How Much Does Water Cost You?

We got our second water bill today, the first full month cycle one and holy Hannah, the thing was for $70.  I did a hypothetical budget when we were first working on our match list of all the areas that were possibilities and the pay, and since then I made a new one specific to our area.  In my highest estimates I figured water would probably run us, $50 a month.  On a positive note I figured electric in the summer would probably run close to $200, and in our hottest month so far we came in at $70.  So I guess that was better then expected, I was just a little shocked at how much our H20 is running.  I mean it doesn't help that there's almost $30 of just taxes and fees just to have water, but still.  Am I watering our law too much?  It looks pretty dead to me.  Should I reduce the amount of water games?  Maybe this is just what water cost, which explains why most of my neighborhood has now just let their lawns die.  This is my first time paying for water on my own so maybe I'm just not aware or the cost.  Tell me please, what do you pay for water on average?  The saddest part, the water here taste horrible, like worse then Arizona :(  Dr. J will come in sometimes and say, "Do we have any soda, or anything?  Anything taste better then the water from the tap!"  Premium price for icky product :)

I Heart Netflix - North & South

I heard about this mini series from my friend Bridget.  Will I ever find something first?  Probably not, but I'm extremely grateful for her sharing!  I'm going to have to go pick the book up now.  Adapted from the book North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, the story follows Margaret Hale, the daughter of a South of England clergyman who feeling he can no longer affirm from the pulpit with 100% certainty, leaves the church and takes his family to the North of England to teach philosophy as a private tutor.  There his family faces the harsh realities of mill work, poverty , strikes, "a faster pace of life, and dirt.  Early on Margaret meets John Thorthon, a mill owner who has been hardened by clawing his way to the top, a father who committed suicide, and a mother who is all sharp edges.  I started the series yesterday while my kids were watching Word World.  The first episode started off a little slow and I found myself constantly comparing it's similarities to Pride and Prejudice.  In my mind I started penning a blog about how ridiculous these story lines are: rich, cruel, emotionally unavailable man meets outspoken, educated, beautiful woman.  Insults and misunderstandings ensue.  Man falls in love with beautiful woman and despite the fact she is always has biting criticism for him proposes, woman hates man but  after her refusal realizes that hate is actually love.  Finally misunderstandings are resolved and couple lives happily ever after.  The idea that two people can have that kind of love story and live happily ever after is so ridiculous and quite frankly probably more than a little damaging to young girl notions of romance and love.  I had it all planned out and planned on heavily blamming disney for the fact that I love story lines like these, and then last night Dr. J conked out early and I had tons of extra time.  So I watched the second episode and balled.  Then watched the third episode, drying the whole time for it to end so I could start the last.  Finally I watched the fourth, and people it did not disappoint.  I was in tears again.  All of the characters in this series are so real, the situations heartbreaking, the main characters grow outside of their interactions with each other, the love is tense, misunderstood, and delicious!  My favorite part about Victorian romance is the actual romance.  Every look carries meaning, every conversation laced, every touch means so much.  Victorian England, a place where hands touching meant something.  It made me think about the first time Dr. J and I held hands, sitting on the couch watching a movie.  I want to say my legs were up over his lap and he had his hand on my foot.  He mentioned that my feet were cold.  It was winter in an old apartment and pretty much my whole body was freezing.  "My hands are cold too," I said.  "What do you want me to do, hold them or something?" he replied.  And so I said, "Well I wouldn't want you to do anything you didn't want to do."  He paused for two seconds and then he laced his fingers through mine.  Do you remember the magic, the possibility, the romance of the first time fingers touch?  I think I fell in love with my husband in that moment.  North & South has a magic like that.  I'm so glad I watched it, implausible love story and all :)

While we are on the topic of why BBC rocks I also watched the first three episodes of Sherlock, same Sherlock (quirky, brilliant, emotionally reserved), same Dr. Watson (trusty side kick), new time period.  I love mystery, the BBC, and Sherlock so this was an obvious must see for me!

Sunday Confessional

One time I had a sandwich bag of weed in my desk, a full sandwich bag, which thanks to google I now know was probably about 1.5 ounces too much.  I hope it is obvious about me that drugs just were never my thing.  While cleaning out a box at my mother-in-law's house I recently found a bottle full of about 20 Percocet and a handful of muscle relaxer.  I'd gotten them for some procedure about eleven years ago, figured out I couldn't stay awake on them and promptly forgot them.  More recently when I had my appendix out I definitely enjoyed the relief of my hospital morphine drip (I blame some of this pain on surgery while having a full out upper respiratory flu and being forced to wean my daughter in a day), but once I got home I had to take myself off the Valium because I was hallucinating.  I called up my doctor and the  conversation went like this.  Me, "So I'm taking my Valium and I'm having a problem."  Nurse, "Describe your problem."  Me, "Well there is this fuzzy, dark creature and he keeps trying to climb up the edge of my bed every time I look away."  Nurse, "Stop taking the drugs immediately!"  Obviously, I'm a drug novice.  As for illicit drugs, I was at a concert one time and a guy offered me a tote on his joint.  Where was it, Dave Matthew's, Cake, 8stops7, Third Eye Blind, Creed?  The truth is I honestly can't remember.  I smelled pot at every one of those concerts so your guess is as good as mine.  As for the invitation I politely declined.  But the point of this confessional is that one day I had a full sandwich bag of weed in my desk.  I was in eight grade and this slimy little punk at my school Juan heard that there was a drug enforcement office on campus, so he slipped his stash, (which I'm assuming was for sale...I mean who needs a whole bag to smoke at school) into my desk.  The details on how this arrangement occurred are a little fuzzy.  Did he ask me politely if he could?  Did I hold the bag and put it in my desk myself?  Was I even aware of it, before third period?  Like I said, fuzzy.  What I do remember for sure is he kind of creeped me out.  Just a year before he been a pretty nice kid.  He was short for his age, like most Hispanic guys I knew, had a soft baby face, and while occasionally the class clown for the most part, he stayed out of trouble.  Something happened over the summer though and when he reappeared he sort of scared me.  He was still short, but he had the start of a mexi stash, slicked his hair back, always dressed vato, and suddenly only spoke when he was cursing people out. My guess is he put the weed in my desk, and I acquiesced because I was freaked.  So there it sat in my desk, from third period until lunch.  Then I grew a spine, or maybe I just saw something I feared more, and that happened to be cops searching kids.  So when I got back from lunch I grabbed the big baggie of weed and I shoved it back at Juan and told him to find somewhere else to hide his stash, and then I quickly turned away because the last thing I wanted was to face him down.  I think about that day every so often.  Why didn't I tell him no from the very beginning?  Why didn't I rat him out to the teacher or the cop?  Did the presence of the cops really embolden me enough to action?  And I wonder about what it means for my own kids as far as the stupidity of youth, peer pressure, surviving junior high and high school, because the truth is I was a pretty good kid, drugs freaked me out, and I never got into any trouble, but had the cops brought drug sniffing dogs with them that day I would have found myself in a world of hurt and mainly it was because I was 13 and just didn't know how to deal with an adult situation.  Someday my kids are going to be 13.  Will they be like me, scared, a passive participant, or will they have more gumption then me and kick the crap out of that kid?

Slim Fit

Help me convince Dr. J he should keep these pants!  Yesterday I was at the outlet mall buying jeans for the kids for school (Children's Place Sale + 30% off coupon + 10% off coupon on my Children's Place card = one great deal) and I found myself drawn to the Calvin Klein store.  The thing about Dr. J is he is deliciously slender.  He of course doesn't see it that way, but as his wife who has been following the slim fit suit/tie/pant trend, the man has an asset he keeps drowning in over sized shirts and pants.  We had a conversation about this a few months ago and he said and I quote, "I think it's time for me to start paying for more expensive clothing, so that it actually fits, instead of just buying what is cheapest."  With this in mind I picked out these pants and shirt. 

My inspiration, Lawrence Fox, known for his role as Detective Sergeant James Hathaway, in my opinion the sexiest TV detective there is. Thank you Masterpiece for giving us the show Lewis, as if I didn't already love you enough. 

Can I say that I loved the fit!  Dr. J seemed fine with them, that is until he asked me the price.  Then I had to tell them they were $40 something a piece.  That's when he said, "Well I don't like them $90 worth."  The man is breaking my heart!  I mean let's be honest dress pants and shirts aren't cheap.  I think it has been a little to long since someone has done there own shopping :)  What do you think, is $90 too much to pay for an outfit that fits? 

On a side note, Dr. J did not want to pose for these pictures.  When I went for my camera he disappeared for about a half an hour.  Who knows where he was hiding, but the man knew there was no hope for him and so finally reappeared to face the firing range :)

Mugabe and the White African

I love PBS.  It is one of the things I miss deeply since we lost "public television" and decided we didn't want to pay for it.  Luckily their website is continues to get better, and my kids are able to stay current with much of their content while I'm able to watch gems like this.

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

I found this piece to be exceptionally powerful.  I warn you that some images are disturbing and the topic while discussion worthy also can cause deeply divided sides.  I can't say that I enjoyed it, because the truth is, it was painful to watch, but I was grateful for the opportunity I had to hear the story, and to see the more human aspect and repercussions of what for me previously accounted to a couple of 30 second news stories. 

Sunday Confessional - I don't like reading...

Does this make me a horrible person?  I was sitting in Church two weeks ago and a woman got up and announced, "I don't like reading the scriptures," and I thought "Eureka, I'm with you!"  It was a lightening moment where I found the freedom to say what I thought was completely taboo.  I just don't enjoy reading them.  I've been pondering this most of my life.  At 12, I remember hearing a mom bare testimony about how touching it was to find her daughter, Molly John, reading the scriptures late into the night in the bathroom because that was the only place in the house she could find some alone time.  I envied Molly because she got joy from them.  Meanwhile I'd be plodding through them for the previous four years and found the whole experience to be dull and sometimes just torturous.  It isn't that I disliked, or currently dislike reading about spiritual matters or thinking about God.  I read the whole Ensign the day it comes in the mail.  I enjoy listening to and rereading conference talks.  I've read books written by modern prophets with stories of their lives or doctrine and I enjoyed them.  I enjoy historical books that discuss religion.  My favorite book, the one I've read probably twenty times since my first reading is actually In the Eye of the Storm.  I like teaching my kids scripture stories, watching scripture movies, and discussing God, Faith, and religion.  So the Church, God, the Spirit, reading about them, talking about them, teaching about them, is not what I don't enjoy.  I just don't enjoy the way the scriptures are written.  A few weeks ago when we were reading in family scripture study my son said, "Why do they have to keep saying, And it came to pass."  And I just had to laugh, because the truth is I find it annoying as well.

I definitely think that scripture reading is important.  The Church I belong to heavily encourages it's members to read daily as a commandment from God, and it is something that is taught in most other major world Religions.  I figure if God sees the need to tell so many of his people, through so many different ways that reading his words is important, then it probably is.  And so I continue on, making and remaking goals to make my scripture study daily, to make it more meaningful, to increase the time, or the thought I put into it.  I read to my children, because I hope that they'll be able to gain a love for it that just never has found it's way into my heart.  I pray for a love of reading scriptures because the truth is it would be a whole lot easier to want to do it, if I actually enjoyed the process.  I try to focus on the stories and the teaching, more than the words themselves, because that is the part I actually like.  And then I just preserver on and hope that if God never sees fit to bless me with a joy of reading at least he will forgive me for my lack of joy.

Did We Pick the Wrong Name?

My mother has always been very anti TV with one notable exception, for some reason she had no problem with musical, and so in my earlier years of life while most kids were spending their time with Disney I spent my time watching Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Gigi, Carousel, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Annie, Oklahoma, Kiss Me Kate, Singing in the Rain, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and I'm not even going to comment on how this influx of music and sometimes questionable material :) probably forever warped my ideas of relationships but I bring it up to say that my very favorite of all of them was the musical Help staring The Beatles.  It was my earliest exposure to rock music, and it ingrained in me a love of music I've never been able to shake.  I love this band, and who can blame me, it is widely accepted that they were the greatest band every formed.  Just a few of my favorite songs....

Ticket to Ride, Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, Help, Want To Hold Your Hand, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Love me Do, Twist n Shout, We Can Work it Out, And I Love Her, Here Comes the Sun, Let It Be, Can’t Buy Me Love, Obla Di Obla Da, She Loves You, From Me To You, All My Loving, Eight Days A Week, A Hard Day Night, Paperback Writer, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, The Night Before, Do You Want To Know a Secret, PS I Love You, I’m Only Sleeping, She’s a Woman, I Should Have Known Better, Two Of Us, I’m a Loser, Nowhere Man, I Feel Fine, I Wanna Be Your Man, If I Fell,You’re Gonna Lose That Girl, Strawberry Fields, Michelle, Get Back, Sexy Sadie, Imagine-which I realize is just John

Turns out these things run in families.  A certain little Peach happens to agree that the Beatles rock, although judging from her favorite song, maybe we gave her the wrong name :)