6710 Grand

My second child is bizarre.   Aren’t they all in their own way?   Iris has developed a series of phrases that only she understands and can not seem to explain to anyone else… Lavender speaks lavender. I guess I need to have a junior. Owie owie owie cats. Bacona bacona baconalack.   And sometimes Bacona bacona bacona shoshashank. I don’t know what any of this means and yet sometimes I find myself repeating one or more of these phrases over and over, thinking of my little girl and wondering what goes on in her head.   Sometimes, Nick and I say them to each other as sort of an inside joke—it never fails to provoke a laugh. We will never forget these phrases and we will certainly never let Iris forget them.   I can envision bringing them up at all of the usual embarrassing moments—first dates, 21 st birthday and any other moment when I’ll want to remember her as my little girl and not the woman I’m sure she’ll grow up to be.   I have no doubt th...

I’ve often been called an overachiever.   I don’t disagree.   Now that life has calmed down somewhat, I find myself looking for new things to take on (an Ivy League MBA, for example).   Some things, however, remind me that despite my high “D” (DISC profile) and my type-A personality, I’m really a lazy bum.   Baking is one such activity. Baking is culinary arts for the lazy.   The girls and I bake cookies most weekends.   It’s one of those things that breaks up the day and keeps Saturdays fun.   Ivy and Iris are most excited about licking the beaters, so sometimes, I’m on my own.   I almost NEVER start and finish in one sitting.   First, I get out the butter to let it soften.   Now, I’m committed.   Once the butter is out, it can’t be put back in the wrapper without serious complications.   Even so, I can’t possibly mix the batter with cold, hard butter, so I find a nice Law & Order marathon and settle in for an epis...

It’s not unusual for children to make up words or to pronounce them slightly differently than the English language intends. My children are no different. At one time, when Ivy was younger, we were much more frequent travelers and had many occasions to rent a car. She wondered once, whether or not this “new” car was taking the place of our “old” car. No, we told her—it was just a rental. It then became known as the “wrinkly car”. Wrinkles she understood—rentals, not so much. Another common word they mispronounce is lemonade. I don’t even say it right anymore—it’s lelomade. I have to really think about it when we go out for dinner and I have to tell the server what they want to drink. Because of Nick’s travel schedule, he takes lots of portable food on the planes, including a wide variety of bars and shakes. One happens to be granola bars. The girls call them “vanilla bars”, which means I now call them vanilla bars. For a very long time, Ivy’s favorite movie was The Incredibles. ...

Sometimes I hear music in the background—like my life is a movie and I’m not really living it but wondering how and why anyone would live the way I do. My life is insane. No normal person should do what I do. My husband “lives” in Chicago for 5-6 days in a row while he pursues his airline career, leaving my two children and me here in Phoenix. At the ages of 3 and 5, they’re like any other pre-schoolers: a handful! But we make it (albeit on obscene amounts of coffee, but who am I kidding? I don’t see that as a downside). Here’s a typical day: 3:15 I wake up and get out of bed to weigh myself seven times before throwing my hands in the air and accepting the number on the scale. I then proceed to run 3.2 miles in about 45 minutes while reading whatever business or fiction book I’ve currently promised myself to read. I get through maybe 30 pages. I then shower (after weighing myself another 7 times only to feel like I deserve to have lost at least two pounds for what I’ve just suffered)...

Last week, while in the car on the way to daycare, the girls and I heard the sad news that Michelle Duggar had misscarried her 20th (is that right?) child. Fan of the Duggars or not, it's always sad to me when I hear of a miscarriage, especially since I thought I had miscarried Ivy in the early weeks of my pregnancy. As we were sitting in the car, listening to the radio, I said something to the effect of "oh how sad". "What's sad, mommy?" Ivy asked. I struggled with how to word this. Ivy has been quite concerned with death and going to Heaven lately--she's worried that I'll go and leave her here alone. She's worried that she'll have to go and leave all of her toys. She seems to understand that Great Grandma Olson (who passed away in March) is in Heaven now and that that's a good thing--she's not hurting anymore and she's with Great Grandpa Olson who passed on more than ten years ago. She seems to associate babies who aren't bo...

Some men (and women) secretly sneak peaks at porn. Additcted or not, they might try to hide it--scoping out time in their day when they know no one is around and no one can see what they're looking at. My husband does not do this...at least not with naked people. He looks at pictures of airplanes. We affectionatly call it pilot porn. Sometimes, he'll be at his computer and I'll walk by and notice that he's rapidly closed a window. "What are you looking at?" I'll ask, already knowing the answer. "Nothing!" as if it's a secret. I think pilots are born, not made. You either love planes or know little about them. You can learn the aerodynamics or the mechanics but pilots are born with an innate awe and wonder about planes. Nick's dad is a pilot too. His mom once told me that she knew exactly how she was going to die. She'd be riding in the car with his dad who would hear a plane overhead. He'd be craning his neck to watch it...

So, I like shoes. They're the one article of clothing that seem to fit no matter how much I weigh and I don't mind going up a size. I've been buying a lot more shoes lately since I discovered platforms. I bought a cute pair of purple strappy shoes for Easter and just fell in love with Baker's Shoes. Since April, I've bought three pairs of shoes from them and then I discovered Steve Madden. Love Steve Madden. In a meeting at work, I was introduced to Shop it to Me (yes, it really was in a business meeting. We were talking about dress code. Anyway...) So, now I get an email a few times a week with things the website thinks I'll like. One day I was scrolling through it and found a really cute pair of over the knee boots. When I clicked on it and went to the Steve Madden website, they had the same pair of boots in purple! I had to get them. They're fabulous. Now, all of these shoes are perfectly acceptable to wear to work, which I do often. I get several rema...

I read a lot of books on writing, hoping it will help me not only to be a better writer, but to convince myself that I'm not doing it wrong. We writers all have our reasons for not writing, whether they're valid or not is up to each of us to decide. The book I fished today (and by finished, I don't mean I read the whole thing--I'm just DONE with it) is called Write: 10 Days to End Writer's Block or something like that. I remember buying it thinking "wow--10 days and I'll have something worth writing". Well, I've learned a lesson all right. Nothing happened after 10 days and nothing will. The whole premise of this book was that in order to free yourself and get over the blank page--for whatever reason--was to...get ready. This is gonna be good. Write with your other hand. WHAT? Yep--put the pen in my LEFT hand and give it a try! Um, that's stupid. It was full of these questions, written exactly the same way twice, where you answer it once with ...

I've been reading a lot of Bible study type books--it's like hearing a Sunday sermon except longer. And when it gets boring I can skip ahead. Today, I was reading When God Whispers Your Name by Max Lucado. He was talking about Moses being called out by God after he'd killed an Egyptian who was beating a slave and ran off to the dessert, and how Jesus was sort of an ordinary guy when he performed miracles. Those two things don't seem to go together much when I put it like that...except for one thing. It got me thinking about miracles. Max was talking about how any one of us could have been written about in the Bible. Some of the stuff people said about Jesus could have just as easily been said about us. Some of the stuff Jesus did (going to a wedding, working as a handyman) could be replaced easily by the things we do. Sure. I get it. But those miracles were stop you in your tracks miracles. People knew they were witnessing something of God. I don't think I can say ...

There wasn't much I hated about Korea (no Venti Starbucks was high on the list) but one thing I did was the bathroom. Part of it was that I just didn't understand. But the larger part was that it was just...annoying. First, imagine your shower. It might have a curtain or a door, but it's enclosed in some way. Now, add your toilet, sink, towell rack--everything else in the bahroom. That's right, put it IN the shower. Now, take away that enclosure. Poof! You have a Korean bathroom. Why? Why not close it in? Why not give it it's own floor so that you're not walking around in the bathroom in the evening when everything is still wet from your morning shower. Like any other Asian country that I know of, shoes aren't worn indoors. There's always a ledge or something to keep your shoes on when you walk inside (even in resturants!). In the bathroom, however, you're expected to wear shoes. Why? Because the floor is wet! You bring your flip flop...

I never in my life thought I'd travel to Korea. Yet here I am in the VERY small town of Uljin (Ool chin). It is perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I'm here with Nick--it's his new home. I know--crazy. But as anyone who's following knows, we never stay anywhere for long. This is our latest adventure. We've been in Arizona for three years--that's longer than anywhere else except for the places we were born. Time to move forward. I have experienced more in these last three days than perhaps the last year. I've tried new foods, stayed in weird hotels, met amazing people and seen a place that I hadn't known existed. I've felt the stares of the locals and heard their whispering as I walk by. I've never really felt like a minority before, but here, I most certainly am. Everyone knows we're not from around here. They can tell by looking at us. And they try to help. We were nearly stranded in a subway station without our luggag...

Sure, I can carry a tune—if you hand it to me in a bucket, but really, I shouldn't. Not unless there's a crowd also singing that can drown me out. I don't really like to sing. In my car maybe, but that's it. It's the one part of church I really don't like—well, that and the part where I have to shake hands with people I don't know. It's supposed to be a time of worship. I get that. Singing to God… Rapture practice, one of my pastors used to call it. 'Cause that's what we're going to spend eternity doing, right?' Praise and worship. But does it have to be singing? I really hope not. I don't feel particularly close to God when I'm singing. Sometimes, maybe, but it isn't the song. It's Him. Something He's telling me or something we're doing together and there just happens to be music playing. Don't get me wrong—I LOVE music. I mean, I really love it. It gets into my soul and I can listen to the same song over and...

I don't understand why I need to make appointments to see a doctor. They certainly don't seem to honor them. I went to see a new doctor on Monday. I called several weeks in advance to make my 3pm appointment. I even supplied my insurance information prior so that I wouldn't have to do that in the office. I arrived about ten minutes early. Walking into the office, I saw four employees standing around behind the counter. One was on the phone. There were no other people in the waiting room. "I have an appointment," I said. to the three people who didn't seem to be doing anything. One of them motioned to the person on the phone. "She'll get you checked in." Because you're so busy. I sat down and waited. Finally the person on the phone hung up and gave me the paperwork I had to sign. I was told I'd be called in a few minutes. I waited. Waiting... At 3:20 I was finally called. I walked past several empty rooms wondering why we were...

A big adventure is on the horizon! Nick is moving to South Korea...next week! While it's all very exciting, the entire process has been frustrating. A lot of "hurry up and wait". The biggest hurdle (so far) has been in obtaining a work visa. You can visit South Korea without a visa for up to 90 days, but they kind of expect you to have a return ticket. We've been unsure of a lot of things from the start, but when things got moving, they moved fast. In a matter of days, we've received a start date, itinerary and airline ticket from Los Angeles to Seoul. Ready to go, right? Not so much... We live in Phoenix, not Los Angeles. And still no work visa. More waiting... Less than one week before his expected start date, we're told that we should have a visa number by the end of the week. Then, we need to visit the Korean Consulate...in Los Angeles. We have to convert the visa number to a real visa (whatever that means). At this point, we're contemplating our opti...

Owning a home has been, to say the least, interesting. I've found it to be no unlike living in an apartment--I just don't move every year. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's OK if everything isn't painted or decorated just the way I want it right away. I have no plans to leave (sadly) anytime soon. That being said, like apartment living, there are things about our house that I absolutly hate. There's certainly plenty that I love--our huge backyard, having a garage, the beautiful staircase and wide open floor plan. I love having a room just for my workout equipment and I love having my laundry room on the upper level. I love that we have four bathrooms (even though only three of our toilets work). I don't love my kitchen--it's too small. I don't love that half of our windows don't open. I don't love the patch of carpet in our living room, though I'm learning to appreciate it. I don't love that our stairs are too wide to...

It’s no secret that I detest Phoenix. It’s hot. It’s brown. It’s dusty. I miss the snow. I miss fall. I miss just knowing that the weather will change. At 91 degrees today, the seventh of April, I turned on my air conditioner. True, winters here aren’t icy or frigid, but they’re not what I’ve grown to believe what a winter should be. It’s just not…cold. There is absolutely NO CHANCE for snow. I’ll never have a snow day living here. I’ll never get to wear my beautiful, winter white, heavy coat. There’s just no need. Knowing all of this, we are about to finalize the purchase of a house in this desert city. Why? So many people ask me this. Why am I here? Why am I buying a house in a city I can’t stand? It’s really quite simple. When I discovered it long ago, I felt peace in my present-tense. I am here because this is where God has led me. For now, this is home. For now, for an unknown amount of time (unknown by me, that is), I will stay here and thrive. I am not running or hiding from a d...

Anything that’s on television that isn’t animated is dubbed hosible by Ivy, which is her way of referring to General Hospital. She’s figured out that real people on any show (except Jon and Cake, as she calls it) is something that she doesn’t want to watch. Generally, my time to watch whatever show I’ve decided worthwhile is in the morning while I’m getting ready for work. Usually, it’s before the girls are up, but this past Wednesday, as I was watching The Biggest Looser, Ivy woke up early. Iris and Nick were still asleep, so it was just the two of us, eating our breakfast on the yellow table (our coffee table, which is actually light brown). Ivy had finished her cook (a cereal bar) and had moved on to a cookie (graham cracker). Ivy doesn’t usually watch any television with rapt attention unless it’s Bado (The Incredibles) or Mucket (Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit). As I sat sipping my coffee watching Jillian beat someone into submission (in case you don’t...

Since Iris was born, I have found myself often watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 . What a fun show! I would tell myself that if she could do it with eight, I could certainly handle two. Today, I watched the episode when they went to Park City, UT. They we skiing, ice skating and Jon went snowboarding. I've never been skiing or snowboarding. The closest I've ever come was riding the ski lift in the summertime at the Snowbowl in Flagstaff. It sure looks easy, but I'm told it isn't--at least not right away. Jon was describing how great it felt to be back on the snowboard. He felt younger and more alive. He said "You just lean back on the board and it's wherever God wants to take you." Wow. What a neat thing to say. What a wonderful feeling to just be able to do that--lean back and go wherever God wants to take you. It's no secret that I dispise living in Phoenix. It's just plain hot. And brown. Nevertheless, we're going through the process of buying...

Nick decided to give up coffee this year (we'll see how long it lasts), so I decided that I had to pick up the slack. I brewed my full 12 cup pot this morning and broke out the big mug--my Disneyland Minnie Mouse mug that holds 6 cups. I got so many lovely coffee gifts for Christmas this year--I'm very excited. My brother Andrew gave me a Starbucks gift card (for those mornings when I'm running late--there's about 4 of them between home and work), my parents gave me two boxes of Gloria Jeans French Vanilla K-kups (WHOO HOO!), and Nick got me the Kurig K-kup My Cup coffee filter (so I can use any kind of coffee I can find in my Kurig brewer). I plan to have a very coffee new year.

We were watching A Christmas Story the other day (you know--"You'll shoot your eye out!") and in the beginning of the movie where Ralphie is hiding the advertisement for his gun in Mom's Look magazine, I noticed that his parents had twin beds in their bedroom. Did this ever actually happen or was it just something they did on TV so that no one would know that people actually had sex in those days? In Little House on the Prarie, Charles and Carline slept in the same bed, but being prarie folk, perhaps it was more of a space thing--little house. I pride myself on being too young to know the answer to this question. Anyone?