Ugly Chickens

I went out this morning to check for eggs (there weren't any yet today, or any from yesterday), and it looked like a chicken had exploded. Feathers everywhere! The chickens are molting, and boy are they ugly...

Mobility

The baby has two new tricks. Yesterday he started clapping, and recently he's started scooting to reach things. It's fun to be mobile.

Curbside Recycling in North Salt Lake

Awhile back there was a message from the NSL Mayor about garbage cans being like recycling cans because the garbage in Davis County (except for Bountiful I believe) goes to the burn plant, which sells energy to Hill Airforce Base. I'm glad that the burn plant is able to harness the energy from the garbage. I'm also glad that disposable diapers are not putting fecal material (that's poop) into landfills where it can leach into our water supply untreated.

I think calling garbage cans recycling bins is stretching things a bit though.

There must have been others who agreed with me, because on the NSL Website there is currently a poll asking residents if they are in favor of a 3.35/month utility bill increase for a city wide curbside recycling program. Even more interesting, is that of the the 73 votes (as of 10am this morning) 64 of them were in favor. $3.35 a month would save my family some money, since we signed up with with a private curbside recycling company at a price of $10/month.

I would like to know more about the city program. Who would operate it? Where would the recycled materials go?

I Love You Batman

Today A and I were walking to school to pick up J. A said, "I'm Batman, and you're my boss, because batman has a boss to tell him what to do".

"Okay", I say.

"Hey Boss?"

"What Batman?"

"I love you boss."

"I love you too batman."

Then a few minutes later as we crossed the street, he held my hand and said, "Batman always holds his bosses hand to cross the street".

Later, getting ready for bed, batman became Jeepman (because his batman pj's were dirty, but his jeep pj's were available).

I am a Democrat because I am a Mormon, not in spite of it.

Thanks to Frank for the link to Harry Reid's talk at BYU.

If you haven't read it, take a few minutes to do so.

Harry Reid at BYU

Tasty Lunches

Yesterday a photographer in our ward, along with the bishop, bishop's wife and two nice sisters came over to bring me some treats (and to take a picture of it- it's for enrichment night or something, I can't remember- I heard treat and said okay to the picture).

One of the sisters brought some homemade flan. I'm not a huge fan of flan, but I'm going to try some because it was a gift. The other sister is from Japan, and she brought battered and fried vegetables and a few pot-sticker type things (I think they're fried won tons). I'm having them for lunch. This picture isn't exactly what they looked like, but you get the idea. I ate the fried won tons first, then the vegetable things (what are they called, I'm having a mind blank, even though I just googled for the image!). Some were onions, and some were green beans and carrots in fried little pile-o-vegetable-goodness.

(are you jealous Adam?)

(I just realized I don't have a "food" label. How can that be!)

Hateful Comments and Being Neighbors

As far as local news sources, I prefer the Salt Lake Tribune. I read online, and occasionally check out the Deseret Morning News website, but for the most part, I like the Trib better. By now, I should have learned to stay away from the online comments. It's a guarantee that anytime there is an article that is even remotely related to the LDS church (maybe someone in the article had a cousin's friend's uncle who was a member) the comments that follow are numerous and hateful.

What's the point? If the LDS church bothers someone so much, why would they spend so much time thinking about it?

I know there's a frustrating level of mixing of church and state because so many of our state officials get "carried away" and forget that their positions are to represent the residents of utah, not the members of the church.

Glendon Brown over at One Utah has a really good post about the liquor laws and how mormons and non-mormons talk around and around but never really talk to each other.

It would be really nice if we could start talking to each other instead of at each other. It would also be nice if LDS people could remember that not everyone wants to be preached to, no matter how good the intentions, and if non-LDS people could be content to simply not be a member and not constantly attack the church or it's members for their apparent short-commings. (I realize that not all people fall into the two groups I just listed, but the people that don't aren't the ones causing problems.)

I recently received a new list of Relief Society sisters to visit. There was one sister whom I had never met before, so I stopped by one day and left a plate of cookies since no one was home. I tried again a couple weeks later and her husband answered the door. He was holding a beautiful baby girl, and from what I saw, he looked like a pretty cool guy, about the same age as my husband. There aren't a ton of neighbors our age, so I was happy to see one. Unfortunately he and his wife didn't want to be visited and he yelled at us until we apologized for bothering him and left.

I really didn't mean to bother him. I didn't want to bother him. Perhaps there needs to be a better way of letting people know if someone with records in the church doesn't want to be visited.

I would like to be friends with the family. It seems really sad that because we belong to different churches, that we can't be friends. I really don't like perpetuating the views that LDS people only want to be friends with non-LDS people if they can somehow get a convert out of the deal. I don't care what religion these people are, they're neighbors and it would be nice to be friends.

I just have to get over my fear of getting yelled at again and introduce myself as a neighbor who is not there to convert them, but just to be neighborly, and hope that they listen long enough to hear what I have to say before yelling.

If someone doesn't want to be my friend because they don't like me, that's okay, but I'd like to not be dismissed just because I'm mormon. I'm sure lots of non-mormons feel the same way.

Be on your guard people....

Liberals in Washington are coming after you and your parental choice.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked if I was in favor of vouchers or not. Honestly, I don't think vouchers are going to severely damage our public schools. I do think that the Utah voucher program is seriously flawed. If you claim to want to give parents a choice in education, make sure that the vouchers go to people who because of finances, don't currently have a "choice" not to people who can already afford to send their kids to private schools.

The radio ads that warn us of liberals in Washington make me simultaneously feel like laughing and screaming. They'd be hilarious if I didn't think that way too many people believe them.

Anyway, I told my friend what I thought about vouchers and she said that she felt like the anti-voucher group was telling people what to think instead of presenting reasons and letting people think for themselves. My comment was, "and how are the pro-voucher ads any better?"

So, this election, lets all remember to get past the rhetoric and scare tactics and use our brains when we decide how to vote. Or, if you don't have a brain, borrow mine.

Time goes by way too fast...

Can you believe this onesie was my nephew's? (He's 12 now I think)

Mudrooms

There's an article in the Deseret Morning News today that was kindly emailed to me. It's about mudrooms and how useful they can be. The coolest thing about the article is that it's from the company that my friend's husband (and sister) work at/run (I'm not sure of the specifics there).

Our new house will have a "mud closet" area, our dream home will have a nice mudroom/laundry room.

If you need a mudroom or any other remodeling work done, check out Renovation Design Group.

(It makes me feel famous to know people who are practically famous)

Just Chillin'

CP likes looking outside. He sat for half an hour just looking.

Baby Cereal for the Baby

He's getting big too fast. I've been putting off giving him solid food even though I thought he was ready because I've been enjoying his baby-ness so much.

Today I decided that he really needed more food than he was getting, so I mixed up some cereal and he was a little skeptical at first, but quickly decided it was GOOD, then I couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough.

Toy Recall

It's scary how many toys have been recalled recently. It makes me angry that companies that we trust to provide safe products for children have been so negligent. I don't think any of the recalls affect us, although we might have one thomas train piece that has been recalled- I'm not sure because our train set is packed away currently (I'll print out the recall sheet and tape it to the box), but how do I know that all of the other toys are really safe? Maybe they just haven't been tested.

It's tempting to throw out all toys made in china. I'm going to get rid of all the dollar store type toys that we have, and the name brand things, I'll be watching the CPSC Recall Page for updates.

Funny Pictures of other people's children

These aren't my kids, but most of them very well could be...

Baby Pictures

Here is a recent picture (from about 20 minutes ago) of the baby, and one from the hospital. Since he was so cute, the hospital used us in some nurse training manual they were working on, free professional photos- except they have a random nurse (we'll pretend that's great aunt louisa).

The Quiet

I skipped out on church after the sacrament. It's easy to get up and walk out when you have a baby. Everyone just assumes you're going to feed it or change it's diaper.

I started sneezing last night and thought it was allergies. This morning I woke up with a sinus headache and a horrible sore throat (which still, could be allergies and sleeping all night with my mouth open since I was so congested). I thought I was feeling better, but as soon as we sat down in the chapel I knew I should have stayed home. My nose started dripping and my sinuses were killing me. The only thing I had to wipe my nose on was a baby wash cloth (thank goodness for diaper bags).

I took the baby and walked home.

The house is silent. I've been home alone before and never felt such a stillness. It could be partly that things are empty without the piano and other things we've been moving into storage. It could be that the weather has turned cooler. It could be that my ears are plugged. Or it could be that so many of my neighbors are at church so the energy of people around is much less than normal.

It's kind of a nice feeling, aside from the sick part.

Dinner with Liberals

We had a really nice dinner with Derek and Sara last week. I hope my kids didn't wear them out too much.

It was an unusual, and pleasant feeling to discuss issues with someone more liberal/less conservative than myself. We're planning on another get together soon, possibly to watch Sicko (anyone know when it's coming out on dvd?).

Pictures

People are Cheep

Several weeks ago I posted our range on freecycle. I got one reply, but then the person never came and picked it up. The next week I posted the range on ksl classifieds in the free section. The next day one of our neighbors (from a block over) called about it.

I think I'm quitting freecycle. It irritates me too much. People are always asking for things, sometimes things that are fairly expensive.

Here's a post that came today:

Wanted Bread maker in good condition:
I really wanted one for my wedding, but people are cheep. Needless to
say I didn't get one. I would really like one though. Must be clean,
must work, and must be "newer." If your grandma pasted it down to you,
I don't want it.

This same person also wants a carseat for her baby that is due soon because the one they just got from freecycle "expires soon".

Some people are just cheep I guess. It's too bad really, I think freecycle could be something really great, but I get tired of people asking for so much.

I'll stick to KSL from now on.

Who Knew?

I have a group of "gardening friends". We get together on a discussion forum (The Microherd) and talk about all sorts of things. One of them recently posted about Himself Singing on youtube.

I'm not a big country fan, but it's a nice song. It's funny when you learn that someone you've known for awhile has a secret talent.