Tell You [a] Little Story

I'm looking forward to the four-hour PBS documentary on Mormonism tonight and tomorrow night. Watch it and then come back and discuss: fair/unfair, favorable/unfavorable, accurate/inaccurate. If there are any Baptist ministers in Texas who may have been in attendance at a pre-Sadie Hawkins dinner at McDonalds on 43rd and Thunderbird about fifteen years ago who are reading this, I'm particularly interested in your opinions. The Church leaders officially seem to be optimistic, even though they haven't screened this yet. {I wonder if Christopher Hitchens will make an appearance.}

I don't remember who recommended it to me or why, but this movie showed up in my mailbox this week, so I watched it. It was sweet and well done and made it hard to fold the laundry like I often do while watching movies, because I was wrapped up in the subtitles. I love subtitles. I don't love laundry. There are so many lovely foreign films out there to discover. It is always a lovely treat when I come upon one that doesn't make me fall asleep. Or maybe I'm just remembering my many experiences with International Cinema in the SWKT at BYU, being a tired student and succumbing to the dark theater. Or maybe it's that I fall asleep very, very easily while watching movies, regardless of the company (so many dates in high school, including after prom at Steve's house) or the thrill level (every single Harry Potter, Arachnophobia, Jaws) or the country of origin. Anyway , I didn't fall asleep watching The Chorus. From me, that's decently high praise.

Click here if you want to be my friend. . .on Netflix.

So. The Suns are stinking fantastic. Rosie is leaving the View. We stayed up way too late last night watching "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" on PBS about the demise of that company and the evilness of the people who ran it. I am fascinated that my baby wakes up at the exact same time every morning, almost to the minute, to eat. 4:55. How does she know? What is the name of the science that studies "body clocks?" The DOW hit 13,000. McCain is announcing his bid. Maybe I'll elaborate on these topics at a later time. Well, not Rosie. Who cares? The other topics.

I'm having time management/motivation issues. I feel kind of overwhelmed, yet bored by the things I should be doing pretty much everyday (you know the ones: exercise, scriptures, dishes, laundry, reading good books, helping kids with homework, reading the paper, taking a shower) and the things that should be done recurringly (plan cub scouts, organize my house, grocery shop, the {darn} PTA things, wash the car) , and the things that if I even did once this year, it would be fantastic (organize photo albums, call the house painter, get the swamp cooler and A/C checked out [holy zamboni, it's going to be almost 100 degrees this week!] , family history) . So instead, I do (almost) none of it. I read blogs. I feed Norah lots and lots of times. I go to Sonic. I pick up Legos. I read Sunset. I play Scrabble with that Scrabble vixen Diana . I play Elliot's songs on the piano. I check my email about 400 times. (Will somebody email me, already?) And I'll probably do it all ag...

I had a lot of fun reading my brother-in-law Austin's blog last night. Listen to the links. Austin is very in-the-know, and I am continually reminded when I talk to him that I am not. (Who are these bands? CSS?? Spoon?) Anyway, I like this kind of thing. Check it out.

A lot of tragedies happen in April. I usually brace myself for a massacre of some sorts during this week of the anniversary of Hitler's birth. A pattern of such has been established. Usually whatever occurs is horrific, it's grim, and it robs families of their children, Americans of their peace of mind, and my mother of her right to celebrate the anniversary of her own birth in a carefree and capricious manner. Usually there is little cause to celebrate during the week of April 20. I'm thinking of Waco, Columbine, Oklahoma City. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. All April tragedies, each off the charts for their horrible-ness. Virginia Tech came early, and caught me off guard, before I was properly braced. Anyway, I am sad for the victims and the families of the victims and I do not feign that my important announcement is, in actuality, important. But, life is a predicament, as they say. I wanted to report back on The Case of the Missing Three Dollar...

Elliot keeps his money in a gallon-size Ziploc bag pushpinned onto his wall. He has just begun very diligently saving up for a zoo simulation game on the computer that he is so excited about. This morning I think he had a grand total of $3.25, but tonight he discovered that the dollars were missing out of the bag. He was (kind of a mix between) panicked, surprised, mad and alarmed! I'm fairly certain that neither Aaron nor Isaac took the money, which leaves me with the three friends (from two different families) who spent several hours in our house today as likely culprits. Steve says it's not worth mentioning. He'll give Elliot three replacement dollars, and that's that. Me? I am all about honesty and accountability and it gets my blood boiling just a little that someone maybe stole something from one of my kids. I have no problem if it was the 3- or 4-year-old who was over. I care a little more if it was the 10-year-old. Should I bring it up, at all, or is it so jus...

Do you like my baby's over-the-shoulder gaze into the camera? So sophisticated! The bottom and the top pictures were the ones I bought, cropped better. FYI: The Picture People disappeared into oblivion, just about, closing 100 stores overnight. Kiddie Kandids is not my fave. Read ahc's comment on this post to learn how she and I both feel about the "double K syndrome."

Steve has four sisters. His cute sister Katie is a designer with excellent style and taste. Her current endeavors involve designing and selling baby products that will generate a gazillion compliments when your baby uses them. Just today, I was using my new Katie-designed sling, and someone asked me about it. This is a funky picture for some reason, but I kind of like the effect. This is Katie and this is one of her slings. This is her website, which is not quite operational. She also sells the slings here . Watch for her adorable baby shoes next! They are gorgeous. Steve's sister Nancy is also cute and is also, wouldn't you know it, talented. She also designs and sells very cute baby items. Visit her blog if you want her to make one of these fabulous bags for you, in any fabric of your choosing.

Steve took the day off and the kids are home from school. We have been busy with chores: Steve, trimming the outrageous mesquite tree in the backyard and switching out a ceiling fan; me, paying the bills, PTSA stuff, and exercising (always a chore!). The kids don't know it yet, but their chores are a-comin', specifically, cleaning up the legos, dinosaurs, shoes, kitchen stools, powdered sugar, and blocks messes they have been so busy at making all day. We've also been running errands and it's so so nice to not have to take 4 kids when I want to go somewhere. Instead, Steve or I can take one child with us to run errands for some one-on-one time, if we choose . I am so content when Steve takes time off from work (almost never). What a good Friday.

I just started watching Lost. It's scary, and I'm gonna get hooked. I'm happy that the Iranians freed the British sailors. I'm trying to catch a thief who steals purses out of people's cars while they are in church. I am on the case. This probably needs more clarification. Call me if you want to hear all about it. A 17-year-old in my stake fell a couple of stories and hit his head while on a choir trip. He was swinging on a lamppost that broke. Now he is in ICU in Canada. I think everyone is going to get cancer, at some point. I'm willing myself to spend less time on the computer. If Norah were a dinosaur, she would be a pterydactyl. I think they're the shriekiest of the dinosaurs. Man, can she squeal. And it's not even a crying sort of squeal. Payday is in two days and I haven't even looked at the checkbook/paid bills/budgeted the last paycheck yet. This is highly unlike me and I feel disorganized. Even though I haven't organized the monies from...

We got back Sunday from 9 days in Utah and Idaho. I actually took some pictures.

My red bag just came in the mail. It's cute. And big. Bowling ball big. Look for me on the streets of north Phoenix this week: tonght, at an as-yet-undetermined restaurant because I'm too busy unpacking to make dinner; at Costco, because we're desperate for groceries; at the library, because I need to find this month's book club selection that is out of print and therefore not available at Barnes and Noble; at the temple because it's Easter and we are going to take our kids to the Easter pageant; at the park doing an Easter egg hunt, because that's the kind of mom I am. Yes, look for me. I'll be the one with the big, patent leather bowling bag purse. Please stop me and say hello. P.S. The real purpose of this post is to tell you that Miss Rachel from Darlybird, the sender of this cute, big, red purse, is fantastic at customer service. She adds a wonderful personal touch, and I'm not just saying that. I have had two good experiences with her little comp...