secret book of moves

you + me

2012-02-09T16:43:00.001-07:00

I've also got a 1 year old who smells like a polo or something, but he's not invited.

PS Nate, I moved your cologne from the bottom drawer.

munchkin, 8 seconds

2012-02-08T10:03:00.001-07:00

"Daaaaad!" "Daaaaad!" He cries, between licking the door.

"big hunter of small game," "mary anne and sharon," and "mary anne, a dandy baby"

2012-02-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

I remember going to Thanksgiving at my Aunt Mary Anne's house when I was but a wee girl.

Her rambling farm house had red shag carpet in the basement

a fireman's pole

a library where I read American Girl books

a mud room!

and heavy glass tumblers.

She had cows and silos and a trampoline. A trampoline! This is big stuff.

She always had juicers in her pockets--little candies shaped like jolly ranchers only smaller.

She always had good cereal.

One summer when I was only a little bit wee (like 11 or 12), I went to visit my cousin who lived down the lane from Mary Anne. Mary Anne was her grandma, but she called her "Jo." My cousin was not having a very good day (week/month?) so Jo invited me over to her house, where I slept on the tramp. Like a tramp. Then she took us to Idaho Falls and I got a free t-shirt from a rubber duck race.

When I was not so wee, she compiled a bunch of family names to do some temple work for, and she let me and my siblings and cousins do it. Then we went to a pancake house for dinner. I remember that I told her I would help her with something else regarding family history, but I never did. I wonder what it was.

She passed away a couple of weeks ago.
I didn't make it to her funeral, and that makes me sad.
I would like to have been there.
At least I have these photos (and more), captioned by my grandma.

friday morning

2012-02-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today we are

Evaluating,

Taking stock,

Replenishing the rice

& Waiting for 6:00.

& Making silly listmaking faces.

& Probably some banana bread.

i'm going to have some hot chocolate now

2012-02-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

ONE super fun thing about sewing for yourself is that you sometimes have to almost finish an item before you can even try it on to see if you like it.

And then sometimes you don't.

And then you just throw it away because what the heck else can you do with it?

girl trouble -or- frenemy -and- some snot

2012-01-31T19:45:00.001-07:00

Calvin got his first case of the runny nose today.

He also got his first case of the being bitten on the face.

We did what we could to overcome these setbacks.

it's a rhombus up top

2012-01-29T19:58:00.001-07:00

I never blog about what I'm thinking about anymore.

Because I think about lame things that I'm embarrassed about

like Jillian Michaels

and instacrying.

This is Summit Creek.

I read one line on one of the last pages of The Road, just to see how it ended.

I found out what happens.

Nate's reading it. It sounds awful.

After I read about 10 words, I instacried.

I will not be reading that book.

Nate needed certain sticks of a certain size for a certain kind of scout endeavor, and stuff like that, so we went to Summit Creek this morning.

Then I put Calvin on a motorcycle and he seemed a little less impressed than I would have expected, judging from his giddy reactions at offerings of juice and cheese and stuff like that.

look at my adorable new open shelving

2012-01-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

two old books my mother thought i would like

2012-01-24T08:52:00.002-07:00

Copy-Kitten is a pretty straightforward kid's story: a kitty becomes slightly dictatorial in his attempts to make everyone around him "better," thereby destroying all of their lives, but then (just in time) realizes that one of his existential presuppositions was immaturely formed and repents--

but another of the books is slightly more sinister.

It's about how two little kids wake up to hear a funny noise,

struggle to get dressed because their coordination isn't fully developed yet,

and end up saving a dog who was hidden in a box in their garage and naming him Chalky.

a cousin for calvin + australia is far away

2012-01-23T08:37:00.001-07:00

In Jane Austen's Emma, no one ever says, "When the baby is born," or "After the baby comes." Instead they say, "After the mother's safety is assured," or some such jargon. It's such a relief when both of those things happen, and though I'm sorry for labor plus c-section, I'm grateful for modern medicine.

[Insert photo of my brother and sister-in-law's new baby Nikolai here]

[Awww, cute.]

Of course when other mothers are laboring for their children, I can't help but think of when I did that.

I did that.

And I'm sorry to say but I can't help but think "Oh wow, I had Calvin by now," inevitably, eight hours into everyone else's labors.

Having a baby is such a big deal.

And now, without further ado, would you like to see some Australians who love love Calvin?

They were born on the other side of the world.

some fun new words: don't, no, done, cheese, down, up

2012-01-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

But usually it's

with a little nod of the head.

he brought me one shoe, then the other a few minutes later

2012-01-17T10:42:00.001-07:00

Here, mom, you look kind of like a high school softball player today

(which would obviously be ok if you were in fact a high school softball player but you're really not that great at softball not to mention your advanced age)

with that headband holding your dirty dirty bangs back the t shirt from dad's high school Aquabats costume.

Let's see what we can do about that.

Ah! Stilettos.

You're welcome.

sticks and stones

2012-01-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

We went out to the sticks to see the ice rink.

If you think we live in the sticks, this would be the sticks squared.

And guess who has a baby swing at their park?

The sticks.

I don't think any of our four parks have one.

Sometimes when I drive around I can't remember if the Utah license plates make out of state drivers, or if the Idaho plates do that.

PS And saying sticks so many times makes me sing this. Think what you will of me.

maturity

2012-01-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm grown

I take some time for

a quiet repose in my favorite chair

for several seconds at a time

until I see something shiny across the room.

now your left, now my left, now your left, that's my right

2012-01-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Winter calls for a change in movement.

This year, though I still get outside a little bit, and sometimes run on old ironsides downstairs,

I most often exercise with Nate's mom's old friend Gil,

the swarthy Italian working out in Hawaii in the '80s.

(Brought to me from TV to a VCR to a VHS converted to a DVD as a Christmas present--holy cow, the thoughtful technology!)

Each workout is about 23 minutes short, and Calvin hops on me for weight resistance while I'm doing crunches, just like according to legend Nate and his brother did to their mom.

I recommend this workout tape to you

but you'll need a VCR and a time machine to get it.

Mr. Exerciser is funnily awkward with his instructions and small talk.
Sometimes he tries to confuse your directions.
Maybe that's why I like him--you see, just last night Nate and I were confessing our recent awkward conversions with people who could probably be our friends
if we weren't so awkward to talk to.

B-Ball dude: "Nate, you're jumping so high this year!"
Nate: "Er, uh, eee..."

Neighbor and Primary Prez, as afternoon crept into evening at a meeting: "What time does your husband usually get home?"
Me: "Oh it varies--which makes it hard to have dinner ready!"
Her: "Bah, dinner, who needs it."
Me: "Oh, uh, well, we like dinner at our house." DUH.

(So happy together.)

m is for mine

2012-01-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

Always helping me improve,

my parents gave me the wherewithal

to label things

MINE.

a very very very fine house

2012-01-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

New artwork for the new year

in our old house.

Some of it professional,

some of it very very amateur.

The free store was so generous

and musically fun.

He played the organ for hours.

I'm not kidding.

We chose any unused artwork from the extensive Clark collection,

including originals from the Grandfather photographer himself.

They brought out vintage toys to entertain the boy in case he ever tired of the organ

(that's what happens to toys after 50 years--they become vintage).

After we gathered our new/old artwork, we paused to admire the trees from the top of their very very very fine house.

maybe, maybe not

2012-01-05T20:52:00.001-07:00

Maybe you remember that blue carpet lived in our bathroom when we moved here.

Maybe you remember we ripped it up?
Maybe you never heard anything about it after that?

Maybe the whybecause is that we are never quite done.

For example we just got a new whiter sink.
But we've decided to keep the vintage tile because it's
cute?
and also it will take the plaster off the walls when it comes down so unless we want to rebuild the walls in there (we don't) ---
we're keeping the tile

That floor is just six billion times better!

I breathe easier just knowing it's there.

Thinking about potty training.

Wait, what, potty training?

That just sounds too hard. Let's don't think about it.

Holy cow.

1.25

2012-01-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

This may be incriminating, but when I was younger I never understood the hype about babies.

They were usually pretty cute, but that was about it. What was the big deal?

NOW I GET IT.

Babies are AMAZING

!!!!

Amaze.

They go from being adorably pathetic bags of love

to smart, funny, crazy monkeys in a single year.

They learn how to move their bodies.

They learn to communicate effectively.

They try to make you laugh.

They make you read the ladybug book six billion times.

They hug you and hit your face and pretend not to understand what "NO" means.

They sing and hike and fall down because their boots make them walk funny.

Happy 1.25 years, Calv my boy!

today was the last saturday before the standard day-of-the-week patterns return

2012-01-02T20:48:00.002-07:00

We found some new trails and a nature park to explore.

It's mostly just Juniper and sage brush.

But you know what, that's what grows here.

And I find it lovely.

ps Did you notice the lack of snow in our midst?

For a few days there I thought it was April,

hooray winter break,

aka a break in the winter.

so old fashioned for a new year's eve

2011-12-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

Calvin's so old fash.

He puts on his coat.

Gets two of his friends.

Gets in a car.

Checks the time.

Waves to his folks.

And drives off with his trunk and hat box

to find some adventure

or at least some grilled cheese sandwiches.

the december when i did all that transcribing

2011-12-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

When--IF-- your house burns down

someone goes through ALL of your belongings and records the items that are damaged

or burned

or smelly.

That someone may record it on a tiny tape recorder, a device you probably didn't know existed anymore.

And someone else--a mom with a silly tot who always smells like maple syrup maybe--

transcribes the audio into a list for the insurance company.

And she might just judge you slightly for having, say,

27 types of tea

or 14 kinds of shampoo

or 19 boxes full of "porcelain figurines" and "fragile knick-knacks."

a tale of twos and christmas too

2011-12-27T10:43:00.001-07:00

TWO made its debut as THE #1 NUMBER of Christmas 2011.

Our budget for our fancy Christmas date was TWO fancy dollars. If there's one thing we know how to do, it's stay within our budget, even if it's scrawny. We did TWO things that are normally TOO fancy for that budget: dinner at a local Italian restaurant and a movie in a theater. Holy cow, it was even a sequel. But thanks to some expired movie theater gift cards, some castoff company presents and a hand-me-down gift certificate, we got it taken care of.

The classical guitarist at La Nonne played TWO songs we recognized (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / If I Could Change the World) and our waiter was like totally dumb, but the food was very very (two verys) good.

Santa somehow came TWICE.

We had TWO Christmas dinners. Actually kind of three.

Calvin asserted his ability to hold TWO things at the same time

all the time.

Atta Calv.

He also has TWO new favorite words: Stuck and Go.

Stuck! Go! Good combo.

And he began growing TWO new teeth, the fangs.

And he got TWO ridiculously cool hats for Christmas.

And TWO shoes.

christmas cheer via 1998

2011-12-23T11:27:00.002-07:00

Some early morning fun with Jocelyn

christmas cheer via 1967

2011-12-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

christmas cheer via 1971

2011-12-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

With a bonus print for your wallet.

a house is made of

2011-12-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Do you recall Secret Move #12?

It's nice to make a pretty house,

but it's imperative to eat as many building materials as you can.

And I apologize to all of the other builders for using up all of the snow-covered pretzels.

or you could buy it and live in my town!

2011-12-14T08:47:00.003-07:00

why i enjoyed church

2011-12-11T20:02:00.001-07:00

1. One of the Primary teachers asked me if I was the Primary president. Ha ha.

2. My neighbor Kelli (who is the Primary president) held Calv all through Sacrament Meeting and fed him lunch (aka all of the snacks she brought for her kids).

3. A six-year-old complimented me on my "purple stockings."

Why I enjoyed after church: sharing pomegranate seeds with my littlest friend.

placeholder for title (which will be relevent to the photo and/or post)

2011-12-09T11:36:00.001-07:00

Come on, come on,

think of an anecdote, a witticism or a secret move that will require me to post this picture of my dudes on my blog.

note to any girls out there

2011-12-07T22:58:00.001-07:00

Very Important
qualities to look for in a man:

Still commands the employee discount when purchasing the Christmas Tree

EIGHT YEARS

after he worked at the establishment
because have you seen the price of Christmas trees, good grief, I always thought growing on trees made things more affordable but maybe I have misunderstood that.

This is important, girls.

buttoned and zipped straight to the throat with the collar up so you don't catch cold

2011-12-07T08:25:00.001-07:00

To tell the truth I'm conflicted.

I like to take Calvy out even when it's cold. Way cold.

It clears my head and the fresh air is good for us.

We are hardy stock

and I don't really understand how being out in the cold can get someone sick.

Going to church certainly gives us more germs.

But every day I feel those pangs of guilt.

If he does get sick (which he never has)

it will be my fault

and I'll feel sorry.

traditional

2011-12-06T12:39:00.001-07:00

When I say "the day after Thanksgiving," what comes to mind?

The Museum of Idaho, right?

That's what I thought.

This year the exhibit wasn't mammoths or Abe Lincoln.

It was World War II.

Calvin averted his eyes from the Nazi flag (so did I--creepy).

There were official items

and home-made items.

Obviously it made me cry a little.

the littlest among us finds himself very clever

2011-12-05T21:53:00.001-07:00

He has learned to touch faces "softly,"

but next he shall learn not to touch sleeping faces at all.

the songs you love to hear without a single stop

2011-12-04T20:06:00.001-07:00

To get feeling very festive

and happy

we went

happy golden days of yore

2011-12-02T13:59:00.001-07:00

I pulled out my Austen collection again

and the ribbon was keeping my place two chapters into Emma,

so I've picked up where I left off (however many years ago I began).

I thought about giving something new a try--

Northanger Abbey?--

and no way am I reading Pride and Prejudice again

and it was already open to Emma.

I think Mr. Knightly is aptly named and

as opposed to being a heroine no one would much like, Emma is my favorite.

A few tiny parts of her description sound like someone I know

(me)
(too bad it's not the wealthy part)

and I'm narcissistic

so maybe that's why I like it.

HOWEVER,

her snobbery really is rather more egregious than I remember.

And they hardly celebrate Christmas at all.

like three birds of a feather would be

2011-11-30T22:34:00.001-07:00

The first thing Nate likes to say when he gets home is

"Where's my dudes?"

And despite it being rather ungrammatical,

it's very charming indeed.

the secret life of garden gnomes

2011-11-29T19:09:00.001-07:00

going and coming back

2011-11-29T08:42:00.001-07:00

what does it mean if i don't think i eat more on thanksgiving than on normal days?

2011-11-28T11:26:00.001-07:00

In order to explain Magnetic North vs. True North, Nate asked me to draw North America on the back of his hand while he was driving. The obvious joke came later (I know North America like the back of my hand).

ps I didn't even bring my real camera to Idaho Thanksgiving and the only proof I have of having lunch with my favorite Joneses is an ATM fee on my bank statement for getting cash at the restaurant (which was worth it, Joneses, so don't worry).

"evelyn, dumb little robin acts as if he's never seen a worm before"

2011-11-22T21:56:00.001-07:00

And that's what my grandma wrote on the back.

jack frost makes fall yard cleanup impossible: we improvise

2011-11-20T10:17:00.001-07:00

short jump & dad emails

2011-11-17T10:29:00.001-07:00

Stricklan, Dave to me

Thought you might like to see this.

Melissa Peterson to Dave

Oh thank you, dad, I do like it. What a swell jump. It must have been at least one foot.
Happy Anniversary!
(Ed. note: It was my parents anniversary on Monday.)

Stricklan, Dave to me

You are welcome. I'm proud of you and I love you.
(Ed. note: I think he meant in proud in general, not proud of the one-foot jump.)

fell

2011-11-16T09:54:00.001-07:00

The little one created a place to play.

It was high in the air and he fell, kerplunk.

Kerrrplunk.

a forever type day

2011-11-14T18:48:00.001-07:00

Seal them up, they're for forever.

Three little Stricklans

cousin baby Jack, Monica and Andy (or maybe you think his name's Drew?)

congratulations to you.

"mrs. taggart baked on Wednesday

2011-11-10T09:15:00.001-07:00

Just as inflexibly as she washed on Monday and ironed on Tuesday. Heat or no heat, she would bake today...cake, cookies, pie, bread, biscuits."

Unlike Mrs. Farmer Taggart in Heaven to Betsy (which I'm rereading now; cold weather makes me feel like rereading the Betsy-Tacys and making fudge), I have no strict daily schedule (mostly because I could probably not restrict myself to baking once a week) but once a week I do generally have a

Cleaning things I don't normally clean Day

Laundry extravaganza Day

Making things Day

Making things Day is obviously my favorite.

Lately it's been applesauce and today is no exception. Also there's yogurt and chicken stock going on.

But it's only 9:30 so who knows what else could happen.

people wear clothes and have noses

2011-11-09T14:16:00.001-07:00

Both of which are inordinately funny to my buddy.

This boy had really cooled off in the rascal department recently

but this week he's back in the game.

And he has discovered the stairs.

Did I tell you about the time I found a little over two yards of the perfect navy and white striped knit fabric at the thrift store early this summer? And I made myself a shirt, Calvin a shirt, two pillows and a diaper case with it? And lined his unremovable hat with it?

It is finds like those that keep me going back to the thrift store when I am skeptical of the value of that enterprise. Intermittent reinforcement at work.

backflash

2011-11-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

I don't think my time with Calvin is passing too quickly.

I don't want to freeze him at a fun age because then I'd miss the next big thing.

That's what cameras are for anyway.

They're for the rainy morning in June when we went to the dinosaur park in Ogden with Grandma Trudy and Aunt Carly.

two shames

2011-11-07T09:45:00.002-07:00

Nate's phone gets a lot of good pictures of our babychild but they don't get onto the computer for general use very often. It is a shame.

I was like, "Calvin, if you unplug that the bath will be over." And he was like, "NOOOOOO," as bathtime slipped through his fingers.

Calling aunt Carly, "I'm wearing the coat you made. I get so many compliments on it."

See why this is a shame.

Also

We had like 50 people in our tiny house yesterday to eat some food because cousin baby Jack was blessed and everyone likes him. It was cool. Starting at St. George they came from a million towns inbetween. We took an official family picture, but I didn't take a single one! SHAME.

my aprons are for reals

2011-11-03T21:47:00.001-06:00

I used to wear them in an attempt to appear cute.

But I couldn't help being practical and wiping my hands on them and using them to shield myself and eventually pulling Calvin along by the apron strings (right, that's what mothers do?).

Well I used to think I was a pretty good cook, too.

Suddenly I'm not. What gives.

a little decorum please

2011-11-02T20:13:00.000-06:00

Holy cow.

If you spend any time looking at enviable home interiors like I do

the following images will probably scare your socks off

I have a sewing book from 1974. Sewing For The Home it's called.

Sewing Everything In The Same Busy Patterns So That You Get Really Dizzy In The Home it could also be called.

Oh look,

our old bathroom carpet had an obnoxious older brother.

A calming, inviting area for taking a load off.

A room dressed up as a court jester for Halloween.

You have probably not seen the last of this book.

but no one told us that we wouldn't be able to get the eyeliner off babyface

2011-11-01T11:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday

Today

what "third time's a charm" means to me

2011-10-31T09:47:00.001-06:00

123

struggles

2011-10-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm finding it difficult to

a - eat for one. For the past two years I've been eating for two, but since August it's just been me and I still haven't adjusted.
b - eat anything besides cookies for breakfast. All I ever want is cookies for breakfast.
c - rearrange my schedule for jogging later in the day (now that we've got morning frosty-grass weather and afternoon gorgeous for being outside weather).
d - figure out a Halloween costume for Nate's party tonight. Such an obvious problem, I know, but I can never seem to figure anything out for myself. I want to wear one of my cool vintage dresses or something, so I might be Nancy Drew and deal with not looking dressed up.

e - believe that Calvin signs "MORE." He does though. He also walks, have I mentioned that? It's been since his birthday. And he claps, points to his changing table when he needs a new diaper and calls his Teddy "baby."
f - find four-inch drawer pulls. It doesn't sound so crazy, does it? But it apparently is.
g - not install the new bathroom floor by myself since Nate has been at work all day every day since I impulsively bought it on Monday. Work is for jerks! Saturday, hurry up!
h - know what to do with all the leaves on our yard--leave them there as fall decor? Rake them and bag them as soon as they fall? Sweep them off the sidewalk? I'm a rather clueless homeowner.
i - i - i - i - don't have any more struggles! Would you believe it if those were all of my struggles in the world? Awesome.

sharon shares

2011-10-27T10:31:00.001-06:00

My Aunt Sharon, 1966 at BYU, exactly 40 years before I graduated from there.

She shares my birthday.

She shares my petite figure.

She shares my love for things old.

She shares her antiques with me because she knows I appreciate them.

And I do.

One (1) buffet, bought at an antique store in Denver at least 30 years ago, thought to be from the 1930s, refinished.

I am slightly ashamed that I put our microwave on it but it also holds our china.

Also shared: Two (2) baby dresses, one from each grandmother from her mother's side of the family. At least 100 years old (to be modeled by future P babies).

One (1) grandmother's handmade wedding dress (very very simple) that kind of sort of fits me if you don't try to fasten the belt (to be modeled by me hopefully sometime if I can think of an excuse to wear it).

he's got to be exaggerating

2011-10-26T14:40:00.002-06:00

Dear mom,

thanks for finally making me a hat I can't get off--

thereby RUINING MY LIFE!!!!!

Hey that baby has one too.

One more time with feeling.

if you give a mouse a cookie

2011-10-25T07:52:00.000-06:00

Over the beautiful autumn weekend Nate P. did some plumbing work in our bathroom. He told me the sink may be cracked and it may be best to get a new one.

So I did some research (shopping).

I found it was just as cost efficient to get a whole new vanity.

And there was some flooring on super sale, which we obviously need.

And if we're doing that, we may as well paint.

And we'd need new light fixtures.

And then Nate P. told me we didn't need a new sink after all, but I didn't really feel like that was a good enough reason to cancel the project so I went to Lowes.

Then I went home and looked at the bathroom.

This is what is looked like.

After about forty minutes there was just me

and this.

Later we sent in the professionals

who left nothing in their wake.

TO BE CONTINUED

the outside

2011-10-23T21:09:00.002-06:00

It's where we pluck them from branches.

And where we eat them,

or at least scrape of parts of them with our two teeth.

putting stuff into other stuff; it's like a game

2011-10-19T12:39:00.001-06:00

My sweet munchkin likes to put stuff in other stuff.

Which is coincidentally also how to clean toys up.

So--yay.

I dumped his blocks out for him and his is how he left them.

It's also fun to find soothies in shoes, bottles in boots, shoes in baskets and booties in drawers.

the mystery of the appearing quilt

2011-10-18T09:27:00.000-06:00

Even the good lady of the portrait is without a clue.

Where did this quilt come from and how did it come to be stored under our bed?

Nate P. doesn't recognize it and thought it was mine; I don't recognize it and thought it was his.

Whence?

this is what he looks like upside down

2011-10-17T16:13:00.000-06:00

Backyard vine wreath leaves only last about three days but berries last much longer. With a little bit of help from some floral tape that I had stowed away in my toolbox, a bare berry wreath doesn't look so bad.

liking things and wanting to share them which is what a blog is for sometimes

2011-10-14T09:19:00.000-06:00

Three things I like: handwriting, historical items and church.

One thing that entails all three: Family Search Indexing.

It's harder and as cool as I thought it would be.

They give you a scan of an old record (census, military, etc.).

You transcribe the names, places and such into a form.

You can't read half of the words, because even though handwriting was pretty "back then," it was not necessarily legible.

From

You submit the form.

They have other people correct your mistakes so you don't have to feel like you're ruining someone's records.

You feel an enlivening connection with people from the past, even better than you do when you read the pre-revision Nancy Drew books or when you sew a vintage unmarked pattern.

******

Speaking of which, we watched the funniest show this week.

And by this week, I mean it took us four installments because it's three hours long.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Well, they didn't ask because they didn't know who Evans was, for one thing. But they bumble around the English and Welch countrysides in the most charming 30s style (well, 80s 30s style).

"I think I'll do a little sleuthing of my own."

Motorcycle, check. Messenger bag, check. Pipe, check.

The bad guy!

"If you had been a better golfer!"

2011-10-12T14:53:00.003-06:00

I'm currently re-reading my interior design textbook from college.

I'm hoping it will help me figure out what kind of flooring to put in the kitchen.

I'm waffling.

And Calvin and I saw four different kinds of spiders on the porch today.

Four. Ew.

secret move regarding seasonal decor

2011-10-11T07:10:00.001-06:00

The answer should have been obvious to me all along: scavenge and invent.

Wreaths are really just seasonal foliage after all.

(Vine from the back fence wrapped around a bent wire hanger secured with twisty ties.)

(How long until it shrivels up and falls apart?)

dear nate

2011-10-10T09:26:00.000-06:00

I know you like to read a new post when you get bored at work,

and that's why I sent you that text of Calvin walking around in the nude.

I don't have anything to blog about again today.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the fun things we do

like that awesome firepit party on Saturday (your fire was NOT pathetic),

and I keep taking pictures of boring things instead,

like the dishes I had to handwash after getting them out of our scummy dishwasher,

and strawberries.

Maybe I'll take some pictures of the floor samples at Home Depot tonight

and blog about that.

See you at lunch (let's have tuna?).

xxoom

#1

2011-10-06T12:06:00.000-06:00

At the last second on Sunday afternoon I thought

brownies and no birthday cake?

no decorations?

I've got to make this party more festive!

So I stapled an elastic to a piece of construction paper and drew a ONE on it.

Luckily the four grandparents, two great grandparents, three uncles, one aunt and one cousin baby didn't seem to mind the lack of festivity (except for one of the grandmas who I think was offended by the absence of frosting whatsoever).

We may stink at parties but we love our Calvin baby.
BONUS:

Some presents

Some grandpas

me and him

the aunt and cousin

whooshing sounds

2011-10-05T12:33:00.000-06:00

Calvin and I were lucky enough

to be outside

when, whoosh,

the strongest autumn wind swept summer temperatures away for good.

photobooth's depiction of his life thus far

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday all my Calvin babies!

12 things i love about my calvin boy

2011-10-03T11:46:00.002-06:00

(One for every month that I have loved having him.)

1. He only has two teeth and they're on the bottom and they are cute.
2. When he sees something he likes, like dogs or food or cousin baby Jack or me, he points and says "OH!", like you would if you found a twenty in your jacket pocket.
3. He's beautiful. (Have you seen him?!)
4. He is funny. I don't know how, but he knows it.
5. He bobs his head when he hears music. And he laughs when I dance.
6. He smiles at old ladies in the store when they tell him he's cute.
7. He says, "Dad!" when he hears Nate's truck pull into the drive, but he never says it when he sees Nate. This leads us to believe that he thinks the truck is maybe Dad.
8. If you show him something a couple of times (See, you put the ball here and it comes out down there) he can do it himself! Exclamation point.
9. He likes to play by himself (because so do I sometimes).
10. After he has just stood for a prolonged period or perhaps stepped a bit before he falls, he is thrilled.
11. He can learn tricks (from Nate) like handing us his sipper when he's done instead of throwing it to the ground or giving high fives.
12. Sometimes when I'm very lucky he'll give me a very sloppy smooch.

uno

2011-09-30T17:39:00.002-06:00

Calvin almost one year, Cousin Jack almost two days

Let's make this picture XL.

CALVIN WILL BE ONE ON TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

has two teeth

can stand

says lots of things, some of them English words

likes to see how many steps he can take on his way down when he attempts to walk without holding onto things

has crazy wispy hair

has bonked his head hard enough to cry about six times today

and not hard enough to cry about six more

FYI.

2011-09-29T12:48:00.002-06:00

True that my recent annoyance of blogging stems from reading blogs, but reading blogs has also been awesome to me. EXAMPLES.

1. A blog that I regretfully can't remember the name of made me more confident that yes, mother, I can chop up sweaters.

2. Reading this blog about a couple who completely renovated one house by themselves and is in the process of their second makes me think the craziness of my house is not too hopelessly expensive to fix.

Image from Young House Love

3. There is a blogger in New York who is basically totally famous, lives in a really cool apartment, vacations in England and Greece, wears jeans of my dreams, but comes across so normal and really sweet. Like way nicer than me. And I just like that about her.

Image from A Cup of Jo

4. Obviously reading all of your blogs makes me feel lucky to have so many interesting and diverse friends.

5. There are lots of cool blogs from Utah, but this is one of my favorites because the girl who writes it always give me good ideas about eating, like making "sundried" tomatoes in the oven, putting coconut in my chocolate chip cookies, and making more soup. Plus she is really cute and lives in an old house like I do.

Image from The Little Red House

So if that's not a Pro, I don't know what is.

fancy award winning laycation/vaclayton

2011-09-28T20:02:00.001-06:00

I went to Layton

because Nate P. won a professional award for his chapter of his association thingy

And they presented him with his reward, which included a hotel stay for we three,

an Irish Macool's dinner with the other Stricklans,

a night of very quietly laughing at tv with my husband in the room while the baby slept in the corner,

a morning swim for baby and me,

and successful acquisition of gear at Layton places,

like Target.

Now we're home and Calvy's sleeping in his bed.

shere khan (i thought it was more like "sheer con" but who am i?)

2011-09-27T07:07:00.002-06:00

A couple of cons at once.

Con1: That comparison thing? I started doing it while reading other blogs I formerly enjoyed. Suddenly my little old house wasn't cool enough, my fall boots weren't high enough quality, my non-vacations weren't...vacations enough and I started to feel bad. Also my writing was boring. Sad.

Con2: Reading other people's blogs starts to make you feel entitled to know everyone's beeswax.

Or is that just me?

real and true friends

2011-09-26T09:40:00.002-06:00

One of my reunions with Stephanie, in which Ambrose wanted to punch me.

Pro: Without my blog, I'm pretty sure I would have never reunited with Stephanie after our fateful first meeting in a dank tube station in London and subsequent meanderings. I also wouldn't have kept in touch with Becca after that same meeting, who would have never introduced me to Libby, who would have never introduced me to Bitty. (You can sense the tragedy). I also wouldn't have kept in touch with my high school friends or you guys who moved across the country. Thank you, blog.

don't make me face my generation alone

2011-09-25T20:42:00.000-06:00

Pro: If you had an Edwardian suffragette great grandma, you'd want her to wear an ostentatious hat.

A blog is probably our generation's equivalent of a big, flowery, feathery Edwardian hat.

I like wearing the hat, being one of the ladies wearing a hat.

Do you know what I mean?
(Literally.)

PS This summer, for the first time ever, I contemplated Blogicide.
I am still considering it through a pro/con list.

house update

2011-09-23T12:05:00.000-06:00

Our driveway is widened.Our back door is matted.Our Calvin's walls are striped.Our bathroom is hopefully next. (After more driveway work.)

2011-09-21T07:59:00.000-06:00

Old Melissa:

Mocking STRESS EATING, thinking it was for L-osers.

New Melissa:

Realizing how common this is in my life.

2011-09-20T08:46:00.000-06:00

Calvin and I like to run in the mornings, but only when we feel like it.

On Tuesdays, we rarely feel like it.

Instead we like to hang out in our pajamas

read blogs

attack the computer

and play with not toys.

we just never really had to try

2011-09-18T19:53:00.000-06:00

It must have been the puma cola that we imbibed

because the lasagna wasn't that great

but the evening was,

and some of the people hid behind the bush.

and then he kissed me!

2011-09-16T16:18:00.001-06:00

Smooch

how i spent my summer vacation

2011-09-15T17:04:00.000-06:00

For Calvin, it was spent atop his dad's shoulders.

I'm well aware that my videos have become less creative, more long and more cute and I feel slightly ambivalent about that. But it's really cute.

dear the great pumpkin

2011-09-13T10:08:00.000-06:00

I've* found it for you this year. The most sincere pumpkin patch.

Just hang a right at the Octoroots Tree

And head south until you can smell the Sincerity.

*And by I I mean Nate.

let me tell you bout jellyman kelly

2011-09-11T19:54:00.000-06:00

Let's see here.

Our neighbor left us another batch of garden tomatoes while we were at church.

I made yet another shirt of navy blue; this one is a long sleeved striped tee.

I saw some supposedly fancy-brand jeans at our friendly local D.I. for $35, "with holes." $35 thrift store pants with holes! Appalling. I have some of the same brand which I acquired for fifty cents (and they're worth every penny now that I've altered them).

We were without a back door for two nights. No big deal.

Nate made the party banner for Monica's baby shower and it proudly bears pictures of bear-lions, pirate ships, sunshines, spider webs, misspellings, mean babies and others.

I don't think there are any photos of the event.

Nate and I have about seventy three good projects to do this week.

My brother and his brother play music together.

These are people watching my brother and his brother play music together a couple of weeks ago.

I want a haircut. I even made an appointment to get one. But then it didn't work out.

la leche league

2011-09-09T09:17:00.002-06:00

Basically, he's had enough of me.

me and bryn and all our kids

2011-09-08T07:56:00.000-06:00

Mostly hers.

I have always wanted to be like Bryn, can you blame me?

root root root

2011-09-06T20:54:00.001-06:00

Another debate that we just chose YES on:

to go to the game with the free tickets or not.

Go! Teams! Both of you.

secret move regarding going up to idaho today

2011-09-05T09:34:00.000-06:00

When indecision hovers and taunts, just decide YES I guess and be done with it.

september like you really mean it

2011-09-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

Our heater came on this morning!

September is not kidding.

This is the third day in a row I have worn pants and I'm not kidding.

Calv wore socks on our jog this morning.

Nate wore flannel to breakfast.

The shadows on the road were longer this morning too.

It makes me want to join an elementary school choir, like that one time that I joined the Forbes choir but none of the really sing-singer kids were in it because they were all in the city choir and I didn't even know anyone else there! I just wanted to do it! I was in third grade and we stayed after school and sang about the solstice and it got dark early and I don't think we ever even had a performance or else I quit.

Either way, that's how it feels when the shadows get long.

i love love love love love love poppin a wheelie! on my bike!

2011-08-30T19:11:00.000-06:00

I think he's going to be that kind of kid.

dinner at calv's great-grandparents' house yesterday included a salad made from a cabbage bigger than your head

2011-08-29T11:16:00.000-06:00

Calvin's great-grandparents, yesteryear

garbage day 234

2011-08-26T12:08:00.000-06:00

Our town is four square miles of garbage cans lining the road on garbage day. It makes our morning jog so pungent.

2: All of my new favorite shirts are navy blue. The one I made a while ago in little checks, the one Nate gave me for my birthday, and the one I made last night while I watched this, which was really interesting. Did you know the White House was completely gutted and rebuilt after WWII?

3: When the Nate's away, I sleep flanked with pillows.

4: It's been so hot this week, the Arizona sunbird folks are probably all wondering why they came way up north. Was it to enjoy triple digit heat? Or was it to enjoy free "concerts" in the "park" starring one old guy who plays the guitar and his friend who also plays the guitar? (I love those concerts.)

the sharptooth and double dares

2011-08-24T09:57:00.000-06:00

That little sharptooth does not like the paparazzi.

I surprisingly love the little tooth. So smooth and small. And even cute.

Speaking of things I love, surprises, rejection and words that are fun to say,

last night Nate P. dared me to

pour lighter fluid on my neighbor's trampoline

light it on fire

jump the fence

call 911

and say I had nothing to do with it.

!!!!

(We were bored.)

sharptooth in a hammock

2011-08-23T10:57:00.000-06:00

So far it's just the one sharptooth.

(Bottom. Right.)

It's even cute.

And now for more hammock:

season's greetings

2011-08-22T10:20:00.000-06:00

The season being

summer

and the greetings being

near the close

it's five o'clock, our favorite time of day, can't you tell

2011-08-18T20:06:00.000-06:00

WOO.

it's hopeless, charlie brown. completely hopeless.

2011-08-17T07:31:00.000-06:00

I am afraid it is completely out of the question for you to have a cabin like this.

You would have had to

sprint through Logan Canyon in the middle of the last century, probably directly after planting a shade tree in my yard, and acquire some lakeside property upon which to build a kicksweet cabin--

THEN you would have to be awesome like Brittany's great-aunt Gwen and invite all kinds of uninvited guests in and remember them every random time they come to bask in your glorious cabin.

Dear Brittany,

We would probably maybe still be friends even if you weren't related to your great-aunt and uncle and their Bear Lake cabin of fun.

ps Please come back and visit. Calvin misses you, do you believe that?! He wants to go for a really really long walk and listen to us jabber some more.

common interests

2011-08-16T09:57:00.000-06:00

See above for the books Calvin and I are enjoying reading.

the annual peterson man golf tournament was today

2011-08-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

reunited!

2011-08-12T21:00:00.000-06:00

At last!

Anne, Melissa, Brittany, Jess,

eating takeout in a park just like old Provo times,

except trade a random admirer of Brittany's

(which was almost always present in our BYU days)

for

my husband and baby, and Jess's two kids that were also there.

baby's first funeral

2011-08-09T13:05:00.000-06:00

We never met Roberta but she mailed us a Christmas pamphlet from next door that said, "I thought you might enjoy this more than candy."

Indeed.

She never answered the door when we knocked, but she was 90 and blind so I don't really blame her.

And is it just me, or are the young people going to have to try a lot harder if we want to be as cool old people as the old people are?