These are some pictures of part of my yard that I took last night. I’m still trying to recruit people, you see.  I think this will help immensely.

Can you see it? A horned lizard is in there, my friends.

There he is.  Or maybe it’s a she?  Who knows?

These guys are completely harmless and they eat ants, which are my worst enemy.  I hate ants with a passion heretofore unknown.  And I think lizards are cool. 

Our first tarantula of the season.  ((shudder)) This sucker is huge. And yes, hanging out in our backyard.  This is why I don’t let my kids outside without shoes on.

The contest is to name these new members of our household.  Leave your names in the comments.  The best one (chosen by me, but I reserve the right to discuss with other mmw bloggers) for the spider gets a $10 gift card to Amazon.  The best one for the lizard gets the same thing! (I’m soooo original).  And yes, if  you are the best for both you get $20!  (My math skills are also unsurpassed). Second place gets $5 to Amazon.  Third place gets plastic lizards and/or a spider mailed to them.   Because I’m nice that way.  The contest will end at midnight on 8/3. 

So, want to move here?

They split our ward last night.  Not surprising, really, since it had about 900 members. There were a few problems with the communication, however.

New Meeting Time: 8:30 p.m- 11:30 p.m.  How faithful are you, really?  Faithful enough to keep your kids awake until almost midnight for church?  Makes school the next day such a party! (more…)

The Washington Post recently had a front page article about Mothers in the House.  Not the house, as in where you live.  The House, as in, where a bill becomes a law.  (Actually, that’s techically the Senate, but you know what I mean) (more…)

My mother scolded me this past weekend for calling my dd “Princess Poop”  as we have done ever since she got in the habit of waking me at 2:00 a.m. with that plaintive call …”Mommmmmm, come wipe my bummmmmm” (why anyone actually poops at 2:00 a.m. is an entirely different blog).  (more…)

It was inevitable. At some point, my violin playing skills would have to be passed down the generations. I’ve never fancied myself any good, but that hasn’t stopped me from creaking out a song every year or so in sacrament meeting at church. I began playing in 3rd grade at West Elementary School in New Canaan, CT. The only thing I remember from those early private lessons was that for some reason my teacher, Mr. Dunn made me memorize the words to the R.E.M. song, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It.” Somewhere between the lines I learned to play. 

(more…)

I do like it in Arizona.  Really I do.  I’m just BORED out of my skull.  Lonely, too.  Because, really, I have no friends here. 

Now, before you all start telling me to throw a barbecue or something, let me also tell you that I’m a fairly introverted person.  (more…)

Before I got pregnant, I was extremely good about what I ate. Low sodium. Nothing, or next to nothing, processed or packaged. No hydrogenated oil. No cereal for breakfast–only something fresh, like oatmeal, pancakes made from scratch, fruit, yogurt, eggs on toast, etc. I looked and felt great.

Then I got pregnant. I no longer looked or felt great. I looked like death warmed over, and I felt like dog chow. My 7lb first trimester weight loss caused me to go from, “Hey, what healthy food can I have today?” to “I guess I should eat. What would taste the best coming back up?” (more…)

Time to enter the lovefest and score some cool stuff!  Way cool stuff,  like a digital camera package, free writing/publishing help, custom blog headings, baby stuff, jewelry, and more.  Parker needs it.  Donate, comment, and spread the word!  You might just win.

That’s me, baby.  I’ve never looked better.

So when it’s 4:41am, and you’ve been up with a fussy baby since 2:02am, and there has been lots of tears, poop, and then, the crowning acheivement, projectile spit-up onto your hair and shirt, as well as all over the baby’s sleeper, what does nature provide to ensure you don’t kill your young?

A big old grin from your 6 week old baby that says, “Ya gotta love me, mom, ’cause I’m just that cute.”

Nature’s survival mechanism, indeed.

There is a new book in our house.  I don’t know how it happened.  Something slipped and Adum and I agreed to buy a book today.  The past year has been a blissful oasis of internet chess, obsessive blogging, NBA games and napping.  There was no question in my mind that I had advanced past books.  And yet here we are again.

As I write, Adum lies on our bed reading the latest J.K. Rowling novel.  I hear the wisp of pages turning every few minutes and I’m intrigued. (more…)

I saw Harry Potter 5 last night.  It totally rocks.  Of course, I went by myself, leaving the kids at home, so that may have heightened my sense of total movie satisfaction. (more…)

More good news for those of you who want to help Parker.  Queen Serene has posted information about The American Express Members Project. Fifty community service proposals are in the running to receive $5 million in funding from AmEx.  They are simply asking members to vote for the project that most deserves the money. The project for Down’s Syndrome used to be at the top, but it is now falling in the list.  Other projects, most notably environmental projects, are nearing the top.  Now, I’m all for environmental causes, but not at the expense of research and resources for sick kids.

 I received an email from a reader asking us to get our readers to go vote.  Please follow the link above, get the info, and vote.  The project is called “Awareness can build a family”.  It will help Parker, Queen Serene’s son Thomas, and countless other families.  And it won’t cost you a dime.

Thanks.  We love you, readers.  You are the best.

This is another guest post by Randi, inspired by our earlier discussion about teenagers. You can read more at her blog, which I just posted on the sidebar, entitled, “Is it just me?”

Sisters, let’s talk. As a mom to young kids, no doubt you’ve heard many horror stories about teenagers. At the gym, in the kindergarten parent waiting area, and in the halls at church, you’ve likely heard stories that make you understand why some animals eat their young. Maybe you went home thinking that at least you can handle what’s going on in your family life now, and you have NO IDEA how you’re going to cope in about 10 years.

Believe me, I understand. (more…)

Julie at Rarely Home Mom is running an Usborne Books fundraiser for Parker. If you follow the links, Usborne will donate 25% of all proceeds directly to Parker’s medical fund. It’s a good great cause, and you get some cool new books to take the malaise off the rest of the hotness that is summer.

Bonus: if you spend over $20, you’re automatically entered in a drawing for some way cool swag: an HP digital camera, camera case, compact photo printer, carrying case, and photo paper pack. WOWZERS!!

Tomato Armegeddan indeed.

This is a guest post from reader and frequent commenter, Amelia Bedelia. 

 Dh: Dd, can you say family prayer?

 Dd: I don’t want to.

Dh: Why not?

Dd: Because family prayer is boring. (more…)

I am here.  I have internet (finally!).  Aside from all the porn, the gambling, and the fraud, the internet is a beautiful thing.  It is gloriously hot here and it is yummy.  Well, except for the hot seats in the car -  that bites, but the warm nights are so dreamy, I can’t complain. I cannot wait to toss out all my coats and boots and wonder what the heck “gloves” are used for. I feel no guilt for not raising my kids in snow.  Snow is pretty, but it should only be seen and not touched.  It’s definitely not for driving in, sledding down, or shoveling.  Bah. (more…)

So asked my mother of my father as they drove, on their honeymoon, across the country from scenic Utah to very urban Washington DC.  She told me that it was her way of expressing her distress at starting a family in a city she knew so little of, a city that so little resembled her home town of Salt Lake City.  To her, a lack of bovine sophistication seemed the epitome of childhood deprivation.

I always thought it was sort of a weird expression of displacement. But tonight, I found myself asking:

Will my children ever see a cactus? (more…)

This is a guest post by The Mother of the Wild Boys

I love the mountains. I love being outdoors. I love camping, hiking, eating meals cooked over an open fire. I camped with the Young Women for 7 years. The first three of those years included week-long campouts where we had only a stream and one tap of freezing cold water….so, no showers for a week! All seven years included latrines, sleeping in tents, hikes in the mountains, ditty bags, snipe-hunts, flashlights, no electricity, etc. My 6th year included an overnight hike and a canoe trip on the Colorado River. I love my memories of Girls’ Camp, they are some of my fave times. So you can see, a decade after my last Girls’ Camp, why I would endure the torture of attending our Ward Campout.

Why do I refer to it as torture? Let me fill you in: Dear Hubby hates nature. (more…)