NElits

20 Questions

2009-02-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

Someday we're going to get a minivan that has a built-in DVD player... but until that blessed day arrives, we have to come up with ways to entertain our kids while we're driving in the car. One of our favorite car games lately is 20 Questions. Here are a few highlights from this week's game:

Me: "Okay... I'm thinking of someone. Ask a question."

Colin: "Is it a boy?"

Me: "Yes."

Colin: "Is it a kid?"

Me: "No. It's someone really, really, really old."

Colin (yelling and very excited because he's sure he has the right answer): "It's Dad!"

(The answer was supposed to be Santa Claus.)

--

Now it's Colin's turn and we've established that the person he's thinking of is a boy, is a teenager, and doesn't live in Georgia.

Quinn: "Is he pretend?"

Colin: "He's real and pretend."

Me (because I know where this is going): "Is it Ben 10?"

Colin: "Yes!!!"

Quinn (bothered and whiny): "Colinnnn! Ben 10 is on a TV show!"

Colin: "Ben 10 is really real! Mom, tell her! Ben 10 really is real!"

--

And one last one...

Colin: "Okay, what's your question?"

Mom: "Is it a boy?"

Colin: "Yes!"

Quinn: "Is he old?"

Colin: "I don't know if he's old or a kid...?"

Mom: "Does he go to our church?"

Colin: "No, but he's always all around us all the time."

Quinn: "Is is Jesus?"

Colin: "Yes!"

2009-01-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know how old I was when I started making lists of what I wanted my future husband to be like, but now Quinn has started talking about the man she'll someday marry. (Am I really that old?) We were driving home from dinner a few nights ago, and Quinn said, "I know what the boy I'm going to marry will be like..." and then she made this list of requirements:

(1) He will be a Christian.
(2) He will be a Republican.
(3) He will play football for BYU.
(4) He will be funny and jokey, just like Dad.
(5) He will like to wrestle, just like Dad.
(6) He'll be one of her "hotel buddies" (we eventually interpreted this to mean that he will be one of her roommates at college, so then we had to explain the whole honor code thing).
(7) He will go on a mission.
(8) He'll do good in school, especially in math.
(9) He'll have yellow hair.

The sweet thing is that after she was about halfway done with her list, we realized she was describing Burke to a tee... except for the yellow hair.

2009 Resolutions

2009-01-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had our annual New Year's resolutions family home evening. Everyone set individual goals and we set some family goals together. Some of the highlights:

Jack: Learn 10 letters of the alphabet, work on potty training, learn to catch.

Colin: Conquer the Ben 10 Wii game, learn to read, learn to swim.

Quinn: Sell more than 35 boxes of Girl Scout cookies (anyone want to order some?), pass off all 13 Articles of Faith, swim the length of our pool in 31 seconds or less.

Burke: Eat more spinach, Roll over his 401K, get a new van.

Me: Dejunk all the cupboards and closets throughout the entire house, exercise 3 times a week, and... most important of all... blog more!

So hopefully this is the first of many new posts for 2009!

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

2008-07-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since I posted anything new (but aren't you glad I left you with such a cute picture of Brooke to look at during the last 3 months?). I have so many fun summer pictures to post and exciting summer adventures to write about... I'll do it one of these days, I promise! But I got this idea from Valli's blog and had to do it for myself. Here goes:

As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, just write anything you remember!

Nothing like reminiscing......right?

Next (if you choose to), re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!

2008-04-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

Not Your Average Teddy Bear

2008-04-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures a few nights ago while my kids were sleeping...

ER

2008-04-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

My first trip to the ER as a mom, and it's for the BABY! I didn't see it happen, but somehow Jack sliced his head open while running around our neighborhood tennis courts over Spring Break. Four hours, six stitches, and 50 dollars later, this was the result:

He was pretty traumatized (i.e., clingy) for a few days, but now he's almost back to his normal, happy self.

p.s. I think that's a marshmallow in his mouth, not some weird gigantic tooth.

efn

2008-04-09T16:45:00.001-07:00

In order to completely understand the story I am about to tell, you have to know two things. The first is, with our kids the sounds "th" and "f" are interchangeable. In our house, when you want a drink of water, you say you're "firsty." The word for what we Americans are and the number between two and four are the same: "free." You get the idea. It's only since Quinn has been in kindergarten and starting to really read and write that she has even realized that there is a "th" sound and that some words use a "th" and others use an "f."

The second thing has to do with our county's theory of learning (I almost used the word "pedagogy" here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it). I don't know how your schools teach writing, but our school teaches everything phonetically. Kindergartners aren't corrected for spelling things wrong, and are actually encouraged to just sound things out and write them they way they sound and be happy with it. I'm all for it, because Quinn has grown amazingly confident with reading and writing. My only concern is that it might be a big change when the kids are suddenly punished instead of rewarded for incorrect spelling (but maybe the transition is gradual... I guess we'll see how this all pans out over the next few years). But the point of all this is -- I'm now totally accustomed to reading things phonetically. When Quinn brings home a paper she wrote that says, "a gasieeln yeers ugo snaex hud legs," I automatically read it, "A gazillion years ago snakes had legs."

Okay, so that was a LONG intro for a very short story. I'm not really one for bragging about my kids to anyone besides Burke, but that's what blogs are for, right? So here's the story... Today Colin was playing on the computer and created a song on pbskids.com that he wanted to email to his friend Ethan (you just click on a button on the website and it will let you email your artwork or songs or whatever to your friends). So Colin came from the computer room into the kitchen and asked me if I would help him type in Ethan's email address. I walked with Colin back to the computer and he pointed at the "To:" space on the website, and said, "See. I already typed in his name." I looked and saw (drumroll, please...) "efn." You may not think this is anything great or profound, but I thought it was amazing! Colin phonetically typed the word "ethan." He is THREE YEARS OLD! I wasn't even sure if he could identify all the letters in the alphabet, and now today he types the word "ethan."

I think now I understand a little of the pride Burke felt when Quinn hit her first coach-pitch ball in softball. The English nerd in me is glowing!

Two Truths and a Lie

2008-03-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you all have played the getting-to-know-you game where you say three things about yourself and everyone has to guess which one isn't true. Let's play it now... Which of these statements is false?

(1) Yesterday was Easter.

(2) I live in Georgia.

(3) It snowed today.

While you think about your answer, I'll post some pictures from our egg-citing (hee hee) weekend.

(Unfortunately, our camera broke after Colin's egg hunt, but before Quinn's... so no Easter pictures of Quinny. :( )

Okay, so it was a trick question. Actually all the statements are true! Yes, in spite of the fact that yesterday was Easter (meaning it's gotta be spring, right?) and we live in Georgia (home of the most amazing Februaries and Marches, from what I've been told), it is so C-O-L-D here that it actually snowed today! I might as well be living in New Hampshire!

Word of Advice

2008-03-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

Do you have a car or a house or anything else you only have one key to? Get a duplicate key made. Now.

Burke lost his keyring somewhere on his trip from Ohio to Chicago to Atlanta yesterday. On that keyring were some not-so-exciting things, like his vial of consecrated oil, one of our many house keys, and an extra key to the CRV. Unfortunately, there were also a couple of irreplaceables... namely the only keys we have to his Civic.

The best case scenario: Somehow by talking to the car rental company, the airline, and Lost & Founds at all three airports (which aren't even open until Monday morning), we find the keys and have them sent to us. This won't cost us much... I'll have to drive Burke to work for a few days, we'll probably have to pay whoever finds his keys to ship them to us, and we'll have to pay the park-and-fly place for the extra days the Civic sits in their lot. Could be less than $100. No big deal.

The worst case scenario: We never find the keys. We'd have to have new keys made, which would cost $150 for a door key, and another $600 for an ignition key. (Our Civic is a once-stolen, salvaged car, so they keys to the door and ignition are different.) We'd also have to pay to have the car towed back home, and pay a locksmith to open the door for us in order to tow the car. There is no way on earth Burke's car is worth all this money, so if our good friends in Ohio and Illinois never find our keys, we'll probably just buy a new car.

Burke and I sometimes like to look back over our life as grown-ups and talk about the mistakes we've made that end up costing us money. There have been a lot. Are we alone in this? Does everyone make stupid, financially-devastating errors in judgment, or are we the only ones? Like those Eddie Bauer shoes I thought looked cute in the outlet, bought for $25, then never even took out of the box. Or the ridiculous Living Scriptures subscription we let ourselves get talked into, which cost us $30 a month for about 2 years (for videos that aren't that great, which we will never, never watch), until we decided to get out of the contract, which cost us another $300.

Another favorite: The time I left Colin alone upstairs, during which time he plugged up the master bathroom sink and left the water running. I didn't discover it until about 3 hours--and $10K in damage--later. (Just in case you're wondering, I take full responsibility for this and don't blame Colin at all... He's 3! He's also still, almost a year later, very sensitive about it. If you say the word "flood" around him, he'll run away and hide.)

But by far, the worst possible financial move we ever made... Buying a house for too much money, then selling it a few months later at a $40,000 loss. So really, compared to that, the lost keys don't even register.

The Climber

2008-02-04T17:04:00.001-08:00

Guess where I found Jack today?

Apparently this little guy knows how to climb the bunk bed ladder... all by himself. Not cool.

Confession

2008-01-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

I have a secret... In October I joined Weight Watchers, just the online one -- I'm too cheap and too busy to pay $40 a month to attend their meetings. For the first time ever I am eating right (well, mostly right) and exercising regularly. When I started, I could barely run 20 minutes at 3 miles an hour. Now I crank out 45 minutes at almost 5 mph at least 5 nights a week!

I kinda took the month of December off, but hopped back on weight loss train after Christmas. Well, today I hit my goal weight! I've lost 26 pounds! I think I'll lose 5 more, then change from the "weight loss plan" to the "maintenance plan."

Today for church I wore the same dress that I wore to my wedding luncheon 10 years ago. It may not be in style (who knows? I've lost any fashion sense I may have once had), but IT FITS!!!

Catching Up...

2008-01-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

My sister challenged me to make a New Year's resolution to blog more, and I accept the challenge! I just wish I had more exciting things to write about... but with American Idol starting next week, I'm sure I'll find I have a lot to say.

So for now, I thought I'd post some pictures of a trip we took to see Santa back in December. Notice that Colin is in shorts and a t-shirt; that's how we do Christmas here in the South.

My Lesson in Procrastination

2007-11-20T02:47:00.000-08:00

In Georgia, everyone gets a pest control service. (Everyone also gets a lawn service, which we succumbed to long ago.) I don't know if this is because people have lots of extra money here so they have to make up things to spend it on, or if the warm weather in the south makes for lots more big, nasty bugs than in other parts of the country... probably a combination of the two.

Since we've moved in, we've been enjoying the remnants of the pest control from the previous owners of our house -- the only bugs we ever saw were dead bugs. But for the last few months, Burke and I have been talking about how we really need to get pest control going. Unfortunately, like so many things, we've put off just making that phone call.

Then yesterday morning, in my bedroom of all places, I found this:

The bad news: From my vast and extensive internet research, I've identified this little guy to be a baby American cockroach.

More bad news: This is actually the second one of these I've seen in my room in the last 3 weeks.

Worse news: American cockroaches hatch in bunches of 25 to 45, so where there is one baby cockroach, there are sure to be many, many more.

Worst news ever: Baby American cockroaches grow up to be mommy and daddy American cockroaches.

Ho Ho Ho

2007-11-14T17:08:00.000-08:00

As I was standing in the American Girl store yesterday trying to decide between Ivy and Nicki, I thought about the Christmases of my childhood and how we always seemed to get exactly what we'd been hoping for. I remember one Christmas morning specifically, when all I wanted was a Barbie, then I woke up to find not one but two Christmas-paper-wrapped boxes that were the same shape as the Barbie boxes I'd seen in the store. I didn't even have to unwrap them before I started screaming that I'd gotten a Barbie.

So, in the American Girl store... Quinn really wants Ivy. She also really wants Nicki, but she wants Ivy just a little bit more. The problem is, I think Nicki has cuter clothes and a better story. I mean, nothing against Ivy, but Nicki is the "Girl of the Year." She trains guide dogs and her mom is pregnant with twins! Completely at a loss for what to do, I called Burke, who said, simply, "Just get Nicki. We've got a month and a half to convince Quinn that Nicki is who she really wants."

So when Quinn got home from school, I was ready. I had the American Girl catalog sitting casually on the kitchen table, already flipped open to the Nicki page. I pointed to it and said, "Isn't this one cute?" Quinn said, "Yeah, that's the one I really want." And I said, "Well, let's cut out the picture and paste it onto your Christmas list so Santa knows exactly which one to give you." Ta da!

So now, as a mom, I've come to this great realization about my childhood. It's not that as kids we always got what we wanted Christmas morning, it's that my parents always manipulated us into thinking we wanted what they had already bought for us.

Isn't parenthood great?

Nicki

Ivy

p.s. Two posts in one night!?! We can thank my sister-in-law for this one -- she threatened to remove her link to my blog if I didn't post more. :)

Free stuff!

2007-11-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

So, is there anyone out there that reads my blog and hasn't done this "pay it forward" thing yet? Make a comment and I'll send you something really cool... I just don't know what yet.

"......Here's the Pay It Forward Idea: I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (So you must have a blog to participate.) I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting......."

Family Pictures

2007-11-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone even reads our blog anymore, since I never seem to post anything... but if you do happen to read this, visit my photographer friend's blog. We got some family pictures taken, and I think they turned out super cute!

Who do our kids look more like?

2007-09-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

A lot of times when we're out and about, people will comment about how much the kids look like me... that is, unless Burke is with us, because they look identical to him. But what does the scientific evidence (yeah, sure) say?

I win!!!

My Secret

2007-07-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

Goob told me about a website where people post their deepest, darkest secrets. He also told me it can get pretty nasty, so don't go looking for it!!! But if I was going to post a secret on a secret-posting website, this is what it would be: Today I bought a new binky for my 3-year-old.

I have a lot of reasons why this was a perfectly rational decision on my part, but still... it's pretty pathetic.

Family Hike

2007-07-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went on a family hike at some state park in northern Georgia. The kids LOVED it! Some highlights from our trip:

Looking at the dead (taxidermied -- is that a word?) animals in the rangers' station, and having the kids ask over and over if they used to be alive.
After my explanation of what a walking stick is, Colin scooping up a handful of twigs and yelling, "I got some walking sticks!"
Finding a mysterious jawbone with the teeth still intact.
The kids wading into the muddy, nasty water with their shoes still on. (Yuck!)
Throwing rocks at a sea serpent (a.k.a., a tree root sticking out of the water).
Quinn stopping every few feet to blow apart dandelions, then saying to us, after we told her to hurry up, "I'm making wishes here... That's why I slowed down!"
Quinn whispering, as she blew apart one dandelion, "I wish my family could be together forever in heaven someday."
Feeding goldfish crackers to a flock of geese, only to have Quinn hissed at by a goose, and Colin bit on the hand by the same goose. We named him "Jim" after Meanie Jim in the Junie B. Jones books.

Best quote of the day? Said by Quinn as we were feeding the geese: "I told that one to not push his brother, but he still did it. Maybe I need to say it in goose language. Hiss hiss hissss!"

Swim Meet

2007-06-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

I know that one of my favorite things to do is complain about Georgia, but I have actually found something about living here that I love: swim meets!

Where we are in Georgia is absolute urban sprawl. Neighborhoods are all set up and built nicely and neatly, with a community pool and tennis courts, and a sign at the entrance announcing the neighborhood name. You'll have a few neighborhoods like that in a row, then after 10 or so, there will be a Target, Home Depot, and Chik-fil-A. I think this is a pretty common thing around the United States, but coming from New England, where homes and shops are all just kind of mixed in wherever they'll fit, it's a very strange concept. I don't think I saw a single neighborhood sign the entire time I lived in Boston or New Hampshire. It's taken some getting used to.

Another strange concept... Each neighborhood has its own swim team, and neighborhoods compete against each other in swim meets. We weren't sure if we should join or not, but I'd heard such great things about it and figured it would at least give Quinn some experience in the water, so we signed up. And, strangely enough, it's been great! Every morning, Quinn has a half-hour swim team practice, where she gets a group swimming lesson with other kids her age. Then on Thursday nights we all gather at our pool to host another neighborhood in a little friendly competition. For the older kids, it can be a pretty fierce contest, and there are so many events that these swim meets often go until after 11:00 at night.

But for the younger kids, it's mostly just people cheering for you as you struggle to doggy paddle across the pool. Quinn has been pretty oblivious to the fact that there's even a competition going on, which is good, because she's not the best swimmer on the team. (Hey, give me a break! We just moved from a state where it's winter 9 months out of the year.) But she's getting better. The first swim meet, she did the 25 meters (one length of the pool) in 1 minute 5 seconds. The next meet she did it in 1 minute 2 seconds. She even got a ribbon for getting her "personal best"! The meets are loud and chaotic, with kids in swimming suits and stressed out grown-ups running everywhere. There's food and music and team cheers. The kids write all over themselves with sharpies, funny things like "Eat my bubbles." But despite the chaos, it's an awesome way to meet and feel unified with your neighbors. And I love that everyone is working together to do something for their kids' benefit.

Tonight's another swim meet. So cross your fingers and say a little prayer for Quinn. We may just break that 1 minute mark!

Starring Burke...

2007-06-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

In honor of Father's Day, I'd like to redirect you all to someone else's blog post, starring Burke as "the engineer." My kids have one stellar (aka "nerdy") father!

http://www.jennyryan.com/2007/05/18/teaching-spanish-to-engineers/

Carried Away

2007-06-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

My first post in over a month!

Bedtime is usually pretty rough at our house, especially where Quinn is concerned. She's always trying to make deals so we let her stay up and watch a show or play with toys after the boys have gone to bed. Then she needs help saying her prayer. Then she needs a drink. Then she's scared and needs some reassurance. The list goes on and on. When everything is finally quieted down, and she is in bed to stay, the "reading" begins. She gets a few books from her bookshelf and sits in bed looking at pictures, then she gets more books to look at, then more. If we don't hound her constantly about putting the books away and going to sleep, she'll be up for at least another hour, and in the morning there will be piles of books all over her bed and floor.

When I try to talk to her about it in the morning, she has the same excuse: "Mom, I just got carried away! I tried to read only one book, but I got carried away and couldn't stop!"

Well, last night, I got carried away. For the last three weeks, I've been engrossed in what Burke calls "those Pants books," or the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. They are kind of ridiculous in a teeny-bopper sort of way, but also pretty cute and pretty addicting. Last night I started reading at 10:45, telling myself I would read only until 11:00. I finally finished the book at 1:30. I did this knowing full well that Colin would be up around 6 a.m. (which he was) and that my lack of sleep would make me a grumpy and impatient mom all day (which it did). But I couldn't help it. I just got carried away!

The good news: It was the 4th book I finished last night, and at the end Effie lost the pants... no more traveling pants adventures, no more pants books to read. I can put my addiction to rest!

Blog Tag

2007-05-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Blog Tag... Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose four people to tag and list their names.

Random Facts/Habits About Me:
1. Sometimes I look forward to my husband being out of town so I can eat lots of treats and watch lots of TV without feeling guilty.
2. I could watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice a million times and never get tired of it.
3. I once kissed a guy and found out later I was related to him. Yuck.
4. I don't think I've gone a single day in the last 10 years without eating some form of chocolate.
5. I pre-ordered Harry Potter VII the first day it was available on amazon.com.
6. I think the best two inventions in the last 100 years were TiVo and Caller ID.
7. Deep in my heart, I kind of believe that Stephanie can take her blanket to heaven.
8. On Tuesday, Colin plugged the bathroom sink and left the water running for 2 hours before I realized what was happening. We now have 12 huge fans and 4 dehumidifiers running in our house, and the noise is driving me insane!

Tag! You're It:
1. Dan (although he writes in his blog less than me)
2. Goob (maybe this will inspire him to start a blog...?)
3. big red ep
4. I don't know anyone else with a blog that hasn't been tagged already.

Today's Reason I Hate Living In Georgia

2007-05-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

There's a stereotype about New Englanders that they are brusque, harsh, unfriendly, and impersonal. A New Englander will tell you your coat's on fire, the saying goes, but only if you ask.

Then there's the stereotype about the Southerner: easy-going, inviting, warm, personal, and willing to do just about anything for just about anyone.

I've lived in both New England and the South, and I can definitely say that my experience has been just the opposite of these stereotypes. Okay, maybe most New Englanders aren't overly friendly... but who wants overly friendly anyway? Overly friendly is a waste of time.

That being said, I have never in my life felt more like a number or lived in a more impersonal environment than here in the South. Maybe it's because we live just outside of Atlanta, so the "big city-ness" is creeping in on us. (Although I'll argue that we lived just as close to Boston before we moved.) Maybe it's because people are moving here in droves, so the city has to be impersonal just to keep up with everyone. Maybe it's because this place has been taken over by people from outside the South, so those southerner stereotypes just don't apply here. I don't know the reason, and I don't care. This is NOT a warm, personal, inviting place.

Burke once ran a red light in New Hampshire. A policeman pulled him over and they chatted about it. Burke explained in his ever-so-charming way that there was a pregnant lady in the car, and Burke worried that if he stopped suddenly instead of continuing through the light, he'd make her even sicker than she already was. The cop explained that running red lights is dangerous, and he asked Burke to not do it again. We both drove off, and all was well.

Last week I (allegedly) ran a red light. I didn't even realize this until today, when I got a letter in the mail telling me to send $70 to our city. Along with the letter is a picture of where my car sat in the intersection when the light had been red for "0.58 seconds." And to top it off, they don't trust my personal check. I have to mail the $70 to them as a cashier's check or money order.

I suggested to Burke that maybe I should take a picture of $70 and send that in instead.

At least I can take solace in the fact that American Idol is on tonight... although we may have to cancel our TV service to pay for my ticket.

Strawberrypalooza

2007-05-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

We went strawberry picking on Saturday. Quinn and Colin came with me, so I got 3 buckets... thinking that if each person had their own bucket, it would minimize fighting. It turns out 3 buckets is A LOT of strawberries. The strawberries tasted amazing, and we ate a bunch all weekend. By Monday I could tell that they weren't going to last much longer, so I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen. I made 20 cups of strawberry freezer jam, 4 quarts of strawberry ice cream, topping for strawberry shortcake, and a pitcher of the yummiest, most amazing strawberry lemonade ever.

In the tradition of big red ep, I'll post my lemonade recipe:

1 3/4 c. white sugar
8 c. water
1 1/2 c. lemon juice (yes, I used fresh squeezed lemons)
1 c. crushed strawberries (fruit & juice)

In a small saucepan, combine sugar with 1 c. water. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In a pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice, crushed strawberries, and remaining 7 cups water.

Delicious!

My blog's name

2007-04-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the explanation of why my blog is named "NElits." I actually meant for this to be my first post, but then I got so fired up about American Idol last Wednesday that my comments about that took precendence.

So a few weeks ago Jess (or maybe John?) said something about how she loved blogging and we should all get a blog. She also said something once (I think in her first post) about how she couldn't think up a name for her blog and lots of other names were already taken. I got to thinking about this and realized that even though I wasn't really ready to hop into the world of blogging, I'd better at least get a blog name so that when I was ready to hop into the world of blogging, I wouldn't not be able to find a name. (Is this making any sense?) So I started to think of a name. Nothing would come to me...

This all happened at a time in my life when I was pretty bitter about moving to Georgia (which, I guess, I still am). I think I will always see myself as a New Englander because, let's face it, people from New England are just a little bit cooler than people from the rest of the country... especially people from the South. So this point of this long and pretty boring story is this:

NElits stands for New Englanders Living in the South.

I thought that with a name like NElits, I'd be able to take great liberty in comparing my wonderful life in New England to the wacky southern way of living. Let the complaining begin!

Hand-me-downs

2007-04-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is a spin-off on my last post, about our car hitting 100,000 miles.

For two weeks in a row now, families in our ward have given us their hand-me-downs. Both times it was a big bag of girl clothes, right at Quinn's size. The first hand-me-down installment included about 15 pairs of CUTE shoes, so that Quinn now has more shoes than the rest of our family... combined. The first installment came from a family with just one girl, so most of the stuff was in decent shape. The second installment came from a family with three girls, so most of it went from the hand-me-down bag into our Salvation Army box. Hmmm... income tax deduction!

Anyway, Burke and I were talking about being given the hand-me-downs and why these families chose us to give their old clothes to. Burke was quiet for a minute, then said, "Do you think it's because of the cars we drive?"

100K

2007-04-20T13:39:00.001-07:00

Today the odometer on my 2000 Honda CRV passed 100,000 miles. Wow. Who drives that much in 7 years?

My thoughts on American Idol

2007-04-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

I figured this was as good a thing as any to use as my first post. These are my thoughts on American Idol:

1. Blake in the bottom three!?! What's up with that? I think (HOPE!) it's because people thought like we did on Tuesday night. After the show was over, I said to Burke, "Should we call and vote for Blake?" Burke said, "No... We don't need to vote tonight. I'm sure everyone else is voting for Blake." I said, "Yeah... You're right. We'll vote next week."

2. Although I knew that Sanjaya HAD to go, and I'm relieved he did, I felt a little sorry for him there at the end. It's got to be grating on the self-esteem to know that the only reason people are voting for you is because they want the worst to win. Sanjaya is NOT a terrible singer... and he was a good sport.

3. Everyone has made such a big deal about how the boys are so terrible this season, and the girls are so much better. I think it's interesting that the top 6 are evenly split between boys and girls.

4. Of the 7 people left last night, Melinda is the only one who hasn't been in the bottom three at one point or another.

5. Burke said to me last night, "I'm a little embarrassed t o tell you this, but... I think American Idol is my favorite show." Hee hee.