scripture journal – Page 9

cheating

Abe charitably agreed to help me with preschool this morning, even though he still had yet to write the sermon for Jon and Shirley’s marriage AND do a ton of homework for his new job. Our subject was dinosaurs and the letter “L,” and since we didn’t start lesson planning until 10 pm last night, I had to run out early this morning to the library to procure some books on dinosaurs. Driving in the snow was scary, and at one point my car even slipped over a couple lanes. It made me really nervous for Abe’s new commute, which will total two hours a day–in good traffic. Why aren’t we moving to Provo again???

After preschool, Abe left to write the sermon and I stayed home to feed the girls and put them to bed for naps. Both girls napped today, and Mary even took a 4 1/2 hour nap. She had trouble sleeping last night, so I guess she was tired. It was great, though, because during her nap I got to practice, read The Hobbit, and nap myself. On long nap days, I feel like I’m cheating at life. It feels…nice.

Then it was dinner, more piano, reading to the girls, and bed. Lydia has discovered that Mary is a great play mate since Mama is basically absentee, and she goes around the house calling, “Maryyy, Marryyy, where arrre you?? Oh! There you are! I’ve been looking all over with you. Can you come play with me?” I always get nervous because I’m sure Mary can’t understand what Lydia’s saying, and I don’t want Lydia to be disappointed, but somehow Mary and Lydia interact enough to the point where Lydia is convinced they’re actually doing things like playing hide and seek together. Again, Mary can’t understand hide and seek, but actually, neither does Lydia!–so I guess that’s why she thinks they’re playing it successfully.

Lydia also scared the bejeebers out of us by hanging onto a bookshelf today. We have been meaning forever to secure the bookshelves to the wall, but haven’t gotten around to it. Anyway, Abe spanked her for not listening when he told her to let go, and then he cuddled her and explained how scary the situation was. Later at dinner, Lydia said, “Daddy, I love you. I’m sorry I hung on the shelf, and I know why you spanked me. I won’t do it again. I love you.” Our hearts melted on the spot and Lydia got a TON more cuddles and a tootsie roll. Also, Abe is securing those shelves tomorrow.:

These first two pictures are from the dance the kids did to this Dinosaur Stomp song. It was really fun, and we had to replay it three times before calling it quits.

Lydia got her first massage today. She loved it!

Hodge podge

This morning we all woke up with tummy aches. Lydia said, “Daddy, we are all sick because we ate meat yesterday. Can we not eat meat anymore?” Abe and I happily yielded to her request (today).

I went to Bikram this morning with Cynthia, and we slid into class a little late. Our instructor, Marc, doesn’t like latecomers, and he often lectures on how latecomers should reflect on the way their behavior affects others around them. Today he was a little milder in his rebukes, but he still delivered a rather stern post-class homily to us on the virtues of punctuality while Cynthia was signing up for her pass.

After sweating it out in yoga, I proceeded to be cold for the rest of the day. (Although I shouldn’t complain–the recent reports and pictures from the Midwest make Salt Lake look like the tropics right about now). When I finally warmed up enough to move, we packed up my sewing machine and took it to a sewing shop in Murray that does repairs on warranty. I KNOW my machine could not sew buttonholes last I checked (in June), but it magically fixed itself on the way to the shop. I felt like an idiot for bringing it in–but a happy idiot, since no further repairs are needed. Now I can sew buttonholes all day long if I want to!

Speaking of repairs, Abe has spent hours this week following various tutorials on how to break a Master Lock. We lost the combination to a lock we have on a door that leads to the roof, and Abe tried hundreds of combinations before finally just taking a hack saw to the clasp. I felt sorry for my poor husband, frustrated to the point of having to use a hack saw on his vacation. Also, his vacation ended today with an email giving him loads and loads of homework for his new job. It’s been fun while it lasted.

I also read Preethi’s recent blog on resolutions and loved her idea of having her toddler start memorizing scriptures. Lydia and I started on this today, and I have to say, after an hour of drilling, drilling, drilling, Lydia’s recitation of the first clause in 1 Nephi 3:7 was… spotty. Preethi, if you’re reading this, how do you do it?

Also, my friend, Maria, and I have been exchanging a very fun, spirited set of emails on Amy Chua (she has a new, super controversial book out, people!). As Lydia and I repeated the same clause over and over (at least a hundred times, no exaggeration), I did feel slightly closer to Amy Chua (my number 2 idol, right after Martha.) Maria made the awesome point that Amy Chua takes sole credit for her daughters’ success when actually, a whole host of unacknowledged social privilege played into that. So true! But I still admire Amy Chua’s personality, humor, intelligence, and even her ability to play the media. The link in this paragraph actually irritated me quite a bit because the reviewers seemed not only derisive, but dim. But I’m lazy and it’s the first thing I clicked on when I googled her new book…by now I should have just gone back and changed it to the simple Amazon link, seriously.

Here are today’s pictures:

Lydia was picking her nose with the corner of this paper just seconds before the picture snapped.

We took this picture because we realized during dinner that we thought we hadn't taken any pictures today and wanted a blog picture. — We took this picture because we realized during dinner that we thought we hadn’t taken any pictures today and wanted a blog picture.

Then I took some of Abe for his linkedin profile. This is a contender.

One of Lydia's favorite games is to pretend Minnie Mouse is shopping in these "stores." — One of Lydia’s favorite games is to pretend Minnie Mouse is shopping in these “stores.”

We have to distract Mary because if Mary touches the Minnie Mouse set-up, Lydia loses it. We could just make Lydia deal, but we’re not always up for noise decibel that entails.

closet clean-up

I’m watching a Youtube documentary as I type, so here’s a short break-down on today:

Slept. Ate. Wasted time online. Slept. Ate. Fed children. Played with children. Read to children. Practiced piano. Ate. Cleaned the hall closet. Folded laundry.

And now for the pictures of our closet clean-up:

I walked into the bathroom with my camera (since I had just taken a picture of Lydia) and discovered this. I quickly took a picture and then cleaned Mary up.

This is how Mary felt when I banned her from the bathroom.

the best Christmas cookies and neighbor love

Watching the Tchaikovsky piano concerto no. 1 this morning on Youtube was so thrilling that I accidentally gave myself shin splints running to the music. But tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so lying around nursing sore legs was not an option. Instead, Lydia and I turned out several batches of Christmas cookies before we packaged them up and delivered them to our awesome neighbors.

I had never made zimsterne before, but they are my new favorite Christmas cookie.

Cinnamon stars. Oh my gosh, I can not believe I had never tried making these before. The cookie is a nut meringue with a meringue icing baked on. I could live on these, I think. — Zimsterne (cinnamon stars). Oh my gosh, I can not believe I had never tried making these before. The cookie is a nut meringue with a meringue icing baked on. I could live on these, I think.

They are perfect for making with kids. Every step is kid friendly, and Lydia was so proud of herself.

After I took this photo, I taught her how to spread the icing all over the cookie.

This is out of order. Between the meringue-making and the cookie icing, Lydia pooped in her pants for the first time ever since we took away her diapers. She made it to the potty for most of it, but I wonder if the meringue set her off.... — This is out of order. Between the meringue-making and the cookie icing, Lydia pooped in her pants for the first time ever since we took away her diapers. She made it to the potty for most of it, but I wonder if the meringue set her off….

I forgot to post this picture a couple days ago. I am so proud of this hair...even though it all fell out within a matter of hours. I need to find kid-sized bobby pins! — I forgot to post this picture a couple days ago. I am so proud of this hair…even though it all fell out within a matter of hours. I need to find kid-sized bobby pins!

Anyway, my favorite part of today was dropping off gifts to our neighbors. It felt like Halloween again; we got short visits in with so many wonderful people, and I just love my neighbors! For some crazy reason, we decided to drive the gifts around and our car got stuck in a snowbank across the street from our house. I felt SO dumb, but luckily, the three boys who live across the street pushed the car out. The whole incident made me feel even more grateful for good neighbors who have compassion and help their apparently idiotic neighbors across the street.

Abe worked late tonight, so this day that started at 6:45am did not slow down until 9pm when I finally got the girls in bed. After that, I lay in bed watching Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Olga Kern, and Yuji Wang (respectively) play the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto. At that point, Abe kicked me out of bed so he could go to bed and I could blog.

Ah, sleep.

A perfect ending

I started off the day with an 8am session of Bikram Yoga. It felt awesome, and I hit 180 minutes of exercise this week! When I saw my doctor last week, he said to shoot for 150 minutes, so it felt really great to meet that goal.

I also finished the Book of Mormon yesterday, so I started again on the title page today. I have been thinking a lot about truth, courage, and missionary work lately. Missionary work confuses me, but thinking about it in terms of absolute truths helps me understand it a little better. Finishing and restarting a reading of the Book of Mormon always gets the juices flowing around truth, so my scripture study felt meaningful.

I even got some practice in, although my piano is by a huge window and can NEVER stay in tune. Right now it’s so out of tune I almost shudder to hear some registers (especially the upper), but I pressed on (!) through the awful sounds.

We also played in the snow today. Abe is sure that by the end of winter we will have a full blown snow fort, so he and the girls worked hard on it today:

:Lydia busied herself decorating the ground with snow angels.

We also went to This is the Place Heritage Park for their Candlelight Christmas with Balu, Tom, Suzanne, Steve, Charlie and Henry. We walked all over, sampling gingerbread, square dancing, learning about the first Christmas cards, signing Santa’s lists, meeting Santa, eating the best doughnuts I have ever had, and feeling moved by the live Nativity. Lydia spent the whole day anticipating the Baby Jesus and kept talking about how she would be quiet and not wake him, how she’d give him a binky, and how she’d take off her gloves when she saw him (I have no idea about that last part, but she was adamant…). Anyway, I love that place. To make it even better, at the end, Abe bought me a new wedding ring!!! I can only wear a plain band in my lab classes, and we found a plain silver band for $14.50!!!!!! It fit perfectly, and since I’ll probably wear it for the next decade, I could not be more pleased.

Mary Berry in her poof outfit. She toddled all around the park in this and kind of stole the show.

When I came home, I baked more cookies.

I baked a forest of bittersweet chocolate Christmas trees. Now if I can just get around to packaging them and giving them away before I eat them all... — I baked a forest of bittersweet chocolate Christmas trees. Now if I can just get around to packaging them and giving them away before I eat them all…

Oh! I made another pint of lemon curd today. I think I’m going to make this for Christmas brunch. It just so happens I have a lot of mascarpone and now a ton of lemon curd in the fridge already. Now I just have to make a million crepes and it’ll be all downhill from there.

And now, my mom is here!!! So I’m going to stop blogging and go talk to her.

Loving: today.

This morning we got off to a rocky, tantrum-y start; I even had the thought, “Oh, no! It’s only 8:30am and I’ve already had it up to HERE with being a mom!” …but things got better as soon as I took the girls to the Gateway Children’s Museum. They had so much fun playing in the water, “shopping,” climbing up stuff, and decorating paper stockings. We were the only ones who signed up for the stocking class, so they had the whole quiet craft room to themselves. It was such a nice note to end on, and the girls were both perfectly behaved–Mary didn’t even poop until we got back home. So considerate of her.

Lydia and I spent Mary’s nap reading a bunch of Christmas stories and playing the Primary book’s Christmas songs together, and at dinner I almost lost my voice cheering for every single bite Lydia took of her squash. (She took approximately 30…I lost count around 23 because around then I started cheering and playing high-five and tickle/hug games with Lydia in between each bite.) I cuddled Mary a lot, and basically enjoyed my children for the rest of the day. I ended up LOVING being a mom today.

After the kids went down, I learned a really simple, sweet piece called “Shepherd Boy,” by Grieg. The meditative, soft progression of the notes helped me reflect on the Good Shepherd and on the shepherds that visited Jesus. Considering one of my recording deadlines is fast approaching (the end of December–YIKES!), this was ultimately a foolish way to spend the limited time I have at the piano. But it also made my evening feel perfect, so I guess I don’t regret it that much.

I then discovered that Talenti ice cream containers are the perfect way to store the lemon curd I made today. I polished off the rest of the ice cream just in case I need another container tomorrow…

The only thing that would make the evening even better is if Abe had not JUST started his trip home from Rock Springs. I hate him traveling those middle-of-nowhere roads in the middle of the night, but guess what? This is his last trip with Guardsmark! Hip, hip, hooray!

And so for today’s pictures:

Why did I cuddle Mary so much today? Well, she missed her morning nap because of our outing, and she was a little sad for the rest of the day. Also, she kept getting stuck on this chair.

I forgot to post this picture from yesterday. Isn't it cute? — I forgot to post this picture from yesterday. Isn’t it cute?

The Big Confession. I.e., I am a [well intentioned!!!!!] hypocrite.

Okay, I haven’t been able to sleep well since I wrote my little blurb on modesty, so I’ve decided to air the reasons why the post was so hypocritical. Please don’t get me wrong; I believe absolutely everything I wrote, but in terms of “walking the walk,” um, I certainly don’t (or at least didn’t use to) walk it. I intend to do better in the present and the future, but, as many of my previous roommates can attest, I certainly didn’t adhere to those guidelines in the past.

Okay, it hurts to even type this, but after my mission I spent approximately $10,000 on laser hair removal. (The first rounds didn’t work, so I had to start from the beginning in grad school.) Take that, poor people of the world! Also, I’m sure I have spent no less than hundreds of hours trying to tame my hair (and hogging plenty of mirrors…sorry, ex-roommies!). And, as long as I am confessing, during stressful periods of my life, I also have engaged in major spurts of “retail therapy.” A saint in the spending department I am not.

But my studies recently have led me to my present views on modesty, and since life is all about learning and moving forward in continually enlightened states, I am hoping to do better in the future. I hope my daughters will do better than I did in the modesty department, but I guess even if they succumb to the beauty culture that saturates our society, that’s not the end of the world, right? Hopefully they can keep learning and moving on, too, and I hope I can give them and everyone else lots of room to do that. (Also, if any one of them wants laser hair removal, I WILL fund that for them. I’ll try to offset that offensive spending by serving missions from age 50-death.)

Okay. Lots more skeletons in my closet, but at least those are the ones that kept me up at night recently. Maybe I can finally sleep well tonight?

Also, in terms of today, it has an icky feeling about it. Abe got some really bad news in his private off-the-blog life, and I just feel so sick for him. He’s so resilient and optimistic, but it pains me to see such a good person endure a trial.

Before I heard his bad news, I let Lydia have “do-whatever-you-want” time, which is different than quiet time because she’s allowed to leave her room. It was an experiment, and it worked! Lately, she’s had an allergic reaction to the start of “quiet time,” and even though once it started she appeared to have fun, I just felt bad about how much she didn’t like starting quiet time. Anyway, the only rule in “do-whatever-you-want” time is that she can’t interrupt my piano practice, and she did great! She even wandered into the living room and played near me at times, but she never interrupted. Considering I got in three hours of practice and made dinner, this was a toddler feat.

Also, all I did during practice was try to memorize the really simple, one page Traumerai. I can not even begin to describe how difficult that simple task was for my burnt out brain. After all that work, I doubt if I try to play it from memory tomorrow I will succeed. Well, who even knows if I’ll get a chance since we have a four-hour wedding and then Diwali in the evening.

That’s my cue to post pictures…:

Cookie break at Whole Foods this morning.

Mommy, it's for you! — Mommy, it’s for you!

Lydia waiting for me to stop taking pictures and start reading to her already.

Errands and some funny pictures of Mary’s hair

I have not felt up to taking the girls to the grocery store, and finally last night we ran out of food. Abe and I realized that when the girls would wake up in the morning, we would literally have nothing (except for canned beans, dried pasta and condiments) to feed them. So we decided to take them to Smith’s for breakfast.

And so we did. When the girls woke up, we read a couple books to them, bundled them up and brought them to Smith’s, where Abe fed them while I shopped. In light of the situation in the Philippines, my grocery budget has been chopped in half. On normal weeks I have to operate on a cash basis to make sure I don’t go over budget (which is sad, because I loooooove credit card rewards, but I just can’t handle using one responsibly), and by the end of the week I am barely scraping by. So the past two weeks on a half-budget have been awesome exercises in self-control and discipline. I was SO proud of myself because by the end of our errands, I was sure I had more than enough food to get us through the week–and I stayed within my budget!!! A truly out-of-character accomplishment for me, let me assure you.

During our errands, we made a stop at the library where we literally busted our library book bag in an attempt to return all of the books we had checked out. It exploded right in front of the elevator. We then asked the guy at circulation if we could get a free replacement. After all, it is a bag we bought from the library for the express purpose of carrying books, and it failed to perform its function. However, he informed us that we would have to buy a replacement. Since I was at the end of my budget, buying a $2.00 library bag was an unfathomable expense, so we had to make do carrying our new stacks of freshly checked out books in (free!) plastic grocery bags.

I am SO excited about my new books! In light of the recent increased activity in my life, I have had trouble finishing my books in a timely fashion. In fact, I checked out The Paris Wife on audio in the hopes that I can finish it on my commute to and from school. I also checked out an audio book on the first woman in the government in Afghanistan, and three books: Black Folktales by Julius Lester, Flashman and the Tiger by George MacDonald Fraser, and Harvard Square by Andre Aciman. I don’t know if I’ll end up finishing Harvard Square because lately I can’t seem to handle the dark places of other people’s memories, but I did find the plot intriguing: A Jewish exile from Egypt befriends an anti-American named Kalaj who hates America because (so he claims) of this: ““Their continental breakfasts are jumbo-ersatz, their extra-long cigarettes are jumbo-ersatz, their huge steak dinners with whopping all-you-can-eat salads are jumbo-ersatz, their refilled mugs of all-you-can-drink coffee, their faux-mint mouthwash with triple pack toothpaste and extra toothbrushes thrown in for value, their cars, their malls, their universities, even their monster television sets and spectacular big-screen epics, all, all of it, jumbo ersatz.”

In light of my rant yesterday about conspicuous consumerism and materialism gone wild, that quote caught my attention. As a result, this novel is now sitting next to me bed waiting to be started before I go to bed tonight. We’ll see how it goes.

I also have to do my readings for my menu writing class, and I’ll try to get my homework done too. So I better hurry up and post pictures before it gets too late.