Not Gonna Happen

Last night I read in Real Simple magazine (my favorite bathtub reading experience - because I get too hot if I try to stay in long enough to read a book) that National TV Turnoff Week is coming up. I'm a big fan of the idea in principle, but I have a serious problem with the dates this year: April 21 to 27.

Guess what shows are coming back that week - all on the same day, the 24th? The Office, Lost, and Grey's Anatomy. Yeah, turnoff week isn't going to happen in our household at that particular time. It's like opening a chocolate shop in a little French village during Lent. Although I wouldn't have a problem putting a moratorium on Dora for the week (sorry Sawyer).

Edit: I was wrong about The Office; it's actually coming back on April 10. Much sooner than I thought! I'm still not going to manage to keep my TV off on the 24th though.

LOST Night

Ever since we sprang forward for Daylight Savings, Sawyer has been sleeping in until 9:00 every morning. I've been staying up late at night making soap, reading blogs, practicing yoga, and thoroughly enjoying my late-night alone time, knowing that I can get plenty of sleep by sleeping in late in the morning. Until today, when my little munchkin inexplicably decided to wake up bright-eyed and raring to go at 5:45 a.m. I stayed up until 2 last night. UGH. I lay there for an hour or so while he played with his stuffed animals and read books on the floor. When I couldn't put him off any longer (because he was ready for breakfast) the thought that helped me get out of bed was... "Lost is on tonight!"

I'm trying to remember the last time I was this excited about a TV show, and I can't. There's never been a show like this one that I not only watch every week, but also read about, think about, and talk about in between. It's like one of my favorite books, but in 40 inches of high definition, and I'm only allowed to read a chapter at a time.

Tonight's episode, "Ji Yeon" is a biggie - we're going to find out who the rest of the Oceanic Six are. I've been spoiled on this one, but it will still be exciting to see it confirmed. I have a theory for *why* they are the Six, and I think it's a good one but I'll save it for afterwards so I don't unintentionally give anything away. We're also going to find out who Ben's "man on the boat" is. I haven't read any spoilers on that one (they are out there, but I avoid them like the plague! Which is easier said than done when you read the message boards.) I'm guessing it's Michael. The producers announced last summer that Harold Perrineau is coming back this season, and having him be on the freighter would be a really cool way to bring his character back. I can't think of anyone else who would make sense.

If you're like me and can't get enough Lost, check out some of these sources. They're a great way to pass the time between episodes - and we're about to have a lot of that soon, since after episode 8 next week we won't get another new episode until April 24th.

The Lost Forum. A forum with almost 100,000 members, a great place to talk about theories, reactions, and Easter Eggs. They have a live episode party where you can type as you watch. And they are Nazi-esque when it comes to tagging spoilers, which is great if you're like me and don't want to see them most of the time.

Lost: The Missing Pieces. These are a must-see. If you haven't watched these yet, go do it now! They have key information that wasn't in any of the episodes.

Lost Podcast. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (or "Darlton" as they're affectionately known on the Lost Forum) talk about the show and answer questions from viewers. They give some important information about the show during these, as well as debunking some commonly held theories (they really aren't all dead!) You can also subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes. I like to listen to it while I load the dishwasher.

Dark UFO's Screencaps and Easter Eggs If there's an Easter Egg you missed, chances are it will be here, and he posts audio clips sometimes (like when we hear the whispers, or when there is a message hidden in backwards audio). He also links to his site that's all spoilers if that's what you're into.

J. Wood on Powell's Books He's a graduate student at UVA and tackles each episode from a literary and historic perspective. It makes you realize how well read the Lost writers are - allusions galore!

Lostpedia A Lost wiki with just about every informational tidbit about the story, characters, etc. It's great if you can't remember the name of the redheaded anthropologist from the freighter (it's Charlotte Staples Lewis!)



Happy Lost Day!

iShuffle Soundtrack

Tiburon* did this game on her blog and I thought it was so fun that I wanted to do it too. It's like the iPod shuffle game - you set playback to shuffle and then write down the songs in the order they're played, but in this version each song that comes up represents a song in a theoretical soundtrack to the movie of your life. Here's mine.

1. Opening credits: "Not Your Year " The Weepies
Scattered shadows on the wall
You watch the long light fall
Some impressions stay and some will fade

2. Waking up: "9 Crimes" Damien Rice
I love him but waking up to this song would suck. Holy depression, Batman!

3. First Day of School: "Love Is Strange" Everything But the Girl
An often covered song, but this one is amazing. I highly recommend the whole album, Acoustic. It's in the top 10 of my all time favorite albums.

4. Falling in love: "Samson" Regina Spektor
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came falling on our heads
But they're just old light, they're just old light

For the record, one of my favorite songs ever.

5. First Kiss song: "Ex-Girlfriend" No Doubt
Kinda always knew I'd end up your ex-girlfriend
I'm another ex-girlfriend on your list
But I should've thought of that before we kissed

HA! I remember my little sis SWORE the lyrics to this song went "Why're you always doing it with your ex-girlfriend." Awesome.

6. Breaking up: "Hideous Towns" The Sundays
Sticks and stones may break my bones
but words will just finish me off

7. Prom: "We're the Same" Matthew Sweet
I don't have to speak and you know what I'm thinking
You don't need to hear what I say

I loved this song in high school (and still do). I went to prom four times, one my sophomore year, two junior year and one senior year. Of course, the best one was with Eric.

8. Life: "Santeria" Sublime
It's true. I don't practice Santeria.

9. Mental breakdown: "All Across the Sands" The Stone Roses
How can a pretty painted shell
Send them all packing off to hell

I love that line.

10. Driving: "Stolen Car" Beth Orton (I swear I didn't plan this!)
You walked into my house last night
I couldn't help but notice
A light that was long gone still burning strong
You were sitting, your fingers like fuses, your eyes were cinnamon.

11. Flashback: "Don't Be Sad" Whiskeytown
Seen a lot of things we didn't wanna see
But I'm glad we did
I know a lot of times we fell out of line
But we fell back in
I think we lost the keys to the kingdom
Before we'd seen them
Don't be sad
Don't be sad

12. Getting back together: "Carry On Wayward Son" Kansas
Now that I think of it, the only boyfriend I ever got back together with was Eric. Interesting. He is also the only boyfriend I ever talked out of breaking up with me, but that's another story. Great song, if not terribly relevant.

13. Wedding: "Whatever" Oasis
I'm free to be whatever I
whatever I choose and I'll sing the blues if I want
I'm free to say whatever I
whatever I like if it's wrong or right it's all right

Probably not a great strategy for a successful marriage, but a fun song. I used to tune my guitar to this one until I bought a tuner.

14. Birth of a child: "Stay Young" Oasis (again. Nice job, shuffle function!)
Hey, stay young and invincible
Cause we know just what we are and
Come what may, we're unstoppable
Cause we know just what we are

15. Final battle: "Pam Pong" Sweet Diss and the Comebacks
The boss is already out,
he’ll Schrute it up, I have no doubt
She’s the kind of girl you’d adore,
that you could make your famous cheese sandwich for
And dance until the music stops;
Look into her eyes, tell her how you feel

Yep, this was written about Pam from The Office. I had no idea I actually had it in my iTunes library. I'm even more of a nerd than I thought.

16. Death scene: "Baby It's Cold Outside" Ella Fitzgerald
Apparently I'm going to die to the sounds of a lighthearted jazz duet.

17. Funeral: "Flame Turns Blue" David Gray
Worlds dismantled and all the books unbound
Conversations though we utter not a sound
I heard a rumour I don't know if its true
That you'd meet me where the flame turns blue

Through the lemon trees the diamonds of light
Break in splinters on the pages where I write
That if I lost you I don't know what I'd do
Burn forever where the flame turns blue

I'll just be happy if it's not "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead." I do love this song though.

18. End credits: "The One I Love" Rosie Thomas
This one goes out to the one I love
This one goes out to the one I left behind
A simple thought to occupy my mind
This one goes out to the one I love

Fire , fire, fire, fire

A great cover of the R.E.M. song. I loved R.E.M. in high school but I had no idea that the chorus said "fire" until listening to Rosie's version. Funny.


*Speaking of Tib's blog, she's doing a super cool giveaway right now - all you have to do is leave a comment. Check it out!

What is "natural"?

(Christie, this update is for you. No more cupcakes at the top of the page!)

One of my biggest pet peeves is all the "natural" products on the market these days. Particularly in the bath and body world, it seems like everyone has jumped on the natural bandwagon.

As far as I can tell, there are basically two definitions consumers have in mind when they describe a product as "natural".

1) It is found in nature. Obviously, this definition doesn't apply to bath products; soap doesn't grow on trees.

2) It is made from ingredients that are found in nature with minimal processing. Handmade soap could qualify under this definition - although you'd have to make an allowance for the fact that lye used by soapmakers is made in a lab, and that many soapmakers (including me sometimes) use synthetic fragrance oils in their products.

One of the hottest topics on The Soap Dish (online community of over 5,000 soapmakers) is about the search for natural preservatives, natural fragrance and colorants, and natural additives. There is much debate surrounding this issue for the simple reason that in the world of marketing, the world "natural" is unregulated and essentially meaningless. An example - Method hand wash. The second ingredient on the label (after water) is sodium lauryl sulfate, a synthetic detergent that is created in a lab (does not exist in nature.) And they are scented with synthetic fragrance. Yet they claim that all of their products are natural or "naturally derived" (which is also pretty meaningless, since just about every ingredient can be traced in some way back to a natural source.) Another one - Glade Scented Oil candles which are labeled as "made with Essential Oils". The only problem - there is no such thing as Apple essential oil (or Clean Linen, or Mango, Peaches, Berry, Coconut, etc.) They can claim to be natural because there is no legal definition of "natural".

Of course, in my opinion the whole quest to make everything more natural is flawed to begin with, because it relies on the premise that natural=good and unnatural=bad. Let's explore that.

Things that are natural:

-tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes
-E. coli
-the flu
-fleas, mosquitoes, roaches
-poop (there's a thread on The Soap Dish that discusses a great recipe containing "sodium poopinate". That may only be funny if you're a B&B formulator.)

Things that are unnatural:

-toilets
-birth control
-bathing
-wheelchairs
-IVF

So there you have it: "natural" does not equal "good" and "unnatural" does not equal "bad". End of debate.

Ha!

Diet Busters

A couple of things I really want to order, but won't. My secret evil plan is to send enormous amounts to my fellow Biggest Loser competitors...but I won't really do that either.



Fat Daddy Cupcakes. A layered cupcake in a jar. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?! They have a variety of flavors like Red Velvet Revolution, Vanilla Dream, The Classic (chocolate cake/vanilla frosting), Sweet Nikki (butter cake with buttercream frosting), Captain Carrot Cake, Lime Christie (lime and raspberry), and most promising of all, PMS Cake (AKA Chocolate Overload, shown in the picture above)! You can see all their offerings in their Etsy shop.

And...



Spoon Fudge. Fudge in a jar that you eat with a spoon. Apart from plain Chocolate, they have Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Lavender, Hot Chocolate Chili, and more. See it all here.

Sick Sick Sick

Eric was gone on business the whole week before Valentine's Day. He came back sick - body aches, fever, hacking cough, head congestion. Classic symptoms of the flu. A few of his coworkers who had been on the trip had it and had shared it with him. I was really sympathetic for the first couple of days - I made him soup, I gave him medicine, I brought him juice and wiped his head with a damp cloth - a regular Florence Nightingale. Then it started to get old and I began muttering things inside my head about how he's a big baby when he's sick and how when I get sick (which is almost never!) I still manage to get up and take care of everyone and I don't whine about it all day long.

Then Sawyer got sick. And then I got sick. And I take it all back. I feel absolutely terrible. Just putting dishes in the dishwasher last night was enough to make me collapse with fatigue. I can't stop coughing and my head is swimming with pain. I'm producing so much phlegm that I don't know how I have any left in me. It sucks, and I am moaning about it just as much as Eric did, if not more.

Thankfully Eric was able to take the week off from work so he can help with Sawyer (who seems to be feeling a lot better than we are.) We've been taking naps in shifts and taking turns with meals. Without Eric here there's no way I would be able to rest as much as I have, so I'm very grateful for his help. Remind me of this next time I accuse him of whining.

What Type of Music?

Another fun but essentially useless quiz (who doesn't know what type of music they like?) The cool part about this one is that the questions have nothing to do with music - they take aspects of your personality and guess as to what your musical taste will be. Mine was dead on.

Which Type of Music Should You Listen To?
	You should listen to Folk Music. You are sweet and kind, and would rather solve problems than cause them. However, your highly-defined sensitivity may come off as too touchy-feely to some.
	You should listen to Alternative Rock. You never like to do what everyone else does. If your way is better, who cares if it's popular? In fact, your uniqueness is fast garnering you some increasingly passionate fans!
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

While we're waiting for The Office to come back...

Enjoy this classic moment from the UK version. During a day of customer service training, David Brent performs songs he wrote as lead singer of the band "Foregone Conclusion." They could've been big.

Happy Valentine's Day

Eric is out of town today (actually, he's been gone all week) so I'm feeling lonely. Especially since it's Valentine's Day. So I was even more excited than usual to get a delivery from ProFlowers today.

I know it's cliché, but I love, LOVE getting flowers. Eric has always been wonderful about indulging me that way. When we were dating I'd often come home from class to find a bouquet on my bed with a note. After we got married, the flowers kind of tapered off (and interestingly, the farting increased) but I complained and he listened. Nagging really does work! A healthy relationship is all about asking for what you want and need (and ignoring the farting.)

Then to top things off, I got my box from the Soap Dish Chocolate Swap this afternoon. A whole USPS flat rate box full of chocolate.

I may have to spend Valentine's Day alone (for the second year in a row!) but I will have chocolate and Lost to console me.

It's official!

The WGA strike is over! TV Guide announced today that The Office is expected to air six new episodes starting in late April. And Lost is back in production! After the eight episodes already scheduled to air, there will be a four week hiatus, followed by five additional episodes to finish up the season. The time slot for the last five will be Thursdays at 10 pm, after Grey's Anatomy, so when your DVR cuts off the ending of Grey's, don't worry - it will be on the beginning of Lost.

Primary Day

I braved the cold this morning to do my civic duty and vote. I have to admit I get all Mr. Smith Goes to Washington every time I head to the polls. Especially today, looking at a ballot on which the two most likely Democratic candidates are a woman and an African American. This election was historic for me personally because it was my first time voting for a Democrat. I'm a moderate* and have usually fallen to the right of center when it came time to vote, but this year I can't get behind either of the viable Republican candidates. (McCain scares me, and Katy does a great job of describing how I feel about Huckabee.) In the end, I picked the only candidate who wasn't "old Washington" - Obama.

They've announced that so far Obama is winning Virginia by a landslide. Several of the ladies at our church play group this morning said they voted for him for the same reasons I did. It looks like McCain has won too, although at this point by a smaller margin. Maryland is keeping the polls open until 9:30 tonight because of the ice storm we're having and some major roads being shut down.

*A great article about how being a moderate does not mean you can't make up your mind.

No more strike?

They must have listened to me - Michael Eisner of CNBC says the strike is over. Although no official statement has been released, he claims a verbal deal has been made and will be put into writing over the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Good Weekend

This weekend is going to be good. Tonight is Lost. Tomorrow night is Matchbox Twenty. And on Saturday I get to hang out with Andrea all day! It doesn't get much better than that.

Adding to my good mood - today I put up shelves for all my soaping supplies in the kitchen, and it is going to make my life so much easier to have all the ingredients in one organized place. Now I just need to get Eric to bring my Columbus Foods delivery upstairs (50 lbs each of coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel flakes, plus 10 lbs of mango butter, shea butter and castor oil) and I can get soaping!

I really really really miss The Office

This is a message for the people involved in the WGA strike: END IT, PLEASE! (I even asked nicely!)

Despite the fact that this is my third post in a row about TV, I don't actually watch that much. But there are a few shows I really love. The Office is one. And since the WGA strike started, I really really miss it. I fell in love with the UK version a few years ago and was very skeptical of the US version when it started. The pilot was not great, and I thought the show was doomed to never live up to its predecessor. Thankfully, I was seriously mistaken. I love this show even more than the original, I think because Michael Scott is a good deal more likable than David Brent. Yeah, he's an idiot, but you can see that he has good (although often misguided) intentions and he has a heart.

This might be my favorite Office moment of all time.

Found...and Lost!

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. It was a really nice day, despite the evidence that I am rapidly aging and my life is at least one third of the way over (as my dad so lovingly pointed out.) I started out the day by finding my iPod, which has been missing for the past week. It was in a bag I had already checked a couple of times. I think it was the universe's birthday gift to me. My sister Megan took me to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then Eric came home early from work (with flowers!) We got takeout from Outback and spent a quiet evening at home.

If the universe's gift to me was my iPod, ABC's gift to me was the season premiere of LOST! The plan was to watch it together after dinner, but Eric was so tired that he fell asleep with Sawyer at 8:00. As much as I love Eric's company there was no way I was going to wait until the next night to watch it (and it's a good thing I didn't, because he just got called into work tonight so I would have had to wait until tomorrow!) So I watched it by myself. I got completely freaked out by the part where Hurley is in the jungle and sees Jacob's cabin. But man, what a great episode! As always, there were a few answers, but a lot more questions. I've spent way too much time today reading on lost-forum.com and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. (Lost Media has a great summary that clarifies a few key points, by the way.)

I love the device of using the flash-forwards, but presenting them backwards, so we're moving from the future towards the present moment. It's a brilliant way to create suspense. I was totally proud of myself when I immediately knew the one driving the car was Hurley - I recognized the car from season three. If I hadn't just watched it, there's no way I would have remembered that, but still - any time I guess right about this show I feel proud.

One cool thing I found out on the boards today: the man Hurley saw in the rocking chair in the cabin was Christian Shepard, Jack's father. It's too dark to really tell but someone took a screencap of it and adjusted the lighting and it's very clear that it's him. Of course, this being the creepy island where crazy stuff happens, that doesn't mean that he's alive, or real, just that Hurley saw him. (Screencap from Screencaps and Easter Eggs)


The big question at the end of this episode: Who are the Oceanic Six? We know Jack, Kate and Hurley left the island somehow. So who are the other three? And why did they agree to leave everyone else behind? It seems that after getting rescued they lied and claimed to be the only survivors of the crash, and this is what is wracking Hurley and Jack with so much guilt. Why would their silence be a condition of rescue? My guess (and hope!) is that we'll continue to see the flash-forwards (going backwards) until we get to the point of the rescue and find out what happened. Next week can't come fast enough.

Ready to get LOST?

I am! It's been many long months since the last new episode and I cannot wait for the story to start up again. I've been watching season three on Blu-Ray (which is amazing!) and I just can't get over what a great show it is, especially when watching the episodes straight through and back to back. I have a horrible memory for plots so I tend to get lost when there's a week or more between episodes. Watching them all in a row I *almost* feel like I know what's going on. Almost.

The season four premiere is on my birthday. I'll be spending all day thinking about what's going to happen in an effort to forget that I'm turning 30 (GAH!) There are plenty of questions to ponder: Who is on the freighter off shore? Do they get rescued? Do Jack and Kate end up choosing to leave some people behind, as the "flash-forward" seemed to imply? And who was in the coffin in Jack's future? Is Jacob real? Will Sun be able to have her baby and survive? Is Locke going to take over as the new leader of The Others? Oh, and how much weirder can those people get? And most importantly - will the WGA strike end in time for us to eventually get a full season?

President Hinckley

For those of you who haven't heard yet, President Hinckley passed away last night. He was 97 years old. He lived such an amazing and energetic life that it's almost hard for me to believe that he's gone. He just kept going and going for so long. I feel privileged to have been a member of the church while he was President.

I was lucky to have a few opportunities to hear President Hinckley speak in person and to shake his hand. When I was at Southern Virginia College our choir sang at a regional conference where he spoke. He found out that our signature song was an a cappella arrangement of "Shenandoah", which apparently was a favorite of his, and during his closing remarks he asked if we would sing it. We were unprepared and needed a pitch to start so this guy Adam crossed the stage to get to a piano. It was so crowded that he had to step over and around people. I guess it was taking too long because President Hinckley said "Come on now son, we don't have all day!" with a big smile on his face. I'll always remember his humor in that situation. I had a solo at the beginning of the song and so I got to stand right next to his seat and sing. It was an amazing day I will never forget.

BL3 Update

I've been doing the Biggest Loser 3 competition for 3 weeks now. So far I've lost 8.5 lbs (3.5 the first week, 4 the second, and 1 the third.) I'm ahead of my goal so far, which is encouraging. Last week was rough because I had a nasty stomach bug for 2 days. I didn't eat at all that whole time, and didn't really get my appetite back for the rest of the week, but strangely I only lost a pound. I don't know what that's about. The challenge this week is going to be to get moving again - I still don't feel like my energy's back yet. Right now I'm in 8th place in the competition overall (out of 26) so not too bad. I'd love to be 1st, but needless to say the competitors are giving me a run for my money. All I can do is keep going! If I accomplish my personal goal, beating everyone else doesn't matter that much to me...although winning that money would feel pretty good.

Frequent Shopper

A sign that I may be spending too much time at Target: as we were leaving the check-out line this morning, Sawyer turned to the cashier and said,"Bye! See you tomorrow!"

Happy Birthday to Me

No, it's not until the 31st...but I just bought my birthday present. I scored 6th row floor seats to Matchbox Twenty on February 8th! Yeah baby!

Another One

I love this one too...ooh chee mama!

I love this commercial

Sometimes it's the innocence of a child that makes you realize just how big your butt really is.

Day of Reckoning

This morning was weigh-in number two for Biggest Loser III. This week was horrendous for me. The first week I had no cravings and didn't feel hungry at all, but this past week I felt like I was STARVING, even though I was eating the same things in the same amounts. I think my body is figuring out what I'm trying to do to it. It was all I could do not to run to Foster's and get a double order of fries...pretty much every night this week. But I resisted, and thank heavens it paid off! If I hadn't seen a loss this week I would have been seriously discouraged. This morning I was down 4 more pounds! That's the most I've ever lost in a week. I'm sure my losses will slow down in the next few weeks (they always do, and it's probably healthier that way) but for now I feel like I'm off to a good start. Ten more weeks to go!

Snow Day!

It's snowing! Even though I don't go to school (or work) anymore, I love having a snow day. Sawyer and I are going to stay inside and watch Dora the Explorer today. And I might finally take down our Christmas tree.

I just can't figure out why Americans are fat...

Just thinking about eating this is enough motivation for me to stick to my diet for AT LEAST another week.

#1 Songs

Ever wonder what the number one song in the U.S. was on the day you were born? Now you can find out at this site. (Thanks Tiburon for posting this first!) You can search any date all the way back to the 1890s. Very cool! I've had fun looking up dates and laughing at the songs that came up.

My birthday: "Stayin' Alive" by The Bee Gees
Eric's birthday: "Night Fever" by The Bee Gees (it was a big year for them!)
My high school graduation: "Tha Crossroads" by Bone thugs-n-harmony
The day I entered the MTC: "Smooth" by Rob Thomas (I left behind some good music!)
The day we got engaged: "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback
Our wedding day: "Foolish" by Ashanti (I had to listen to a clip in iTunes to remember what this was)
My college graduation: "In Da Club" by 50 Cent
Sawyer's birthday: "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani (supremely awful, sorry Sawyer!)

What are some of your number one songs?

BL3

So it's a couple weeks into January, the point where I've usually broken my resolutions many times over. I can happily report that this year, that isn't the case. And I owe it all to Biggest Loser 3!

Tiburon, my wonderful friend with a kick-butt blog, has once again organized the weight loss competition. Having lost 15 lbs last year, I am determined to reach my goal weight this time. This one started January 7th and goes until March 28th (12 weeks). This time there are more competitors than the previous times (which I'm sure is due to the start date!) and the jackpot is $650. A big enough chunk of change for a totally groovy new skinny wardrobe. Even for non-materialistic me, that is pretty motivating!

On our first weigh-in, we collectively lost 122 pounds. In one week! 3 1/2 of those were mine. I thought I did really well but I only ranked 16th. It's going to be a fierce competition this time!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas, despite the sickness that affected half of the household (Sawyer started the epidemic - the kid is like a petri dish.) Granddad and Sue-Sue went way overboard with gifts for the little ones, and they had a blast. Sawyer got so many toys from them that we weren't able to bring them all back home with us, even with the extra large duffel bag we bought. His favorite things were a tricycle that looks like a John Deere tractor, and a train set. I got lots of cool stuff too - several books (always my favorite), DVDs (Flight of the Conchords, both seasons of Extras, and Lost season 3), a beautiful Fossil watch from Eric (which I'm returning, but only because I don't like to wear watches - Eric thought that I don't wear one just because I don't have one), a spendy telephoto lens for my camera (also from Eric - he rocks!), and a hefty gift card to TJ Maxx so I can buy new clothes when I'm done with Biggest Loser 3 (more on that later.)

Before leaving town, I got to have lunch with some of my girls from Venus (thanks everyone!) and have a great visit with my old mission comps Becky and Haily - it was so fun to see them and meet their adorable kids.

Most of all, it was wonderful to spend time with my family. It was a bit chaotic having all of us in the same house, but well worth it. I miss them all!

Sawyer with his train.


A dance session breaks out, with Caroline on keyboards.


Aunt Erin joins in...


and Tori and Tanne too.


The latest dance craze: dropping your pants (it's Britney's fault!)

At Sue-Sue's House

We're having a wonderful time at Sue-Sue and Granddad's house. It's incredibly cold and snowy here, so we're spending a lot of time indoors, reading by the fire. Combined with watching the little ones play and enjoying my mom's cooking, it's not a bad way to live.



Caroline and Sawyer are getting along pretty well considering that they're both two. Caroline tends to be a bit bossy, but Sawyer takes it well: he listens to her and then proceeds to do exactly what he wants to. He must be learning from his dad. We're all excited to see these two on Christmas morning. This is the first year that it's all about the little kids, which is fun (although I hope I still get presents too!)

Travels

So, let's move on from that last controversial post (which I did not intend to be controversial, although I should have known.)

We're in Utah at my parents' house now. We flew to Salt Lake City on Sunday and drove straight to Blackfoot Idaho to spend some time with Eric's grandparents. We hadn't seen them for over two years, so it was nice to visit with them and let them get to know Sawyer. And they really got to know him - our first night there he threw up at the dinner table right as we were starting the meal. We had just given him Nyquil (he's had a bad cold for a few days) so he left a lovely red stain on their pristine carpet that no amount of scrubbing could lift entirely. We also had a leaky-diaper-in-bed incident, as well as a few tantrums and lots of getting into great-Grandma's fragile knick-knacks. They got a very real dose of life with a two year old. To their credit, they seemed to like him anyway. Sawyer had a great time at their house, and especially took to great-Grandpa. It usually takes him a while to warm up to people he doesn't know, but as soon as we arrived at the house he ran out of the car up to him and yelled "Pa Pa!"

We had several inches of snow while we were there, and since he's such a nice guy Eric offered to shovel the walk and driveway. Sawyer went along to help and no one could have predicted his enthusiasm for watching his dad shovel. He was fascinated by the whole process and thought it was hilarious to see the snow thrown into the yard.





After a few days in Blackfoot we drove back down to Utah and arrived at my parents' house. They built a new house this year so it's our first time staying with them at their new place. It's beautiful and Sawyer and Caroline are having a great time running around. Everyone's doing last minute shopping (which for my parents is the only kind there is) and planning ski trips and sledding outings. We've had several inches of snow since we got here. It looks like we're going to have a white Christmas. And I'll enjoy it from inside.

Things I Hate

In honor of the post over at FMH, I now present my very own List of Things I Hate.

-Having to get in my car and *drive* to the grocery store that I can see from my house, because there aren't any sidewalks along the roads.
-The exorbitant cost of housing where we live
-Yo Gabba Gabba
-Adults wearing Disney character clothing/memorabilia
-Infertility
-Names that are spelled strangely to make them "unique". Like Mikol instead of Michael, or Allyson instead of Allison. People, it's the SAME name! All you're doing is making it hard for people to spell your kid's name, and ensuring that they will forever have to explain to people how to spell and/or pronounce it. If you want your child's name to be unique, give them a name that actually *is* unique.
-Stepping in wetness when I'm wearing socks. The mere thought makes me shudder.
-That one person who doesn't merge when the sign says to merge, but drives up as far as they can go, then cuts someone off to get back in. You know who I'm talking about, there's always one.
-People who think their job is way more important than it actually is. The Michael Scotts of the world. There are lots of these in the DC area.
-The WGA strike.
-Menstrual cramps. Actually, menstrual anything.
-Babywise and the people who follow it like it's a religion
-Talking about immigration laws with my husband. Because we both get so, so angry.
-Misinformation about breastfeeding - it is so pervasive in our culture, and we wonder why so many women have trouble? (see above about Babywise)
-The fact that I can't speak French anymore. By the time I left my mission, people couldn't tell I was American because I spoke so well (they could tell I wasn't French - I wasn't that good - but they couldn't pinpoint where I was from - most people guessed Spain.) Last time we were there, a cab driver laughed at me because my accent was so bad. Very sad.
-Hot dogs

What do you hate?

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas!

We woke up this morning to the first snowfall of the season. It's the first time Sawyer remembers seeing snow, and he keeps saying "It's raining!" We're working on the word "snowing". There's about 1/2 an inch on the ground now, so of course all the major roads are completely jammed with traffic and schools are closing early in surrounding counties. I love snow in Virginia!

When Sawyer saw the snow he immediately and fearlessly ran out the door, clad in only his pajamas. At least he wasn't barefoot.





To further aid us getting into the holiday spirit, we had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. There was food, music, and pictures with Santa! Sawyer was so excited to see Santa Claus...right up until the second when I handed him over, and then he screamed bloody murder. (I can't blame him; I'm told I was always terrified of Santa as a small child.) So they took a picture with all of us around Santa instead. We haven't received it back from the photographer yet, but here are some more pictures I took.

XM Christmas

I've had XM radio in my car for a couple of years now. At first I didn't really care about it one way or the other - it was just included in the car I wanted. Now that I've had it for a while though, I would hate to go without it. In fact, I hate driving Eric's Durango because he doesn't have XM and regular radio is just awful by comparison. My favorite music stations are Starbucks Cafe (the kind of eclectic mix you hear at Starbucks), The Verge (new and somewhat edgy artists), and The Village (folk). I also listen to a lot of talk radio (which I used to hate. I think staying home with a baby makes me hungry for adult conversation) like channel 155, which airs Broadminded and Dr. Laura, and of course, channel 156, Oprah and Friends (the exception to this one is the Gayle King Show. She seems like a very nice person, but her show drives. Me. Crazy.)

Now that it's the Christmas season, I've found a new favorite - channel 106, A Classical Christmas. I do like fun, pop Christmas music (à la 'N Sync, Mariah Carey, and Jewel), but when I really want to get into the Christmas spirit, I like traditional carols. A good mix of the two is Josh Groban's new album, Noel. Although I'm not generally a huge fan of his stuff, I do like the way he brings a more contemporary feel to classical music, and he does a great job with this album. His version of "Little Drummer Boy" achieves what no other rendition ever has by not completely annoying me. There's even an appearance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. If you're looking for some new Christmas music, I recommend it.

Back to XM - Classical Christmas plays all the greats - the Choir of King's College, Tallis Scholars, Chanticleer, the Vienna Boys' Choir, and of course MoTab, just to name a few of my favorites - and they also throw in a good mix of performers and songs that are less well-known. I've heard many that I haven't heard for years, like "Adam Lay Ybounden" (I performed this one in a morality play in high school - we had quite an unconventional choir director), "Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes" ("Angels We Have Heard on High" - much better in the original French than in translation), and "Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabelle" ("Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" - also much better in its original language). I've also heard a few songs that were totally new to me. Today it was "Sweet Was The Song The Virgin Sang," a traditional 17th century carol:

Sweet was the song the Virgin sang
When she to Bethlehem Judah came
And was delivered of a son
That blessed Jesus hath to name
Lullaby, sweet babe sang she

S. Solo:
My son and eke a Savior born
Who hath vouchsafed from on high
To visit us that were forlorn

Tutti:
Lullaby, sweet babe sang she
And rocked him sweetly on her knee
Lullaby, lullaby sang she
And rocked him sweetly on her knee

You can hear a clip of it here (scroll down to the track listings and click on number 2.)

Thank you XM for helping me get in the Christmas spirit. And for doing it with no commercials!

A Thankful Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Eric's family at the beach. They have a house at the Outer Banks (one of the main reasons I married him) and so we get to go a few times a year. I never get over how beautiful it is there. It's so nice to have a getaway every once in a while, and to be able to spend time with family at the same time is just the best. It was easy to think about how thankful I am for my life, my family, and too many blessings to count.


Here's the chocolate cheesecake I made just before it went in the oven. I wanted to take a picture of it after taking it out of the pan on Thanksgiving, but it got eaten too quickly!



Playing basketball in the driveway with Daddy.


Busy digging a hole. It was in the 70s on Thanksgiving day and we had a great time on the beach. (Those three crazy people you see in the water back there are Patrick, Greg, and their friend Joey. The water was probably about 50˚.)


Sawyer and I walked down to the water's edge and he was so excited to see the waves come up. He kept saying "Comes! Comes!" Here it comes...


...and then the water arrived. Whoa! It was cold!


Sawyer: "This is not nearly as much fun as I thought it would be."


Playing catch with Grandpa and Uncle Greg. Sawyer calls Grandpa "Pa Pa", an endearment that lately has inexplicably morphed into "Poo Poo". You can imagine the fun we had with that.

Lack of Coverage

And no, I'm not talking about my new bikini. (Those of you who know what my body looks like these days probably just threw up a little bit.)

Our insurance company officially will not cover any part of our embryo transfer. I was right that we have coverage for infertility. I was wrong in assuming that included embryo transfers (or anything related to IVF in any way - it's in the fine print section of the exclusions.) So Eric is looking for a new job. I know that sounds extreme, but he's been thinking about it for a long time anyway.

On a related topic, we recently rented Sicko, the latest Michale Moore film. Talk about eye opening. I don't agree with Moore's politics, but you can't argue with his basic premise that the health care system in the US has some serious issues. I loved the segment about France - when he'd ask people how they were going to pay for their medical bills, they'd first say "What?" with a blank look, and then they'd think he was joking. Even IVF is fully covered for everyone. Can you imagine? Maybe we'll have to move there. Vive la France!

Sawyerisms II

At two and a half, Sawyer is learning new words every day, and like most toddlers he has his own version of a lot of them. Here are some of my favorites.

Ug-a-boo (Peek-a-boo)
Teek oo (Thank you)
Peace (Please, usually along with the sign. Today he came up to me and said "Mama, I nice. Snacks peace?" Usually I have to prompt him with "How do you ask nicely?" but this time he decided to be nice on his own!)
Jawwas (Cheerios. It took me two very puzzling days to figure this one out.)
Kee you? (Carry you. He actually means "Carry me")
Fuddants (Elephants)
Doh-a (Dora the Explorer)
Gweek (Drink)
Chunkle Chunkle (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, his current favorite song.)
Gott (I am a Child of God, his second favorite.)
TRRRRUCK! (Truck; always with the same tone and bursting with enthusiasm. He is his father's son.)

This is how he counts to ten:
One, two, wee, four, sick, semmen, eight, nine, ten! He almost always skips five, and sometimes decides to end with a jubilant nine instead of ten.

Trip to the Garden State

This past weekend I took a trip to visit Andrea! It was my first time seeing their place in New Jersey. I had a great time letting her show me around - she gave quite the sales pitch. We now have to add LaFayette, New Jersey to our list of places we could move.

Buttermilk Falls. We hiked up to the top and I had a minor panic attack on the way down. It's difficult to tell the scale from this picture, but it's really tall.


Fall hasn't come to Virginia yet the way it has there. The leaves were gorgeous.


New Jersey is replete with rocks and streams.


Can you see the bear? It ran across the road right in front of us and by the time I got my camera ready it was pretty far away. I am ready to buy a telephoto lens - this one would have been so cool.


Andrea likes moss.


A cool tree growing on the side of a hill.

This Sucks

I got a call from the insurance secretary in our RE's office yesterday. Apparently our insurance company is saying we have no infertility coverage. Which is very strange, because the policy booklet that I'm looking at right now says we're covered at 50% for all infertility diagnostics and procedures (including IVF related ones). Eric's going to talk to his office's HR guy today and see what the issue is. If we find out that the company opted us out of the coverage I will be all kinds of pissed. We chose this company based (among other things) on their insurance coverage for infertility!

We're really back in the game now, it's just one thing after another. If we have to self pay, we can (although not right away, we don't have enough saved up). It just makes me mad that something this basic and common wouldn't be covered. I mean for heaven's sake, getting pregnant is supposed to be free - and for some people, it's even fun!

Happy Halloween

Sawyer was an elephant for Halloween this year. Elephants ("fuddants") are his favorite animal right now. He loves to pretend his arm is a trunk and raise it in the air and make a trumpeting noise.




At first he didn't want to put the costume on, but when I showed him how he looked in the mirror he didn't want to take it off. He had a great time wearing it at our ward's Trunk or Treat activity; so much so that I had a hard time getting a picture that wasn't blurry because he wouldn't sit still for a second.




I think next year he might be old enough to pick out his own costume. If he'd been able to choose one this year, I'm fairly certain he would have picked Dora the Explorer, who is his favorite person in the entire world - he loves her only slightly less than mom and dad. Too bad the church frowns on cross dressing.



Happy Halloween!

Back in the Stirrups

Well, it's official - after three years of frolicking around happily in the land of the Fertile, we are patients of a reproductive endocrinologist once more. We had an appointment with our RE yesterday to discuss our options for Baby #2 (as he or she will known on the records of the Church - just kidding.) We are very (VERY) lucky to have three embryos which were frozen after the IVF that got us Sawyer. That means we don't have to go through the whole (horrible, expensive, painful, and did I mention horrible?) process of a full IVF again, we just have to transfer the embryos into me and hope they take. Our RE gives us about a 30% chance that it will work. With a fresh cycle it's about 40-50% - the thawing process can damage the embryos, so a frozen cycle is always riskier than fresh. As with last time, our chances are better than most people's because we are young and because our diagnosis is male factor (as far as we know, all my stuff is working.)

Here's the protocol, for those who are interested in the gory technical details.*

Beginning with my next cycle:

Diagnostic Tests

Day 3 - Sonohysterogram. This is where they fill your uterus with saline and do an ultrasound (the "fun" kind.) This allows the doctor to do some measurements and check the general shape of things.
I'll also have some blood work done to check my hormone levels.

A few days later - Hysteroscopy. Another diagnostic test where they feed a thin telescopic camera through the cervix to have a look around. Here they're looking for fibroids and polyps and anything that's not supposed to be in there. As you can imagine, this one isn't very pleasant to go through, but thankfully it's pretty quick, and it's actually kind of cool to be able to see inside your own uterus up on the screen during the procedure. While they're in there they'll do a trial transfer - measuring to find the best place to deposit the embryos on the big day.

The best part of my diagnostic protocol is ... NO HSG! And no laparoscopy! Those were the most painful procedures for me last time (apart from the ovary stimulation and egg retrieval) so I am thrilled not to have to go through those again this time.


Medications

The normal protocol is to go on birth control pills for the first 14 days, but since I have the Factor V Leiden gene, our Dr. wants to avoid this. What I'll do instead is use another form of birth control (oh, the irony) and use ovulation predictor kits. When I get a positive (meaning I'm about to ovulate) I'll call the office so they can schedule me for the next step - medications.

I'll have some more blood tests, then I'll start taking:

Lupron (20 units) - subcutaneous injections, once a day. This suppresses the ovaries.

Estrace - Estrogen, taken vaginally or orally (woohoo, no needles!)

Progesterone - the Big Ones. Eric will once again have the joyful experience of stabbing a 1.5" needle into my hiney. The RE did say that if the injections are painful for me I could switch to vaginal capsules instead, for which I will forever bless his name.

Somewhere around 6 weeks after my cycle begins (end of December or start of January), we'll do the actual transfer. We're transferring all three embryos (two blastocysts and one morula). This sounds scary, but with a frozen cycle the chances of ending up with triplets are almost zero. And they're only slightly higher for twins. So we're hoping and praying for one healthy, adorable baby.



*If you're wondering what Eric has to do for this cycle, here it is: he has to get bloodwork done to screen for infectious diseases. Which he did yesterday. So yeah, he better be nice to me for a long, long time.

Star Wars Fans, Hide Your Eyes (and Ears)

Oh, the horror.

My Husband

Tiburon did a great post about her husband, and since we just had the gospel doctrine lesson on marriage today, I thought it would be fun to do one too. I'm so blessed to have a truly fabulous husband. And since he doesn't read my blog, I'm not just saying that to kiss up!

What is his name? Robert Eric Watts - he goes by Eric.

How long have you been married? 5 years last May. I can't believe it's already been that long!

How long did you date? This is unclear. We met when we were 15 and dated some in high school. We stayed friends as we went to college, went on missions, and started dating again in 2001. We got engaged after dating for 2 months, and got married 5 months later.

How old is he? 29. He's 6 weeks younger than me, and loves to remind me.

Who eats more? He eats MUCH more than I do. He's a big guy, and I still don't know where he puts it all.

Who said I love you first? He did - when we were 17.

Who is taller? He is. It's not even close. He's 6'4" and I'm 5'5".

Who sings better? I do - but I think he has a really nice voice. He just lacks confidence.

Who is smarter? I think we're pretty equally yoked in the brain department, but we're each smart about different things. He has an engineer's brain and I have a poet's brain. I like to think we strike a good balance.

Whose temper is worse? His. I stay pretty calm and collected most of the time. He flies off the handle at the slightest provocation while he's driving. He is very patient with me though, thankfully.

Who does the laundry? I do, in theory. What usually ends up happening is that he does a whole bunch when he runs out of underwear because I've let it pile up too high.

Who does the dishes? I do, except on rare occasions when he's feeling particularly charitable. I don't mind doing them and he hates it more than anything.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Who pays the bills? I do. I like doing the bills and it's one less thing for him to worry about, so it works out well.

Who mows the lawn? Our neighborhood landscaping crew does. When we had to do our own lawn Eric mowed and I did the rest of the gardening. We both like working in the yard.

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. I love when Eric cooks though, he is great at it.

Who drives when you are together? This is a sore point - he hates to let me drive. He feels like people who see me driving him around will think he is less than a man.

Who is more stubborn? We challenge each other on this one every time we have a fight. I think I usually win (a very questionable victory).

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? It varies...Eric probably does more frequently though.

Whose parents do you see the most? Mine - which is funny because his live much closer to us. But my dad works in DC so we see him at least a few times a month.

Who proposed? He did, in a hot tub on New Year's Eve. We were both shocked.

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me. I'm working on that.

Who has more friends? I do. I really need friends and social interaction and he just doesn't have the same drive.

Who has more siblings? He's one of 7 kids (blended family) and I'm one of 6.

Who wears the pants in the family? We each take the lead in different areas - I like to think we're pretty evenly matched and we make a great team. And we have fun no matter what we're doing. I'm so glad he's the one I get to share my life with.

Another Update

It looks like the deal is off. The sellers aren't willing to go as low as we want. We actually feel really good about this, surprisingly. Both of us have had impressions this weekend that it's not the right time for us to buy a house. I don't know why, but when we both have those types of feelings independent of each other, I tend to trust them. So we are backing out. I feel really bad for the sellers (they've already had two deals fall through previous to this one) and even more, for my sister, who has put a lot of work into making this happen. But I guess that's the name of the game. We're staying put for now!

Update

Well, it turns out that the owners of the house we love still really want to sell and are apparently willing to sell for the price we wanted. We're making a written offer tonight and if all goes well we'll be closing at the end of the month. Wish us luck!