Beds

#1, January to November 2003: Fairly nice king size bed, owned by the couple for whom we house-sat.
We moved.

#2, November 2003 to June 2004: Taco, full size. It literally sank in the middle by about 6 to 8 inches. I had to sleep with my pregnant belly facing outward, else I would fall face-first inward.
[Given to us by my parents. Many thanks!]
We probably gave it to DI, or some other poor newlywed couple.

#3, June 2004 to June 2006ish: Daybed with trundle, pushed up next to each other, with two completely different twin mattresses. Although not pretty, better than the taco.
[Thanks go to my grandpa and late grandma.]
Still have the set.

#4, June 2006ish to August 2009: Matching twin beds with matching frames and headboards, also pushed up next to each other. It was a drastic improvement from the daybed and trundle. But there was always a rift between the beds.
[Thanks here go to my parents, again. And although you may think my thanks facetious, you are mistaken. Beggars can't be choosers, and we were beggars.]
Still have them.

#5, NEW BED!!! 6.5 years later, we finally saved up enough money for a beautiful, amazing, bright, shiny, sparkling, wonderful, brand new king size pillow top bed. Now we just need to fork out the money to cover it...

[So now we have one extra twin bed, so when you come to visit, you can sleep on a bed!]

[If you have done the math, you would have figured out that we have 4 twin beds and one king. And now you are asking why we only have one extra twin bed when only two kids sleep on them. And the answer would be: you really don't want to know what one of the beds has been through... We will not be keeping it.]

Emotional Coercion

1. I almost never get emotional when someone tells me I will, or when someone else is. Bryan will tell you that I am an emotional being, or that I do get emotional often. And that would be true.

2. But I am also very independent. I like to do things myself, in my own way.

3. I almost never realize, right at the height of huge transition, how it will affect me. And then later, when I do realize how the transition has affected me, I'm already immersed in it. And it's too late to get emotional about it.

So you might not have seen me get emotional very often.

Today was no exception, yet. I just dropped Caleb off at Kindergarten half an hour ago.

Caleb couldn't sleep last night. He was up at the crack of dawn. Every other thing out of his mouth today was how excited he was to go. I've known for a long time that he was ready, and I've known for a long time it was coming.

In the car on the way to school, Caleb said, quite matter-of-fact-ly, "Mom, I'm going to miss you the most." But when I told him Daddy and I were going to walk in with him, he was a little perturbed because he wanted to be "dropped off."

When we got there, we still had 10 minutes before class started. Bryan and I held him off for a few minutes taking pictures. But every 2 minutes, Caleb whined, "When is it going to start? Is it time yet?" Finally, after an eternity of waiting, the teacher opened the door, and Caleb was the first to line up. When she told the Kindergartners to say goodbye to their parents, Caleb turned around and yelled in an indistinct direction, making no eye contact.

As Bryan and I walked away, I said, "That was it?" Which is exactly the same emotion I had when the realtor dropped off the keys to our new house. What? No fanfare, no fireworks, no high five?! Alrighty then.

Now I'm home, Savanna and Joseph are taking naps, and I don't exactly know how to spend my time. Should I clean? Yes, but nah. I could nap, but I'm not sure if I can sleep, especially if I know I have to pick Caleb up in a short while.

Maybe later I'll get emotional about it, but probably not.

More on Femininity

I was going to write this as a comment to my other blog post, but I felt like it deserved a little more attention:

What it boils down to for me, after thinking on this subject some more, is that femininity is not doctrine. Being Christlike is. Women and men come in all different shapes and sizes, different strengths and weaknesses, and extremely variable personalities and tendencies. Perhaps the thing we should focus on, instead of femininity or masculinity, is just being the best disciples of Christ that we can be. Wearing makeup, or not, will not determine if we get into heaven or not. And the type of perfection we should all be striving for is only possible through the Atonement of Christ and our willingness to be humble and obedient. I think we should be striving to meet the Lord's standard, not the world's. And by the Lord's standard, perhaps there are a lot of things we do to please society that just don't matter eternally. There, I've said my peace.

Don't Get Me Wrong, I Love Old People

Today some friends and I gave a classical music recital at the Senior Center in town.

I met Liz. On her left hand, she had a gold ring about half an inch in diameter. It was a fairly big ring, but it was totally dwarfed by the jewelry on her right hand. Imagine this: a round ring, two inches in diameter studded with diamonds. And a matching bracelet, about an inch wide, also studded with diamonds (probably not real diamonds...). I might not have noticed it if she hadn't tried to put her hand in her pocket. Okay, I would have noticed, but it was especially funny to see her stick only the tips of her fingers in her pocket because the ring wouldn't fit! If you thought she was kidding, you might then have noticed the glittery sparkles on her face. And if you still thought she was kidding, you might have noticed her hairspray encrusted hair, also complete with much glitter.

Dark eyeliner under her eyes and bright pink lipstick.

And she was wearing a white and yellow sweatsuit.

HI-LAR-I-OUS!!!

I wanted to get her picture, but it might have appeared rude...

When I get old, please help me...

Femininity

Tonight, the young women leaders decided that some of the girls needed an activity on "Femininity," which they delicately renamed "Girl's Night" lest some girls wouldn't show up.

But it got me wondering, what is femininity? The dictionary will tell you that it is "pertaining to a woman or a girl."

But our society, I believe, defines this differently.

I mean, come on, am I feminine only because I wear panties or bras?

Am I not if I don't?

Is "feminine woman" redundant?

Is femininity only describing girly girls? Or women who spend a lot of time on hair, makeup, and clothes? Who are pretty or dainty?

Or what about the days that I don't get a shower? Am I not feminine on those days? Or on those days, am I most feminine because I am too busy being a mother?

I mean, seriously, doesn't birthing three children give me rights to femininity?

But I don't paint my toenails very often. *Gasp!* And I usually shave my legs once a week. *GASP!* And I don't shave my armpits every day. *Faint!* And sometimes, though not in public, I don't keep my knees together. I rarely sit up straight, and I don't look good in a bathing suit.

I have fairly good hips, but no bust to be proud of.

Am I feminine? Am I masculine?

Is it bad to have qualities of both?

My real question is, what does it really matter?

I think girls should be modest. I think they should not be vulgar. I think they should be clean.

But my expectation of boys/men is no different...

I think the thing that bothers me the most is that there is a whole spectrum of women, from the super-high-maintenance girly girls to the super-low-maintenance tom-boys. Why does society, or maybe just the media, want to force us all into a little box of perfection? Should we make young girls fear imperfection, or should we celebrate our differences?

(Disclaimer #1: I'm not even saying that I disagree with the need for young girls to have lessons in social graces. I actually think it is a helpful lesson for anyone to have.)

(Disclaimer #2: And I'm really not feminist, which movement really wasn't about feminism.)

What do you think?

Orange you glad we're so funny?

Caleb: MOM! Orange you glad I bought a banana?
Me: Caleb, orange you glad I like apples?
Caleb: Hee, hee! Good one, Mom!

Three Thoughts

I will give you a real update soon, but until then, here are a few thoughts.

1. We live in a small-ish town. I had one friend put it this way: "Outside of the university, it's a really small world. You run into people you know all the time, everywhere you go." The other day, I took the kids to the library. After a while, I decided that it was time to go. On my way home I decided to stop at the local grocery store (there are actually two in town, and the other one is all the way on the other side of town, all the way to work, all the way to work--name that movie). I was in there for maybe ten minutes with all three kids, and as I was checking out, you'll never guess who I ran into. You'll never guess, so I'll just tell you: Bryan. In the middle of a work day, he decided to go to the same place as me for the same time frame, and he was checking out at the same time. I promise you, it was random. Or ESP, not sure which.

2. People keep asking me, "How is it with three kids?" And I'm here to tell you, I LOVE NUMBER THREE! I wouldn't trade him for the world. And it complicates my life only a very little more than two. Or actually, I think it is easier. Two was HARD for me, but three is just more of the same. I'm quite proficient at getting three kids in or out of the car in under 3 minutes.

3. I feel old. For several reasons. First, we just bought our first house. Second, I have three kids. Third, the oldest is turning 5 this week and starts Kindergarten at the end of the month. Fourth, I am the Laurel Advisor (the 16 and 17-year-old girls) at church. That was a looong time ago for me. Fifth, one of the kids I babysat every weekend for a few years when I was a teenager, is going on a mission for our church. Weird. Really. Weird.

More soon.