sam likes forts

This is what Sam and I did today:



My favorite part in this clip is that after I say, "I don't see him," Sam replies, "Yeah."


I had to distract Sam from grabbing the camera, so there is a little more conversation in this clip. But you can see how he "smells" flowers through the window, which is fun.

4 july 1826: jefferson and adams

This week I have finished watching/reading the John Adams miniseries and The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed. The latter was a really interesting read (even though it took me months to work through all of the text!); it was fun to read more about Jefferson's personal life (instead of his political life).

The miniseries was also really informative and interesting. I didn't know much about Adams before watching these episodes, but I can see why David McCullough finds Adams to be so fascinating. I particularly was impressed with John and Abigail Adams' great relationship.

Anyhow, my favorite historical factoid that I learned from the miniseries was this: The 4 July 1826 was an important day in American history, since it was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Furthermore, on this same day the two surviving signers of the Declaration, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both died. The two men had renewed their friendship and correspondence late in life, and then ended up dying on the same day. From what I read here, Jefferson died just a few hours before Adams.

Isn't it crazy that both men died on such a significant anniversary?

guernsey literary society

Remember how I wrote that I needed to read some fiction? This week I read the perfect book to help me relax and have fun: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. This book was charming, witty, fun, very interesting, and a easy read.

The story is a compilation of letters (similar to Daddy Long Legs) that are sent between a writer and a group of people who live on Guernsey (one of the Channel Islands). The Guernsey people are writing down their recollections of when Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis during WWII. These islanders formed a literary society during that time. One of my favorite things about this book is how the islanders make comparisons between their lives during the Occupation and great works of literature. That's one of the things I love about literature and art: they possess a timeless quality that can impact people over many centuries.

Any reader can tell that Mary Ann Shaffer loves books and bookstores. Her text is peppered with little opinions about books, and I agree with many of them. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"It was amazing to me then, and still is, that so many people who wander into bookshops don't really know what they are after - they only want to look around and hope to see a book that will strike their fancy."

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones."

"I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think? I would recommend this book to everyone. It was just what I needed to pull me out of my nonfiction rut.

sam's latest obsessions

• Pigs. Specifically, pig snorts. I've always told Sam that the pig says, "Oink, oink," but it obviously picked up on snorting somewhere. Before we can completely read any book about animals, we have had to root out all the pictures of pigs first (and have a few snorts about them). He even likes us to snort while we feed him food with a spoon (I know it's more common to turn spoons into airplanes or other zooming machines, but Sam perfers to be fed with spoons that are "pigs" and "lizards").
  
• Transportation vehicles. Specifically, airplanes and trucks. Sam loves to make motor sounds by buzzing his lips together. According to Sam, all motorized vehicles make the same sound. He also loves sitting in the front seat of the car (when the motor's not on, of course) and pushing all of the buttons.
  
• The Beatles. Sam takes after his mom on this one. I guess he listened to the Fab Four (along with me) while in the womb, and that accounts for the imperious "MORE!" he commands after each track ends on a Beatles album. I need to remind myself to put more Beatles albums in the car; I'm getting tired of listening to Rubber Soul over and over.
• Tunnels. Again, the imperious "MORE!" comes from the backseat every time we emerge out of a tunnel. It's really cute when we're driving through the tunnels - he puts his hands up to his face in glee.
  
• The Muppet Show. Sam's favorite YouTube clips are Mahna Mahna, the dancing Java, and this clip (his favorite scene starts at about 5:00) from when Dom DeLuise was a guest for one episode. Sam can't quite say "Merddleh-dop!" like the pink fuzzy aliens, but we know what clip he is requesting when he says "Murrrp!" in a nasally voice.
  

subconsciously busy

I forgot to add one more thing to my "busy list" from my earlier post: I've been subconsciously busy. I have had the craziest dreams lately, and they often revolve around something really stressful. (Which is part of the reason that I've been waking up in the night and having a hard time going back to sleep - hence the reason that I'm writing his post at 3:00 am). Some of them are pretty funny, though, so I thought I'd write them down.

Dream #1: I just barely dreamed that J and I were at a rehearsal/studio recording session with J's old band, Fictionist. We were standing around in an old shack - the interior had been painted in streaks with a bigillion different colors of spray paint. Anyhow, J and I had to go home and grab something (I think they were sandwiches for lunch). As we started to drive back towards the shack, a huge volcano in front of us erupted. J had to turn down the a side street (into oncoming traffic), to try and beat the lava flow before it covered our little Prius.

We turned onto this long, straight boulevard that went directly to the shack. The lava flow kept coming. It was weird - in one way, I was driving the car, but I also was sitting in the passenger seat. I had to push the gas pedal all the way down, so that we could speed up faster than the lava - and we were only barely in front of the lava flow the whole time we drove down the street. If you could have seen an aerial view of my dream, it would have looked like our Prius was surfing in the wake of the lava (it was almost curling up and around the back of our car, threatening to fall down at any second). It was really stressful - even though I was driving the car at one point, at another point I was in the passenger seat and I kept shouting, "I love you!" to J, since I thought we were about to be smothered.

Anyhow, the lava flow petered out at the same time we reached the shack (in fact, the lava flow went about four inches underneath the shack door before stopping). We ran inside the door and announced that we had barely escaped the lava. I remember that Jacob Jones' eyes got really huge and he said, "Really?" Apparently, the band didn't hear the volcano eruption while they were rehearsing. Everyone went outside to look at the lava, but Stu stayed behind. He wasn't even phased by the lava or the eruption. Instead, I must have said the word "sandwich" while I was telling our story to the band, because Stu just wanted to talk about that. He said, "I think it's really interesting that you pronounce the word like 'SAND-wich.' In Philadelphia, a lot of people say 'SUN-wich' instead." And then Stu and I went into a detailed conversation about how to pronounce "sandwich."

Dream #2: I dreamt last night that I had to go on a second mission, but I had the exact same missionary companions, president, etc. In my dream I was in my last transfer (I was about to go home in two days), even though I was with the missionaries from the penultimate transfer of my actual mission. We were at a missionary conference, and I could NOT speak Portuguese correctly - English phrases and sentences kept popping out. Everything I said was Portu-glish gibberish. I was getting really upset and explained to someone, "It's not my fault that I can't speak Portuguese anymore - Sister MC insists that I speak English with her all the time!" I felt like such an idiot and wished that I could go home that second. And then the mission president's wife stood up and started to say how missionaries in Brazil were now required to wear long-sleeved shirts all the time (and she stood next to me and glared at my inappropriate short-sleeved shirt). Then I was really glad that I was about to go home.

Dream #3: I was singing in a choir and needed to find a place to change into my choir outfit. We were singing in an outdoor venue, and people already had started to arrive. I kept wandering around, trying to find a bathroom to use while I changed. Everything was full, so I had to walk down this really long hill until I found another small bathroom. I went inside and was in my underwear when the choir director barged in with her daughter. She said, "I'm sorry, but this bathroom is the only entrance to the venue. Everyone needs to come in here so they can get to their seat before we sing." And with that, a stream of people started to walk through the bathroom. So I had to run up this really long hill (in my underwear) and find another bathroom to use as a changing room. I finally found a one that was occupied, but I was able to sneak in the bathtub and pull across the shower curtain for some privacy. Then I walked outside and realized I had the wrong outfit on.

Anyhow, this is just a sampling of the dreams I've had lately. They usually involve some type of stressful situation in which I have to run around, try not to die, or try not to come across as an idiot. No wonder I wake up in the morning and am still tired.

zinnias + miracle-gro = THIS

Mems how I totally play favorites when it comes to my zinnias? I'm rather obsessed with these flowers; all summer long I've taken photos to document their growth/beauty/overall awesomeness. The following is my visual testimonial as to why one should use Miracle-Gro:

slow down, you move too fast

These past few weeks have been insanely busy for me. Actually, if you count our two back-to-back vacations, the whole month of August has been busy. There have been a lot of fun activities that have filled my schedule, but I haven't just been busy in regards to time. I've been emotionally busy. Mentally busy. Intellectually busy. Spiritually busy. Busy-in-ways-I-don't-know-how busy. For some reason, I just haven't been able to slow down. It's getting a little hard to fall asleep at night, and if I wake up in the middle of the night, my mind starts to race for at least an hour.

I really think this upcoming month won't be so busy - but who knows? Sam has shifted to the one-nap-a-day schedule, which means I have very little time to read, prepare my art history publication, work on lecture notes, etc. I also think that my "emotional busy-ness" will continue for a while, which is partially due to my mom's escalating cancer cell counts. So, ugh, we'll see. I might just need to learn how to deal with being too busy (and my friends know that I like to be a busy person by nature, so my definition of "too busy" really does mean overwhelming).

I do want to get out of this rut and make some changes, though. J and I are going on a date tonight, for the first time in months. It will be nice to have the pace slow down and just be together. Our plan for the evening? Peruse through an awesome used bookstore (we probably won't be able to afford any books, but that's okay) and then go to a free admission night at a local art museum. It should be fun. And I hope that time slows down, at least for a few hours.

My other plan to help things slow down? Pick up some fiction. I've gotten myself into a non-fiction rut and I can't get out. I need to read something that isn't academic or historical.

What do you do when your life starts to get overwhelming? Is there something you do to change the pace?