catch on.

Of course, then I had to explain that flu is short for influenza...

She’s a pretty sharp kid.

me me me!

1. First Name: Malinda aka Mindy
2. Were you named after anyone? Maternal grandmother
3. Do you wish on stars? When my daughter reminds me to.
4. When did you last cry? Yesterday. I wanted David to be able to stay home from work all evening.
5. Do you like your handwriting? It’s okay. Functional, usually legible.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Uh, any non meat. How about cheese, tomato & avocado?
7. What is your birth date? May 6
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? Celine Dion
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? Heck yeah. I like me. A lot.
10. Are you a daredevil? Not so much since becoming a mom.
11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell? Nope.
12. Do looks matter? Only as far as a person’s priorities/interests are reflected in their appearance.
13. How do you release anger? Vent to my husband or sister. Cry.
14. Where is your second home? My parents-in-law. I love having other people help with the kids, and it’s nice to hang out in a real house.
15. Do you trust others easily? Generally, yes, with unimportant things.
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Too many favorites to list.
17. What class in high school do you think was the most useless? Hmmmm...it depended on the teacher.
18. Do you have a journal? Yes.
19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Not a lot, but sometimes.
20. Your nicknames? Min, Mindala, Mom, Mama, Mindylou
21. Would you bungee jump? Yes, but I wouldn’t jump first.
22. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Only if absolutely necessary.
23. Do you think that you are strong? Yup.
24. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Rocky Road
25. Shoe Size? 9
26. Red/pink? Pink
27. What is your least-favorite thing about yourself? Being too critical of others
28. Whom do you miss most? I just miss having friends geographically close to me
29. Do you want everyone you send this to to send it back? Yes
30. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Uh, I’m ready for bed and my pants are pink with polka dots and I’m just wearing socks as I did a “foot treatment”. (I almost never wear socks!)
32. Last thing you ate? Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink, a happy yellow, or sky blue
34. What is the weather like right now? Dark
35. Last person you talked to on the phone? Uh, the dentist office receptionist. No wait, it was David.
36. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? height
37. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes.
38. Favorite Drink? Hmmm...depends. I loooove Chocolate Silk (soymilk) but sometimes I’d give anything for a cold Guarana or Coke. And I really really do love water.
39. Favorite Sport? Does Bocci count?
40. Hair Color? blonde
41. Eye Color? blue
42. Do you wear contacts? yes
43. Favorite Food? bread, fruit & chocolate
44. Last Movie You Watched? Little Manhattan
45. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Both
46. Summer or Winter? summer (but really spring!)
47. Hugs or Kisses? Both please. But hugs are sharable with more people, so they probably would win.
48. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Delicious chocolate cake with delicious ice cream. Or just a sundae at Ghiradelli Square in SanFrancisco.
49. Who will most likely respond? No idea.
50. Who Is Least Likely to Respond? Uh, most people. (This baby is LONG!)
51. Living Arrangements? Tiny dumpy 2 bedroom apartment.
52. What Book(s) Are You Reading? Just finished “Never Cry Wolf,” I’m actually kind of on hiatus right now...
53. What's on Your Mouse Pad? No mouse pad.
54. What Did You Watch Last Night on TV? nada
56. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles!
57. Do you believe in Evolution or Creation? Both
58. What's the furthest you've been from home? Hmm, I’m not sure if Eastern Europe is farther than Brazil. The Amazon was certainly the most remote, though.
59. When do you see yourself married? I saw it happen at age 23.
60. How old is too old to have kids? Dunno.
61. If you could marry someone today, whom would it be? I’d still pick David
62. How many kids do you want? Right now, two is good.
63. Do you plan on attending graduate school? Again? Maybe. It was good the first time.
64. Do you ever plan on living with your parents again? No, though they’d be welcome to live with me (after I’m outta this apartment, of course.)
Where's 65??
66. One thing that you plan on having that is not
needed? Who defines need? A king size Tempurpedic (sp?) mattress.

Is this supposed to be informative??

So, my compact flash cards were shipped April 30th, and the expected arrival date was May 9th. (Which I think is the SLOWEST shipping known to man...I've called it mule train, but now I'm thinking it's even slower...) I checked the tracking info tonight and this is what it says:

Track your package
Date Time Location Event Details
May 02, 2006 --- US Carrier notified to pick up package
Apr 30, 2006 08:50:00 PM HEBRON KY US Arrival Scan


So, uh, I'm really happy to see that my package is somewhere in the US, and that some carrier was notified to pick it up SIX DAYS AGO!?! What the hell? I'm thinking if they'd have made more entries, they'd read like this:

Date Time Location Event Details
May 04, 2006 Does it matter Earth Package spotted on small sailing vessel
May 06, 2006 Lightyears away Galaxy Difficult to pinpoint without use of the Hubble

I guess this is what happens when you don't pay for fast shipping. You get unbelievably slow shipping, and no idea where the package is. David and I decided they must have EXTRA large stickers that they put on these types of packages that say, "Just sit on this one for a while." It could easily fit in the truck, but the driver sees the sticker and says, "Oh, well, that'll teach 'em to not pay for expedited shipping!" as he tosses it back into the sorting bin.

Testing...

Trying to get the latest version of MacJournal to work with Blogger...existence

Feeding Time

This was taken right before he said he was "Ah done!"

Photo from Friday

Hanging out at his cousins' house -- Spud loved the porch swing. (And I looove my new 85mm lens--thank you David!!!)

Hippo Birdie to me!

In honor of me, and my mother who gave birth to all 9 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches of me, I thought I'd share some pix from my babyhood. I was three months old and as bald as a ping-pong ball. I was a happy little baby, but mom always said she thought at least some of that could be attributed to the fact that someone was always holding me. I had (and still have) five older siblings, the next youngests are 6 and 7 years older than me, so I guess I am a true youngest. And as a baby, I likely had all the attention any infant could want. Even still, 28 years later, my siblings like to rib me about being the indulged baby. But one of the perks of being the baby is that you don't have to care. You feel like you deserve everything you get, just on the basis of your sheer wonderfulness. ;o) Luckily I married an oldest who is a fantastic big brother sort, so he's perfectly happy to lavish attention on me like I feel I deserve.



This picture is in honor of Noodle starting T-ball. She has her first practice today. It's actually "Smart Start Baseball/Softball," where the kids learn the basics of T-ball so they'll be ready to actually play on a team next year. A parent attends each session with them and helps practice and learn the skills. It seems like a neat concept, I think, so we'll see how it goes. I'd love to go along and watch, but my niece is getting baptized tomorrow so I'm going to take Spud along with me to that. I can catch her next week, and by then I'll have my new memory cards so I can take lots of pictures of her and her team, "The Lions". (Oh, in case it isn't obvious, this is me about age 7, in my T-ball uniform. I played T-ball for 4 years, I think, and baseball for one.)

Kid 1 & Kid 2

That's what David and I call them sometimes. The "kid 1" designation changes at times, though usually it's Noodle because she was, in fact, #1. I like it because it reminds me of Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat" with Thing 1 and Thing 2.

He blinked

This would have been a much better picture without the blink, but I still like it enough to share. :o)

Impatient

We finally realized that my camera's compactflash card (memory card) was irreparably damaged, so we ordered two 1GB cards at the end of last week. According to Amazon, they won't come until the 9th, but I'm really hoping they arrive sooner than that. I'm going into serious photo withdrawal. And all the flowers everywhere aren't helping! Aargh! I DO have a tiny memory card that holds 16 high quality images (or 100+ crappy ones) but I just have a hard time getting excited about taking only 16 pictures. I really should just deal with it, because I really want to be taking pictures now. A neighbor was out with her Canon Rebel yesterday, and I was pining away for my MUCH better Nikon D70. (Just kidding..I'm not a camera snob, I'm just glad I have the D70.)

Spud is dying to go play outside, so I think I will take my tiny card and shoot a few pix. For now, here's a little flower.

My Rats

I thought I’d introduce my four rats. Two more boys will be joining us (hopefully!) in June and I’m working on picking out names for them.

All of my rats have been named after places, mostly cities. My current boys are
Berkeley (as in California) -- Dumbo eared b&w berkshire rat w/ headspot
Marco (Italy) -- Dumbo eared b&w capped, head marking in the shape of Italy
Finny (Ireland) -- Black Irish marked rat
Loki (I can’t remember right now...though Loki is also the name of a Norse god who likes to do mischief) -- white rex rat with black headspots

Berkeley & Marco are brothers, as are Finny & Loki.

My six rats that I’ve had that have crossed the “Rainbow Bridge” were:

Frisco (short for San Franciso, CA, although there is a Frisco, Colorado, I believe)
Zanzibar (island off the coast of Tanzania)
Taj (short for Tajahi, an African or maybe Indian city)
Cobar (African city)
Turbo (Central American)
Moshi (city on the island of Zanzibar)