2008 - A (Blog) Year in Review

I thought I would update you all on some past blogs of the year.

I am Mommy Gorilla - Well, this was such a popular post, I installed a "Scout Tracker" so everyone could keep up with Scout's latest animal persona. I didn't update it everyday (or as many times as she changed which is SEVERAL times a day) but you all got a little taste. She is no longer just a cat, now she needs a name. It is usually "Socks" one time she wanted a new name so I said, "Boots?" that was no good, she informed me that Boots is already taken (Dora's monkey). About a week later, she said her name was "Booty". That cracked Rob and I up to no end.
Anyway, that little aspect of her character has in no way slowed down. In fact two nights ago she tried to hop into the front of my pants again, but she wasn't merely a kangaroo baby, she was Roo.

Confessions of a Guitar Hero Nerd - I don't play so much these days, but have been able to up many of my scores in my trusty book. My bro Matt liked my book so much, he made one too. Rob said I should market my idea. I think people would like it! So what if he told me that tongue in cheek. My book still amuses him.

Make Scout Famous! - Sadly, her pictures did not win, but was fairly popular. The yelling one made it to page 5 out of hundreds of pages of pictures. Thanks for all the votes!

3 Reasons Why I have Recently Become a Chump - Reason 1 - Still doing the clippys, straightening iron, etc. But I am getting faster. My hair is even longer but I am liking it. I do however need a haircut at present. Reason 2 - We are back to the good old DVR and couldn't be happier. No more commercials or live tv at all come to think of it. Reason 3 - Turns out, the short was in the section that plugs into the wall, had a very universal output cord, and we even had a few spare hanging about the house (on the playstation for one). We went through months of annoyance for a $6 cord! The sad part of that story is Rob's splicing job damaged the battery pack, so we had to replace it with a $80 contraption. That one has since shorted out too. But at the part that plugs into the computer this time, so no quite as easy to replace. I'm sure when we do, Mose will squeel in delight of a new contraption to mess with.

15 Albums Everyone Should Own - My what a can of worms this post opened up! But about the original post, I wonder if I did the list again, would it have all the same albums on it? I don't know, it's a pretty good list. The Radioheads would stay for sure, although I don't listen to those albums near as much as I used to. Hail to the Theif is dominating my cd player at present. Plus, itunes has added all (or most) of Radioheads singles available for purchase for 2 to 3 dollars, so the last 4 or 5 months I have been in B side heaven. But that's a little off subject. The most controversial of the cds on that list proved to be the Fiona Apple one. I still stand by it! I burned it for B and she likes it by the way.

A Breakthrough for me - As you have all been updated on the continuing saga of my broken ovaries (fallopian tubes), there isn't too much to say. I am now at the end of my 3rd round of Clomid, my doc gave me refills enough for 4 rounds. I don't know what happens from there, you can't stay on Clomid forever. Sigh.

Three Mother Quails - Those eggs never did hatch and mommy quail flew the nest about 3 days after that post. I broke one egg (it was still liquid) and threw the rest away and told Scout they hatched and flew away, and she was delighted. She doesn't need to be subjected to the fragile circle of life yet.

A Very Sad Goodbye? - No calls from Park City. The good news is that Scout continued to adjust to Kiki #2 very nicely, and it has since lost it's new appearance and looks every bit as ragged as Kiki #1 at this time. On the subject, I have to share that I now tuck kiki in at night. Yes, you heard right, the blanket gets tucked in -with a blanket. I'll take a picture of it sometime.

The Jell-o Salad - Mary made me bring Jello to Thanksgiving. Oh and Liza if your reading this, that boy's name was Maurice! How could I forget Maury? He was Harry Connick Jr. boy. I still can't associate him with Jello, that is still not connecting. I remembered him instantly when I was going through boxes one day and I found a picture of all of us.

I Like Books - Since reporting on that list, I have added: Lord of the Rings Trilogy (almost done with it, just have most of the 3rd book to finish), Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Hobbit, and I finished 1984. That brings my total to: 45. Wright peeps, we never have done the Wright family list! We need to get on that. Maybe in the very boring month of January we can make it a goal.

The Gauntlet - What can I say? The Harry Pot Pots vs. the Fro Bags has become quite the ordeal. I believe I am currently the only Fro Bag that has read a word of the series. Lame Sauce. I am finding it pretty interesting and suspect I will have more good to say from the whole thing then bad. I am sure I willl find that I can make fun of Sue still though (but I will be able to spell "orcs" right, and do it all with a little affection). The Harry Pot Pots has done very well. Sue is on book 4, Amy is on book 5, and Haley inhaled them all in record time! Kyle is on book 7 -I think (or done), and I believe Marcus is stuck on book 6 (or was last I checked). Confession: I was a closet Harry Pot Pot and read books 3 - 7 in the midst of being a Fro Bag. I couldn't help it! I was talking about them too much.

Bloggy Blog Blog - We indeed made a family blog and it has proven most popular. Visit it with care, you may just find out what a crazy family I really have.

The Cow that Won't Die - The cow is no longer going moo moo moo moo everytime, now he lets out one feeble moo. He is currently residing in the upstairs linen closet. We don't hear from him much anymore. **update** it is now about 2 hours since I wrote this and I have heard the cow moo 3 different times! I swear I haven't even opened that closet. I haven't heard him moo in weeks. Do you think it is mechanical enough to interest Mose? Check out this line in the original post, "right after we moved into our new house, we started hearing mooing". Something to think about...

Emily's Wal-Mart Gripe - No trips to Wal-Mart from me! It has proven to take not even a little effort to keep this goal. The Smith's Marketplace by my house has made this very easy indeed. It would be the coolest grocery store I have ever been in, had I not experienced "Wegman's" in New York. Ahhh.....Wegmans.

Crazy Psychic Scout - I kid you not, Christmas morning, she picked up a present from my mom and said, "I want to open my cars", Rob and I laughed and said that it would be funny if it really was cars. It was!!!!! Two little matchbox cars. We have it on video if you doubt Scout's psychic powers.

Happy New Year everyone!

2008 indeed had it's moments, but I am hoping that 2009 kicks it's butt.

Merry Chrimas Ebah!

We had a joy filled Christmas.

There is nothing like a child just figuring out Christmas and all it's glories to put some life into it. As parents we got to experience the bribery of the phrase, "Santa's watching you" and we will miss that tremendously. Last year that phrase just struck terror on her face (she wasn't thrilled with the idea of this big bearded fat man watching her and going into her living room).

This year, we even left him a cookie under the tree.

We had Grandpa Pugh, Uncle Nathan, and Aunt Christie even joined us from Scranton, Penn. They spent Christmas Eve with us, we had a nice dinner, then they left that night and we got some annual Christmas Eve dunglees and put Scout to bed. She was very excited about Santa coming and what he might leave. She came into our room at about 7:30 asking for some breakfast. I was kind of like, uh- wouldn't you like to see if Santa came? She retorted with one of the answers I had been giving her, "Santa is going to come to our house and bring presents". I was like, "I think he might have already came". She processed that for a few, and then her eyes lit up and she said, "let's go see what we got!!" She totally forgot! Then, as she saw the spread, she noticed the cookie was gone and she kept discussing that and ignoring the toys, I love Scout. The rest is history.

As you can probably guess from these examples, we COULD NOT get a normal picture of the bean. Chalk it up to Christmas Eve excitement.

We also forgot to have someone take a family picture before everyone took off, so this was the best we could do.

Scout made out like a bandit with a My Little Pony carnival, a robotic tiger cub (the hit of Christmas, his name is Wowee), a couple games, new crayons, etc. Mom and dad got a new flat screen (courtesy of Rob painting some dude's basement) a dvd player, dad got a new game and mom got a new rice cooker (my old one is acting weird. It's probably Mose, so the problem most likely will continue, since it has worked fine for years until we moved here.) My dad got me a set of folding chopsticks complete with a little pouch that can be put on your belt. He's funny. We spent the rest of the morning at Grandpa's opening more presents together. I got a book telling the story of a woman survivor of the Rwanda Holocaust (a little light reading). We also got a new motherboard hurray! We think it is getting installed tomorrow. Later that day, we tried to beat the storm (with success) and went to Sampan for some traditional Christmas day Chinese food. Sadly, I forgot my chopsticks.

I have to spend a minute telling you about Wowee. For weeks, Scout was a little tiger cub named Wowee and I just thought it was a name she came up with, and she was trying to say, "roaree". One day I happened upon a commercial for a little robot cub that meowed and purred and slept and growled by a company called "Wowee", and thus discovered what Scout had been obsessed with for weeks. I figured that would be an excellent gift from Santa. I benefited from the bad economy/waiting until the week of Christmas with a Target sale, selling them for half off. I got her the white tiger cub and boy that thing hasn't left her sight all week. It totally creeps Rob out, but I have to admit, it totally brings out my mothering instincts! It blinks it's eyes and purrs if you pet it's head or back. If you leave it alone for 5 minutes it goes to sleep and snores for a few minutes then, just keeps it's little eyes closed until you wake it up. I go into her room after she is asleep, and Wowee is tucked in next to her, both of them sound asleep and I have to give him a little love too, they are so cute sleeping together! I also can be seen giving it a little squeeze when she drops him in my lap to take care of him for a minute, while she does whatever she needs both hands to do. This morning they came into bed with me after Rob left and Scout became a Wowee lion cub and I got to be it's proud owner. She would fall asleep and prompt me to press her ear to wake her up. It was cute (and classic Scout).

Since we won't buy Scout a real animal, I told Rob that this is the least we can do, and he has to get over his fear of Wowee sneaking up to his bed at night and attacking him (his eyes make a little mechanical noise when they blink and that is mostly what haunts him).

Anyway, we had a very Merry Christmas and hope you all did too!

Crazy Psychic Scout

So, Scout has exactly two wrapped presents under the tree at this time. One is a My Little Pony by the name of Rainbow Dash, the other is a new little porcelain tea set.

Not this tea set, but you get the idea..

At about 7 this morning, Scout comes into my room and said, "mom, there is another Rainbow Dash! Now I have two Rainbow Dashs and they can have a tea party!!" (She got a miniature one in her happy meal early this week, a rainbow dash that is)
My heart sinks and I said, "Scout! Did you open up the presents that are under the tree?" She said yes and I hop out of bed chastising her with the intention of confiscating them and re wrapping them.
I go downstairs and I was surprised to find the two presents exactly where they have been, neatly wrapped under the tree. Confused I go in her room, and she has her old plastic tea set all set out and her My Little Ponies poised to have a great party.
What kind of crazy coincidence is that?? She likes her tea set, but hasn't played with it in weeks. I told Rob the craziness about a half hour ago and he said that he took her to McDonald's last night (surprise surprise, mom was at work) and he told me that Scout got another little Rainbow Dash. So, she really did get another Rainbow Dash and they really were having a tea party, just not at all like I was imagining. I have no explanation as to why she answered yes when I asked her if she opened the presents, except that sometimes she just answers my questions affirmatively thinking that's what I want to hear.

CRAZY!

My Experience Reading the Two Towers

It is no secret that I had a wee hard time getting through The Two Towers. It took me over two and a half months to finish it. This is not a reflection of how much reading time I have had, I took a bit of a break in the middle of the book and read 6 books before I picked it up again. I didn't hate the book, in fact I liked probably 65% of it. There are just certain characters I am having a hard time getting into and caring about their journeys. The characters are as follows: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli.

I think I have figured out why. They kind of encompass my preconceived ideas I have of fantasy novels. Just like men on quests doing stuff. I don't know how to further explain that, but I think that is it. I realize that my experience with Fantasy stuff is fairly limited, therefore most of my ideas about it are perhaps misconstrued. In past posts I have explained a little about what I like about fantasy "magical objects, etc." So maybe I will explain a little about what I don't like about fantasy -men on quests doing stuff. My brain just naturally shuts off. Having magical powers or senses doesn't help at all (they don't hurt, just don't help.) Having a noble reason for the quest also doesn't help. Anyway, for whatever reason, that is what I think of when I think of fantasy and I just go -blah.

I also don't have a lot of concern with "the ring" I know it is powerful, I know it has some bad guy's spirit in it or something and if it falls into the wrong hands, life as all of these people know it in Middle Earth will be destroyed. I also know that it is the crux of this series. I care that Frodo has to destroy it and I am totally with him there, but the whole idea of the ring isn't that interesting to me.

Ok, now that that is done, I really like Frodo and Samwise. I liked all of the story with them and Gollum traveling to Mordor, that was good stuff. Shelob was freaking cool and I wasn't expecting her. It had a good ending too, cliff hanger-ish. I also am liking Pippin and Merry too. They are funny and hold my interest nicely. Treebeard was really cool and I found his whole part really interesting. Rohan was boring to me and gave me flashbacks of Rivendell. But that was the three people I was talking about before, so perhaps my brain inadvertently shut down.

I have a bit of a beef with Mr. Tolkien about something. Why in the world did he name his two bad guys, "Sauron" and "Saruman" this confuses me greatly! They are so similar in spelling and sound, I have great difficulty telling them apart and figuring out who we are talking about at any given time. What is up with that?

I have one more point to bring up, which doesn't have to do with plot or storyline. Sue, in your review of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" under your dislikes category, you state:
The line in the book "celebrity is as celebrity does". I think Lockhart says it to Harry. When I read the line I almost threw the book across the room in disgust. The Forest Gump people should sue her.
Is this on account of plagiarism or something? If so, I would like to draw your attention to Pg. 624 of my copy of The Two Towers (the last few pages of The Window on the West) : "You've spoken very handsome all along, put me off my guard, talking of Elves and all. But handsome is as handsome does we say."
So, should Tolkien's people sue the Forest Gump writer first? Or is this a legitimate saying that has been tossed around for centuries where you throw in the proper word for the situation?

So in conclusion, all in all, I liked the book. I struggled a bit through parts, but am left with a desire to read the last book so I can see how it all works out. I think I am going to attempt to see the first two movies first. Sue watched a few Harry Potter movies and it may do me some good. Maybe I will understand or care more about the three I am having a hard time picturing. Plus, I must say I am curious to see some of the things I read about come to life. It will also be interesting to see the first movie again and see if anything comes back to me.

Ransom!

Ok, this post is SHAMEFULLY overdue. Remember the time when B said she hated Neil Young and me and my sisters got all up in arms and the war was on? I vaguely remember someone sending B the severed head of a rubber ducky..........
B did get back at us long ago (we can blame Mose the Amish Ghost for a good fraction of why I haven't posted this yet), but to be fair, he only deserves a fraction. I finally got creative and figured out how to post this despite Mose's best efforts. (in your face Mose!!)

Sometime in July, Matt and B came down to Salt Lake and we all watched a Neil Diamond impersonator concert together. It was on the grass and so I brought some blankets. (I'd insert footage of Scout dancing to Neil right here, but Mose is winning THAT battle). One of the blankets was the beloved "cookie blanket" it is ultra soft and covered with cookies and everyone loves it. I made it for Rob to curl on the couch with a few Christmases ago. After the concert, we went back to Sues and watched Will Ferrell (I think) and true to form, B fell asleep. She fell asleep wrapped in the cookie blanket (she is one of cookie blanket's biggest fans). I didn't want to disturb her (aren't I so so nice?), so I left without it and went home figuring I could get it from Sue sometime in the future. The future came that next week. I believe I was going to give her a cd I made for her of Radiohead as an intro for her to the best band ever, -man I created a masterpiece with that and liked it so much I kept it as a playlist on my itunes and enjoy it from time to time --how's that going by the way Sue?). Anyway, Scout and I were going north to the library, so it all worked out nicely. Except that Sue text me that she couldn't find the blanket in question. That was kind of weird and we were both really stumped until we thought of B........ I KNEW she took it and text her that night and she really acted innocent. There was a second where she seemed a bit fishy, and I called her on that, but I kind of believed her a little bit. Sue and I turned into self proclaimed super detectives by the name of Nancy Drew (Sue) and I was George and I think we named Cath Bess. After some mental sluething in our matching outfits and handbags and kicky heels, we came to two conclusions- 1.) B took it and is lying (in the name of rubber duckies everywhere). or 2.) (I'm sorry B, but it's true) B took it cause she loves it so much, without Matt's knowledge and was up in the attic ala' Bertha Rochester, stroking the cookie blanket in secret.

Well The Case of the Missing Cookie Blanket dragged on for a few weeks until one morning I got a text from Sue wondering if I had looked outside my door yet. I had not as it was only 8:30. I peeked outside and immediately slammed the door and text Sue, "What in the world is that??!!" The sight that greeted me was this:That's not quite right, my doorstep had Timmy with crossed out eyes (black electrical tape) and a small scattering of cookies (my pics are still in my camera and have to stay there until we figure out our computer problem). At Sue's house she was greeted with a ransom note, the above picture and my cookie blanket draped on her scarecrow.

B composed that herself to the tune of a lovely Neil Young song:

So, B did have it, and Nancy and Co. solved the case (with option number one, which is probably for the best, cause option 2 was kind of creepy and we are glad Matt doesn't have that to deal with). Rob didn't think it was fair, cause it was his blanket and I quote, "I don't even like Neil Young!". Poor Timmy, Sue never even noticed he was missing......

Here is the best part of this whole thing. Matt and B drove down to execute this little caper and went to Sue's first, and then down to Orem to drop the goods off at my house. It's 3 in the morning and what do they do now? They can't stay with any of their sisters, we can't know they are in town. SO they go down the street from my house, park at a park and sleep in the car! To make it even funnier, one of the people that live across the street knocked on their window at like 8 in the morning and gave them muffins and juice. Haha! Happy Valley............................

By the way, if you're totally lost by all this read this, start from the bottom post and work your way up.. (hint: there is vital information in the comments).

Happy Birthday Jonny!

My own Jonny Greenwood celebrated a birthday this week. I want to wish him many happy returns and to publicly declare him as my music god. Jonny, what can I say? I simply cannot get enough of your music. You have totally blown my mind and don't you ever ever ever stop.


I can't write this post without giving a little shout out to Thom. I missed his birthday last month and need to make up for it. Thom, you are a master. Master lyricist, singer, mixer, just all of it. You amaze me. When you guys entered my life 8 years ago, you totally knocked my music world on it's ear and have since totally eclipsed every other band I have ever heard. I like and enjoy other music, but the problem is, at the end of the day, it just isn't Radiohead. Thank you so much for doing what you do and keep doing it!

You like to cover Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" and how fitting? Truer words were never spoken.




I just had to add this picture. It makes me laugh. Thom is such a wonderful spaz.

Some good fun

Cheers

Halloween Report

Well, Scout and I had a fun Halloween. Poor Rob has been working very long hours this week trying to finish 4 different jobs, so he has been ghost daddy, so it was basically just the two of us. As you can see Scout was a witch. That is all she wanted to be, even though I dressed her as one two years ago (she doesn't remember). She had school today, where they had a party, so she dressed up. Her teacher was also a witch and there was some scene where she made some witches brew and (she told me as I picked Scout up), that Scout dived under the table and refused to come out. She said that it makes about one child a year cry. Scout didn't cry, just ran for her life. When I asked her later, she said that she didn't want her teacher to cast a spell on her. Then we had an unsuccessful attempt at a nap, and then set up a bowl of candy on the porch and went trick or treating. At one house, she got a sucker shaped as a skull and it impressed her so much that for about the next 5 houses, when someone opened the door they were greeted with, "I got a skeleton sucker". She was cute, and we have THE BEST neighborhood for trick or treating. No one drives, houses are fairly close together, everyone's out, it is just totally ideal for such things. Then we went home and watched a Halloween Charlie and Lola and answered the door. Then daddy came home and then we answered the door until all the candy was gone. Scout had to answer the door everytime and hand out the candy, even when she was in her dunglees and half asleep. That is about it! Sorry it was SO BORING! But, we had a nice time and Scout (and mom and dad) got some good treats.I made the cape, as I already had everything else and couldn't find just a cape. Scout picked out the fabric, she really wanted pink, I couldn't find any trim the same color so went with gold (it matched the gold spots on the fabric you probably can't see. Anyway it turned out fairly ghastly, a little more superhero then witch, but Scout was very pleased, so I was too. Also, as I set out to sew it, figured out my sewing machine (well half of it) was still at Grandpa Pugh's house, so I had to glue gun it. Lame sauce.I made her a little broom and I was so proud of it, but forgot to have her hold it for the pictures. It cost only 1.99 to make. Here is a little pic of it, (with a crayon for perspective)

I thought this was a nice little Halloween image. Double suckering it.

Diamond Rooms, Reverent Raccoons and Dang It

The famed dinosaurs are back. This time they all got owies and needed Spongebob band aids.
She said they got "bites".

I decided that next time Scout said something funny, I would write it down a not post until I saved a few up. So I have a few, plus a few more entries into the "Scoutisms dictionary"

Scout made a little book in nursery called "Reverence Raccoon". She wanted me to read it to her on the way home from church, so I did.
It was about what you would expect it to be, such as being quiet in church, folding your arms, etc. After I read it, I said, "Are you going to be like Reverence Raccoon?"
She said, "No."
We were slightly off put and Rob and I just kind of looked at each other like, well ok- she has spoken. Then I said,
"Why not? It would be very nice to be like Reverence Raccoon." She just stayed silent.
About a minute later she said (with a little world weariness in her voice),
"I'll wear the costume later".
I suppose this was just a little close to Halloween.

Scout struggling with a toy (a little disk that shoots out smaller discs)
"Dang it!"
(Takes a quick glance at me)
"I don't like it when I say 'dang it', it's no good"
About one second later.............
"dang it!"

We had a little discussion about using 'dang it' about a week ago, I just mentioned that I would rather her not use that expression (I'm SURE it flies out of my own mouth in her presence about 15 times a day) so I was expecting this. Anyway the same day about 6 hours later she picked up the same toy, and even before she started playing with it said:

"I don't want to say "dang it" -sorry mom!"

(I didn't say a word! Nor did I even give her a look)

Scoutisms

The diamond room: Dining room. This took a long time for us to figure out. She is talking about the little room as you walk in the house to your right. I couldn't figure out why she would call that the diamond room. It is more of a sitting/TV room, but we do dine there quite a bit since it has a TV. But Rob and I have never referred to it as a dining room, we have one off of the kitchen.

I would like to introduce you all to "Milo and Notice". They do a lot of playing together, mostly in Scout's bathroom sink riding boats.

"Notice" just kills me every time.

My brain died when I started trying to remember Scoutisms. Maybe I can come up with more later, and post them. This was originally going to be a journal of funnies exert, but it turned into more shenanigans.

Emily's Wal-Mart Gripe

I recently made a deceleration that I was never going to Wal-Mart again, and there was some interest as to why. Well, there are several reasons, and this is also a deceleration I have made in the past, but one I would love to finally keep (although I already have plans to go back, but you'll see why below).
So, it really wasn't a big deal, but this was the experience or "straw that was the camel's spinal demise" (or something). So, I looked online for the cheapest way to get my ipod shuffle going again, and Wal-Mart sells a product that was a little shuffle dock for $17 (replacement docks are $30 WHY is that?? You can buy Shuffles now for like 45 bucks. You might as well buy a new one. Rotten Apple people, sorry, didn't have a good ipod week). This product is a little speaker system that also can be plugged into the computer for syncing. I assumed it was available in store since it didn't say otherwise, so Scout and I went and picked up some groceries while we were at it. They didn't have it. They did have a product for "$19" that was a wall charger for assorted electronics including the shuffle. It can be unattached to the wall and plugged into the computer, but I asked the electronics dude if it can sync it too. He looked at it and said that since it has a USB port, that would be possible. So I bought it, and then shopped for some groceries. I went to the self check out line, which I am a pro at. The weights however, wouldn't accommodate my "green bags" (that has never been an issue before) so the lady had to fix that, but it took her forever. Then, when I got to the ipod product, it rung up as $23 dollars, so I went up to her and told her that the shelf said it was 19. I explained it very clearly, but she misunderstood me about 10 times and then when she finally understood what I was saying, blew out this huge sigh and said, "well I can check for you, but it is going to take a long time." I offered to look for myself, but she shooed that suggestion. So she called over another worker who went to check. Scout is getting impatient at this time so, it was getting fairly lame. The girl comes back and says, yeah, these are 23 dollars, she said they were all on the wrong rack. Whatever, I bought it anyway and paid for everything and then we went to the little rides to give Scout her promised car ride. The machine ate the 2 quarters I gave Scout, I put one more in and nothing. So there was a attendant standing behind this desk that looked like the cashier center, it was all official with clip boards and what not. I stood behind this old guy who bought 80 dollars worth of cat food. (I can only imagine why), and I told the girl (who had a tag that said "Manager") and before I even finished my sentence, she shook her head and told me I needed to go to customer service. So I scooped Scout up and went there. I would have just left, but the bean was promised a ride and they had several other machines, and I had no more quarters, so I waited. When it was my turn, they did refund me my 3 quarters. We rode the horsey this time and then went home.
That thing does not sync with itunes, it only charges.

Now I have to go back and exchange it. I called the manufacturer, since I have a new library, so I wasn't sure if I downloaded it right. I will suppress another gripe of mine about how all companies have moved their customer service out of the country and now when you call a company you have to talk to someone with an accent so thick you can't understand each other (not to mention this guy had no idea about what I was talking about, he didn't know the product at all that he was supposed to be "technical support" for and couldn't answer my one simple question). I normally don't have a problem with trying to communicate with someone that speaks a different language from me, I am usually very tolerant, but this situation bugs me that it just reminds me about how jobs are fleeing this country and going over seas in the name of cost. Yes, I do realize that I went looking for a product that was the cheapest I can find. So that is why I am not griping about it (too much). Yes, I am a hypocrite, and I realize it.

So besides the events of this week, I have always hated Wal-Mart and avoid it most of the time.
My reasons are two fold:
1) There is the issue of the fact that I simply always have an unpleasant time there. The times that I have been hit or run down by another shopper and their cart, have ALWAYS occurred there. No one ever apologizes. No one seems happy at Wal-Mart. Everyone is crabby and rude. It's just a bad place.

2) The second reason, (and I like to think this one is the most important reason to me) I don't like how it moves into a town and business that have been around for years, find the competition too fierce and shut down. Many simply can't compete, it's a monster. I happen to like the little shops. I like having a choice as to where to shop. If everyone only shops there, then that is going to be our only choice when we go shopping. They are popping up EVERYWHERE, like 5 blocks from another one. The one that appeared in Sandy, a few years ago, was a giant scandal. No one thought there needed to be another one around there. There were even protests surrounding it's opening. I was very close to joining in on the picketing, but didn't.
I should have, but didn't because of this reason: the demands of my pocketbook and it's convenience win sometimes and I break down and go, abandoning my principles.
They really sell plastic baggies cheaper then anyone else on the planet. And sometimes it is dinnertime and Scout is crabby and I need tortillas and I don't know -thread, and it's either two stops or one stop to the old Wal-Mart, and the pull of that one stop is enough to make me choose that hell-hole. I'm so weak!!
Rob refuses to shop there, but for my first reason, not my second. He says, and I quote "everyone that shops there wears over sized Tasmanian Devil shirts". In fact, he thinks it is a good company to work for and provides it's employees with good benefits and provides people with jobs that otherwise may not get a job elsewhere. That is fine and good, but I don't think the benefits out weigh the crap. They talk about how they "give back to the community" but I heard the statistics once and it was a pittance.
There. That is the majority of my gripe. I could go on, but I am kind of sick of thinking about Wal-Mart.

My Life on Clomid - Month 1

So, I finished my first week on Clomid and I thought I would record my experience. I heard a lot of horror stories about the drug, everyone seems to have different side effects and was anxious to see what my week would bring. Basically, I can sum it up by saying, I pretty much felt like I was hopped up on diet pills. The first day, I felt shaky and jittery and not hungry. That night Scout woke me up at like 4 o'clock for something and when I got back in bed and closed my eyes, I couldn't stop picturing a little man in my head endlessly flipping. He was like doing ferris wheel summersalts the rest of the night. The next day, and the proceeding days, it was just diet pills or caffine pills like and the dizziness quieted some. I have no appetite and totally forget to eat, I feel hungry once in a while, but eat very little when I do. I also have like a brain fog thing where I have trouble concentrating (ie-math in my head- not doing that so well). Basically, I kind have gone stupid. Eh, I imagine it will go away, but I have been off it for 2 days now and still feel the same. Last night I ate an apple right before bed and felt really sick, I totally thought I was going to barf. I was like, ok, since when do apples make you sick??? It only lasted about 20 minutes, I just snapped out of it and was perfectly fine, and even hunted down some m&m's. Kind of like when you are pregnant. Anyway, that was my only stomach complaint, thankfully. Except that I was never hungry, but I'm not going to complain about that.
So, that was month one. All in all, much better then I thought it would be. By the way, I wouldn't complain if it ends up being my only month.

Sorry Art Garfunkel

This didn't happen today, but Rob and I remembered it today and started laughing and Rob asked me if it was in the Journal Of Funnies and I said no, and we agreed I better add it.

Some months back, while I was busily adding cds into my itunes, cds were stacked all around the computer. At the same time, Scout had some little jewel stickers that kind of looked like rhinestone kind of things, I think I had bought them for her quiet book and didn't end up wanting them. They kept cropping up in places and one night while I was elsewhere (work?) I THINK it was Rob who stuck a red rhinestone on Art Garfunkel's nose (it could have been Scout, but I am leaning towards Rob). Anyway he said, "Look Scout! It's Rudolph!" And she goes, "no daddy, that's a clown."This is the album (and picture) it was.

I would really love to photoshop a rhinestone on here so you guys can see exactly how funny this was but I don't currently have photoshop as we just got an updated computer. As it is, this may be a watered down version of a very funny observation by Scout. Oh well, it will always make Rob and I laugh.

The Haunted House

We finally finished the haunted house. Yay! I actually finished it on Sunday and then took pictures on Monday and in the process of doing that, I squished my Ipod to death. It was in my front pocket and I went to lie on the floor and my girth was enough to kill it dead. It froze and then gave me a frowny face. A friend at work told me his does that and he shakes it and it works fine, so I shook it last night and it told me to plug it in, then it started doing stuff and froze again. So maybe there is hope, maybe not. ANYWAY, that distracted me to the point of not posting until today, plus I worked last night and this morning. I still greive for my ipod, but I still have my shuffle, which is great in it's own right, but it isn't a replacment. Ok, this post is about the haunted house.

Here is a closeup of the front stoop. If you open the door, there is a ghost inside. You will hear about those skeletons that mark the entrance in a moment.

Side view. I tried to make it rickety and precarious looking. If you open any shutters, you will find a surprise, and I fixed it up so they glow if we put a pumpkin light in there. I tried to fashion the roof after the Psycho house. The fence I made out of skeleton parts maybe turned out a little morbid, but eh. Nothing that bothers me much, nor Scout, but she is a skeleton freak. Anyway, it's kind of fun and should be around for many Halloweens to come.

Some haunted house making shenanagans:

These were Scout's favorite toy for about 4 days. She called them "the giraffes". There were better pics of her holding them, but her face in this one made me laugh so much, I had to use it, so I included a better pic of them below:
Anyway, the giraffes were so funny. They had many adventures, she made them little beds on the roof of the house and they slept there. They talked to all the little creatures in the house, the bats, cats and pumpkins in the windows and called them collectively "spooky things". When she addressed them she would say, "spooky things? Do you want some candy?" Then she would pass out candy corns to everyone (put them outside their windows), and frequently make sure they were all having a good time. The giraffes even got treated to a hippo ride:

She is a hoot.
I had to glue them to the house late at night after she was in bed, because they were always with her otherwise. I don't think she has noticed they are on the house yet.

The Cow That Won't Die

This is a toy cow of Scout's purchased this last spring at the $1 area of target. It was a toy she earned for completing a line of stickers on her potty chart. See that little orange thing on it's belly? If you press it, the cow "moos". Cute huh? Well, something is wrong with this cow.
It all started when it was only about a month old. The cow became a member of the animal brigade that spent a lot of time out on the front porch in mommy's blueberry planter this summer. Scout would put the hose up on top and the animals would swim and frolic in the water and waterfall. I reminded her many times that this cow should not get wet or it won't moo anymore. Somehow it sneaked into that menagerie and not only got wet, it sat immersed in a bowl of water outside for AT LEAST 2 weeks, probably 3, with a few fellow animals.
I shrugged my shoulders at that point and figured, well, she will learn a little lesson about how right mommy is when the cow doesn't moo anymore, and it was only a dollar anyway. What I thought was the end of the moos was really only the beginning.
After weeks of silence, right after we moved into our new house, we started hearing mooing. Scout found the cow in a box and played with it in the living room. That night from upstairs in our bedroom, we could hear the cow going nuts downstairs. Moo moo moo all night. It kept waking me up. Finally, I slept all night and thought no more of the cow. That next day, I was outside and I found the cow out on the front lawn. I laughed and deduced (my deductions were later found to be correct) that Rob must have grown tired of it during the night and tossed it out the front door. I brought the now silent cow inside thinking to ask Rob about it later. I forgot, and a few days later heard mooing again. Then no mooing. I finally remembered to ask Rob about it and he admitted to throwing it outside and then told me that he has since wrapped it up in something and stuffed it somewhere and he doesn't remember where. All we knew is, the mooing was gone and there was peace.
Well, we have some boxes in the basement that I am sorry to say, have not been unpacked since Shadowridge (over two years ago) it is random stuff (papers, books, old mail, movies, candles, etc.) that have been riffled through, but pretty much just moved from place to place with us. I would like to think a lot of people have such boxes and we are not the horrible people I think we are. Anyway, I have attacked these boxes with gusto this week. Organizing the stuff in them and throwing stuff away and also putting some of it away. (I need bookshelves!!!) Guess what I found wrapped in some of Scout's old clothing? Yeppers, I found the cow. Scout played with it while we were down there, along with some other toys she has outgrown. We went upstairs and went about our business. Business that became peppered with sad little moos from downstairs. I can only conclude from this that for 0ver 2 months this cow has been muffly mooing in it's box prison in the basement. Since freeing it, I bet we get a good ten moos a day. It has slowed down from about 40 a day. But we still get moos during dinner, moos at night. We have come to giving each other a little smile when we hear it.
I think at this point, we are more curious then anything about this cow. How can we throw it away? At what point is it going to moo it' s final moo? What kind of powers are at work with this cow? Should we send it into Motorolla or Apple so they can see how this is accomplished since $200 phones and Ipods seem to die if they just look at water. While writing this blog when I downloaded the picture, I did two of them to see which looked better on the blog and when I made my choice, I tried to delete the picture and it would not delete or cut. I tried everything and finally had to go into edit Html and manually erase the code to the pic. Seriously, there is something wrong with this cow...........

Inwhich We Discover That Daddy Polar Bears are Much Like Scout's Daddy

Scout - 3

Today, Scout and I were watching Planet Earth (Ice World one) and we were watching that heartbreaking story where the father polar bear goes seal hunting for his starving family (and winds up stabbed by a walrus --nature is a mean, mean mistress). Luckily, Scout doesn't process all of these facts yet.
Anyway, the daddy polar bear is swimming in the ocean on his way, and Scout says, "mama polar bear is going to get some food"
I said, "actually, that is daddy polar bear."
So Scout says, "Oh, daddy polar bear is going to get some chicken and fries?"

Chicken and fries is about the only food Rob provides for Scout on the one day a week I am working.

Journal of Funnies

Boy my blog has exploded the last little bit! Sorry! Lots to say I guess. But I've got to do this now:

When we were kids, my mom kept this notebook called, "the Journal of Funnies". It was an old red notebook where she would jot down funny things we would say so she wouldn't forget. It was a brilliant idea, as some funny things kids say, get immortalized and told over and over, but many are forgotten days later and lost forever. This notebook is still pulled out every now and then when a group of us are together and we laugh and laugh and laugh at the memories.
I was talking to her a day or two ago and she told me it was time I bought myself a notebook and started one, as Scout is well in the age where one is appropriate, and I had just shared a funny story about what she said, and how I have my first entry. Well, I think I will buy one, but I may as well have a cyber one too. It's the 21st century and all and I happen to have this blog around. About an hour after this conversation with my mom, Scout said something that should be entry #2. Here they are to start it off!

Scout - almost 3
We were looking at a Planet Earth book she has and we were turned to a page about reindeer. I said, "guess what reindeer do?" She asked what, so I told her that they pull Santa's sleigh. She said, "No they don't!"
"Yes they do" I argued, "if reindeer don't do it, then what pulls Santa's sleigh?"
She thought long and hard about that. Then she says, "a witch!"

Scout - 3
We were rummaging through boxes looking for a book for Rob, and Scout found a box of her old baby toys. She was still looking and pulling out old stuff and having the time of her life. So I went upstairs and went in the bedroom. Rob was across the hall in the office and Scout comes upstairs and goes into the office and holds up a set of those pastel, plastic, over sized keys every baby in the world has and tells Rob, "look dad, I found my stupid car keys".

Hee hee. That's my fault. I guess every time I mention my car keys, they are lost and I'm looking for them, and are therefore, "stupid".

My Broken Fallopian Tubes: part deux

Got a call from Winky today. In a conference with the fertility specialists he consults with, he laid out to them my entire medical (pregnancy) history. They do not like to go the surgical route, as it can often lead to more problems. Big sigh of relief from Rob and I, as I missed the first call from Winky today and in his message he stated that he got the results of my test back and we needed to talk about the "action we need to take based on my results". Rob and I figured that meant I would need to have surgery, and neither were enthused with the idea. Anyway, that is not what the fertility specialists suggested. Winky said that it is not a given that your ovaries take turns ovulating month to month. I could easily ovulate on just one side (perhaps the bad side) which would explain my no babies for a year and a half. So, apparently by taking Clomid, I can force both Ovaries to ovulate at the same time. He warned me of the risk of twins with this drug, but also said that the fact that one tube is blocked, will bring the chance down some. So anyway, I am going to start Clomid next cycle and try that for 3 to 6 months. I have heard Clomid can be no picnic, but I far prefer taking a pill to having surgery any day. So that is that. As for twins? What ever, bring them on! If I had twins, I could have three kids and be done with it. I'm not getting any younger you know.

The Fellowship of the Ring (A Review and an exploration of Emily's Psyche)

Well, I am not sure I am ready to glue hair on my feet, but I kind of liked it!
(That was a reference to Spock ears in case you missed it).
SPOILERS BEWARE
I was sucked in pretty good at the start. Was interested in Frodo getting the ring from Bilbo, then the forming of his Hobbit fellowship, the start of his journey, I liked Bree (yes, I skipped over the songs, thanks for the permission Sue. I probably would have skipped them anyway, but I was saved the guilt), then was happy in the reuniting with Gandolf. Then came Rivendell, that was my interest's demise for about 100 pages or so. The elves and the "Council of Elrond" was very, very, hard for me to get into and follow and care about. I knew while reading, it was information I should pay attention to, and I tried, but I am afraid I took little away from what I had read. I hope I am not messed up because of this later. If so, maybe someone can give me the highlights. The only interest I had during that time was Bilbo peculiar behavior. I don't know if he was weird for a reason that I will find out later or perhaps missed, or if only I found him weird.
The book picked back up again when the troops were back on the road. Given my history of Elves (the Rivendell ones) I was surprised that I found the chapters where they are with the wood elves in Lothlorien probably my favorite part of the book. Then, more journeys and it is done.

Now for some random thoughts, musings and psyche explorations.

-Rob and I briefly lived in (and managed) an apartment complex called "Rivendell". We heard one or two people say something like "someone sure likes the Lord of the Rings" when they heard where we lived. That went over mine and rob's heads. Not anymore! Our Rivendell was a horrid place. Not only was it where I lived through most of my horrible pregnancy, I had to do it whilst living in a place that faced the rear of many greasy fast food places, so stinky waifs of onion ring grease and other things littered the air and I had a hard time walking outside most days (I held my breath A LOT while walking to my car, and walked slowly as not to gag). Not only did I have to walk outside, I had to clean the laundry room (laundry rooms are dirty and stinky places and I had major hangups about that room, having to psych myself out every time I had to enter it for any reason). I also had to pick up garbage around the complex and I don't know about the elves, but our people of Rivendell were slobs and not too proud to throw their bottles of beer off of their balcony after they had drained them. The thing that went through my head while doing this chore over and over was George Castanza yelling, "we are living in a SOCIETY!" NOT my happiest memories.

- I have some weird bigotry of dwarfs. I don't like them. I don't like their looks, their attitude or their demeanor. I wonder if that is what was mostly wrong with the Hobbit? Too many dwarfs.
There are significantly less dwarfs in The Fellowship, but it was whilst reading that book where I discovered my prejudice. I don't know where it comes from. Certainly not their stature, as other little people don't have this effect on me. Who knows.

-I have learned something about myself. I really like magical objects. I read with rapt attention every time a magical object is introduced. Every time the wood elves presented their gifts, I was enamored. I think that is a little of the pull Harry Potter had on me. Those books are silly with exciting magical do dads. They make me giddy and bring out the kid in me as few things can do. This was an interesting thing to realize about myself and I shall explore it further.

-I didn't realize it until half way through this book, but I had a remarkably similar experience with my movie watching as Sue had with the Harry Potter movie. Reading the book rang pretty much no bells with me and I know I sat through the movie. I have a brief memory of Frodo and Gandolf at his house at the beginning with the ring and throwing it in the fire and then of Gandolf falling to his demise and then I remember the credits very well. NOTHING else. I don't remember Dave from Encino Man being Frodos right hand man, I don't remember fairly land, nothing of that at all retained in my brain. Weird.

I think that is all, except that I can't imagine Gandolf is gone forever, that was too soon. Sue couldn't love him so much for his dinky part he has had so far.

My broken Fallopian Tubes?

I heard back from my dr today, and we are going to proceed with the next step in my battles. This will entail having a procedure done at the hospital that is some catheter/xray thing. His next idea is that something is wrong with my fallopian tubes. We know that they were in proper working order at one time, so possibly something happened with my d/c or the molar pregnancy itself did something. He wants to put a catheter up there and inject dye into them to see if there is blockage or sealage. He said that if there is some mung up there (my word, not his), this injection could flush it out. He is considering the possibility that some debris or mucus could have gotten up there and mucked them up. I am going along with it because it will be good to know. But it feels like a long shot to me. The problem is, after this procedure (and if it comes out that my tubes are normal) he has pretty much run out of ideas. That means he would have to hand me over to a fertility specialist. I think he can do the next step, we talked about some lapriscopic surgery on my uterus, to look for damage to my uterus or endometriosis but I don't have any symptoms of that, but who knows. Anyway, those two things sound really expensive and stuff and so if this next step turns out fine, we are not sure where we shall go from there. If we take another step, it isn't going to be soon.
You know, this whole thing just still kind of shocks me. I never considered this as a possibility (infertility), but well here it is, something I am dealing with. Life sure throws weird things at you sometimes. I had my last real emotional breakdown about this about a year ago. Since then I have had a sense of peace about it. I've had an attitude that this is all meant to be and I am not the one controlling it, the one who is in charge knows more then I do. I am not saying I haven't had any sad or why me moments since, but they have been fleeting and my general feeling is one of peace. I so want at least one brother or sister for Scout. I want that for her so much. She even makes up a brother sometimes, and that just puts a little hole in my soul (I think it is the Charlie and Lola influence on her which is the only thing she has wanted to watch for like 3 months. She usually just makes me Charlie and is happy with that.) I am trying to accept everything with faith which can be really hard sometimes! I have had times in my life where with hindsight, I've said, wow! Now I know what that was all about and why that all happened. But while it is going on, particularly something like this, it is hard to understand. But I guess that is the definition of faith.
Allright, thanks for listening. I needed to get that off my chest a little. My doctor is trying to schedule the procedure for either tomorrow or Monday (short notice! Particularly if it's tomorrow) and we will have the results right away (be able to see the dye flow or not), so the next installment of Emily's broken ovaries will be soon. Wish me luck, I'm nervous....

**Update**

I just got back from the hospital, yeah they booked me with an hours notice and had to coordinate Rob getting Scout to preschool and then meeting me at the hospital. It was hectic but worked out well that Scout was in school for the procedure, so Rob could be there with me. Well, we found something out. I have one totally blocked fallopian tube. The other one is fine and my uterus looked good. I am currently waiting a call from my doctor explaining how this will effect me, the doc that did it, didn't explain that part, except that pregnancy should be possible, just harder. From what information I know off hand, ovaries take turns every month releasing eggs, so when it is the munged tubes turn the egg has no chance. But if they do rotate, I should be able to get pregnant when it is clear tube's turn. I don't know what to think that I have given this over a year and a half and still nothing, but we will see what the doctor says. The technician told Rob that there is a surgery that can unblock a tube, but didn't know much about it, or didn't want to say too much, we just need to see what Winky has to say.
I am a touch cheered in a way, as we now have a actual reason behind all this, and I am cheered at one good tube. Yay one good tube! I expect that both ovaries are releasing eggs, as my electronic moniter gives me a little pic of an egg every month, but what do I know?
More in the continuing saga later.......