So excited I could cry!

We found a last minute killer deal on a cruise. J and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend seven days in the Caribbean for under $250 per person, so we booked yesterday!!!! We are going sans kids. My parents are taking them the bulk of the time (Thank you mom and dad!!!) with my grandma taking them two of the kids two nights, and my sister in law taking the other two for two nights (Thank you grandma and K!!!!). We get back home just in time for Christmas!

I am so excited about this. The last two trips J and I have taken alone, I have been in early pregnancy, and had a tendency to vomit if jostled or carried across more than one time zone.

So, if you have been to Samana, St. Thomas, Tortola or Great Stirrup Cay, I would love love love to hear your opinions on what we should see.

Haircut

I guess it's bound to happen to nearly every little girl. I never cut my own hair, but I've gotten the impression that's the exception, not the rule. My girls seem to be intent on playing out that rule.

S grabbed the scissors off the kitchen counter and gave herself a little trim tonight. This is how it looks if I hold the upper portion of her hair back.

And if I leave it alone.


Either having four children has made me numb to getting too upset about this sort of thing, or the fact that K gave herself what seemed to be a much worse haircut has made me not terribly upset about the whole thing. Sure, I'm not thrilled, but I don't think it's that noticeable.

To refresh your memory, here is a picture of K the evening after she cut her hair.


K had been in the process of growing her bangs out. They were driving her crazy. Because she'd been asking me to cut her hair, I was suspicious of her, so I'd been hiding the scissors on top of the fridge. She snuck downstairs, and gave herself a little trim. When she saw all the hair on the floor, I think she realized she'd done a bad thing. To try and hide the evidence, she used the handvac (seen in the picture) to try to get rid of the hair. She also scooped up hair and threw it in the garbage. The noise of the vacuum was what tipped me off to what was going on, and she was caught.

I won't lie. I was seriously upset. It didn't help that my mom laughed until she cried. She swore it would be funny one day. Well, I guess it is a little funny now, but it sure wasn't at the time.

If nothing else, it's made me take S's haircut in stride, because I know all too well it can be worse.

My car bling

I was trying to explain the decorations I have on the back of my car to a friend, and found that there's not nearly enough pictures on the internet, so I'm adding to it.

First off, here's the back of my car:

Explanation: In Japan, they have stickers or magnets available in stores for people to purchase. I chose to buy magnets so that I could remove them if I wanted. The one on the left (the green and yellow sticker) indicates that the person driving the vehicle is an inexperienced driver. It's basically the Japanese equivalent of a "student driver" sign. The sticker on the right tells the other drivers that the person driving the car is elderly.

People were very considerate in general in Japan, but I noticed that people with either sticker in their car were given an extra wide berth and consideration.

So, this is my idea of a joke. The idea of a really, really old person deciding to learn to drive strikes me as a very scary idea. I know that most older people are very excellent drivers. They tend to be more cautious and cool headed than their younger counterparts. Unfortunately, there does come a time when a person needs to hang up their car keys. I promise that I am not prejudiced against the elderly, or elderly drivers. I just thought it would be kind of funny, conceptually. Unfortunately, very, very few people "get" the joke, since they don't know what those stickers symbolize.

For the record, I did not have either of these on my car in Japan. I figured it was scary enough for the Japanese people to see a gaijing (foreigner) driving on their roads, no need to terrorize them more with these stickers on my car!

From Z

I know this isn't really remarkable for anyone else, but I thought it was cute/funny.


This morning, Z woke up. It was early, so I was hoping he would go back to sleep, so I was holding off going to him. After a couple minutes, he started yelling, "Mommy, come get me!" Clear as day. I was impressed.


A million times a day, he'll call out "Mommy?" and I'll answer, "What?" and then he'll jabber away unintelligibly.

random

I painted S's fingernails a couple days ago. Yesterday, she came to me in a panic, reporting that her "nail paint was melting off", and we needed to paint them again.



I hate it when I get really irritated with someone, working up a good steam of irritability at them, and then they go and do something very sweet and kind. Talk about feeling petty.

President Obama

It is official. The next president of the United States will be Barack Obama. I liked his plans for healthcare, the economy and Iraq, so he got my vote. Not that it mattered, living in Utah, and having the antiquated, outdated, and totally useless electoral college still in place. Even if it was simply popular vote, my beloved husband cancelled out my vote. He is less than thrilled, but accepting.

I was impressed with both McCain's and Obama's speeches last night. Very gracious. I do have a bit more hope for the future. I really wasn't at all excited about either candidate in 2004, so it was refreshing to feel like either candidate was going to be an improvement.

I've been watching a lot of the election aftermath on tv. It's all about race. I think that's a shame, and that it cheapens Obama's victory. Yes, he is African-American, and this is a HUGE step in the right direction to fight racism in America. I can understand that, and it is very exciting. But, I'd like to think he won based on his merits, not his skin color. If he was elected simply because he was black, that is just as racist as the water fountains for "coloreds". Sure, it's racist in a way that benefits him. I don't know. I guess I just hope that our country has moved to a point where it wouldn't matter. I know that's not the case, but I can dream, right?

To quote Martin Luther King Jr: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I voted for Obama because of the content of his character. His skin color was not something that was voting criteria for me.

In other news, California had two propositions that really interested me. Proposition 8 was a ban on gay marriage. Unfortunately, it appears the gay marriage ban will pass. I am really disappointed. I loved Barbara Young's quote, and it illustrated my views perfectly: "We believe all families matter, and we do not believe in discrimination, therefore, our family will vote against Proposition 8." Utah passed a similar ban a couple years ago, and as much as I wanted that ban to fail, I wasn't entirely surprised. I thought for sure that CA would be more supportive.

The other proposition was Proposition 2, which was calling for more humane housing for meat animals. It looks like it passed with 63% voting for it. I am glad to see that animals will have more humane housing. I'm sure meat prices will take a hit, but it's worth it to me. Of course, I have been buying free range/hormone/antibiotic free beef for a couple years already. We buy our beef from a friend of J's. He raises them as a side job. They are grass fed til the end, free range. Towards the end, he feeds them grain to fatten them up. When it's time to be slaughtered, the butcher comes to the field, and shoots the animal there. No traumatic transport to a slaughterhouse, no inhumane slaughtering techniques. I feel good about it.

The Littles Halloween Costumes

I already posted pictures of the older two in costume. M didn't let me paint his face for real halloween, so it wouldn't have been worth taking a picture of him on the big day anyway.

Here is S. She has pants under her dress so that she wouldn't freeze. We also ended up putting a turtleneck on underneath as well.

This was the warmest Halloween I have ever remembered. It was so nice. No coats to ruin the costumes, no numb fingers or toes, no crying kids because they're cold.

Z was initially opposed to the idea of putting on a costume and trick or treating. Maybe it was because we lost his plastic pumpkin, and he was using a bucket with Easter Eggs all over it? Anyway, once he realized all these people were giving him "Can-nee", he was all over trick or treating, and had a blast.