March Madness

March is over!  I'm going to cut my losses and do an entire month's recap in a list style.  Hopefully, the list will help jar my memory and help me with the details as I look back at this month.


1.  Basketball finally ended.
2.  Seth scored seven baskets this season, up from zero last year.
3.  He may have been motivated by the fact that I paid him $.50 for each attempted shot.

4.  Sam also made some baskets after I told him to keep the ball if he was ever lucky enough to get it, dribble it to the basket and shoot.
5.  He rarely got it.

6.  I still think it's the worst advice I'm glad I gave.

7.  I do this because my children were taught to believe in fairness and taking turns - neither which factor much into youth basketball games.
8.  Jay looked tough running in a winter 5K.
9.  He came in first!

10.  I just realized while uploading the photo that the race was actually at the end of February.
11.  Weird that the race doesn't seem that long ago but March seems to have lasted for forever.
12.  Spring Break seems so long ago.
13.  The week after Spring Break, Seth had what was roughly equivalent to a Finals week in college.
14.  It included a 2 and 1/2 hour practice with his Destination Imagination team every day after school.
15.  It also included late nights working with his dad on his pinewood derby car.
16.  The busy week culminated with a weekend to show off all of Seth's hard work.
17.  Seth's Destination Imagination team took first place in their competition.
18.  Now they have get to go to the state competition.

19.  Seth also took first place in his pack's Pinewood Derby

20.  Jay and I were embarrassed that he did so well because we don't want to seem like gunners.
21.  Still, it's great to see your children succeed.
22.  Jay has been running a lot to get ready for Boston.
23.  He went to Moab to run a half marathon and finished in 1 hour 25 minutes.
24.  He saw an old friend from our Spokane days and called to tell me how fun it was to catch up with him.
25.  I agreed that it is, indeed, enjoyable to see old friends.  Then I teased him for just now realizing it.
26.  I signed Sam and Henry up for spring soccer.
27.  Seth is going to get a taste of what it feels like waiting around for your brother's practice and competitions to get over.
28.  I am heading up my last event as Enrichment/Relief Society Meeting counselor.
29.  I will actually miss my calling.
30.  There are so many things I wanted to do but didn't get to do.
31.  I found two musical numbers for the event and am playing for both soloists.
32. Then I got asked to sing in a trio for sacrament meeting.
33.  Then I got asked to sing at Stake Women's Conference.
34.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to perform music, something I enjoy, at church.
35.  It  fills my soul in a way no other creative endeavor can.
36.  I had a hater on Goodreads this week.
37.  This person created a profile named "Ihatelucy" and left mean remarks on a few of my reviews.
38.  I wondered how to respond but decided rather than ignoring his attacks, I'd respond as calmly and firmly as I could.
39.  The anti-Lucy comments made Jay mad.
40.  His response made me smile.
41.  It's kind of sweet to have your own Knight in Shining Armor.
42.  My friend, Annalisa, turned the Goodreads police on him and his profile (I don't know why I assume it's a he.  Jay called me on that.  I suppose it could have been a she but I'm still leaning towards a he since his comments were made on books by Dan Brown and Edward Abbey) and hateful comments have been deleted.
43.  I realized I am a lot tougher than I thought.
44.  I also realized the world is angry and the internet seems to allow people to spew their rage.
45.  So, I nodded in complete agreement to Peggy Noonan's article this week.
46.  I think I'd like to be her.
47.  This week it was Henry's turn for "Family of the Week" at preschool.
48.  I had fun making a posterboard about him and our family.
49.  Jay went to his class to talk about his job.

50.  Seth went in his class as a reading buddy.
51.  Sam skipped lunch recess to go to Henry's PE class.
52.  I went in and read some of Henry's favorite stories.
53.  Henry behaved horribly the entire time I was there.
54.  His teacher told me he'd been like that all day.
55.  So I took him home early.
56.  Buying a home is not as easy as I remember.
57.  There are a lot of things to sign.
58.  There are also a lot of things to pay for.
59.  We have had an appraisal, an inspection, a water potability test, a radon test, a methane test, a termite inspection, a title objection, and on and on.
60.  I can't wait to move into our new house.
61.  Just driving up to the house feels good.
62.  It was hard telling our ward and school friends that we were moving.
63.  I felt horrible when a friend of mine started to cry after telling her.
64.  It stinks when a friend leaves.
65.  That's just a guess since we are always the ones that leave.
66.  But doing the leaving stinks too.
67.  I think the boys are o.k. with the idea of moving.
68.  I'm more worried about Seth than anyone.
69.  He has finally made some really great friends participating in DI.
70.  He also has a really great bookclub that we hosted on Tuesday.

71.  I can only hope they reconnect in high school.
72.  I've been swimming a mile once a week.
73.  Each time I go, it gets easier even though I am swimming harder.
74.  This week, I swam the crawl stroke (freestyle - I'm not sure which is the best term) the entire time.
75.  I also finished nine minutes faster than the first time I did it.
76.  To get ready for the Bolder boulder, I have also been running.
77.  Scratch that, I've been jogging.
78.  I jogged 3.6 miles on Monday without stopping and felt pretty good.
79.  Then my heel hurt the rest of the evening.
80.  Jay checked out my foot and pressed on the spot where my Achilles tendon inserts into my heel bone and I almost collapsed.
81.  I have Achilles tendinitis.
82.  I have been limping the rest of the week.
83.  It really, really stinks.
84.  I am still planning on doing a mini triatholon this summer.
85.  That is, if I remember how to ride a bike.
86.  I haven't ridden a bike in probably four years.
87.  I made a double batch of lasagna and took dinner to a new mom last week.
88.  I left the boys at home because I didn't think I'd be gone for long.
89.  While driving to her house, i got lost.
90.  So I called for directions.
91.  Her mom answered and tried guide me to their house.
92.  While making a U-turn, the pan of lasagna slipped off the passenger seat and fell upside down onto the floormat.
93.  I screamed.
94.  While driving home to get the second pan I prepared (our dinner), Seth called to inform me that Sam and Henry had gotten into a fight and Henry's head was bleeding because Sam had thrown a block at his head.
95.  I told Seth to get a towel from the kitchen drawer and hold it up to Henry's head until I got home.
96.  When I saw the cut, I  forced all the boys to get into the van because they were acting like wild animals.
97.  I still couldn't find her house the second time around so her mom came and met me on the side of the road.
98.  She made all my bad feelings evaporate as she told me about her daughter's really hard day (painful nursing, C-section recovery, fussy baby, feeling sad).
99.  It put my bad day into perspective.
100.  When the ward choir sang in Sacrament Meeting two weeks ago, the choir was just about ready to begin when up comes Mr. Henry walking up the aisle, crying and carrying on.
101.  I didn't know what else to do so I picked him up, held him on my hip, and sang anyways.
102.  He was crying because Seth and Sam wanted some of the animal crackers he had decided were his.
103.  We had to spend the rest of the meeting out in the foyer.
104.  When we came back into the chapel for the closing hymn and prayer, the counselor in the bishopric who was conducting made a comment about how I handled Henry's scene, how I knew exactly how to soothe my child, how the inconvenience didn't matter and how that is how our Heavenly Father feels about us when we cry out, needing things at possibly inconvenient times.
105.  I had to look down at the floor the entire time he was talking.
106.  Because I wasn't exactly "soothing" Henry out in the foyer.
107.  All good reminders to help me be a better person.

108.  There, I think I'll remember March now.

Book Review - Classic #10 - The Brothers Karamazov

There are books.  And then there are booooks.  And then there are booo-oooo-oooo-ooks!  (That only makes sense if you remember Ellen DeGeneres guest judging So You Think You Can Dance.  Even then, it might not make sense, but it's what's in my head so I'm going with it)  This is a booo-oooo-oooo-ook!

Dostoevsky (which is an incredibly fun name to say) uses the backdrop of murder and family discord to delve into the much deeper topics of love, human morality and the existence of God.  When it's good, it's very, very good.  There is a section of the book when one of the Karamazov brothers, Aloysha, writes his mentor, the Elder Zosima's, history and testament of God's love towards mankind.  It is beautiful  and faith building.

When it is bad, on the other hand, it's pretty awful.  Not the writing exactly, as Dostoevsky was clearly using tactics and technique when writing certain characters, but more of the experience of reading the writing.  It was tedious!  Dimitri especially, the Karamazov brother Dostoevsky uses to highlight the tortured soul of the morally confused, was exhausting to read.  As the author used a lot of conversation and the character's speech to progress the plot, the chapters when I had to stick with Dimitri, and his angst, and woe-is-me dramatics, repeating himself over and over but only when he wasn't interrupting himself with another thought, got on my nerves.

As soon as I'd get used to Dimitri, he'd switch to Ivan, or Fyodor Pavlovich, or Smerdyakov, or Grushenka.  Each time, I'd have to find a new rhythm.  Needless to say, I found reading more than one chapter at a time difficult.  As a result, it took me FOREVER to finish this book.

So, it leaves me with this question:   If a good book is so inaccessible, is it still a good book?  Does a famous book's readability factor into its greatness at all?  Again, the writing itself isn't inaccessible.  Dostoevsky has a very casual and even comic tone to his prose.  It's the flow that's the problem.  Constantly jumping around from character to character, in time and perspective.    At the book's end, with over a hundred pages left, the narrator announces the outcome of the murder trial.  He then spends the next sevently-five pages writing the closing arguments for both sides of the trial.  Why?  Why tell me the verdict beforehand?  I'm sure there is a reason, but I certainly don't know it.

The end ties it all together but I felt worn out and not at all triumphant when I finished.  Mostly, I felt relief.  I want to love it, because I loved parts and because it's a famous book about really big ideas and wouldn't I look smart if I read it and got it and loved it?

Whew.  Deep novel.  I think.

Book Review - The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown and Stephanie Meyer have something in common.  They both write best sellers that are poorly written and loved by Mormons!  I'm not quite sure why Mormons love Vampire vs. Werewolf teen romances, but I don't think it's a fascination unique to them.   Mormons love to support celebrity Mormons (there is a buzz whenever one of "us" is on any reality TV show) and I'm sure Meyers enjoys some extra numbers in her fan club merely due to the fact that she has that Mormon pedigree:  a degree from Brigham Young University and living in Mesa, Arizona.

Dan Brown, however, is not LDS, so the reasons why his books get passed around and talked about within our religion community must come from a different place.  Again, his fan club is vast and certainly not limited to Mormons, but because his books are centered on religious conspiracy and lost "truth", there is a definite angle of understanding we mormons get because our faith began on the notion that truth had been lost, and a lot of the things that know-it-all Robert Langdon discovers jive with what we think.

A lost truth supported by Masons that mankind has the potential through knowledge and ritual to become Gods?  Umm...yeah.  We got that.  Of course we want to know why Dan Brown and Masons might think that too.  So we read.

I love his ideas but I hate his execution.   I did not read Angels and Demons but The Lost Symbol is set up exactly like his popular DaVinci Code:  each chapter ends with a da-da-da-dum cliffhanger sentence.   Chapter after chapter, it started to feel juvenile, as if the only way the author believed his reader would turn the page was if he enticed them with a carrot on a string.  Write a good story, Dan, and most readers will eagerly finish a book, no raised eyebrow necessary.

As great as his idea for this book was, the conclusion was beyond disappointing.  The big reveal was nothing at all.  Hundreds of pages, torture, man-hunts, murder and ticking-clock code breaking all for nothing.  Or nothing much.  Just like The DaVinci Code, the things people are willing to die for are just not worthy of such fellowships and masquerade.   It's like Brown spends the entire novel shouting, "Guess what!  Guess what!  You're not going to believe this!"  and then whispers, "I might know something.  Maybe."  So dissatisfying.

Throw in the fact that he repeats himself much too often (I started to roll my eyes every time he described Noetic Science....again) and used the words "shaft" and "sex organ" multiple times (don't worry, it isn't a smutty novel although Brown's unnecessary use of a thesaurus makes it seem like it is ("penis" Dan.  The word you seem to be afraid of using is "penis")) and, well, you've got yourself a page turning beach read.  But not a piece of great literature.

Book Review - The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the People Who Raised Them

Jay bought me The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the People Who Raised Them for Christmas. It is written by Amy Dickinson, a contributor for several NPR shows that Jay listens to, and thought I'd enjoy her story based on the recommendations he'd heard. I laughed after reading the first few chapters and realized that a lot of the book revolved around the fact that Amy's husband leaves her and her daughter and their struggle to find an alternative happiness. What are you trying to say, Jay?

He claims ignorance (I believe him) and I did enjoy this book. It's very easy to read chapter by chapter, each one able to stand alone without the others. After all, the author is used to writing essays and answers to questions in her advice column (she is Ann Lander's successor for the Chicago Tribune) Amy Dickinson is extremely likable, in spite of her description of frequently weeping (there were a couple of times I wanted to tell her to suck it up) and the conclusions she reaches from her own life experiences are both entertaining and enlightening.

It's not the kind of memoir that will change your life, but you will certainly gain a few extra smiles in life should you read it.

Book Review - Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

I used to get a lot of book recommendation from Amazon.com, but due to a large to-read list I've developed on Goodreads.com, I haven't spent much time there browsing. The Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together, however, popped up one time and its rave reviews caught my eye.  So, I bought it.

It is a good story.  It's a nice story.  It's a true story.  Without any reservations, I can recommend this book to any and all who might want to read it.  Uplifting and inspiring, it shows just how much good a person determined to do good can do.  It also exposes the world of homelessness in America, how its cycle can be almost unbreakable and the skills the homeless develop to survive - both physically and emotionally.

It's also heavily evangelical Christian, which, since I am not, felt uncomfortable at times.  Just as born-agains don't understand my LDS Christianity, there are some experiences which the co-authors describe that just aren't how I believe things happen.  But I accept that these spiritual feelings and promptings are every bit as real to them as mine are to me.  Just different language.  We are the same kind of different. All of us, each one, is a child of God.

Book Review - Number the Stars

I love Lois Lowry. The Giver is one of my all-time favorite books. She has a way of explaining a complex idea or lesson in a simple, but not at all dumbed down way. Lowry's story of a young girl living in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, and trying to understand who the Nazis are and what their presence means does just that.  When Annemarie Johansen's best friend, Ellen Rose,who is Jewish, moves in with her family and pretends to be her dead sister because her parents are forced to go into hiding in order to avoid being "relocated", the questions that arise about why the secrecy is necessary becomes a perfect first exposure to a young reader not experienced with the brutality and horror of the holocaust. Lowry doesn't shy away from any of the fear, cowardliness, bravery, anger, deception, confusion, or strength shown by those who lived through this dark time in history. However, she unfolds the story through the eyes of ten year-old Annemarie Johansen so the story is appropriate for that age group.

I think this is the very best of young adult or children's literature. Compelling, honest, well-written and important. Highly recommended.

Book Review - Grip of the Shadow Plague

This series really does get better with each book.  The author, Brandon Mull, wastes little time reintroducing characters or rehashing former plots with his third adventure on the secret.preserve, Fablehaven, where magical creatures like fairies, satyrs, and druids exist in disguise to the unknowing outside world.   Enough to remind someone who has read the series where he left off, but probably too little for someone just discovering Seth and Kendra, Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen, Vanessa, Stan, the Sphinx and many, many more characters to understand everything.

As much as I enjoyed this story, which really delves into the feelings of powerlessness when darkness and evil seem to spread without effort (kind of like today), I think I failed the test of true interest.  This was a book I was reading with Seth, and my one-chapter-a-night reading pace became too slow as we approached the book's exciting climax.  As I read the final chapters aloud, Seth sheepishly admitted that he had read ahead on his own and already knew what happened.  More than that, he picked up the fourth book as soon as we finished and read it in two days without me!  I'm curious to learn how the story continues, but months have passed, and I haven't followed my son's example.

So...maybe some of my enthusiasm for the series came from my nine-year-old.    It certainly seems that way.  I do recommend this book and its Fablehaven family to the young advanced reader.  The plot and language are complicated enough to challenge and entertain most.  The lessons they learn about obedience, trust, commitment and honor are ones any parent can feel comfortable with.  But, I still don't know if I'll ever read the rest of the series.

The Search Is Over

"You were with me all the while."  lyrics by Survivor


We have bought a home.  Actually, more accurately, we are in the process of buying a home.  Even more accurately, we are in the obnoxiously tedious part of buying a home.  Paperwork, phone calls, scheduling, money, money money....but, still.  WE ARE BUYING A HOME!

Timing is a funny thing.  I've actually known about this home for awhile.  The sellers are friends of ours, and when they were first getting ready to sell, I walked through it and, well, kind of dismissed it.  The colors weren't right, everything seemed dated.  Nothing clicked.

In the meantime, I have looked at dozens of homes in our area.  I started to get used to what you could get for what price.   When we looked at the house across the street and really liked it, I considered the price.  At that home's listed price,  we could get a place that was pretty much move-in ready.  I didn't love the kitchen, but figured something could be done about that in the future.  Like all the lots in our neighborhood, it didn't really have a yard, just lots and lots of trees.  It included 3700 sq ft on a 0.33 acre lot.  Pretty solid numbers.  It was a strong, strong possibility.  Definitely the frontrunner.

Then, I remembered this house, which I hadn't really forgotten, but hadn't really ever considered a contender. It was listed for slightly more but was quite a bit bigger (although 3700 sq ft is definitely plenty) and had 15 acres.  A LOT more bang for our buck.  For Jay's sake, I wanted him to at least see it before I committed him to living in a neighborhood.

It was funny walking through it a second time.  The first time, I really was such an inexperienced prospective buyer.  The second time, however, I was much, much more buyer wise and my eyes were opened.  This home was awesome!  As I watched Jay adjust to the color combinations, which wouldn't be anybody's favorite except the woman who decorated with them, I urged him to look at the house in its essentials.  Size of rooms.  Layout.  Flow.  Function.  Even as he said, "But the countertops are teal." I reassured him that those these were cosmetic.  Changeable.  The kitchen itself was in a great location.  Behind a rock wall.  Windows facing south.  Open to a beautiful dining room and close to the garage.  He started to see it like I was seeing it.

And we both kind of knew.

We talked about it for a few weeks and Jay tentatively started looking for financing, an act which convinced me that he must really be serious about the property.  We went back and looked at it again and the boys ran through the house asking, "Can we live here!?"

We made an offer right as Spring Break was starting and had a contract on the home by the end of the week. Now comes the inspections and appraisals and all the yucky stuff, but I'm thrilled.  The move will be accompanied by a school and ward change, neither things we were looking to do, but accept as part of the package.  We will be closer to Jay's work, closer to family, and have some fantastically awesome neighbors(my friend, Michelle, who has kids my kids ages.  whee!)

I hope this doesn't sound like bragging.  I feel so blessed to finally have a house that we can call our own and to know that this home gives our boys so much room to explore and grow is wonderful. To know that we've waited until the time was right and we could move into something that will be the place we raise our boys is worth it because this is it - our home.  And in a few years, when we've saved some more pennies, we can say bye-bye to the teal counters and blue carpet.  We can even move the bathtub to the bathroom, where it belongs (you'll see).

Now, for some pictures.  Just a few.  O.K.  A lot.  I kept them small so there would be slightly less scrolling but you can always click on any of the pictures to see in greater detail.  Ready for the tour?

The front of the house.  The driveway extends to the garage but there is a small parking area and a circular drive here in front.

Another angle of the front

I parked in front of the garage so this is where the tour begins.  This is all the built in storage in the garage.  

The door on the left goes into the mud room.  The door on the right goes to the sun room.

This isn't taken from the garage door but from the entryway into the laundry room.  I'm looking at the mudroom (the door to the garage would be on the right) and the open door goes into the sun room.  Lots of storage and space for shoes, backpacks and miscellany.  

Turning around 180 degrees is the laundry area.  I love this room.  To the left is space for another fridge or upright freezer.  

The main floor guest bathroom.

This will be Jay's office on the main floor next to the laundry.  I've always wanted an office where he can come in from his car and put his papers in before they filter into the rest of the house (i.e. our bedroom.  I can't ever throw anything away, even post it notes or things written onto quarter-sized scratch paper because it might just contain that phone number that he needs next week.  Oh...it's happened) .

First view of the kitchen.  The countertops are  in excellent condition and a really high quality corian.  But, they are green.

The floors are Pergo, not wood (not my favorite, but again, perfectly fine...even nice) and the fridge is a humongous Sub-Zero.  Seriously, it's like a fridge and a half.  

This is the breakfast nook with a built in hutch.  

Taken from the breakfast nook looking into the kitchen.  

This living room.  

The dining room.

master bedroom from the doorway.  That entertainment center is built-in.  I'm not sure what to do with that.  

Opening from the left side of the master bedroom is the master sitting area.  The woman who built this house decided she wanted her bathtub in here, instead of in the adjoining bathroom.  More...sunlight?  Exposure?  Spokane girls, I am destined to have a mauve bathtub, no?  

Master bathroom.  Lots of changes in store but lots of space to work with.

Cedar lined walk-in closet.

View of main rooms as you come from master bedroom.

Main foyer

sun room

a real basement.  It doesn't have any windows, but there is a bathroom.

And a walk in safe.  You know...for all of our gold bars:)

A rock wall keeps the kitchen from being viewed as you walk in - something that I really wanted.  For some reason,  if I could see a kitchen from the front door, it was a big, big strike against the house.  Every house I've lived in, you can see right into the kitchen from the front door.  My kitchen is not my cleanest room and that has never made sense to me.  

At the top of the stairs just behind that rock wall from the previous picture is this landing including storage and a wet bar.  

Bedroom #1

An upstairs bathroom with a door to the hall and another door to one of the bedrooms.

This bedroom, in fact.  It's the largest of the three upstairs and has a large walk-in closet.  

Here's bedroom #3.

Turning around from the mini-bar is this hallway towards the deck on top of the garage.

It's the size of the double oversized garage and has fantastic views.  Here's Sam enjoying a bit of pre-spring doing his homework.

A view from the deck to the front yard and circle drive.

the stairs off the deck to the backyard.  

The back deck. Or stage for the family reunion:)

We are set to close May 15th but won't move in until the school year is over, two weeks later. We are hoping that moving locally will be less painful than the big interstate moves we are used to, but I have a feeling all moves are painful.

I'm surprised by how calm we feel. This really feels right. I always thought I'd walk into a home and just...SHABLAM! That would be the one. But, it took a couple of times with this property. My shallowness couldn't get past the mauve tub. But now me and that mauve tub have a date. May 15th!!!