Mustache Monday

So, T was in North Carolina for 7 days with some of his buddies from work. Besides the fact that we at home survived thanks only to the help of my sister--what with a trip to Urgent Care and whatnot--the most memorable feature of this trip was the souvenier my husband brought home with him.
Facial Hair.

All of T's workfriends decided not to shave while they were gone, so that they could all show up at work together for Mustache Monday. This is definitely a new look for T. I can go for a little scruff, and I guess it added a little excitement to our welcome home smootcheroo session since I had to try to kiss him without getting whiskerburn.

So Monday morning came, and all the scruff came off except for the Mexican mustache. I meant to get a picture of that, but unfortunately I had some kind of 24-hour killer bug, so I was out for the count. Actually, one of T's workfriends suggested that I had gotten the swine flu from T's Mexican mustache. Maybe. The mustache looked pretty lethal.

As T & I discussed our different hair situations, I was lamenting to him that Couscous had recently said, "Wow, mommy! You have such pretty sparkly silver highlights!"

He held up our resident scalped doll lying around

and said, "It sure beats the alternative."

Spring Break!!

Life is just so good!

T & I finished our last ballroom dance class last Friday. It is so much fun to dance with my husband!! Mission accomplished! He can lead, I can follow, and we have a blast. We thought that we were dancing as well as the other couples in our class, but then we found out they had taken the Beginner's level 3 times. So as we were leaving and giving our thanks to Lou and Dorothy, I asked if we had passed--if we could move on to the intermediate class next time. Dorothy looked at us and said, "You? Oh, absolutely!" Yay!! Just call us Ginger and Fred! We finished up our evening together watching "Twilight". I saw it in the theater when some girlfriends, but I liked it more this time. I think part of it was because I wasn't judging it against the book, like I did in the theater--I already knew what I was getting this time around, so I could enjoy it for itself. But second of all, it was nice watching it with T. He had promised in advance not to laugh at it. And he admitted to liking it! He even wants to read the book!

We pulled some strings this year and the Easter Bunny agreed to come on Saturday morning instead. The kids woke up to minimal candy in their baskets and a note saying that most of the eggs he hid for us at our cousins. We had such a fun time with the Easter egg hunt at their house; we stayed and played some games, and really enjoyed ourselves on Saturday. That left Sunday with the opportunity to be so much more focused on the true meaning of Easter. We had a wonderful meeting at Church, and that afternoon we had a powerful discussion about Christ's Atonement and Resurrection. I kept getting moved to tears, although that's not too uncommon for me. (My kids ask me to read the children's Friend magazine and keep glancing at me whenever I pause, just see how far I can get into the story before I start tearing up.) We closed out our glorious Easter by having family, friends, and the missionaries over for Easter dinner.

And today my kids and I kicked off Spring Break week by taking a trip around the world. We packed a lunch and went to the museum. We visited South and Central America, Africa, Asia & the Pacific Islands, Autstralia, and even the Artic. Did you know that Pacific Islanders used shark teeth to make their spears? I didn't. After our world travels we enjoyed the butterflies and dinosaurs. Then, tonight, to celebrate the accomlishment of Avandra having finished the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ in her personal reading, we went out to the fun pizza/entertainment place tonight. Thanks to the economic downturn, prices are lower and with coupon in hand we had ourselves a mighty fun time for a very resonable price!

Hope you all had a wonderfully meaningful Easter, and are enjoying life also!

Addictions & 8 Things...

Hello. My name is Henrietta Hoopenhollar and I am addicted to food.

That's how I feel like I should start this blog post after my lame-o commitment to healthy eating. Actually, my scale tells me my self-restraint has paid 5 lbs in dividends--which puts me at the same weight as when I got married. However, I think my scale is simply error-prone because I've blown off my non-diet for the last 10 days. Truly, I 've been naughty. You don't even want to know how many snickerdoodles I've eaten in the last 2 days --and yes, Megan, I hold you personally responsible for giving me your delicious recipe when I asked you for it! :)

But instead of giving food any more blog space, I guess facebook is going well. I've been enjoying the reconnections, and one of them, (Hi Mami Jo!) has tagged me from her blog. I have never, ever responded to tags, but this time I think I will.

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. gave my younger kids an emergency bath
2. drove my older daughter to school when she missed the bus, because she was reading instead of getting ready for school, while I was giving the younger kids a bath
3. didn't get mad at my daughter, but later we discussed some logical consequences
4. went to playgroup
5. sewed and otherwise problem-solved through my mending pile
6. prepared letters to Pres. Barack Obama for the LIFE Envelope Project (formerly the Red Envelope Project), to affirm the Right to Life
7. sighed with disappointment when the Vermont legislature affirmed the court decision and legalized same-sex marriage--right on the tail of Iowa--Ouch!
8. laughed through Bryan Kest's power yoga with my sister. My legs and shoulders still feel it though so it must have been successful. Namasdai everybody!

8 Favorite TV Shows:

Easy. I don't watch TV. Don't even own one. And everytime we stay with people who do watch TV, we easily recommit to no TV. But I have my own

3 Favorite Time Wasters (I was supposed to do 8, but I guess I lack diversity at how I waste my time):
1. Spending time on the internet
2. Wasteful reading
3. Trying to guess who will receive the new callings with the ward boundary changes. I'm hopelessly bad. Like the time I KNEW who was going to be the new primary president. I was so confident I even told my sister. Imagine my surprise when on Sunday they asked my sister to stand as the new primary president!


8 Wishes (+ 2 to grow an inch):
1. That people wouldn't litter
2. That people wouldn't drive drunk
3. That I could have guarantees that my children will turn out great
4. That my children wouldn't get their worst behaviors from their mother
5. That I had more self-mastery
6. That I could live somewhere that stays between 60-85 degrees, and is sunny 300 days a year, but still green
7. That if I can't get perfect weather, then could I at least have a great big Southern-facing window?
8. That I could stay grounded in faith and activism, while laughing way more often, not taking myself too seriously, and living more spontaneously.
9. That I could write a novel. I tried once, but before I got through the first page my main character told me that my dialogue sucked. A harsh term, but it was true.
10. My true fantasy wish??? That I was flying at top speed in my new blue BMW Z4 convertible, zipping around the curves of Provo Canyon, looking a whole lot like Audrey Hepburn with my hair up, sunglasses on, and driving gloves. There you go guys. That is truly, honestly me.

Contemplating Calories

You know, a true friend is someone who can tell you what you need to hear in a way that is completely unoffensive. I knew Emily and Becky were true friends when, while talking about their exercise routines, I mentioned that my 4 months of YMCA membership haven't exactly made me the svelte gal I once was, and they kindly hinted that one does have to monitor one's food intake.

Huh. What a concept.

I've been eating as if I was still 17 (or 30, for that matter). But somewhere between ages 32-34 my metabolism started changing, and, my friends, I don't think it's ever coming back.

(Now for those of you who don't see me regularly, it's not like I've gained a ton of weight lately. I'm 10 pounds less than my post-marriage heaviest, but also 10 pounds more than I was post-Couscous. And there has definitely been some continental drift going on, if you get my drift.)

So I tried a new experiment. I didn't want to call it a "diet" because that sounds too restrictive. But I started counting calories. Wow. It's kind of embarrassing how much thoughtless food I was putting in my mouth. So I started keeping track of my calories and fiber I was eating every day. (I took off 4 calories for every gram of fiber I ate. Don't ask for my scientific rationale.) But whether I was calling it a diet or not, those first 3 days were killer. I was hungry all the time. I did start getting into the groove of things though, and I decided to weigh myself once a week at the same time and just watch all of my self-restraint pay off.

I have been finding dinners hard (my recipes don't always give a calorie count), so I stopped counting those calories, and just am really careful during the day, and eat smaller dinner portions than usual. I did cheat for my son's birthday celebration a week ago Sunday, and I did go out for Hibachi last Saturday night without any self-restraint. So maybe those are the reasons, but when I weighed myself Sunday morning (yesterday), instead of seeing the expected results, I had gained 2 pounds!! That just made me so mad that when they passed around Ghirardelli Pecan Pie Chocolate Squares in RS that day, I took one and ate it with a sense of rebellion.

Help! What's going on? True friends, I really need some advice, help, motivation, whatever, because I'm about ready to post this and grab some ice cream! If my self-restraint isn't paying dividends, I may as well enjoy life--and food--passionately. Help!

Move Over, Martha!

Or Rachel, Paula, Barefoot Kitchen Contessa, or whoever is the latest cooking guru! I am so proud of my own little accomplishment! It's nothing professional, I know, but for me, it's amazing.
I got most of the ideas from http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/train-birthday-cake.html. I used mini-loaf pans for the cars. For the engine I cut down 2 loaves, added a TP tube covered in plastic wrap, and a frosted marshmallow. (If I did it again I would use something bigger than that tube, but smaller than the cans I could find.) The track is made of licorice and KitKats. Crushed grahams for the sawdust and dyed coconut for the grass. I just decided to leave the chocolate cake showing as coal in the coal car. And although my son thought the caboose was a house at first, he was open to my suggestion that it be a caboose :) Happy 2nd Birthday Little Guy!! Glad you loved it. It was fun making it for you.

(I Muffed the Poll--Re-vote Please?) Facebook 101 Needed

Hi Friends. I just jumped into the world of Facebook, but I have a lot of questions. Since I saw many of you there, maybe you can help me out.

1. What's the point of it? In my limited experience of 12 hours on, I have found 2 benefits.

First, I was able to connect with people that I haven't seen for along time--even grade school aquaintances and people I taught in the MTC. And there is something nice about being able to say, "Hey! In this big old world I still remember you and you still remember me. What's up?" But do relationships ever grow? Or is it just like signing high school yearbooks everyday?

Second, speaking of high school, it was very eye-opening to go through my high school class profiles. Wow! As far as I can tell, there are three groups: those who look like supermodels, those who look greyer/balder/chubbier, and those who chose very discreet pictures so that you can't see them clearly. After going through every picture file, it seems my supermodel ones have disappeared and the only ones I can find would put me in the greyer/balder/chubbier category. (Is it any wonder that all the ads on my facebook page are about anti-aging strategies?) So can I have your help? Here are three pictures. Will you please vote on the sidebar for which one would best represent me on my facebook profile?

Picture A (which, for those of you who asked, also shows my new haircut & Marci, I've cropped all I can):

Picture B (cropped from the first version)

Picture C

Picture D (thanks for the ideas, Jen)

2. The second question I have is about your philosophy in adding friends. Do you add every positive acquaintance? What about second cousins twice removed? Are you obligated to add family who asks to be added? Should you send a friend invite to people you had crushes on in high school, even though you are perfectly and happily married (yes, ballroom dancing is back on track)? And theoretically speaking, does it really matter if you have 100 "friends" on facebook, but you wouldn't call any of them if you were having a bad day and needed to talk?

So what is Facebook? A great social networking tool? or a newer, better, trendier way to waste time?

stupid, stupid, stupid

I am so stupid. Yesterday I started the book Sarah and AnnaMarie recommended--Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I took it to the Y and started it while exercising. Wow. I was rightfully nervous about the premise (think a TV reality show like Survivor, only contestants aren't voted off, and the winner is the last one alive). But I got sucked into the story. I remember crying at some point, something about the love of the girl and her sister, which I'm sure looked ridiculous while I was on the eliptical machine. Anyway, I got home and put the book away for later. "Later" was the second my last child was in bed. I picked the book up at 8:30pm, and I honestly didn't come up for air until 11:30pm. I had no idea time was passing so quickly. I made the mistake of not giving myself a time limit, and jumped back into the book. Then it was 12:30am. I know that my kids wake at 6:30am. I know that the book will still be there when I wake up. But I'm so close to the end and I just want to know how 2 things get resolved. And guess how I'm rewarded at 1:20am? With a transitional moment and "The End of Book One" on the final page!!! Ah!! When is the sequal coming out?? I've got to know what happens! Surely Katniss will find a way to lead a rebellion against the inhumanity of the Capitol! And whatever will happen when she reunites with Gale? Did the mockingbird pin have any unknown significance? This is killing me! And yes, there was violence in it. I could never watch this story on-screen. But it didn't seem to go overboard. But I still wouldn't say it qualifies for "Wholesome and Uplifting", which are the criteria for books we read in Relief Society Book Group. I'd put it more as "Exciting and Suspenseful". But I am just dying with exhaustion as I try extra hard not to take out my stupidity on my kids in grumpiness.



You know, I know I haven't posted for awhile, and it's been a busy month, so if you want to know what's going on, please read the next post.