Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a hectic one. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with several of our friends. There was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato soufflé, stuffing, gravy, and several different types of pie. It was a lot of fun. Sadly tough Susan got the stomach flu that night. At first we thought it was some sort of food poisoning, but apparently several of our friends had the same thing this week. She is fine now, and neither I not Alice caught it, but we decided to cancel our trip to Columbus OH to visit some friends there. Alice was very disappointed, because we usually get "special drink" a.k.a slushy when we go on a long trip, and she really likes to play with her friends. So instead we rented a movie, popped some corn, and I got a special drink at the store for us to share.

On Saturday we went to a wedding, which was also a lot of fun. But this wedding has a bit of a story associated with it. My calling at church is to help the missionaries in the area. The couple getting married were doing it so that they could get baptized, but it was planned in about 1 weeks worth of time. It was so hectic because they wanted to have one of the missionaries that taught them there, and it was his last week on a mission. In fact he had been transfered to another area about a month ago, and was ale to come back with the mission president for the wedding. It was very nice.

A weekend with Julia

As Bobby mentioned in his "Sunday Summary", I took a trip to Milwaukee this weekend to help celebrate my friend's birthday. I arrived solo Friday night feeling fancy-free and strangely homesick...already?! I think this pregnancy is stunting my desire for adventure ;) Anyway, it was 10:30 at night but we decided to go grocery shopping. Julia had invited 10 friends to her house the next afternoon for a fancy English tea party. We must be ready!

We picked up a heap of ingredients and went home to bed. I got to sleep in for the first time in many, many years. What a treat! Then Julia and I got to work in the kitchen preparing a sumptuous feast of teeny finger sandwiches, scones, and other delicacies. Here's what I remember from the menu:

Mint cucumber sandwiches
Dill cucumber sandwiches
Smoked turkey and homemade cranberry sauce sandwiches
Roast beef and homemade apricot chutney sandwiches
Crumpets (a lucky find at the grocery store)
Pumpkin scones
Chocolate chip scones
Orange cranberry scones
(served with clotted cream...kinda like a mildly sweet, slightly sour whipped cream)
Pumpkin cake (cream cheese frosting built in!)
Vanilla cream puffs
Herbal teas and a variety of cocoa were also served

Julia donned her fancy Jane Austen-style dress and poured out for all. She had worked hard on the spread, too, which was beautiful. I loved meeting her witty and welcoming friends. Julia received a few presents that we all swooned over: a picture frame with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (A&E Pride and Prejudice mini series), a picture frame with the "new" Dr. Who (I have yet to experience this series), and a huge volume of "Miss Manners" letters. There was plenty of laughter and conversation to fill the afternoon!

Julia and I were both exhausted after the party. So much work! So much fun! We just crashed on the couch and munched on Belly Flops (another thoughtful birthday gift!), chatting, until it was time to dress for the opera that night. Julia had made a perfectly creamy and heartwarming butternut squash soup earlier that day so we could eat and run as necessary. We packed some pumpkin cake in her purse just in case we got the munchies between acts.

On our way to the opera, we stopped at a Trader Joe's grocery. I had never been to TJ's, but it had been recommended again and again to me by several friends. Julia was curious to check it out, too. I was amazed at the funky variety of products and the excellent prices. We wandered every aisle, tasted free samples, and picked up a few souvenirs. I purchased a large wedge of St. Andre (a super-mild stinky cheese from France that brought back fond memories of trips to Liberty Heights in SLC with my sister, Heidi), a wedge of domestic gruyere cheese, a small peppered salami, and 2 pounds of dry wild rice. Wild rice is hard to find by itself in C-U. Now that I can make delicious artisan bread in 5 minutes a day ;) (thanks, Ashley, for the recommendation), stinky cheese may become a regular inhabitant of my home.

The opera itself was lackluster. I had SUCH high hopes, since Tosca has been my favorite tragedy ever since I first saw it in Salt Lake City. I just couldn't get into the story this time. The characters were less lovable and more absurd. The sets on stage were minimal, at best, and the tower she was supposed to leap from was nothing but a staircase. Disappointing!

Julia and I got home late and went straight to bed. I got to sleep in AGAIN! *sigh* what a great treat. We ate scones for breakfast and then settled down to watch the new "Emma" mini series (4 episodes). It finished just in time for me to shower and pack and rush to Julia's church. We were only a few minutes late :) Church was deathly silent, and I didn't have a 2-year-old climbing all over me, so I got to listen pretty well. Messages on gratitude. After the first hour of church, Julia and I said our goodbyes and she led me to the freeway home.

It's a 4.5 hour drive home. I had a lot of time to surf the radio and think. I was in the mood for more church, though, so I settled on the preaching stations whenever there was one available. Messages on mercy, hypocrisy, gratitude, and resisting temptation rattled around in my brain all the way home. I wondered why I was so willing to listen to 4 hours of sermons on the radio when I always have a hard time mustering any interest in Ensign articles or 'extracurricular' broadcasts. I think it's related to the amount of personal responsibility I feel in response to the message...messages coming from my own faith, I feel a greater responsibility. Messages from other faiths just don't use the vocabulary words that actually prick my conscience (i.e. Visiting Teaching, regular personal scripture study, meaningful personal prayer, every member a missionary, etc.). Even without the pricking vocabulary, I managed to come home with a renewed determination to get more out of my scripture study.

Overall, a lovely weekend. Julia and I will be getting together again in a couple weeks to see the Lyric Opera of Chicago's rendition of "The Merry Widow." It's a comedy. That's the last of my operatic adventures for a while and the finishing touch to my 30th Year Celebrations. Now to plan my 40th Year Celebrations!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been just a bit stressful. This is mostly because Susan has been out of town visiting a friend, and I have been a single parent since Friday evening. Alice has been an angle, but it is still a lot of work to take care of her, and what not. I am very happy that Susan will be home this evening. The reset of the week has been somewhat routine. Lots of work, a small reorganization. No one got laid off, but a few things switched around, and now my team is larger then it was before, which is a good oman.

Pictures!

I finally recharged the batteries for my camera :) so I've been taking pictures the last few days. Here are my favorites:



Alice composed this face out of fridge magnets and stickers. She tells me he's a smiling guy with eyebrows (celery and armadillos) and his arms up in the air (yellow wheat stickers).

Alice showing off her new "big girl" bed. She loooooves it. Moments after setting it up, she was rolling around on top gushing about how fun and "boo-ful" her new bed was when she rolled right off the bottom edge. Stunned, but still smiling, she got back on top and rolled around a little more conservatively. She slept really well in it the first night. It looks like she's a mobile sleeper, though, when given the space to roll. We may need to install a couple guard rails. As for the ski cap, sometimes she wears it to bed when she's feeling particularly cold.

I was cleaning out under my bed yesterday when Alice and I rediscovered Bobby's balloon-animal-making supplies. Didn't know he could make balloon animals, did'ya? The balloons were old and sticky (12 years old, I think?), but Bobby managed to make Alice a little doggie and a hat. Alice and I were dinking around with the balloons again this afternoon. I created a strange little circle and she immediately proclaimed it her "gyasses for yooking in duh oh-shin" and she crawled around the living room floor "yooking" at things.

Slaughtering Chickens...lessons on the reality

I just finished a "Raising Chickens for Meat" course offered by my local co-op. I signed up for the series so that I could 1) face the reality of my chicken-eating lifestyle and 2) assess the as-yet-unplanned potential for raising my own chickens someday.

The first session was "meet the chicks" where we literally stood around in the instructor's garage talking about the 35 cheeping puffballs running around in his make-shift incubator (i.e. cardboard boxes, tape, straw, a couple of light bulbs, and a water bowl). Five weeks later, we learned about how to take care of the adolescent birds as we examined another make-shift pen in our instructor's backyard (i.e. net for fence, cold frame on its side for shelter, lots of straw, and a woodpile to climb on).

Yesterday was the third and final session: day of harvest. The birds were only 12 weeks old, not even sexually mature, but ready to process into a freezer full of tender chicken that will feed our instructor's family of four for a whole year. I came to this final session with visions of blood spatters and headless chickens running around. The instructor told us to wear rubber boots, if we had them, so I was gearing up for ankle-deep piles of guts and feathers. Turns out, I was COMPLETELY wrong about the whole process.

I did not perform any of the steps myself this time (i.e. blood-letting, scalding, removing head and feet, plucking, eviscerating). I was concerned about my pregnancy and the possibility of contracting some chicken gut or blood disease. I don't actually KNOW of any specific disease that I could have contracted from slaughtering chickens (organic, brilliantly healthy, bloodless chickens at that!), but I chose to be cautious. Here's what I thought:

• It was surprisingly clean, quiet, and efficient. Because of the instructor's particular way of bleeding the birds, they did not appear to suffer. They made no noise. No struggle. It was eerily quiet and simple to kill a chicken. There weren't as many guts as I thought there would be, either, and there was certainly NO blood after the first step. The process was logical and simple. Everyone in the class was capable of each step after only a couple of pointers.
  
• The instructor and the class members were very mature about each step. Not somber, per se, but there was a certain respect for the animals. It was an environment for learning, too, as we discussed why things were done a certain way.
  
• It was a striking example of moderation. The instructor raises 30-35 broiler chickens for the WHOLE year. That is one chicken every week and a half or so for his growing family and that's essentially the only meat they eat. The slaughter was not excessive by any means.
  
• It was a lot of work. I was reminded of all the work that goes into planting, growing, harvesting, and processing the produce from my garden. The hardest work is at the end when you are already tired of looking at the stuff. It's a fulfilling kind of work, though. Pain with a purpose.
  
• There's a lot of "waste" in processing a chicken, though not as much as I had imagined: feathers, heads, feet, internal organs, and blood for 35 chickens adds up to about three 5-gallon buckets of waste. You also throw out bones and skin after cooking the meat. Our instructor composts all the waste on his own urban property with little to no smell...he's a pro.
  

So, can I raise chickens for meat? Yes. I am convinced that it is something I am capable of. Even the yucky disposal of undesirable pieces. Even on this teeny bit of land we've got now in this exact neighborhood we live in. It can be done!

Do I WANT to raise chickens for meat? That's less certain. It's a relatively short time commitment (12 weeks total compared to 6 months before a laying hen will lay, then maintaining the hen for a couple years until she stops laying) but I get the feeling that I would be doing it all by myself. Bobby is awfully supportive, but he's not a saint :) Anyone else interested in learning this new skill with me?

I sure love the IDEA of 35 ready-to-eat, free-range, organically-raised, humanely-treated, antibiotic- and hormone-free, locally-raised chickens hanging out in my freezer. Especially since they can be produced for only $2 a pound (dressed) instead of $4-5 a pound from another producer. I will need at least 2 more reasons to pursue this seriously, though, since cost savings will only motivate me so far.

All in all, it was a very helpful class. I haven't dismissed the possibility of raising chickens for meat just yet, but it will need much more consideration.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This has felt like a busy week, although Susan tends to be the one with the most busy schedule. On monday we had a friend over for a small birthday dinner and Family Home Evening. It was nothing too spectacular, but it was fun. Tuesday, Wednesday, ad Thursday were all fairly normal. Then on Friday we had the ultrasound and got our first look at "Zurg Rex", it was a Friday the 13th so it may have just been the date that made the pictures so difficult to get. With Alice she was on her side so we got a wonderful profile of her sucking on her hand. Friday evening was a baptism, so I had to run over to the church after work to fill up the font. It was a very nice baptism. The brother getting baptized does not speak much English so we had almost the entire meeting in Spanish. It was a bit interesting to hear almost everyone in the ward that speaks Spanish either pray or give a talk or something. I understood a fair amount of it, I guess my Portuguese is not that rusty after all.

Yesterday was a very busy day, but it was nice that I was able to spend most of it with Susan and Alice. Nothing too spectacular happened yesterday. We raked the leaves, went grocery shopping, went to the library and cleaned the church. But, it was still a very full day. While we were bagging leaves Alice wanted to help us smash the leaves in the bags so more would fit, and then she decided to just stay in one of them and color on the side of the bag with her sidewalk chalk.

It's a...

Human? This was the "best" shot of the baby's face the technician could get. Of course, our sweet little man was not exactly forthcoming...all balled up and wiggly at the same time. A boy! Alice was not surprised at the news, but she quickly informed me that the baby in HER tummy was a girl. I asked her what we should name him and she suggested "Susan." Bobby and I were thinking "Zurg Rex" was more appropriate considering the above photo (thanks to Joshua G. for the name suggestion, by the way).

Honestly, I'm struggling NOT to cram this boy into the "boy stereotype" box in my brain: noisy, destructive, physically aggressive, and disobedient with gusto. The funny thing is, most boys I know (and have ever known) do NOT fit that stereotype, and yet it remains.

After the ultrasound, we met with one of the midwives. He confirmed that everything important was in place and the baby was doing well. I asked about the possibility of an early labor again. Turns out, it only counts as early labor if it starts with contractions, not your water breaking. Shucks. Maybe this kid really will be born in April. Hm.

Bobby and I took our "Skelator" photos back to the car with us and started home when we noticed the car didn't sound right. We pulled off and discovered a very flat tire. Just 20 minutes later, we were driving home on our teeny donut spare and realized it was flat, too. A gas station was right there, so we filled up with air and prayed we would get to a tire shop in time. The spare held up just fine and we decided to go pick up Alice and share the good news with her. She was staying with her friends, and my friend, so I stuck around to enjoy a long chat with my friend about these crazy mixed feelings. I kept wondering WHY the gender thing seemed to matter so much. Why did I feel like curling up somewhere quiet and thinking about the news for hours? Why was this news something that I had to process and ponder when the news about Alice's gender was surprisingly easy to accept? I think it stems from that crazy "boy stereotype" of mine...like I will have to be a different mommy to each child.

But that's not all. My feelings are also complicated by the fact that I already have a vibrant and active little girl that I love dearly. The larger, and more pressing, issue is how another child will change what I already know and love about being Alice's mom. Alice and I headed to the tire place to get the flat fixed. They said it would take half an hour so we walked over to Culver's for a quick lunch. I held Alice's hand as we crossed the parking lot. She was chattering away about what she was smelling and how many cars there were and the mess of ketchup someone had left in the parking lot when the strangest thought crossed my mind, "This is one of the last times that it'll be just me and Alice." That thought makes no sense, and it's totally untrue, and yet I could hardly keep myself from crying. I'm mourning as if she's going to be taken away from me as soon as the next baby materializes. That's not true, of course, but the feeling is in there deep and I can't shake it off as easily now that the baby has a gender...and a face, of sorts :)

It turns out there was nothing wrong with the tire. No puncture, no valve leak. The tire pros couldn't find any reason why it went flat when it did. Funny, huh? I was completely relieved at the news. When we got back into the car, I happened to glance over at our ultrasound pictures again. I was struck with a fresh relief, a new thought, "Hey, maybe this mom-of-two thing isn't actually a problem that needs to be fixed. Maybe it'll be okay after all."

Now to think about boy names...

Communication difficulties

Our internet access and phone have been out of service the last couple days. Comcast manages both of those for us. Service has been spotty recently, thanks to a curious squirrel chewing through one of the lines, but I was told that issue was resolved. Hmmm. Perhaps a pack of the squirrel's buddies are out for revenge? There's no telling how our phone and internet service will be working this week, so please call Bobby's cell if there's an emergency. Thanks!

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week has been a fun one, mostly.  The week itself was fairly normal, but Saturday was a very busy day.  Susan had to work in the family history center in the morning, so Alice and I spent the morning playing and going to the store.  We bought some food for a special dinner.  We had to watch some kids that evening, and when that was all done we went out for a date.  Unfortunetly there wasn't much time left and we were exausted so we just went home to watch a movie.  Sadly our internet was down so it had to be a video we already owned. It was actually a lot of fun.

North Carolina

I almost ended up in North Carolina. Back in 2002, I was looking for grad schools to apply to that had strong nutrition programs. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was in my "top five" list. Little did I know at the time that North Carolina would become such an interesting and important place to me at this point in my life...or, uh, my hobby.

Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about family history again. Several of my requests for information from the North Carolina State Archives have borne exciting (dare I say titillating?) tidbits of information that advance my understanding of these people. One of my people was being sued for slander and false arrest. Others were squabbling over land. One little girl inherited huge amounts of property from both of her wealthy and well-respected grandfathers. All of these incidents turn boring old names and dates into REAL people. My people.

Before I was asked to be the director of our local family history center, I didn't much care for the family history scene. Now I wonder if I'll ever be able to give it up :)

Bobby's Sunday Summary

This week was a Halloween extravaganza. Unfortunately I was not there for all of it, but Alice was and that is what is important. On Friday Alice went to a Halloween parade and an assisted living facility. Sadly the management there was a little bit too concerned about swine flew to let the people living there actually hand out candy to the kids, so instead Alice and many other kids marched through the common areas showing off their costumes, and afterwards got a bag of candy for her troubles. That night we had our church's Halloween party. It involved a chili cook off, games for the kids including pumpkin bowling, and a trunk or treating.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, our camera is dead, and my phone is really bad a movement, like I said before.

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party instead of going trick or treating. We figured that Alice had enough candy already. It was a lot of fun. We had home made pizza, candy, and games. Alice had a difficult time, because she was up past her bedtime, but she also had lots and lots of fun. I would like to post the pictures of me as cousin it, and our family in a bunch of silly wigs, but those will have to wait until they arrive by e-mail. Overall it was a very fun halloween.