i didn't know that!

I recently remarked that reading children's books ad nauseam does not increase adult brain cells. For the most part, I think that's true. But I have to admit that I learned two things from a baby book that we checked out from the library:

A baby goldfish is called a fry.
A baby guinea pig is called a pup.

Phew. I'm sure glad we got Sam that book. Now he won't repeat his parent's mistakes, mistakenly saying "baby goldfish" and "baby guinea pig" for 25+ years.

It's always a funny feeling when you learn something that seems to be common-knowledge to the general public. I always have this sense of disbelief, thinking, "Wait...how did I miss that?" Case in point: A few months ago, I learned that Carrie Fisher is the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. How come I never knew that earlier? Whenever I watched Star Wars as a kid, my dad made it a point to teach us that Carrie Fisher used to be married to Paul Simon. No one mentioned Reynolds. I guess that's because my dad would prefer listening to Simon & Garfunkel over "Singin' in the Rain."

Anyhow, I was quite floored when I found out the Reynolds/Fisher connection, especially since I love to watch old movies and read biographies of old actors/actresses.

I've become accustomed to the fact that I have a lot more to learn.

Okay. It's your turn to fess up. What was your most recent "I didn't know that!" moment?

memorial day pictures, etc.

I would love to write something thoughtful and interesting on here today, but I don't really have time. I don't quite know how it happened, but this week has become really busy for me. (How can that be - SAHMs don't do anything, right?) Maybe it has something to do with Memorial Day. It always seems like things are a little hectic and busy right after a holiday; you need to work extra hard to make up for the time you squandered on the day off. It kind of defeats the purpose of relaxing on a holiday, doesn't it?

Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures of the Memorial Day holiday and other recent activities:

My mom and dad came to visit last week. I'm so glad that my mom felt well enough to make the trip. I like this picture because there aren't too many photos of just my mom and dad.

Sam learned to sip through a straw at the Mexican restaurant we visited. I think he was surprised when the cold water came up through the straw.

J, Sam and I visited the St. James Cathedral and the Frye Museum last Saturday. My dad was able to take a break from his conference meetings and join us. These are the towers of the cathedral. I didn't love the interior architecture as much I had hoped (it was alright), but the bronze doors for the main entrance were really cool.

Sam and my dad by Snoqualmie Falls. Sam didn't want to turn away from the falls so that I could take his picture.

Sam's still wobbly on his feet, but he loves to practice walking. I love this photo of him mid-step, with a fully extended leg.

On Memorial Day we visited Rattlesnake Lake. We wanted to go hiking, but due to complications (i.e. we couldn't find the trailhead of our predetermined hike and didn't have time to wander around and find it), we ended up at this lake. It was a lot of fun, although I still want to hike Cedar Butte sometime.

Rattlesnake Lake was formed by accident. Because of a dam built in the early 20th century, water seeped downhill and flooded the area (and completely submerged the town of Moncton). It was interesting to think about the old town and old trees while looking at the dead tree stumps in the middle of the lake.

Sam was wiped out by the time we started to head back to the car. What a fun day.

end of tv for 2009

Well, last night marked the end of our watching television - at least for another eight or nine months. And what have I learned, after four months of faithful viewing? Kris Allen is the American Idol and Juliet "I changed my mind" Burke detonated a hydrogen bomb at the Dharma Swan station. Umm...yep, that pretty much sums it up.

But the journey this season has been fun. It was fun to see Norman Gentle return to the stage during the AI finale; I nearly had forgotten about him and some of the earlier contestants like Tatiana del Toro. And I'm so glad that Adam Lambert sang Queen. I've been waiting for that. I'm sure that performance would have made Freddie Mercury proud. (And wasn't it kind of sad to see KISS performing? Those guys are way past their prime - even their face makeup can't hide that fact.)

I'm disappointed that Adam lost, but I don't think the best singers have won American Idol over the past few years (e.g. David Archuleta and Melinda Doolittle). The thing that I found most disconcerting, though, is that Kris was unprepared to win. When the results were announced, his slightly-prolonged stammering and shock made me start to feel awkward. J wonders how Kris will do in the music industry, since he doesn't seem to have an aggressive enough attitude to accept his idol title. I think it's fine that Kris is so humble and unassuming, but it also makes me worried that he won't push himself to do well. It will be interesting to see how he and Adam do in their careers. I hope they are both successful.

So now, J and I won't be watching television very much for the rest of the year. I wonder what we'll do after Sam goes to bed. Read? I guess that sounds fun, even though I feel like I read all day long. Maybe I'll need to do other things during the day, and save my reading for the evenings. Hmm. Or I guess I could start working again on some of my art history research projects. Yeah, maybe I'll do that.

If you don't watch TV in the evenings, what do you do? And what did you think of the AI and LOST season finales? (You can read my thoughts on the LOST finale here).

seriously so blessed

I'm sure that many young LDS bloggers are familiar with the blog "Seriously So Blessed." The blog essentially parodies the blogging phenomenon that's popular with young Mormon moms. I think it's a spot-on mimic. (If you've never read this blog before, go to the "About Me" section on the main page to get a flavor for what this blog is like.) I think that today's post is great. My other favorite posts are TAMN's (Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole - pick whatever popular name you like best) thoughts on the presidential race and the economic situation.

If you haven't read this blog, you should check it out. It will make you laugh - especially if you are familiar with other blogs by Mormon mommies. I just hope my blog never becomes like the ones that are parodied on this site! (I write that, knowing that the reason I find today's post so funny is because I occasionally blog about American Idol. Yikes!)

things falling apart

If you had asked me a while ago, I would have said that this past year has been the most difficult one of my life. Despite all of the good things that have happened, I have also faced a lot of problems, disappointment, and deep concerns. At times when I felt like my life was falling apart, I often thought about when I saw the ruins of the Temple of Zeus (destroyed by a massive earthquake in ancient times):


However, I don't really feel like things are so desperate and horrible anymore. The difficulties and problems haven't resolved themselves completely or changed, but I feel like I have changed. There are a couple of things which have helped me out, and I have found some particularly sound advice in When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron (thanks for the book, Ant Bee!). This book is founded in traditional Buddhist teachings and has given me a better perspective on fear and difficult times.

Chodron writes that we shouldn't call occurences in our life "good" or "bad." Really, we just don't know what they are. And it's true - these so-called horrible experiences can be great opportunities for me to become stronger and more capable. She writes, "When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize" (1997, p. 11).

I'm looking at things differently lately. Even the past 24 hours have been remarkably different, and I can feel a change in myself. Instead of yielding to fear and trying to "sit things out," I'm going to embrace this time in my life and see how much I can get out of the experience. I feel like I'm really growing, and frankly, I'm excited to see what "new me" is going to come out of this chaos. Although my life and attitude have not formed into this yet:


I'm content (and kind of excited?) about this:

weekend adventures and sam pics

After graduating from college last year, I was amazed at the prospect of doing whatever I wanted on the weekends. No homework. No study sessions. No thesis. No stress.

It's amazing. And I still enjoy the freedom of waking up on Saturday with no obligations or projects.

With the warm weather, we have found several fun things to these past few weekends. Last month we went to a local farm for a sheep shearing festival.

Sheep dogs rounding up the sheep

Sam can't understand why these sheep only have had their heads shorn

Sam's first haircut

The final product and picture with Barber Dad

Sam doesn't like shoes. At all. He'll only wear them for a few minutes. I try to put shoes on him and then distract him so he won't try to kick them off. This time, I tried to distract him with a flower. I think the look on his face is so funny: "Seriously? You're trying to distract me with this flower?!?"

We went to the Seattle Aquarium on another recent weekend. Sam loves to open and close his mouth, gaping like a fish.

I think Sam got tired of making fish faces by the end of our trip.

"Talking" on his toy phone

I see a lot of J in this picture of Sam. It's interesting to see how Sam's facial features change as he gets older.

plagiarized posts

I don't imagine that I have an immensely huge following on any of my blogs, but I found out today that my art history posts are being copied and re-posted on a couple of other blogs. I've contacted the person who has been doing this (the same person is behind all of these blogs), and asked him/her remove all of the posts. I kind of doubt that this person speaks English, though, since the posts are re-worded with slightly bizarre synonyms and figures of speech. Some of the word choices have made the sentences almost nonsensical. We'll see if they can translate my email. (Or maybe they'll just reword it and upload it as another post...)

If anyone wants to check and see if their blog is being copied elsewhere online, I would recommend Copyscape. You can also put a little Copyscape footer on your blog page, which may help to ward off potential copycats.

Has anyone else had to deal with plagiarizers taking blog material? What have you done?