Day 2 Alone

It amazes me how aware Peach is.  She likes to scrunch her eyes up during prayer and has recently started saying "Amen" at the end of prayers, this is both at home and at church.  This morning Captain E was going particularly long on his prayer, "Please bless that I have a good day and get extra Wii time on the way.  Please bless me to get more Wii games.  Please bless me to get to watch more movies."  At a certain point it was just getting ridiculous.  All the sudden we heard "AMEN!"  I looked up and Peach was laughing.  Knock, knock jokes are a favorite pass time for my children.  Peach must be hearing a lot of them because she has started saying "Knock, knock."  "Knock, knock."  Cracks me up every time.  Dr. J has his second interview yesterday.  He was told by more than one of his interviewers that if he wanted them they would have him, that if he wanted to he wouldn't have to interview anywhere else.  This after his second interview...it is great to know it is there :)  Gigi went back to preschool today.  Considering she's been gone for three weeks I guess she did OK, that's what the teachers said.  I'm assuming she was stubborn.  Big surprise.  Captain E apparently cried twice at school today.  Rough day I guess.

Today I didn't:

wash clothes

make dinner, we went to subway after Tae Kwon Do, I had a veggie sub...yum!

clean out my car

Today I:

got the kids off to school

took Peach to the library 

cleaned up the living room

got the dishes done

helped Captain E with his homework

feel asleep on the couch and woke up when Peach hit me in the head with a shoe

took Captain E to Tae Kwon Do

ate mushroom brown rice with cold spinach, cucumbers, and sliced almonds drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for lunch, yum

I made yogurt today with a recipe off my sister's friend's blog (thanks Kami)

crockpot yogurt

8 cups whole milk

1/2 cup yogurt culture

(this is either plain yogurt from the store with live active cultures or yogurt saved from a previously cultured batch)

Pour 8 cups of milk into your crockpot. Turn the crockpot on low and let sit for 2 1/2 hours. Turn the crockpot off and let sit for 3 hours.  Stir in the 1/2 cup yogurt culture into the milk gently with a wooden spoon.  Replace the lid on the crockpot, wrap it all in a couple of heavy towels, and let sit for 8-12 hours. the yogurt is done when it smells like yogurt and tastes like yogurt. Transfer to fridge. You can strain it with a cheesecloth if you want it thicker.  Eat it plain or add honey, maple syrup or stevia.

Day 1

My first day home alone.  Mom 0 - Peach 1!  I've been trying to teach my youngest daughter to go to sleep on her own.  After an hour scream fit my other two children begged me to get her out of the room.  Apparently they just couldn't fall asleep with her screaming.  Go figure.  Now she's dancing to the credit song on Independent Lens.  Fab!  I lost!!!!  I wish she'd go to sleep.  Really, I'd appreciate some down time.  Yesterday was a crazy day.  How do you get three kids, three car seats, two bags, and a guitar 1500 miles in a day?  A plane and a prayer.  My mother-in-law got me to the gate, my son got my guitar on the plane, my quick thinking and wit kept my kids entertained for three hours, my exhaustion made me chill while I was getting the luggage and rental car, my husband's voice kept me calm while I tried to find the key to drive the Prius (turns out there isn't one and hello best gas mileage I've ever seen!!!!), my mother and sister kept me entertained while I drove three hours home, my neighbor helped me return the car this morning.  All and all it was a miracle.

Today I Didn't:

get the kids to school

take the trash out

put the kid's clothes away

do personal scripture study

keep my cool and not yell
eat the kid's donuts

Today I:

went to the grocery store and restocked the fridge

cleaned the living room and vacuumed

remembered to take GG to speech

made roasted chicken, brown rice, and mushrooms

ate a salad

set my guitar up

unpacked most of the bags

had scripture study with the kids, they wanted stories about babies so we did King Solomon and the baby cutting as well as Abraham and Sarah

finally got Peach to sleep

We also watched "Where the Wild Things Are."  Can I just say YUCK!  That was completely not a kid movie.  As an adult movie...well I felt horrible after it was over.

Birthday

Goodbye 20s, bring on the 30s!

No Coffee and Tea...Something Strange

Before Dr. J can get his PhD he needs to finish his dissertation.  Before he can finish his dissertation something like 30 audio files still need to be transcribed.  Dr. J and I have already done quit a few.  Then I quit working on them.  It isn't that I mind his research.  I actually find it quit interesting.  What I hate is the monotony of typing and trying to tease out garbled heavily accented words.  After doing a huge chunk of interviews I felt I was going to go insane.  The work needs to be finished though and so I recently picked up the work again.  I figure if I just do ten or fifteen minutes of interview a night I'll make some progress.  Tonight  as I was typing I heard a funny interaction. In the Middle East, good manners dictate that coffee and tea be offered at all social sit downs.  As Dr. J is conducting the interview a secretary comes in and drops off the tray of good manners.  The interviewee offers up tea and coffee.  My husband tell him, "No I don't drink coffee or tea."  The interviewee says, "Really?"  My husband says, "No it is against my religion."  The interviewee says in a disbelieving tone, "Something strange."  When I heard that I just had to laugh.  He is right.  It is something strange, as do a  lot of the practices he performs as a Muslim appear to the rest of the world.  Human beings, we are so funny.  We are normalized into things as a child, religion, culture, mores, politics, nationality, city identity.  It all makes sense to us.  Then we enter the rest of the World and they are foreign.  They are something strange :)

30 Years Old and a New Favorite

I only have a few more days in my 20s.  Crazy.  Thirty years old, I am moving into a new decade.  What can you do?  Time moves on.  I'm excited for this next phase in my life...school is coming to a close, a real job is looming, a house, a dog, maybe one more kid is in the future.  I'll miss the good skin of my twenties.  I've noticed as I get closer to thirty the wrinkles don't disappear as fast but I'm still excited for the future.  To celebrate I'm having a little get together.  If you are in Utah and want to stop by to wish me good luck on the beginning of 30 I'll be having a get together:

October 17, 2010

5-8pm

4555 Windsor Circle, Cedar Hills, Utah 84062

Stop by, it should be fun.  On an unrelated note I am loving Law and Order: UK.  Thank you BBC America and in laws who pay for cable.  I saw my first episode when I was ten years old (thank you grandpa) and thought the concept was brilliant.  Twenty years later I still love it.  The last ten years or so I've really gotten in to all things European (Elizabeth George, Ian Rankin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dr. Who, MI5, etc.) I love the stuff.  Law & Order:UK combines my two loves...I mean of course after my hubby and children :)

Home Slice

So we've been living at home with my mom for nine days.  Some things are the same.  Teenagers and parents equal drama.  My mom still drags me to her classroom when she has work to do.  For some reason being at home makes me not want to make the bed.  Some things are different.  My mom barely cooks anymore.  I've made 3/4 of the meals and we went out once.  Now my sister would say this is my own fault.  She claims I have a tendency to take control of all things kitchen but I swear to you that has been out of simple necessity and not greed.  My mom is really busy trying to get caught up for parent teacher conference.  For the most part we are on our own during the day.  I've got a sister in Peru and one in Denver.  My sister in Salt Lake comes over occasionally but she's been busy with school and a trip to Denver.  My baby brother is in school and my other baby brother was in Arizona but since he got back has been sleeping until noon.  The nice thing about my mom's house though is there is a fenced in back yard and when the kids get nuts I just send them out there.  (Note to self: When looking for houses next year a fenced in back yard is a must).  In family news:
Dr. J: Is on 30 hour call every third day.  Every sixth day he gets off.  That means he spends the night every fifth day and goes back up to Salt Lake on the sixth day.  It has been nice :) 
Captain E: Loving the uncles and their toys.  Still in love with tag!!!
G bear: Yesterday nana put makeup on her and painted her nails.  They were twins.  I have to say that while I think teal eyeshadow can get a little crazy on my mom it looked so good on G.  I know, crazy mom :)  Anyway she was so proud of being Nana's twin and had to show everyone including my mom's gentleman caller. 
Peach: Every time we pass a mirror she says, "Who's that?"  So cute.

Residency

This year we are moving.  We have no choice.  In July, Dr. J will be starting a med/peds residency somewhere.  We know the what.  We know the when.  We just don't know the where.  It is enough to drive you just a little bit crazy!  Here are just a few of the possibilities, with some of the pluses and minuses.

Salt Lake, Utah - Positives: FAMILY! Our families would be so close and after eight years of living away this is very tempting.   We know the area.  Our kids could do at school seminary.  They would have a ton of member friends.  Negatives: The growth here is a little much for both of us.  All over they are redoing the freeways and building on all the farmland.  Family, living close you are much more likely to get into the family fights.  So many of the woman look the same.  I'm just not ready for that type of pressure.  I'm not even sure I like members ;)
Ann Arbor, Michigan Positives: Pretty.  Good school.  Good football.  Very affordable.  Negatives: COLD!  An area of the country that is is serious trouble, something like 25% unemployment.
Rochester, New York Positives: Oldest Med/Peds program.  Beautiful area.  Very affordable.  The dean of the program personally called Dr. J to invite him out.  A nice touch really.  Close to lots of stuff on the east coast.  Negatives: So far from family.  Very chilly winters.  TONS OF SNOW!
New Orleans, Louisiana Positives: Warm.  I've always wanted to visit New Orleans.  Negatives: Wanting to visit a place doesn't mean you actually want to live there.  That whole thing called Katrina. 
Nashville, Tennessee Positives: Warmer.  Green.  Affordable.  I actually have friends who live in the area.  Negatives: That whole fold thing this year.  1) lots of houses in the area need flood work.  2) Apparently no one in the country even cares you exist.
Houston, Texas Positives: Warm.  Very green.  Good Mexican food.  Closer to the family than the east.  Negatives: Still very far from family.  Humid.  Hot.
Phoenix, Arizona Positives: No snow.  Closer to family.  Negatives: Huge.  Hot!
Chicago, Illinois Positives: Close to airport, Costco, temple.  Move close so cheaper.  Three different programs he is interviewing at.  Negatives: Huge city.  Houses are expensive.  Bad commutes.  COLD!
St. Louis, Missouri Positives: Trader Joe's.  Warmer than Illinois.  Green.  Temple.  Free Zoo.  Negatives: Program seems a little off.
Columbus, Ohio Positives: Very affordable.  A big program.  They pay for your move.  A really nice new peds hospital.  A temple  Good football.  Negatives: Football is a little over the top :)  Further from home.

There are a few other programs but off the top of my head I just can't think who they are.  Wow this will be a crazy year!