Just a glimpse of what is to come

I'm babysitting today and tomorrow. Two kids.

I can't believe this is actually what I want.

Although, when we have our own kids, it won't have been all my idea, and Kevin will have to help, change diapers, hold one while the other one is on the potty, etc.

Today, though, thank goodness we have cats, although I'm not sure they'll ever forgive us for throwing them to the wolves.... well... to Rachel.

I cooked dinner tonight.

I made macaroni and cheese with little hotdogs chopped up in it. Gourmet, I know. But apparently that was too much detail, and the hotdog bits will have to be scrapped for future macaroni and cheese attempts. I put the water on to boil on the back burner with the pan handle towards the back of the stove. I turned around for one second, and when I turned back, Rachel was standing on her tippy toes trying to grab... I don't know... the bottom of the pan, or the burner, right where the blue flame was rushing up around the pan. I was so surprised I yelled at her and then put her in time out, but at least it got her away from the stove, right?

After a while she started playing with the cups on the table. She didn't want to drink her lemonade, so she dumped it into my glass. Um, that was not okay, but since I was trying not to sweat the small stuff (I mean, no one's hand was getting burned off), I didn't say anything and kept chopping the hotdogs. I had ignored Justin for long enough by this point that he was screaming and red in the face at this point-- and holding on to the front of the stove to stand up, which Rachel pointed out to me. So I picked him up, gave the noodles a stir, and turned around to put him down in the living room with his toys.

Rachel had left my glass (the one now full of lemonade) right on the very corner of the table, and when I turned around with Justin, I bumped it off the table. So at this point I have a screaming, red-faced child in my left arm, a barefoot 3-year-old trying to get out of the lemonade spilled on the floor (into the broken glass), the oven timer beeping at me that the noodles are ready, and myself barefoot in the middle of the kitchen.

Remind me again, why do I want children?

Happy and excited to be alive

I don't know. I have days that I'm just kind of down, and then days that I'm pretty much up. Today's an up.
Kevin just came in and said, "Yup, I'm pretty much friggin' awesome." Then he started punching and jumping around while singing what sounded remarkably like the victory song from Rocky.
Yes, my husband just changed the car stereo. We went to a yard sale at a storage shed owned by people in our ward, and we just started piling stuff into a box. I had only brought $5.50, so that is what we paid for our loot (they were just packing up to take it all to DI at the end of their two-day sale, so I didn't feel too bad).
But one of the things we got was a car stereo EXACTLY like the one in our car, except that the CD player wasn't broken. It didn't have any cords with it, but that was okay, since we had all the cords.
So now we have a radio AND a CD player that work in our car!

Hmm... what else is wonderful and fun?... We went to J Dog's today for lunch. J Dog's is the Chile Works of Provo. It's this little shack in a parking lot across from campus, and they sell hotdogs with awesome sauce and various toppings. We met Alex there today, and he made a deep, contemplative observation: It's amazing how you can take all this stuff that is so gross by itself (hotdog, saurkraut, pickles, vinegar sauce) and put it together to make something so delish.
Indeed.

When we were driving to J Dog's, we passed a gas station (the Crest station on 9th East, across from Gold's Gym), and it just totally made my day-- as it does every time. There's a sign for their convenience store that says "Drive Through -->". It seems that this is the ONLY store in America that puts a little trust in the general public that they can read words longer than 5 letters. Seriously. Who is so dumb that they got confused when they saw "Drive Through" and didn't know what to do until they all (McDonald's, Carl's Junior, Burger King, everyone else) changed it to "Drive Thru"?!?! There must have been a law suit. (Yes, your honor, I was too stupid to read the sign, and I had to park my car, get off my very large butt, and actually waddle inside to get my supersize fries and fat-man pitcher of soda.")

And I made earwig traps this morning. I'm the one that should be eating my garden, not them.

Oh, and can I just brag for a moment at how awesome I think my playlist is? I love listening to it! It is way better than anything. I was listening to the radio the other day, and I heard this Led Zeppelin song that I wanted to put on my blog. I forgot which song it was, and as I flipped through all the Led Zeppelin songs, I found so many that I love! And I didn't even put them all on here!! Seriously, they have so many fun songs! Feel free to just sit and listen to my blog as it serenades you with all the cheesy folk rock from the '7o's AND now Led Zeppelin. :)

Up to... Up to? Up to??

Movie quote.
Anyway... what have I dear been up to?
Well, not too much, really.
Yesterday, I arranged a golf cart tour of BYU for myself and a few of my ESL students from last school year. Originally, four of my girls were going to come, but two bailed at the last minute. So it was just me, Livier, and Ariadna. These two girls are best friends, one tall and one short, and they both are really excited about Twilight. Kevin and I bought the Special Edition of Eclipse at Costco the other day (and I dreamed that someday I would have a book sold at Costco-- that's when you know you're awesome). The Special Edition comes with a poster on the inside of the book cover and little iron-on decals that say either Team Jacob or Team Edward.
I am not on either team, since I have already married a man with all of both Edward and Jacob's awesome qualities (ruggedly handsome, incredibly chivalrous, romantic beyond belief), but I root for the Jacob side. Veronica, one of the girls who couldn't come, is a Jacob-ite, so I dropped of the decal for her, and then I gave Livier the Edward decal and Ariadna the poster.
Then we went and poked around BYU. I remember when I was little, my parents would take us around BYU, showing us where they lived, where they had classes, and other fun things around campus. That, along with EFY and other music camps, made me really excited about BYU, and also gave me a good idea of what college is like.
I think many kids, if their parents may not have gone to college or whatever, they may think college is just an extension of high school-- but harder. Oh, this is not the case!
I showed them a few dance classes, swimming, basketball, and other PE classes. We poked our heads in some normal classrooms and the JSB auditorium (900 seats, not high school). We looked at the fish tanks in the Widsoe Bldg and ate ice cream in the Cougareat.
During the summer, there are all these camps going on, and we kept running into all these "way cute" high school guys all over campus. I think Livier and Ariadna are a bit more excited about college... as well they should be.
We took a golf cart tour, which I was totally excited about, because I've always seen those guys and been totally jealous. Here I am running to class, huffing, puffing, sweating, and jogging with my backpack thumping my butt, and they glide right past me in a half-empty cart. WITHOUT EVEN OFFERING.
Yesterday it was my turn. :)
After the tour, Livier's parents invited me to have dinner with them. So I had authentic Mexican food: soup, fried chicken, and beans and rice. And a tortilla. I didn't know what to do with it, but apparently you eat it just with your meal, like a dinner roll. :)
I think most people assume that when people immigrate to the US, they are escaping some tragic poverty situation, and they are totally uneducated and only have skills for menial, manual labor. Not always the case. I was really impressed with Livier's family. They are so gracious and friendly. Her dad worked in Mexico in Business Administration, and they moved to the US for like 4 years to learn English. Then when they go back, he can get a job as like the manager of a hotel in Puerto Vallarta, where they're from. But he actually makes more money, hour per hour, working here in a restaurant, than he did in his business job. But the cost of living is higher.
I had so much fun talking to their family! I don't speak very much Spanish, but I understand quite a bit. Growing up in New Mexico, I guess I learned enough words that when I hear someone speaking, I can kind of piece together what they're saying. Plus, after studying Chinese for 8 years, that's still what I do for Chinese. I have a lot of practice, I guess. :)
So, I was absolutely bushed after yesterday's afternoon spent walking around campus in the hot sun, and then I tried to sleep (after drinking a Pepsi at 8:00), and my knees were aching too much to sleep. Isn't that great?

Tag from Stacey

How to play the game.
Post these rules on your blog:
List 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, and 3 Random surprises about yourself. Tag five people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

3 Joys:
-Working in my yard, trying to get things to grow. Well, not everything. I actually try to get the snails NOT to grow.
-Going on walks with my husband. We live in the same house and spend hours together, but our best conversations are when we're out walking.
-Reading a good book, the kind where you read it quickly and voraciously and then wonder what you're possibly going to do with your life once it's over.

3 Fears:
-Infertility
-Getting frozen to something (like the cold stuff in my freezer)
-That a fire is going to burn through our open, grassy field

3 Goals:
-Use up a bunch of fabric in my fabric stash
-Get my Master's degree in a reasonable amount of time
- Convert a weedy corner of our yard into a peaceful, beautiful water feature

3 Current Obsessions/Collections:
-Saving money. I don't have a job right now, and Kevin's doesn't make as much as... well... for us to go buy anything and everything we want. So I'm always looking for free things or trying to do without, making do with what we have. It's a fun challenge.
-Sewing. I love making baby quilts, and I'm getting pretty good. Too bad I tend to make flowery ones that, even if they're blue, don't seem to fit a boy baby. So I still buy shower gifts for boys. That's gonna have to stop (see obsession #1).
-I sew little (well, good sized, actually) tote bags. I hang them up on my coat rack, and then when I go grocery shopping, I take them all with me. I love not having to take home all those plastic bags, but they really make the self checkout weigh stations go all wonky.

3 Random Surprising Facts About Yourself:
-I have inverse freckles on my left leg. They're white spots that don't show up unless I'm tan... so basically never.
-Our house is furnished with a healthy mix of Ikea and garage sale furniture, as well as custom-designed and built Chinese furniture and a nice antique. Sadly, the latter belong to our landlord, not us. But we get to look at them.
-After growing up in a town full of scientists, I have surprisingly little of the scientific mind. I never wonder how things work. I never study things just to figure out why or how. I'm just not curious.

I tag Cherisse, Beth, Julie, D'Nell, and Susan.

Gratitude

In sixth grade or so, one of my friends gave me a gratitude journal. It was a tiny notebook with a quote by Oprah glued into the front cover, talking about how daily listing what we are grateful for will help us to be happier.


And for my 100th post, I will try to list 100 things I am grateful for. Feel free to skim, glance, or skip this list. This one's just for me.


In no particular order...

1. Kevin Fisher
2. Toby Fisher
3. Howie Fisher
4. My young women
5. My sewing machine
6. Clean, warm laundry fresh from the drier
7. Afternoon thundershowers in New Mexico
8. Green chile
9. Education: past, present, and future
10. The Holy Ghost
11. Beautiful, well-written books (this could be a list in itself)
12. My mom
13. My dad
14. Compassion
15. Chapstick
16. Clean water
17. Freedom
18. Envelopes with the peel-off wax paper so you don't have to lick them
19. Wild sunflowers
20. My bike
21. My basket on my bike
22. Showers
23. Being sealed to Kevin
24. Two Good Things
25. My ESL students
26. Imaginations put to good use
27. Hollyhocks
28. Trust
29. My friends
30. My garden
31. Fabric stores
32. Ladybugs
33. Kevin singing to me
34. "Singing n the Rain"
35. Enchiladas
36. Songs I know the words to
37. Ward Choir
38. Clear winter nights when you can see the stars
39. Free air conditioning in the mornings
40. Free heat from the sun
41. Icicles
42. My family
43. Converse All-Stars
44. Facebook
45. My twin, Heidi
46. Kids squealing because they're having so much fun in the sprinkler
47. Quilts
48. Warm days when you sit in the shade and still feel warm--but not hot
49. Cute socks
50. My grandma
51. The rugs she taught me how to make
52. Everything she taught me how to do/make
53. My cute little cottage
54. Cottage cheese
55. Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Especially Phish Food, S'mores, and Oatmeal Cookie flavors)
56. Free dental cleanings
57. Public transportation (not in Provo, particularly, but in general)
58. Airplanes
59. Sunscreen
60. Cute tote bags so I don't have to use paper or plastic, and I look cuter when leaving the store
61. Pens that feel good when I write with them
62. Quail
63. My pianos
64. LAHS Topper Marching Band
65. Bear Camp
66. Fellow counselors at Bear Camp
67. Knowing how to cook so we don't have to eat out all the time
68. My clothes line
69. Modern medicine
70. Salmon
71. The church
72. The gospel
73. The potential in an uncut piece of cloth
74. Shady trees in front of my house
75. Squirt guns
76. My delete key
77. s 89
78. YUK
79. Howie, get off my keyboard!
80. Sincere complements from Kevin
81. All the cool accents people use when speaking English
82. English as a native language
83. Eyelashes that don't need mascara
84. An engagement ring with a story
85. The fact that arm hair is socially acceptable
86. Stargazer lillies
87. Supportive friends and community growing up
88. High school choir
89. Kevin helping me with yard work this morning
90. Sarah
91. Plants that my mom gave me
92. Confidence
93. Tampons
94. Los Alamos
95. Brownie mix
96. Nanjing Study Abroad program
97. Ella Fitzgerald and other jazz I can sing along with
98. Practice speaking Chinese at NuSkin
99. White Rock Ward
100. Opportunities to give

Wow! That took me 3 days of writing it to think of this many things. I have seriously been blessed with so many things to be thankful for.

Stuck in a Tree

Yesterday I took a shower. I know, I know. Amazing huh?!

Well, I did, and while I was in there, I heard the cat meowing like crazy. I was in the shower, with the water running, and it sounded like he was in the kitchen just crying up a storm. As I listened, I realized it didn't sound like our cat and it was coming from outside!

About 50 feet from our house, there was a poor little kitten caught in a tree, like 12 feet up where it couldn't get out. Man, that little guy had some lungs!

It was in our neighbor's tree, and the neighbor got a ladder to get the little kitty out. Kevin and our other neighbor were out there too, and they decided the kitty should stay at the first neighbor's house. Kevin told me about this, and I thought it was a good idea. I mean, we don't need another cat. One is plenty for the size of house we have. We had a visiting stray kitten for a week, and it was a disaster!

Well, an hour later, the neighbor knocks on our door with the cutest little tiny kitten in his arms. He explained that his cat just wouldn't put up with the little guy, so maybe we could take care of him.

So now we have 2 cats.

Surprisingly, this new guy is getting along reasonably well with Toby. It doesn't feel like too many cats, because the two of them are always together. It just feels like a cat that has something attached to its hip.

Kevin made some fliers (that show a picture of a tree with meows coming from it), and we took them to church this morning and put some up in the neighborhood. If someone calls about their poor lost kitten, we will happily turn him over to his rightful owners. But in the meantime, he's one of us.

Yesterday we went through about 86 names trying to think of one that fit. Wade, Waders, Oscar, Indiana, Montana, Eeyore, Pierre, Coon, Walter. Those are not the names of our new cat.

We couldn't decide on anything that fit him.

Then this morning at church, we had ward conference. A counselor in the stake presidency read off the names of our church leaders so we could vote to sustain and support them. When he read the name of our bishop, Howard Bybee, Kevin turns to me and whispers what I just thought too: Howie. It must be inspired. I'm not sure we'll tell our bishop, though.

Here are some pictures of little Howie:
Sleeping with Kevin....

Helping me sew.....

And here's a shot that sort of shows how tiny this guy is in comparison to Toby.He really makes Toby look like a huge black panther in comparison! And isn't that cute fabric?! My cousin Vanessa gave me the pink, green, and tan pieces, and my mom gave me the white floral print. I'm working on using up a lot of my fabric (I have tons... and no where to store it besides cardboard boxes), so I made this little baby quilt yesterday and today.

Anyone having a baby girl?

PS: This is my 99th post! I feel like I have to do something really cool in the next one...... we'll see what comes up!

PPS: I called home for Father's Day like any good daughter does. Well, my dad wasn't home, and I talked to my mom for a while. I called back later (after my mom first phoned me to tell me my dad was home), and Daniel answers the phone. So once I'm done talking to him, I get to talk to my dad for Father's Day.
That also means that this is the 4th time through this new cat story!

Recruiting

I went on a bike ride this morning. I rode all the way across town to my friend Heidi's house. I just checked on googlemaps, and it was a 9-mile round trip ride. The ride plus visiting with Heidi took 2 1/2 hours. I'd say it was a morning well spent.
On my way home, I passed BYU campus. There was a girls' soccer camp going on in DT Field, which has happened weekly for the last month or so. Those girls are out there in the rain and shine, kicking, heading, punting, and guarding that soccer ball. I got to thinking about BYU and why I chose to go there.
BYU doesn't do much recruiting. I had my ACT scores sent there, but they did not mail me flyers and pamphlets trying to twist my arm into coming to their school. It didn't matter, though. I was already planning on going there. Why?
Mostly because of the summer camps I went to.
I went to EFY for two summers and BYU Music Camp for one. Those really showed me what life at BYU was like. At EFY and Music Camp, you're surrounded by hundreds of kids your own age, and they're (mostly) all Mormon! And there were some CUTE guys!!! But that's honestly not why I liked it so much. There were cute guys at home too. I liked it because I had so much fun learning. At EFY, everything revolved around the Gospel. We had dances and activities, but most of the activities were service-oriented, and everything started and ended with prayer. We had morning devotionals with our group, and then we took classes all day from Church Education speakers. It was awesome!
Music Camp was similar, but instead of church classes, we took music classes. But I was very happy with the way church and the Gospel were tied in to everything we did-- even in music classes!
And that's what I wanted out of an education.
At BYU, many classes begin with prayer. We take religion classes. We incorporate teachings of the Gospel into everyday activities. Our roommates are our Visiting Teaching companions, and our hall is our ward. And there are tons of cute guys.
I guess that did have something to do with it.... :)
So as I was riding my bike past the Soccer Camp this morning, I saw those girls learning all those soccer skills, and I knew they were also experiencing their first taste of what BYU is like.

Sarah's Wedding

I may not take any pictures, but I do have a few.
We went to Sarah's wedding at the beginning of May, and here is a picture of all the siblings:
Aww, aren't we so cute? And don't we look strikingly dissimilar?! I guess Erik, Sarah, and I all have the same noses, and there is a family chin.... But no one usually knows we're related. That is because they are stupid. Ha ha ha!
In this picture, it looks like I am the shortest one in my family. Do not be deceived! I am actually... the shortest. But not by as much as it looks like in this picture. There are stairs people are standing on. I have heels on, and I'm on the same row as Daniel, who is the next shortest, btw.

And here we have me, Sarah, and my mom. We were all actually wearing really cute bridal party clothes, but it was remarkably windy and frigid. That's where the ugly sweaters come into play.
But aren't we cute?! You would never have guessed that just hours before-- and for weeks or months before that-- we were at each others' throats, bickering and stressing about wedding details. That's one thing I'm glad happened at this wedding (and at my own too), that all the planning was through when it was time for the wedding. Oh, I'm not saying everything was done, but we didn't carry the stress of the "wedding" into the actual wedding.
Oh, and Sarah took a flower arranging class at BYU, and she arranged her own flowers (i.e., these bouquets). She's so talented!

And here are the awesome bridesmaids:
I don't think Ceightie (Katie) got the memo that we were trying to look glamorous. Or maybe she thinks that is glamorous. Wow, that's confidence.
And then here is my awesome husband and me:
He's so nice and handsome and debonnaire. Hmm... the shadows seem to have pencilled in a graffiti moustache. Well, I know it's not there, and that's what counts.

And then this is not a picture of me, but it is still worth putting on the blog:

Ho hum...

Well, I don't have a camera that works to any sort of acceptable standard, so I can't just post a picture and then write about what sorts of fantastic stuff I've been doing lately.
So I am writing.
This summer, I suppose I am not on sabbatical like I'd claimed. I'm taking classes for my Master's, and the one I'm taking right now is quite a workload. Some of it is just busywork, but most of it is worthwhile. I really love taking these classes! As I take them, I have this vision in my mind of my future classroom, teaching, and all the cool lessons I will teach. I am going to be the world's best high school Chinese teacher! (the competition is rather slim at this point)
Then on the other hand, I would really much rather be a mom.
So I go to the doctor once in a while. I have an appointment today (I think... I should check on that) with a fertility specialist. Not sure what they'll say. I've had blood tests and stuff, and the only thing they've found so far is that I'm low on progesterone. So I take the supplements and nothing happens. But I try to be patient. That's what the last doctor said, but then he figured I might as well go see this specialist that comes in once a week. So I go.
It feels kind of weird trying to pursue two things at once, two things that -- for me -- are mutually exclusive. I work hard in my classes, and I am so excited about the prospect of teaching! I loved my job this last semester working at Orem Junior High, and I love working with teenagers!
That's the part of me that makes me wonder why it is I want a baby. I don't like babies. Sorry, people, but I would be much happier just adopting a 3-year-old, skipping the whole diapers, crawling, eating everything, and non-verbal thing. But adoption is expensive, and neither Kevin nor I has a high-salaried career at this point.
And I know I'll like a baby that looks like Kevin... and me. That's the part that kind of intrigues me. Kevin doesn't have any sisters, and I kind of wonder what a girl would look like if she looked like Kevin. :)
Every time I am pregnant or think I'm pregnant, I get super excited and go buy some maternity clothes. I lent them to Heidi, who needs them while I don't. And Kevin and I have already decided on a girl's name... but not a boy's. Kevin says he has a feeling we're going to have a boy and then we won't have a name for him. I don't even have a feeling that we're ever going to have a baby, so I have no comment for that.
I'm growing a garden. It's frustrating when bugs come and eat my cucumber sprouts and the beets don't come up. The carrots haven't come up either, but they still have a few days (3) before I freak out and replant them. I'm growing cucumbers inside, and I'll transplant them once they are big enough to scare the bugs away. I'll also put out bowls of beer to kill the snails who may be the culprits. I've never bought beer, and the rebel inside of me wants to know what it feels like.