Woo hoo for Will!

Just a shout-out for my awesome husband. This is a picture of him almost exactly 1 year ago on our yearly vacation in Missouri.


And this is a picture of him today!

Skinny!

While my battle with weight loss rages on, Will seems to have conquered. From a high of 215 right around the holidays, he has come back down to 180; exactly what he weighed when we got married. That is a grand total of 35 pounds! So yay for Will! You look amazing! (I, though I have lost 10 pounds, am actually still about 10 pounds heavier than I was last year, which has me upset, but whatever.) I hope I catch up to you soon, honey! Love you!

Dancing

I know I just posted yesterday, but I haven't put anything of Chaela up in a while, so here are some pictures and a video. The pictures were taken around the same time as the life jacket one, I just didn't post them. The video was taken Monday, I think.

Hair nubs, inspired by the last time we visited Jana and she put them in Addie's hair.

See that crazy look in her eyes? That's because those are Peeps, the reward reaped by one of her very first climbing expeditions. She reached the top of the table where are Easter baskets were sitting... about a month and a half after Easter. They were empty except for those Peeps.

A small obsession with Sneetches. Or "Snitches," as Chaela would say.

The video is kind of long, but entertaining (of course, I always think Chaela is entertaining).

Alright, the upload didn't work. Check it out on facebook.

Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read this if you don't want to learn a few plot points.

I have seen this movie twice in a row tonight, once with my mom and once with Will. All in all, it's ok, but probably not worth more than a rental from Redbox.
The main character, Rebecca, is silly, but the actress, Isla Fisher, is pretty good. You can tell she's comfortable enough in her own skin to do some really weird/funny things on camera. The male lead, Hugh Dancy (from Ella Enchanted) is not hard to look at, or listen to for that matter. He's also not bad.
The worst part of this movie is the story. First of all, I don't find it believable that two parents who are frugal in the extreme could raise a child with no concept of the value of money. Even if she didn't save as well as they did, something would have been passed on. Also, I'm sorry, but a second-hand sale of all of your clothes could not earn you enough money to completely discharge the debt you got into by buying them in the first place and an extra couple hundred.
The best parts of the movie? By far Joan Cusak as Rebecca's mother and the receptionist at the publishing company, played by a guy I've never heard of named Stephen Guarino. John Goodman and Kristin Scott Thomas aren't too bad either. Basically the supporting cast is great, the main actors are good, and the story sucks. Worth a dollar from Redbox? Yes. Confessions of a Shopaholic is a fun rental for a girls' night in.

Sticky Transportation

Yes it's time for another Halo video. This is another Drive by sticking montage. Enjoy!
Sticky Transportation

"Giveaway" update and a thought

Hello out there! I just wanted to let the people who commented on my "Giveaway" post that I haven't forgotten about them. I'm finished with two of my projects, a tiny bit away from being done with the third, and have started the last two. I won't finish the last ones until I get back from MO at least.

And today I had a thought. Before I got pregnant, and even up until the moment I had Chaela, my main thoughts about having children with Will were, "How amazing will it be to have this little person who is part me and part him." It was a tender thought, and technically true. But what I didn't realize then is that Chaela (and any other babies I might have someday) may owe their genetics to me and Will, but they are themselves, and not a hodge-podge of random parental traits. It's pretty cool. That's all.

Getting Ready for MO!

Hello everyone! Today my mom and I went to Wal-mart to get some stuff, one of which was a life jacket for Chaela for when we go to Missouri over the 4th. See how she loves it?

Yup. The second I put it on her she started shouting "stuck! stuck! off! stuck! off!" Too bad for her, she's going to have to get used to it if she ever wants to set foot outside of my grandma's house (it's right on the lake). Woo hoo! I'm SO EXCITED to go! It's only 12-ish days until we leave!! Let the countdown begin!

Reviews

I feel like sharing my thoughts. Reader beware.

Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini

Let me preface this first review by saying two things: first, I haven't read this whole book. In fact, I am only on page 36 out of 738. Second, I am hardcore PMSing, but trying to self-medicate with a very large, homemade peanut butter-chocolate shake, so I'll try to curb it.

These things said, this book is annoying. It took my mom almost an week and a half to read it, and my mom usually devours books this size in two days or less. I couldn't understand why, and then I picked it up myself, then wanted to put it down after the first sentence. After two weeks of reading an author who has a very straight-forward, story-oriented way of writing, Paolini's ostentatious prose is driving me insane. Here's the first sentence:

"Eragon stared at the dark tower of stone wherein hid the monsters who had murdered his uncle, Garrow."

It may not seem that bad, but to me it was (PMSing). He had me about to "Eragon stared..." and really lost me at "wherein." He spends the entire next paragraph describing the hill he's laying on in excruciating detail, and within ten seconds of opening this book, I found myself saying, "Wow, I don't care about that. Or that. Or that." You don't get to the actual reason he's on the hill until page six. Obviously Paolini has a high opinion of what he writes, or there wouldn't be so much utterly unnecessary blabbing. From these 36 pages I gather that this whole story (which, in the author's defense, my mother says is very good) could have been told in 400 pages or less. Not only that, but the way he writes keeps you from immersing yourself totally in the book or the characters; it's too alien. The worst part? Paolini's got great ideas, he doesn't need all that absurdly inflated crap!

I'm seriously thinking about looking up a synopsis and letting someone else do the dirty work of actually reading it for me.

Sarah, by Orson Scott Card

If you are a religious person, especially a woman, I highly recommend reading Sarah, the first book in Card's Women of Genesis series. It put her entire story in perspective for me, and forced me to think about things I never had before. For example, could you ever willingly allow your husband to sleep with another woman? Add to that the intent to get her pregnant. Could you? Heck no, not me. But if you believe that God has commanded your husband to have children and you know that you can't, what then? Does knowing that is must happen take away the pain? Anyways, that's one of the major issues, but not the only one. For all he's a guy, I thought Card did a pretty good job of getting into a woman's head.

His writing style is refreshing, simple, and never, ever do his words get in the way of the story. And Card is Mormon, so it's kind of cool to read and pick out themes that are obviously LDS. I loved this book.

The Bachelorette

The show is getting a little boring for me, even though I am so glad she gave that break dancing instructor (can't remember his name... Eric?) a rose on their date. I really like him. And I would also like to frolic on a glacier. Can you imagine how fun it would be to go on all these dates with someone you were already in a relationship with! I want to do that kind of stuff with Will!

But something not cool about the Bachelor/Bachelorette is the nasty promiscuous things people do on that show. They basically set it up so that someone with morals could never hope to win, which makes me sad and frustrated at the same time. Which reminds me, has anyone noticed the number of reality shows based on gorgeous but stupid girls? Yup, that sets up an awesome precedent for the world my daughter will be growing up in. I just hope I can teach her self-worth based on her whole self, and not just her body.

Here Come the Newlyweds

Can I just say that I love this show?! Ok, so reality T.V. is dumb, but watching how real couples deal with their relationships under whatever circumstances is really cool. This show probably appeals to me because of where I am in my life, but it's also funny, and it starts a lot of conversations between Will and I. Too bad we've been married too long to go on it, it'll be three years in October, woo hoo!

Quiet time

You know how sometimes the baby starts to wake up from her nap, then settles back down to sleep again? Ah, peace. And sleeping baby. Nothing is sweeter.

Until she lets out a scream that leaves you clinging to the ceiling and practically blows the speakers on the baby monitor.

Sigh.

Goings On

The coolest thing that's happened to us recently is that Will is finally going to start school. Yup, he's going to do Devry Online; he can get his whole Bachelor's degree in two and a half years without ever setting foot on a campus. Or outside the house, for that matter. His degree will be in Video Game and Simulation Programming. I'm pretty excited. The first semester he's just going to do part-time, but if it works out he's going to go to full-time. Woo hoo!

The other awesome thing was the birth of my niece, Macie Eva! Will's brother Jason and his wife Jana had their second baby girl on Friday, and she's so cute! They don't know this, but they used the middle name we were going to if our next one was a girl (there is no next one yet, so don't freak out). Crazy! I'll probably still use it, though (or Eve, depending on the first name); I think it's fine for cousins to have the same middle name. There are four people with the middle name Elizabeth on my dad's side of the family, counting my Grandma Margaret Elizabeth, the original.

Not much else to say. My mom left for Girls' Camp today, so I'm alone with Chaela and three men for the week. We'll see how that goes. Apparently I'm expected to feed them. I didn't watch the Bachelorette this week, even though after the response my last post got I feel like I should do a weekly synopsis/review! Ha ha.

I DID watch "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" and mostly enjoyed it. There was a challenge where they had to eat gross food to see who would be the new camp leader. One of the items was bull testicles. Seriously? Hasn't Fear Factor done that a million times? And I'm getting tired of the bickering and contention that happens on reality T.V., brought to IACGMOOH (when the acronym is that long, it's time for a new title) by Janice Dickinson, former supermodel. She is annoying. That's why I think the best shows are ones like "Dancing with the Stars" where celebrities don't interact with each other or talk much.

All the Wrong Reasons

Alright, my addiction to reality TV continues. Now it's "The Bachelorette," and let me just say, I like her, but I think she's going about finding the one in completely the wrong way. Let me explain why.

First of all, she's letting herself be taken in by all of the cheesy romantic stuff that some of the more smarmy guys are coming up with. One of them is an aspiring country singer, and he wrote her a song. Cute, yes, and enough to make a lot of girls starry eyed. However, earlier in the day that guy had taken her aside and said some things to her that sounded like "hey, I know there are 15 other guys here, but you're mine, don't cheat on me." Red flag? Yes. But Jillian (the Bachelorette) is too busy swooning over his crooning (ha ha, I'm so clever) that she doesn't see that. In fact, she likes that he's jealous, which is not cool.

Secondly, she sent home a great, successful, family-oriented guy because "he'd never been hurt before." Really? Why would that have any bearing on his relationship with her?! It's exasperating to watch. She's my age, and, watching her, I can see why people think that 21 is too young to get married when 24-year-old women are choosing potential husbands based on such immature criteria.

But like I said, I like Jillian, I've been charmed by losers before. In fact, all of you who were there to witness my life from age 18-21 know that I was a complete idiot when it came which guys were relationship-worthy (my only qualification was that they be interested in me). However, when I found a good man I jumped on him (can you say 4 months), because I recognized how amazing he was. This girl is sending home the good guys and keeping the shady ones!

And who is casting these guys? I swear the one from Dayton is going to snap and kill someone. So of course she kept him around, cause she's such a great judge of character. Also, keeping the guy with the weirdo foot fetish... gross.