6 things I love about my husband

(in no particular order)

1. he is so gorgeous
2. he is so passionate
3. he is so silly
4. he is so tall
5. he is a good father
6. he takes such good care of me

Happy birthday, honey!

6 things I do not believe in

1. ghosts
2. alien abductions
3. angels
4. customer service
5. the doomsday calender
6. politicians

um...

A few weeks ago, NieNie was on Oprah.

NieNie is short for Stephanie Nielson, a blogger from Provo, Utah. She is an extraordinary woman, wife and mother of four adorable kids. Her blog is so inspiring. And one of the reasons it is so inspiring is the crazy turn her life took last summer when the small plane carrying her and her husband crashed.

Stephanie suffered burns over 80% of her body. She was in a coma for months. I followed her recovery through her sister's blog until Stephanie finally began blogging again. And the story of her day-to-day life is so inspiring and humbling. She makes me tear up almost every time I read her blog. She reminds me what is really important.

Anyway, I was uberexcited she was going to be on Oprah. My mom and Olivia both were like, "Did you see NieNie is going to be on Oprah?!" (And I have to give my mom props for totally calling it before the appearance was announced, when she read on Stephanie's blog that she and her husband, Christian had taken a trip to Chicago.)

Anyway, so I taped the episode. (Or DVRed it, whatever...) And watched with tears in my eyes. Stephanie and her husband are so in love! And she looks so beautiful! She still has a lot of scars, but her blue eyes are the same and her little hairdo. Anyway.

So Jack turns to me and he says, "Her lips are big."

And I wipe my tears away and pause the show and say, "Yes, they are big. Do you know why?"

Jack shakes his head. And I take the opportunity to explain to him how badly Stephanie was hurt, and how sometimes people look different and that's normal for them and we should never stare at them or mention how they look different. I really went all out. Like an after-school special or one of those "The More You Know" commercials. Anyway, I summed up beautifully and asked Jack if he understood.

He blinked at me and then asked, "But why are your lips so big?"

mean people suck

It is supposed to snow this weekend, starting tonight! So Jack and I went to Wal-Mart after dropping Sadie off at school to buy groceries to last all weekend. It is very crisp and grey outside right now and the air smells like snow. I love days like today. Makes me want to curl up with a good book and eat warm banana bread.

It is very soothing to stand outside and breathe the winter air today. A woman was rude to me this morning while I was dropping Sadie off and I cannot get it out of my head. It wasn't anything important, so I'm not even going to bother sounding stupid by typing it out. But I hate being so sensitive, letting things bother me so much. I had hoped that once I became a parent I would magically grow a thicker skin, learn how to let things roll off my back. But I haven't.

I just wish people could be kinder to each other.

I know I am a very judgmental person, but I try not to be. I try to at least save my judgments and tell them to Jonathan while we watch tv and we snicker and feel better about ourselves for a minute or two. Terrible behavior, but there it is!

But when I am out and about, I try to be nice to people. Smile and say hello. Make small talk. Be a courteous driver and let others merge. Things like that. So it really bothers me when someone goes out of their way to be rude. As if, in the great big universe, someone should be keeping score and seeing to it that my kindness is repaid. That others do unto me. Sigh.

And I try to take deep breaths. Imagine that my mind is a dry-erase board and imagine I am using a big eraser to wipe the incident out of my head. I just wish it worked!

A woman I worked with at Borders, Kassie, told me something her minister said one time and I have never forgotten it. She said he told her whenever she felt overwhelmed to picture a huge noisy unhappy crowd of people all around her (which is so easy to picture!), and then to imagine God standing waaaaaay far away, beyond the crowd and He is waving frantically, trying to get your attention. And He has a great big sympathetic smile on his face. I like this image. Right now I am picturing a whole crowd full of that woman who was rude to me today: angry, rude mean women.

Are you there, God? It's me, Erin.

6 reasons I have not been blogging

this Monday's list of six:

1. We have been busy enjoying our guests: first Olivia and then my mom.
2. School has been kicking my ass.
3. I have a cold and Jonathan has the H1N1 flu.
4. I am addicted to facebook.
5. I am intimidated by all of the wonderfully talented bloggers out there.
6. I am just plain lazy.

I will try to do better.

momentary lapse

I had to take a little break from blogging.

The problem was I had to write a personal essay for my English class. We had to write about an incident in our lives that changed us. And we had to carry on for 3 to 5 pages about it.

We were supposed to choose an incident that we still had unresolved questions about. So we could use the paper as an avenue to more thoroughly explore our feelings...

And I could not for the life of me come up with a topic! I was all like yeah, I love to write ... would love to be a writer ... blah blah blah ... me me me ... and then when it came time to really wow the professor with my first assigned essay, I drew a complete blank. Give me a topic, and I can write about it. Pick a genre even. No problem.

But I have this blog, see. And I kind of use it to work out my feelings about any and every incident in my life. So I really don't have any issues that are looming in my mind with burning questions attached. I've blogged about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Seriously. Married to Man I Love. Check. Feelings about Being a Mother. Check. My Miscarriage. Check. Even The Day My Dog Died has been all typed up for the world to read.

So I took a little sabbatical from blogging. I studied for another Anatomy exam. And I did a lot of free-writing, trying to brainstorm. The paper is due tomorrow and I cranked out three pages of something so we'll see... sigh

Newsweek had a very interesting article in the last issue about the ethics of mommy-bloggers. It was very interesting. All about the decision a parent makes (the power they wield) to air all their children's dirty laundry. On the internet. For the whole world to read. Until the end of time.

As a mommy blogger, I kind of heaved a gigantic sigh of relief after reading it. I don't feel I have ever written anything that could be considered a betrayal of my children's trust. Because I write little anecdotes about my kids so I can look back on them later. So I will never forget the silly little things they say and do. And so my mom and my mother-in-law know about all the adorable things the grandkids are up to. But also, and most importantly, I write about my children so they have my words, in my voice, for the rest of their lives. If I get hit by a truck tomorrow, they will always have this blog to read and they will know how deeply I adore them.

Science Girl

So I found out the score on my first Anatomy exam. I was very nervous about this test because it was supposed to be a review of all of the basic Biology and Chemistry stuff we should have learned in Biology, with some basic Anatomy terms and regions thrown in. And, as you may recall, I haven't taken basic Biology. I crammed some basic Bio into my head this summer with a Biology Cliff Notes book and managed to pass the science placement test. So now I had to go back over all of that information more thoroughly to pass this exam and catch up to my classmates.

It was very overwhelming, because I made like a billion notecards and wasn't really sure if I was studying the right information. And then, of course, the exam was only like 40 questions. So I walked out feeling pretty good, but not sure if it was a false confidence.

My score? I got a 99!

Jonathan, the Wonder Husband, was so proud of me. I came home from class, where I had texted him my grade, and the house was squeaky clean, and he had run out and gotten a pizza for me. There was also a lovely card -- and a delicious lemon shortcake for dessert! How adorable is he? I am so lucky.

You know, it's funny. Somewhere along the way I had gotten the idea that I was bad at math and science. That I am more right-brained than left-brained. I think this is something that many girls, for one reason or another, come to believe. But I was the office supervisor at Borders a few years ago and was in charge of the safe and all of the deposits, payroll, and reconciling the corporate accounts. And I found out that I love math!

And now this exam has proven to me that I can also do science! I feel so confident. I get it! Just don't ask me to explain the Krebs cycle.