An Exam, a Marriage and a Misnomer

Last week was interesting... to say the least. But it ended on a high note. Thursday, Chris left to take the P.E. exam in Casper. He took said exam on Friday while Jane made her first out of state trip to Brian (Chris' brother) and Virginia's wedding rehearsal in Fort Collins. Emily practiced her flower girl duties and Jane practiced being good.

Chris got back late Friday night (If you ask him how he did on the exam, you will get a very non-committal answer) and we caught a few hours sleep before we had to get the girls and ourselves all prettied up and made a very snowy return trip to Fort Collins.

The wedding was beautiful but very, very cold.

Chris was a very dapper best man. (don't worry, folks - it's sparkling cider.)

Emily was outstanding as the flower girl. (Pictured here with the ringbearer moments before the wedding)

Brian and Virginia made a striking couple.

And Jane screamed so loudly and resolutely, you'd think she was being paid for it.

And that is why I have no pictures of the actual wedding. Jane and I had to watch the outdoor wedding from the windows of the bed and breakfast at the location.

Just for laughs: Here is the only existing picture of me at the wedding:

I told Chris I look like I'm about to kill someone and Chris responded with, "You always look like you're about to kill someone". Thus answering the question,"How long do you have to be married before you're totally honest with your spouse?" Answer: 8 years.

But, really, it was a great time. Emily was the life of the party, regaling the guests with her superior dancing techniques.

The cherry on top was this awesome sign I saw on the way into town. I am still laughing.

Congratulations, Brian and Virginia. May you have as happy and honest a marriage as Chris and I do.

Open Mouth... Insert Foot

I say stupid things. Lots and lots of stupid things. As a matter of fact, if anyone asked me if I had a special talent I would tell them that I am gifted with verbal slip-ups. Today I made one such slip-up and it got me to thinking about some of my more memorable ones.

My favorite is the Date Auction incident of my Freshman year. Those of you who heard this particular Freudian slip, may remember it. Unfortunately it is a story I can't repeat here because the subject of the slip is still unaware of it and you never know who's reading.

My most disastrous slip occurred when I was teaching the Easter sharing time in primary. One particularly mouthy little girl asked why we couldn't learn about Jesus and the Easter Bunny. I told her it was because Jesus was real and the Easter Bunny wasn't. I didn't realize I had said anything out of line until I saw all the little crestfallen faces. Before you think I'm a total jerk, keep in mind it was senior primary, meaning there was no one under 8 in the room.

This Easter, I was praying over breakfast. Emily wouldn't stop playing with the toy rabbit she had received in her basket. So I inadvertently prayed that the food would nourish and strengthen our bunnies. I'm pretty sure that prayer just got canceled out.

That brings me to today. I ran into a girl I knew in high school while we were at the park. She recognized me right away, but it took a minute for me to remember her. Finally, I said, "Oh. I know you. You married James Potter. I used to work with him". I went on to tell her about how I took the P.E. exam with James. We talked for a bit about our kids and then it was time for us to go home. I called Chris at lunch and told him I ran into James Potter's wife.

"You mean Jason?"
"No, James. I'm sure of it. She didn't correct me and I said his name several times".
Chris looks his name up on the roster of his coworkers, "No. It's Jason".
"I could have sworn it was James".

Then it hit me. It couldn't have been James Potter because James was married to Lily. He was also killed by Voldemort thirty years ago. At least I didn't call him Dobby.

Just Answer the Question

Last night I got a phone call from a company doing a survey for the state health department. The questions regarded how my lifestyle affected my health. Since this is about the tenth phone call I have recieved from them, I finally decided to give in and take the survey in order to stop the calls.

The first half of the survey went well. It had to do with physical health. I let the woman administering the survey that I did not smoke or drink and that I worked out regularly. Just as I was congratulating myself on my excellent health practices, we moved on to the mental health portion. I was moving right along until we go to the question, "How often do you find that normal daily activities seem excessively difficult?". I began to laugh. This question wasn't formulated by someone with small children.

Anyone who would ask this question has never shopped for groceries with a screaming infant strapped to her chest and a toddler trying to open every box and package in the cart. She (or he) has never dressed kid one, kid two and found there was no energy or time to prepare herself for the day. She has never fed kid one, kid two and then ran out of steam to do anything but grab a pop tart for herself. She has never had to orchestrate an elaborate plan to get fifty pounds of laundry and two kids from the main floor to the second floor of the house while never leaving the kids alone on either floor for more than 30 seconds. She has never woken up at 6 a.m. only to be late for the 10:15 storytime at the library. She has never tried to clean house while balancing a baby on her hip all the while working at odds with the toddler who is trying to undo her work faster than she is able to clean. She has never visited a public restroom with two very small children in tow. She has never put off going to the bathroom as long as was physically possible and when she finally gave in, came out to find this:






(it's blue pen, by the way)








So, yes, I do find every day taks difficult. Does it make me crazy? Probably.

A Musical Dinosaur

The other day a group of friends and I were having a discussion about concerts we'd seen and I realized something: most of my favorite bands are either all or mostly dead. That makes me a little sad. There are only a few bands in the last ten years that I've even remotely enjoyed listening to. The radio is packed with R&B and bands that try to sound like U2 (Yes, Chris. I'm talking about Coldplay).


Meanwhile, I am still waiting for Boston to find someone decent to replace Brad Delp or for Christine McVee to return to Fleetwood Mac or for Bon Jovi to quit sucking. But in the long run it doesn't matter because they're all getting old and I haven't found anybody new to love.


Maybe it's the new music formats that have made music so disposable. I used to love going to the store to get a new CD. I would pay fifteen bucks for an album with two songs I liked and then listen to it nonstop over the next week. Eventually, I would come to love the rest of the album. Now you pay a buck a song to download just the ones you want. Do bands even put out albums anymore or do they just release single after gimmicky single?

So there you have it. I am a musical dinosaur. I long for the days when I would browse through the used CD's at Hastings hoping that someone had cast aside a decent Peter Gabriel album. And I no longer know where to start when I want to listen to something new. The internet is crammed with mediocre music and the radio is all country all the time. So does anyone have any good suggestions on how and where to find good music? If I don't do something fast, all my faves will be too old to tour in ten years and I will be doomed to a life without concerts just as my girls will be old enough to stay home alone.