Recent News and Developments

Well, there aren't any, really. So I'll go ahead and waste precious minutes of your life by boring you with mundane details of our uneventful daily existence.

Michael took off for Washington DC last week, for a Usability Conference courtesy of Vectren. He attended two back to back sessions, which puts him halfway to his certification. He obviously had a terrible time, meeting smart and interesting people from around the world, bumming around the city taking photos, visiting the major sites, eating disgustingly gourmet food with his favorite cousin Amanda, hanging out at the Air and Space Museum... yeah, it was rough. Poor guy. He was happy to be home.

Meanwhile, Jeddy and I had a quiet week here at home. Turns out it isn't much fun to cook without anyone to cook for, so the two of us survived primarily on applesauce and muffins. Jed didn't mind that at all. That boy devours applesauce like nobody's business. I always try to feed him other food first, which he obligingly eats. But as soon as the applesauce comes out he's grunting with pleasure, smearing it all over his body with joyful abandon, using every possible utensil and body part to shove it in his mouth as quickly as possible. And when the bowl is empty, shouts and moans and gesticulating hands more moRE MORE MORE!!! I do use the unsweetened kind so I figure, hey, it's fruit, right? And I put kale in ou ten pound muffins so that counted as vegetables. No wonder I was so skinny in college, I thought applesauce and a muffin was a meal back then, too. Times have changed and so have I, at least in girth.

Meanwhile, I was bumming around the house painting Michael's chest of drawers blue (Funky. Love it.), attempting to wrest my garden back from the grass invasion (a losing battle but I've made some headway,) experimenting with green tomato pie (delicious!), practicing the piano for the first time in seven years , and working on an article for a BYU magazine (Such fun! I forget how much I miss writing.)

Speaking of which, I don't think I have mentioned that my darling wonderful fantastic adorable husband got me A PIANO for our third anniversary next week!!!! Wahoo!!! It's quite old, and in need of tuning, but makes a lovely addition to our living room. Most of you know I used to be quite the little ivory tickler but ever since my mission that talent has been sadly neglected. Now I'm resurrecting the scales and arpeggios (I still remember the circle of fifth scales, go me) and dusting off my old books. I've practiced every day and I am exceedingly proud of myself. I'm working on a couple of Chopin waltzes and a Bach Toccata. Sure, they sound clumsy and awful, particularly since the piano still hasn't been tuned and you can't even tell what note you're playing half the time, but I still find great pleasure in just feeling the music beneath my hands. I'll have to post a photo for you all sometime soon.

Yesterday, my crowing achievement was 7 quarts of crushed tomatoes canned from my very own garden! I've canned tomatoes before, and I've grown tomatoes before, but I've never actually canned my own. I pranced around the house with a smug-happy expression on my face all afternoon and Michael kindly fed my ego with exclamations of manly appreciation. What a guy. Love that man.

While I canned, Jed ran around the house gathering random objects, as he is wont to do. He likes to run with something clutched in each hand. I feel that my house is fairly well baby proofed, but he never ceases to amaze me with his finds. This time he appeared with:
1) a pocketknife
2) a pair of toenail clippers, opened, with which he banged my toes
3) a button pin with a nice sharp pokey part with which to impale himself
He ran by, waving his finds in the air, and then scampered off, shrieking wildly as I chased him down and traded him acceptable alternate objects (trucks, cars, trucks, etc.). I figured out later that he'd been raiding his dad's half-unpacked luggage. Sheesh. That kid. What talent. I should rent him out as a bomb sniffer for the airport.

So, there you have a really really really unnecessarily long recap of really nothing much at all. Talk about talent. Rambling is my gift!