Tell You [a] Little Story

My sister Sarah told me to do this years ago, but I finally got around to it today. I signed up with Upromise . It's pretty easy. They just had me link my credit cards and grocery store cards to my Upromise account, and then when I spend money at participating places, including a lot of online websites, they'll give me a percentage of the sale back into the account for my kids to spend on college. The money can sit there in a non-interest bearing account, or I can link it to the kids' 529 plans, and it will be invested. I really should have done it a long time ago. For those of you who have been accumulating free money doing this for a while, I have some questions. Specifically, have you been able to earn significant cash or is it more like $3.74 over the course of 7 years? Regardless, I think it's way legit, so I am encouraging everyone out there who comes upon my little blog to sign up with Upromise so that all the purchases you make anyway can give someone (yourself ...

In my neighborhood, a car parked in the general vicinity of my mailbox + a rotter mailperson = no mail delivery for me . I thoroughly enjoy mail. Since I was a teenager, when I reigned as the Queen of Mail*, I have enthusiastically looked forward to getting the mail every day. Sometimes I will check the mailbox 5 times to see if it's come. Needless to say, it puts me in a bad mood when I see the truck sail on past my house, punishing me for the exterminator's car parked out front. Grrrr. *Items I was likely to receive in the mail on any given day during my adolescence: every single catalog known to man, letters or tapes from missionaries, chain letters, pen pal letters, letters from boys I met at Student Council camp who lived far away, sweepstakes offers, mix tapes from friends, prizes from all the contests I entered, solicitations for money from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT, postcards from every friend who ever went on vacation anywhere, Sassy magazine, New Era...

This happens all the time: I'm out in public with my baby. A baby-adoring sort of stranger walks up to us, saying, "I have to see the little one." Then said stranger begins to ask questions, in a high-pitched, supposedly baby-appropriate voice to the baby . "Hello! Well aren't you cute? What's your name? Hmm, what's your name?" And I don't answer, because the stranger is talking to the baby , right? If the stranger wants me to tell him or her what the baby's name is, he or she would ask me what the baby's name is, right? There's inevitably a moment of awkwardness during which I am punishing the stranger for being dense enough to ask a question to a person who doesn't speak, and then expect an answer to come from an entirely different person. After I feel the stranger is sufficiently punished, I usually cave and respond with the expected reply, because that's the kind of person I am (a usual caver). Sometimes I'll respond w...

SNL -- Chris Farley was so funny. I need to Netflix some of the Best Of from the early 90s. Lost -- What!? I have more questions than ever. Goodbye to sweet Charlie. AI -- Props to the hometown girlfriend. Glendale, AZ is tight.

This happened five minutes ago. I just came home from swimming with Isaac and Norah at a friend's house. I took off my swimsuit and was about to jump in the shower when Norah and Isaac both made it perfectly clear they each wanted to be fed first. Aware of the open blinds, I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around me while I found some food for Isaac. Then I grabbed Norah, shedding the blanket, and sat on the couch furthest from the windows, and began to nurse her, all the while thinking--(hoping)--about how my neighbors wouldn't be able to see me, even if they did look out their windows. At the very moment that I was pondering my naked condition and thinking about the open windows and basking in the freedom to be naked in your own house if you want to be--surprise!--a head showed up from out of nowhere, walking past the window towards the door, package in hand. And of course, looking straight at me through the window. D'oh! Naturally, my reaction oozed grace and suavene...

Beat the (dirty) Spurs, Jazz. Get some new refs, NBA. I'm bitter. {We'll always have Game 3.}

Aaron can be a cantankerous child. Often, this is the case. He is very aware of what is unfair, he is very reluctant to do chores, and he is often annoyed by his younger brother who wants to be like him. But sometimes , when the stars are aligned and the gods are smiling upon us, Aaron can do a complete 180 and become the sweetest, most helpful, most agreeable child ever to walk the earth. This happened the other night. He cleaned his whole room, got on his pajamas, brushed his teeth--all without being asked, thanked Steve for going to work, thanked me for folding all the laundry, and then hid away with a pencil and paper until he finished his masterpiece and proudly presented Steve and me with this gem:

UNBELIEVABLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not a Suns fan .

Norah does yoga. It's true. She does downward facing dog, forward-bend, locust, cobra, dog pose, a variation on triangle pose, and then a whole series of Pilates moves. Also, she crawls. Yay, Norah.

The other night I drove down to scary, road-construction-torn, quiet, dark, industrial Tempe at 8 pm to sit on a market research discussion panel and get paid $100 in exchange for two hours and my opinions. We were a group of 8, all Mormon, sitting around a table in front of a two-way mirror and a moderator, answering questions about our system of values, our vision of America, and our impressions of what could only be excerpts from a potential stump speech that borrowed from King Benjamin in the book of Mosiah. I can't begin to fathom whose presidential campaign might have been funding this little bit of research re: how people (Mormons) will respond to this speech based on religious background. (Yes I can.) Tell me, do you consider me a liberal human being? I like to think I'm open-minded and able to see different positions on an issue. But at this little gathering the other night in the name of all that is market research, I was--by far--the most liberal person at the table...

Discussions of The Mormons are all over the place. Is it weird that the first time I ever heard of the documentary was the end of last week? Let me opine briefly on what I thought, before I read too many other commentaries by people who can better articulate what I am thinking. I mostly liked it and think it was long overdue. I am kind of fascinated by the reaction people have had to our Church throughout its short history, and I don't just mean the negative reaction, although that part fascinates me the most. Join this newfound religion and leave England to follow a prophet who has seen God? Leave my wife and young kids to fend for themselves on the farm while I go on a mission for three years at a time? Pour tar over people and roll them in feathers? Issue an order to exterminate an entire civilization? Not elect somebody because of his religious affiliation? Teach anti-Mormon classes to the 7th graders at my church so they can approach their Mormon friends fully equipped with kn...