Stop 'n' Go

So. . . I've adopted mothering duties for three additional kids for the next two weeks. (My sister and her husband own an H&R Block and I'm watching her kids while she works during the busy season.) Besides the three additional kids, which really are sweet kids, I'm also dealing with an ultra-fussy, ultra-clingy baby of my own. I think that being around the other kids overwhelms him, but whatever the cause, today the only time I could get more than a foot away from him without him screaming was when he was napping. Anyway, I may work on my blog challenge during my two weeks in Missouri, but I doubt it will be consistent. And I may not touch it at all. :)

Day 16: Another Picture of Me

Day 15: 10 Random Songs

So when I got married, I added Joseph's music to my iPod. I have a playlist that has my music on it, and I did the shuffle on my playlist to eliminate not only Joseph's music (most of which I don't know at all), but also to eliminate the scriptures, which account for over 35% of the tracks on the iPod.

10 Random Songs

1. "Money" by Pink Floyd on Dark Side of the Moon

Papa used to play "Time" off of this album to wake us up, and I thought for the longest time that I didn't like it. Then one time I heard the music without knowing what it was and liked it so much that I went and bought my own album.

2. "Wistful Waltz" - Instrumental - on Slow Dance

I went through a stage when I was a teenager where I really liked saxophone music. This was a cd I found that had sax without lyrics.

3. "Wedding Bell Blues" by The 5th Dimension on the My Girl soundtrack

I just like the music from this era. This is my least favorite song on the soundtrack, though.

4. "Bridge over Troubled Waters" by Simon & Garfunkel on Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits

Much of my music is Papa's music. I don't really have anything special I like about Simon & Garfunkel besides that.

5. "O Home Beloved, for chorus" by Mormon Tabernacle Choir on America's Choir

I used to stand outside the Tabernacle as a missionary on Thursday nights while the choir was practicing and invite people who came to hear them practice to learn more about The Church. It was amazing how quickly the Spirit touched people as they listened to the choir.

6. "The Wedding Song" by Kenny G on Breathless

I refer to my aforementioned saxophone stage.

7. "Twilight" by Vanessa Carlton on Be Not Nobody

I love the song "A Thousand Miles." I bought this cd (before the advent of being able to download a single mp3) solely for that song. I still am not very familiar with the rest of the album.

8. "My Baby Don't Love Me" by Everything But the Girl on The Language of Life

Now, much of my music is Papa's music, but Everything But the Girl plays music I like because of my mom. It's just easy to listen to.

9. "Hymn to the Sea" by Celine Dion & James Horner on the Titanic soundtrack

My friend Garrett loaned me the soundtrack to Titanic before I saw the movie. (My first date was actually with Garrett to go see Titanic.) I loved it. I bought my own soundtrack and then proceeded to listen to it for the next four months straight (though I did program the cd player to play the songs at the beginning and the end and skip the ship-sinking songs; I didn't like those as much). I have friends who bring that up any time the music plays. :)

10. "Never an Absolution" by James Horner on the Titanic soundtrack

See above.

Day 14: My Family

Aren't I lucky?

Day 13: Dear Son

Dear Eldon,

When we share a pillow, I would appreciate it if you would not raise your head and then suddenly plunk it down on my head. In fact, I think that you might appreciate it, too.

Also, while you are nursing, I would very much like it if you would stop pinching me. I find it very unpleasant.

Finally, could you please hurry up and comprehend what it means to be gentle? My face is looking forward to that.

I love you.
~Mama

Day 12: Blogging

I think that I first learned about blogging when my sister began her blog, but I first began a blog as an assignment for a photography class; we were to post photographs on our blogs for display during class. That pretty much summed up my blogging for several years.

But I always enjoy reading my sister's blog. She's so witty and I'm able to feel connected to her family through reading about their latest exploits. And so, after I had my own baby and was no longer working, I revamped my blogging skills so that, hopefully, friends and family can feel connected to what's going on in my life.

Day 11: More Friends

What can I say? I was lucky enough to have my sister as my best friend as we were growing up, and after I grew up I matured enough to develop great friendships with my other siblings. I love you guys!!

Day 10: My Music

So I'm supposed to list "songs [I] listen to when [I'm] bored, happy, sad, mad, etc." But I don't really listen to songs in those moods, at least not specifically. I think of my music in other categories.

For instance, if I'm trying to use music to put me to sleep, my first choice is usually Joyspring (both the first and second albums) by Kurt Bestor. And The Moody Blues provide perfect music for Saturday mornings. On Sundays I prefer to listen to religious-themed music. For driving, especially when I'm trying to stay awake, I like Disney songs and others I can really sing along with.

The rest of the time I guess it just depends on what I feel like listening to, but I have to say that Fleetwood Mac (any of their albums, but Tusk especially) and Messenger by Edwin McCain are some of my favorites and, therefore, music I listen to most often.

Day 9...A Day Late: Kudos to Me

iTunes is funky. Have you ever noticed that? Sometimes it'll up and lose some of your files. At least, it lost many of mine. A couple of years ago. So I haven't updated my iPod for that length of time because I didn't want to lose the music I had on the iPod that was no longer on iTunes.

I actually have been working on this over the last couple of weeks; I deleted all the files from iTunes so I could start over ripping music from my cds. But I have this challenge, in anticipation of Day 15, to thank for making me actually do it so I could update my iPod.

It's not a big thing, I know (though it did take me a few days), but I've been procrastinating it for it so long that I am happy to say that I have updated my iTunes and iPod, and now I have all my music available to me in not one, but two places. :)

Day 8: A Goal

I realize the challenge is supposed to be a short-term goal for this month, but the goal I came up with is more long-term than that.

My midwife says I need more protein. She says eggs are a really good source of the protein I need for my baby. Now, I've never really been a big egg eater. Over the last couple of years my appreciation of eggs has grown, but when I was a kid, the only kind of eggs I liked were eggs baked into something like cookies, scrambled with (lots of) cheese in them, or in egg salad sandwiches (which is ironic because I also don't like mayonnaise).

I'd like to shoot for 2 eggs a day, but I think that's a little high. My next thought was 12 eggs a week, but I feel like that still might be a little too high. So my goal is to eat 10 eggs a week, which is still pretty high for someone who is part of a family for which a dozen eggs can easily last a couple of weeks. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast, and I made it with two eggs in it instead of the one that I would have preferred, so I'm off to a good start. :)

Day 7: Why I Am Who I Am

So, my first inclination was to post a picture of Joseph, but he'll get his time on Day 20, so I thought more about it and realized that ANASAZI is quite appropriate for this post. Not even serving a mission impacted who I am more than working as a trailwalker.



We weren't allowed to take cameras on the trail for confidentiality reasons, so I have very few photos of me as a trailwalker. This one is from my training week.

Anasazi was such a huge influence on me for two reasons. The first was just the basic philosophy of the program. The second was the people who actually endeavored to live that philosophy. (Hmmm. After writing that, I realize that the Gospel fits that description as well. But I've had the Gospel my whole life, and the influence it has had over who I've become has been gradual. And that description would fit my family. But the point is that I changed drastically during the short time I worked at Anasazi.)

I loved Anasazi and miss it. The reason I quit was to marry Joseph; if I hadn't met him, I'd probably still be working there. :)

Day 6: Superhero

I guess I'd have to say that my favorite superhero is Superman. I have never actually seen the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, and I didn't like the new one that came out a few years ago, but when I was a teenager, we kids would watch Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman every week, and I had a crush on Dean Cain. :)

I also like other movies that have superheros in them...Spiderman, Batman, X-men, etc, but even so, you've got to consider that Superman can fly.