sleepwalking

Actually, I don't really sleepwalk so much as I talk, mumble and do slightly odd things. Last week Paul informed me that he woke up in the middle of the night to me giving him a wet willy....technically I believe it was a dry willy because upon questioning Paul revealed that my finger was not actually wet. Still, kind of weird. I wish I could remember what made me feel like sticking my finger in Paul's ear at three in the morning......I kind of like that I am programmed to be playing pranks on him even in my sleep. I'd like to thank my little brothers, who probably had a lot to do with this.

happy halloween

This weekend, we rented a car and loaded up at Costco and Stew Leonard's.....ahhh, the bliss of bulk grocery shopping. I got an economy size wedge of Gouda cheese, which I would like to cradle lovingly and nibble at constantly, but even in New York I think that might be viewed as strange....also, the city is so dirty that it would be impossible to keep my lovely cheese wedge clean...anyhow. The weekend. We loaded up on groceries, and Paul indulged my hankering to pick out a pumpkin, and I think I got the best one!! (Obscure movie reference: Raising Arizona) On Sunday afternoon, we took a drive to....I'm not really sure where. I think Nyack. All I know is that there was a lake, and really pretty trees. And ducks and geese and swans. Oooh, and deer! We were walking around a nearby cemetery, and all of a sudden like 50 deer came running past me! Okay, really it was like five. They were really close, though!! Side note: when my youngest brother John was quite small, we were at Yellowstone, and he saw some deer, and said "My real deers won't let me pet them. They make me so mad!!" How cute is that? So, when the real deer ran past me, it was quite difficult to not laugh, or to see if they would let me pet them. I didn't, though. On Monday night we carved our pumpkin, and quite an enjoyable time was had, let me tell you!! Paul even let me carve a few things. (He gets really nervous seeing me with a knife or scissors. I don't know why. I'm completely trustworthy.) After finishing, we were so proud of our work that we had a little photo shoot with our pumpkin, who I have named Mose. (runner up name: Malachi.) We tried to make the eyebrows look angry, but really it made it look kind of like an evil bunny, so it's our evil bunny pumpkin, named Mose.

pretty lake

pretty trees
my real deer
the evil bunny pumpkin, Mose
Mose watching Heroes with us

please make me laugh

So, today someone asked me when Paul and I were going to have a baby. I love this question because it implies that I have some sort of control over this. I say, "Hopefully soon...", which is my answer for publication, and then she tells me to relax, because then it will happen. She tells me that she waited a long time to have her second baby, and this worked for her. "How long did it take you?" I ask, and she says "four months." Hmmmm. I don't like to minimize someone else's problems, because obviously to her, this is a long time. Since I don't feel like telling her that I've been trying for four years, I say "Wow, okay, yeah..." and then she spends five more minutes explaining to me exactly what I need to do, and how I need to relax, and that I'll get pregnant in the next two months. I felt slightly annoyed afterwards, which I felt bad about because she's really very sweet, and only meant to help, which led me to wanting nothing more than a very large gooey brownie with some milk. (I medicate with food.) So, now I'm thinking, how can I laugh about this? How can I make this funny, so I'm not annoyed? A very large gooey brownie with milk is certainly very therapeutic, but not terribly funny. Unless the brownie could tell a joke before being consumed. I think normally they say you should picture someone in their underwear, but I don't think that applies to this situation....

strawberry cake/awesome mom

Today in Sunday School, we were discussing the Holy Ghost, and why we need it, how we can recognize it, how it helps us, etc. A friend shared a story that I really loved, about one of her friends, who had two small children, and was throwing a fairly large dinner party. She hauled her kids to the store and load up on groceries, including a strawberry cake, and when they arrived home, the children asked if they could carry the cake into the house. She was fairly frenzied trying to manage getting all the groceries out and told them yes, but to be sure not to drop it. She looked over as her children were carrying the cake, and reminded them again to please not drop it, and then.....they dropped it, and it splattered onto the pavement. She told her children not to move, and she ran into the house, while her children awaited what they were sure would be horrible punishment. She came out with one hand behind her back, approached her children, and pulled out....three forks. Everything stopped, and they sat on the sidewalk and ate the strawberry cake. I really enjoyed this story for a few reasons, first because I love how the Holy Ghost can help us be the best version of ourselves, second because I really, REALLY want to be able to handle stressful situations like this when I'm a mother, and last, because this is a huge reminder to me that in order to be able to do that, I'd better work on it now. My patience has been wearing thin lately, and I feel like I haven't been as kind or easy-going as I like to be......but this made me want to try to be better! Also, it made me want cake.....

Dumbeldore is gay???

So, last night my sister in law (who is in general quite awesome) took me to see JK Rowling at Carnegie Hall. She won a sweepstakes, and got to take a guest, and I was the luckylucky tagalong.....yesssss. So, we joined 2,000+ people and sat in awe as she read an excerpt from Deathly Hallows, and following the reading, she answered questions. One very cute and emotional teenage girl ("I'd like to thank you, JK Rowling, for being such an inspiration to me, I'm a teenage girl and I've got a lot of angst and I'm pretty mad at the world but your books make me less crazy..." okay, I'm embellishing, but you get the idea.) got up and asked if Dumbeldore ever found love and got married. And then JK Rowling said......that she always thought of Dumbeldore as being gay. ????!!!! May I repeat, ????!!!! What do you think about that?? My mind is reeling.....Ryanne said that she'd always suspected it. I did think there was something slightly odd about the intensity of the friendship with Grindelwald.....so now I have a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and a lot to think about.....so, my fellow Harry Potter fans, I'd like to know what you think.....

how to not eat vegetables

Today a friend asked me how I got out of eating vegetables as a kid. I paused, and reflected on my many years spent trying to avoid my greatest enemy. So, in case you don't like vegetables and you need some strategy, or if you're a parent and need some insider information, here you go:

1. Hide them behind the couch. I know, sounds a little out there, but I was four, okay? It seemed to be working fine. I'd tell Dad that if he just closed his eyes I'd eat them, and then I'd go and poke them behind the sofa. This worked great until he opened his eyes while I was in mid-poke. Also, I am a terrible liar, so when he asked me what I was doing, I told him..."umm, I lost something...." Great, Andrea, just great. He was, of course, nice enough to help me look, and pulled the couch away from the wall to reveal a nice little line of peas, carrots and green beans.

2. Toss them underneath your brother's chair. This method requires a little more cunning, stealth and strategy. I think I was in the 8-10 year old range when I employed this technique. You start out eating kind of leisurely, right? Like this is just the greatest dinner, and why rush? And hey, these peas are just so lovely I think I'll save them for last. So, while you share amusing anecdotes from recess and talk about what's happening in Ramona Forever, you casually toss a couple of peas under your brother's chair. Not all of them, just a couple. Stealth, remember? If mom sees a pile of peas under your brother's chair she's totally going to get wise. So, just a couple. Then, start over again, this time tossing them under your other brother's chair. Keep going with as many siblings as you've got, occasionally tossing some really far, like next to the sink. This way, mom thinks, "hmmmm. Some peas must have accidentally fallen on the floor while being served." This worked for a couple of years, until mom's eagle eyes caught me in the middle of a yawn -turned veggie toss.

3. Cut them up really tiny and swallow them with milk. It's time to admit defeat. You've used up all your brilliant ideas, you've tossed and poked and tried hiding them under your mashed potatoes, and now you're caught. You put up a valiant fight, my friend. Even in failure, remember you had a few good years! This was a really decent run, but unfortunately this is the last stop for you. As you sit in front of your plate, all of your yummy food gone, don't lose hope completely. Just cut up those veggies really really teeny and swallow them like pills! You can't even taste them that way, and it's a little rebellious, you know? Kind of revolutionary. Like you're saying "yeah, maybe you can make me eat vegetables, but you'll never make me chew them!!!" (it sounded a lot more inspirational in my head.)

Last, and this has absolutely nothing to do with the above topic, I am an ice cream tunneler. If eating ice cream that has some sort of cookie or swirl or mix-in, I simply must dig it all out before eating the surrounding ice cream. I realized this has perhaps gotten a little out of hand just this evening, when standing with a spoon in front of a half gallon of Turkey Hill Graham Slam. It has this really tasty graham cracker swirl, and when I dug in I totally hit a mother lode of graham-y yumminess. So, I kept digging, and digging, and now there is a perfect hole going all the way down to the bottom of the carton. Now, normally I would just work my way around to even it all out, digging in a couple of other spots so my work would not be so noticeable, but this time to even it out I would have had to eat just about the whole carton, so I opted not to, and while I do feel pleased with my restraint, I'm faced with the knowledge that I am a chronic ice cream tunneler.

Flight of the Conchords- Business Time

May turned me on (no pun intended) to Flight of the Concords, and I am basking in the hillariousness. Warning: This video may make you want to get down to "business". All you'll need is one baggy T-shirt, and a pair of business socks....