Media log

Something I started doing a little over a year ago was writing down what I watched and read. I’m still doing this, but here’s a year’s worth from August 2017 to July 2018, for posterity’s sake.

I’m not sure whether writing this all down has helped me be a better steward of my media time. I do want to put more books on these lists. At first, I wrote one- or two-word reviews, about whether I liked the movie/show/book or hated it or thought it was worthwhile. Then I switched to just recording what it was. 

Some shows I watched in their entirety. Others, for example Mrs. Maisel, I gave the college try but ultimately abandoned, usually because of crassness. Also, some of the movies are edited for TV, some not.

This certainly doesn’t include all the magazine and newspaper articles I read or the Instagram feeds I scrolled through. That’s a little too meta for me. At any rate: history!

August 2017

Movies

How to Stage a Coup

Wonder Woman

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Hidden Figures

TV

Poldark

Law & Order

Jane the Virgin

Books

My Name Is Resolute

The Water and the Blood

Poldark book 1

September 2017

Movies

Masterminds

17 Again

Marie Antoinette

TV

Endeavour

The Good Place

Parenthood

Books

NeuroTribes

What Happened

October 2017

Movies

Pride and Prejudice

The Big Sick

Holes

TV

Vietnam

Endeavour

Grantchester

Poldark

Baseball

Books

The Things They Carried

The Goose Girl

Shows

Blind Pilot

November 2017

Movies

The Mighty Ducks

Tangled

October Sky

Ramona and Beezus

The Boxcar Children

Frozen

When Harry Met Sally

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids

TV

Grantchester

Poldark

Endeavour

The Durrells in Corfu

Stranger Things 2

Parenthood

Books

Princess Academy

December 2017

Movies

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Christmas Story

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

TV

Parenthood

Books

Wonder

Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing

My Father’s Dragon (books 1-3)

What Child Is This?

Shows

Beautiful (The Carole King Musical)

Rockettes Holiday Spectacular

The National

January 2018

Movies

The Age of Adeline

Safe Haven

TV

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

The Great British Baking Show

Books

At the Pulpit

February 2018

Movies

The Darkest Hour

Groundhog Day

Father of the Bride

What If

Eye in the Sky

The Lost City of Z

Temple Grandin

Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade

August Rush

Definitely Maybe

Wonder

TV

Home Town

Fixer Upper

The Good Doctor

Emma (Masterpiece miniseries)

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Books

Everything That Rises Must Converge

March 2018

Movies

Mudbound

Never Been Kissed

50 First Dates

Icarus

Coco

The Peanuts Movie

Country Strong

Peter Rabbit

About Time

Leap Year

27 Dresses

Black Panther

Mary Poppins

TV

Parenthood

Home Town

Fixer Upper

The Academy Awards

Downton Abbey

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Books

The Royal We

The Geography of You and Me

Number the Stars

I Was Told There’d Be Cake

The Milepost (Alaska Road Guide)

The Power of Everyday Missionaries

April 2018

Movies

A Quiet Place

The Social Network

Pandas

TV

Planet Earth

Downton Abbey

House 

Books

Counting by 7s

The Power of Everyday Missionaries

May 2018

Movies

The Greatest Showman

The Commuter

RBG

TV

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Queer Eye

Jane the Virgin

Friends

Books

Counting by 7s

100 Birds Taught Me to Fly

Worth the Wrestle

Am I There Yet?

June 2018

Movies

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark

3 Billboards outside Ebbing, MO

The Notebook

Battle of the Sexes

The Intern

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Set It Up 

TV

New Girl

Full House

Friends

Books

The Warmth of Other Suns

That We May Be One

July 2018

Movies

Leave No Trace

Mission: Impossible 6

TV

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Friends

Jane the Virgin

Veronica Mars

Anne with an E

Grantchester

Books

Meddling Kids

Educated

Hatchet

Shows

Radiohead

August Sunday, take 2

Me in sacrament meeting. Up close and personal photo by Lars

Polly on the floor during the second and third hours of church. She was out like a light.

Ok it’s Sunday again and today was a good day! A few things were different...

-I didn’t play the organ or the piano

-I slept 11 hrs last night (how, I don’t know. Tinder mercies)

-No meetings this morning

-I ate lunch

-I drank like three bottles of water

-I had a Dr Pepper before church

-my period is over. (Matthew thinks this bullet point is the most important one)

-Then for dinner, Matt made spaghetti and served it on paper plates, so, ridiculously easy cleanup for a ridiculously stress-free Sunday night. VOILA!

I feel SO much better right now than I did exactly one week ago. The one potential downside is that i rarely have caffeine, so whenever I do I’m up late. So that might not be good.

Sidebar, Polly saw me break out the DP which i normally only drink when i have a headache. She insisted “mom i have a headache so can i have some of your soda for a sen-cond?”

Second sidebar, Polly pronounces second, “sen-cond.” She also pronounces “use” “ooze,” and I regularly get the question from her, “Can I ooze this for a sen-cond?” I want to put it on video and also put 3-year-old Polly in my pocket, forever and ever.

So, we’ll see if I can sleep tonight. Maybe I should pop in another episode of the Ken Burns Vietnam war documentary, I mean it’s really good but I have fallen asleep ev-e-ray time that I have attempted watching it.

Last day of two

You may or may not know that I turned 35 last month. And Matt gave me a laptop for my birthday! So, after however many years of blogging on my phone and iPad, I can blog on a real live computer. (we have a desktop computer but it's in the basement and it's slow and those two things mean I'm very unlikely to use it.) I guess I'll see whether that means I will post any more than I have been. I guess I am just in that Sarah Prine mode of journaling where I write a ton, and then I write nothing for a long time.

Polly is turning 3 tomorrow. That sweet child is a tornado of moods but she is darling anyway. And... I am exhausted at the end of the day. And she refuses to stay in bed when I most need her to. She is SO MUCH like Ida was at that age. Lars was soooo much more easygoing than either of them. I think Theo was too, but that's way too long ago for me to remember for sure...

Three years ago today I was busy cleaning my house, mowing the lawn, making cookies, and getting the nest ready for that last baby. It actually does seem like three years ago. It seems like forever ago. I'm grateful that my life is passing so slowly in some ways. Because it sure flies by in other ways.

On the road again

You may or may not know that in January we got home from a 4-week (more precisely, 31-day) road trip across the United States and back. I want to try to write down some memories about it before I forget them.

Sometime this fall while planning our annual holiday travel to see family, Matt and I decided that we wanted to take the kids to Disneyland for their Christmas present. We also decided that we wanted to spend Christmas in Utah with our family there, as well as go to my parents’ 50th anniversary shindig at Pigeon Point in California, as well as spend New Year’s in LA with our family there, AS WELL AS go to Disneyland with our kids, but also not go too close to New Year’s Day (which is what we did 5 years ago and it was so incredibly crowded)… Upon thinking about all of this, we realized that we would need to be gone for a pretty long time to make all of this work. Like maybe 3 weeks. And 3 weeks of renting a minivan is $$$$ (so much more to rent a 6-seater car than a 5-seater). So THEN, we realized that driving our own car would be cheaper, and also sort of a fun and funny thing to do.

Thus our epic road trip was born.

We left on December 15, which was a Friday. The kids had school that day, and for some reason I thought they got out 2 hours early because it was the last day before winter break, but once 1:00 came and went and 1:30 came and went we realized… Whoops. They were not getting out early that day. Meanwhile the car was packed and loaded and the clock was ticking, so Matt went and fetched the kids early anyway. We drove and drove and drove, arriving in Toledo Ohio around 9 or 10 p.m. The next day we got up and drove and drove and DROVE, arriving in North Platte Nebraska that night, and if you know I-80, you know that that is like a gazillion miles. We left at 8:30 a.m. and arrived close to midnight, so. You do the math. I won’t, because I don’t have to. You don’t have to either. You just have to trust me. It was a really really long day in that car.

Sunday we got up and drove and drove and arrived in Salt Lake around 6 p.m. We had made the ~36-hour drive in about 54 hours. Not a super pleasant way to pass 54 hours, but we did it.

Monday morning our vacation really began. Well, the kids’ did. Matt had to work (he worked remotely during most of our trip) and I had to take care of the kids… Well there were also two other adults there, since we were staying at Matt’s parents’ house. So I guess my vacation started too. :)

Next post: Christmas in Salt Lake City!

Thanks for my journals

I kept a pretty thorough journal from about age 10 to age 20. And apparently even before then, because my mom recently send me stuff she’d found in my dad’s shop, that I’d written at age 6 and 7.

After I got married and especially after I started having kids, my journal-keeping became more sporadic. A friend of mine likened her journaling to Sarah Prine’s from the book These Is My Words. Sometimes Sarah  would write several days in a row. Sometimes weeks, months, even a year or two would go by between entries. Sometimes she would write a sentence, other times several pages. The frequency or length or lack thereof didn’t matter, because those entries all still told the story of a beautiful life.

I’m thankful for the big box in my storage room that’s full of my childhood journals. It’s the first thing I’d grab in a fire. No doubt about it. I’m thankful for those reminders from past iterations of me that I’ve always had a beautiful life.

She ain't heavy, she's my daughter

I found this post in my drafts from a year and a half ago. I think I’m already starting to forget...

When I was a tween (before that word was invented) I read this book called Memo: To Myself When I Have a Teenage Kid. It was a story about a 13-year-old girl who keeps a diary and has boy problems, and her mom gives her her old diary from when she was 13 and had boy problems, and then they understand each other better. And the boy problems all work out splendidly.

Anyway I was a pretty awesome diary-keeper once upon a time. I now have a gigantic box (or gigundo, as Karen Brewer would say, and if you know who that is, then we may have been tweens at the same time) full of my old journals.

These days, besides my blog, I write short personal journal entries on average a couple of times a year. Hannah gave me a daily diary a few years ago and I kept at it for almost a year. I really tried! But you know what, it's all enough. Lowering diary-keeping standards commences... now. Even the great (fictional) Sarah Prine sometimes went years between journal entries.

The point... that all of this loaded backstory is slowly lunging toward... is that I hope I remember how physically draining it is to take care of a baby for like... the first 18 months, or even two years. I honestly forgot, although I have done it three times before. Besides the sleep loss, I think it's the lugging that does it. My back is taking a beating. Sure I can let her cry while I do whatever two-handed task. I often do that actually, when I have to. But the crying takes its own kind of toll on me.

I love this time with Polly. In fact this year has FLOWN. On Polly's first birthday, which is only weeks away, I guarantee I'll be in tears. But I am writing about this aspect because I really don't want to forget. When Lars was no longer a toddler but I didn't have a baby yet, I smirked more than once at haggard moms of young babies and toddlers. Because I seriously forgot! And I think I might smirk again in coming years-- perhaps understandably, since the mental toll (plus lack of sleep) a tween or teen takes on a parent must make the extra 20 pounds of baby-on-a-hip seem so silly and simple.

Granny Babs had her sixth baby when my sister Bonny was 17. At one point she had a kid who was in college, one in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school, one in preschool, and one at home in diapers. All at once. How did she survive? I will never understand.

Babies are so small and it seems like it should be so easy just to carry them and snuggle them and mother them without losing steam. Or you know, just let a few things go. Let the dishes and laundry and mail and trash pile up because babies don't keep, etc. etc. How quickly we forget, my friends. How quickly we forget. (Survival instinct, is my guess)

Oh, and one unexpected upside of lugging little mama's-girls around is that sometimes you can stick them in laundry baskets and thereby bring the laundry and the baby up or down stairs at the same time. A for effort!

Snow and other stuff.

Well, I just wrote an entire post about periods, which I then didn't publish because I wasn't sure if it was oversharing. (OK, I knew it was oversharing.) Suffice it to say that periods are back in my life after 2+ years off; Ida learned about them recently and she was horrified and fascinated; and I have entered the 21st century in terms of period management. (Loving my app which sends both me and Matt notifications when PMS is on the horizon) Also I'm trying not to think about how I have a good 20ish more years minimum of this.

Anywho, this is one of my favorite pictures of my kids. It was going to be my Christmas card in 2013--I think I even went as far as designing it, but not printing it. Matt and I were just discussing how the rest of the country is getting snow and we've got nothin'. Just 2 measly inches back in early January. I really want one big snow like we had last year. Last year was perfect, actually. We got like 3 feet of snow at once, which lasted for three or four fun days of sledding, and then it all melted within 2 weeks--literally. And that was the only real big snowfall. It was a perfect winter of snow, in my opinion.

But oh well.

This is turning out to be a really complainy post and I really didn't intend that. I am feeling great on my version of Whole 30, which has evolved to include whole grains, legumes, and the very occasional dairy or sugar. The best thing is the massive amounts of greens I am eating, which I know is going to be hard to keep up in the long run, because I just don't like them. But when I make myself eat them, I feel so much better.

I am also just feeling very happy in general lately. I'm not sure if it's my hormones settling down, or if it's because I'm eating better, or if it's because I'm reading the scriptures every day. Maybe all of those things. Maybe it's because I have so much to be thankful for. Maybe it's because I take antidepressants and vitamin C. Maybe it's hormones. Maybe it's because we got a new bed for Christmas. Maybe it's because after several weeks of inexplicable grumpiness and volatility (truly inexplicable, or are the holidays just hard for him? Pondering that), Theo seems to be in a decent mood. Maybe it's because after several weeks of everyone taking turns being sick, everyone at my house is healthy, minus Polly's current snotty nose. Maybe it's because besides flus and colds, everyone at my house is healthy in general. Maybe it's because the women's marches left me feeling hopeful, even though the whole abortion discussion is rearing its ugly head. (P.S. I have an abortion post brewing. I know you're dying to read it. I have lots and lots of thoughts on this. They may surprise you. "This Woman's Views on Abortion May Surprise You") Maybe it's because I love being Primary president so much. Maybe it's because I am keeping busy with mostly good things.

Maybe!

Winter's gone for real.

Winter is gone for real. For real! No more snow. I feel it in my bones. Cold days yes, snow days no. Hopefully I'm not wrong about that.

A few weeks ago we went to the zoo at Theo's request. We hadn't been in so long! Like maybe since Lars was a baby, or maybe even before that.

The first thing we saw when we walked in was a lion who was roaring his head off. He seriously roared for like 15 minutes straight. It was awesome. Or maybe it was sad. I don't know what he was roaring for.

A few friends joined us. Always makes it more fun.

I love pandas. They are so funny.

Now it's spring break and once again we are having lovely weather. I'm in a total spring break mentality and have done zero cleaning up around my house. It is a disaster. On Monday, while painters painted my house, instead of doing anything productive I spent the day reading a book and let the kids do whatever they wanted (basically playing, eating, and watching a movie). I felt productive though, because the painters were working. And actually I did go on a walk with the kids and we picked up trash in the neighborhood. That makes exactly 1 Cub Scout achievement I've helped Theo with since he turned 8. Baby steps...

We won't make it to the zoo again this week, but we have spent a lot of time outside. Tuesday the kids had piano lessons and played outside. Wednesday we met friends at the park before I have to go to work (only a few more weeks of work for me!). 

Today we went on a hike, also with friends. It was a little bleak looking because the trees are all still bare... but the temperature was perfect! It was a little chilly at first but it warmed up and was probably almost into the 60s by the time we left.

Then this weekend is general conference and Easter. Two weeks later is my birthday. Three weeks after that is my due date. That's so weird. And awesome. Spring came after all!

Oh and Ida lost her first tooth on Sunday. She was super nervous about pulling it out but wanted to do it herself. Matt and I decided recently that since Theo pretty much just swallows all his loose teeth--to our everlasting annoyance (or maybe just mine)--the tooth fairy would no longer leave money without evidence of an actual tooth. So I told Ida that, and then she spent 20 minutes in front of the mirror, triumphantly emerging at the end with a tiny tooth in her hand and a mouth full of blood. I love that girl and her determination.

Despite the amount of lying on the couch I've been doing, I've also been somewhat busy checking things off my nesting list, enlisting Matt's strength and/or patience for several of the things. My nesting has definitely been much slower and more drawn out this time than in the past. Just as many ideas as usual, but way less energy to make them happen. I have been trying to work out more and have fit in a few swim and walk workouts the last few weeks. The house got painted, and Matt did a project for me over the weekend that involved cutting long planks of wood using a Skilsaw in our basement... no easy feat. Then he got to use a nail gun, so hopefully that was fun for him. I've also been doing some painting, which I can't do very much of at a time. I've done my share of pregnancy painting in the past, and I don't remember it being quite this taxing. Just like everything else, I guess it's just all harder the fourth time around.

Theo started baseball, and he's wrapping up winter swim, and getting ready to start summer swim, and Ida's about to start swim lessons to prepare her for swim team tryouts in May. I have a bunch of stuff scheduled for the kids throughout May, which Matt and I were just discussing last night might sound a little crazy, but what am I supposed to do, make my kids sit around and wait with me for the baby to come? The weekend of my due date is the father-daughter campout, and the following weekend is the father-son campout. So unless the baby comes early, I'm thinking the kids won't get to actually camp out. I haven't informed them of that yet. But I'm imagining me calling Matt in the middle of the night and him packing up a tent and sleepy kids and driving home so he can be with me in labor... not sounding like a great idea. They'll go for the campfire, but if I'm still pregnant they won't get to stay the night. Oh well--there's always the infinitesimal chance that the baby will come early!

Also in two weeks-ish is my dad's 10th Boston marathon, which I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to attend. All signs point to no. I've been to 5 of them (all the ones he's done while we've lived in VA) and would be super bummed to miss this one. Cheering my dad on at marathons is my favorite. I'll just have to see whether I magically feel incredible at 37 weeks pregnant. Not holding my breath.

It's so fun for me to look at the calendar and anticipate the many events of May. Fun and weird. Especially now that I'm starting to see food expiration dates in my fridge that are later than my due date. I always notice those. Weird, I know. Weird and fun.

'ello gov'na

Enjoy some photos of Matt and me in our much much younger days. Look at Matt with his bangs and his beloved dog Jenny. Look at me with my bowl cut.

Just had to get that Party Hearty picture off of the top of my blog, for those of you who check the actual blog instead of a feed reader.

I have a lot to write about. Camping! Working! Painting! Korihor!

Now for an hour or 10 to set aside and let loose all the thoughts (they're deep...so deep) that have been swarming in my head for the past month or 10.

Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck.

Me and my paper plate-head friend in 1980-something. Ida would love this. Sometimes when she's supposed to be getting dressed, instead she lays her clothes out neatly on the floor and tells me "Look Mom, I made a person!" Although if you know Ida, you know it's actually "I made a poh-son."

Why do I blog after midnight? Why?? No good reason. I should be asleep. Instead I am sitting in the office surrounded by garbage bags full of stuff that I am getting rid of. I am so so happy to be getting rid of it. I feel that while cleaning out my storage room I am also cleaning out my brain.

Lars has not really let us sleep at all this week so I have been taking naps. Today I took like a 2-hour nap. Maybe that has something to do with my blogging after midnight.

Anyway I just wanted to commemorate 10 years of blogging. With a snippet from the archives, if you please. A meme snippet.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2002

Seven Things You Can't Do:
There actually aren't that many things that, if you come down to it, I CAN'T do. But there are plenty of things that I can't do WELL. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm unstoppable.

...


You tell 'em, 18-year-old Lizer!

Bonus from the same meme:

Top 7 songs people should give a listen:
1. "How Sweet it is (to be Loved by You)" - James Taylor
2. "In a Little While" -U2
3. "You and Me Song" - Wannadies
4. "Say it Ain't So" - Weezer
5. "Walking After You" - Foo Fighters
6. "Me in Honey" - REM
7. "This Year's Love" - David Gray
Bonus: "U Got it Bad" by Usher, I know Usher's cheesy, but it's so fun to dance to!
Another bonus: "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles. It'll make you happy! Plus, think of Ferris B. on the parade float.

...

I actually still kinda like most of those songs. Especially U2, Weez, REM and D-Grizzle since they are classics. But to be completely honest I even still like "U Got it Bad" (the remix of course). I bet I could still sing it. U got it, U got it bad, when you're on the phone, hang up and U call right back. U got it, U got it bad, when you miss a day without your friend your whole life's off track. U know U got it bad when you're out with someone and U keep on thinkin' 'bout somebody else, U got it bad...


OK, time for bed. How many blog posts have I ended with those words, by the way? Thanks for reading.

...

Update. I just checked out U Got it Bad. You know, just to see if I do still like it. Wow, that's a pretty bad song. I guess my memory's a little hazy. Should have chosen Return of the Mack. Now that one really doesn't get old. Whooooaaaa

New year, new you

Tiny party hats courtesy of Hannah and Ella. Sisters courtesy of Harry and Barbara.

I was cleaning out my nightstand and found my resolutions from last year. I remember writing them down on a notepad at my parents' kitchen table after Christmas. Here's what I wrote. With 2012 edits in parentheses.

2011

"I can do hard things"

"If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person." - Fred Rogers (Someone had left a book of quotes from Mr. Rogers on the table where I was writing. It was kind of great.)

Morning routine - wake up when Matt gets up, get ready before kids. Dress them before breakfast, then they can play IF there's time. Leave by 8:40

(I was OK at this...maybe 50-50. Now that Theo is in afternoon preschool I am terrible at it. Who is late to 9:45 joy school? we are.)

Exercise - if I can't hack running outside, get a treadmill. Go to Oak Marr (swim? run? classes?) maybe one night a week? or Sat a.m. or get a babysitter.

(Pretty good at this until Lars was born)

Exercise for kids - indoor games; mall playground; go outside and bundle up; seriously consider moon bounce in the basement

(No moon bounce but I did try to wear the kids out more during the winter. And my mom got me a little backyard sandbox for my birthday which was so awesome this summer and fall and will be again come spring. Not that I consider playing in a sandbox "exercise" but it is one more reason to be outside, and being outside leads to exercise...Also, I know that not very many adult women ask for sandboxes for their birthday. but, some do.)

Diet - get back to menu planning, stick to grocery budget, and DON'T eat junk (except occasionally).

(yes! After Lars was born there were a couple of months where I stopped menu planning but I got back into it. Life is so much better with a weekly menu plan in place before I hit the grocery store.)

$ - don't go shopping; set a monthly allowance

(will I ever be good at this?)

Theo - be patient, don't spank or yell, work on one issue at a time. pray...one-on-one time each day.

(2011 did see improvement. yes!! but a lot of it was due to Theo, not me. he and I still struggle to get along sometimes. But our relationship is so much better than it has been at times in the past.)

Ida - Be matter of fact and don't give in to "mind games."

(also good. Ida is awesome. Mind games, that's something she needs to work on but I think Matt and I are doing OK battling them)

Be Kind.

(always working on this. not always successful)

House - stick to one project per month. E.g.

January - organize storage room

February - paint master bedroom and spruce up bathroom

March - remodel main floor bathroom

April - finish up details on bedrooms and basement (light fixtures!!)

May - lay sod, figure out plants

June - have a baby.

(We did all of these except for the bathroom. and no plants. But Matt laid sod.)

Cleaning - don't stress about this, mainly just make sure I do the dishes and wash the sheets and keep up with laundry. Enlist Matt to help with bathrooms; do floors when needed; keep rooms tidy at end of day.

(I think I've been pretty good at not stressing and letting the cleaning go. A good indicator being that I haven't mopped my living room floor since like... May.)

Spiritual health - we are good at a.m. and p.m. family prayer. Improve FHE. Tell scripture stories and bear testimony. Stay on top of tithing and work on personal prayer.

(We definitely got MUCH better at doing family home evening in 2011! we have it just about every week! hooray! definitely need to improve in the other things though.)

VBAC - try not to stress about this. pray more and stay healthy.

(I think this one worked out well.)

Connections - Deliberately reach out to one friend and one family member per week.

(You might laugh at this one, those of you who are good at reaching out. I am not always so good. But I think I did better in 2011 by trying to be deliberate about it--not every week, but more often than before. I love my family and my friends. that's right, that means YOU!)

I wrote my 2012 resolutions during the plane ride home from California. They are pretty similar to 2011's. My life is not that exciting. But I love it anyway.

I definitely have a lot to work on. But I am feeling good about 2012.

Niiiine tiiiimes.

My sister Hannah reminded me that it has now been 9 years of blogging for us. Here are some blogging thoughts from my first couple of blog posts as a college sophomore. Now I remember why I like talking to teenage girls so much (really!). Endless topics to cover.

U2 Concert

I get chills just remembering it. Well, I got chills during most of the songs. I mean, come on, it's Bono. But that one was awesome. And I did cry. Tears did well up. Who cares if I'm cheesy! Go Martin! Go civil rights! Go America! Go U2! Go everybody!

Renowned Mickey Mouse Club Band The Party

There's this one part that's stuck in my head where the black guy's all, "Oooo....yeah." And Tiffany sings, "Oh la la la la la la....oh la la la la la, la la!" "Oooooo, he's got me actin' crazy, like a girl who's never been kissed before" (black guy: "mm mm mm"). I love that song!! "He's got just what it takes to keep me smilin' all my life! I tell you, I found love, this time nobody's gonna steal it away-y! Gonna tell the whole world, he is mine. I found love, this time nobody's gonna steal it away-y! Gonna tell the who-ole world, this time love is mine!"

Lunch

Don't ever bring applesauce in Tupperware to school in your backpack. It's just a bad idea. Everything in your backpack will wind up with a thin sticky applesaucey film. I warn you from recent personal experience, as recent as this morning, even. The applesauce was good, though. I brought kind of weird food today - besides the applesauce, I brought Banana Nut Crunch cereal, also in Tupperware (don't worry, I didn't put milk in it. What do you think I am, some kind of sicko?) and some Swedish cookies in a huge Ziploc bag.

Bombay House

Honestly, my idea of spicy food, when I cook anyway, usually involves Season-All and salt & pepper. But this stuff wasn't too bad. I liked the rice and bread and water and stuff. Just kidding

My Job

Some girl just dropped off a resume for a letter of recommendation for one of the teachers who works down here, and I was reading it and it kind of made me laugh. Under "Personal Achievements" she put "Rollerblading" and "Participated in the Miss Farmington Pageant." I don't know why I thought that was so funny.

Movies

So yeah, old Mandy Moore went ahead and died, but I already knew it was going to happen because I read the book the night before I saw it, which everyone thought was so great, but I'm telling you, Nicholas Sparks is SO CHEESY!!! The book was pretty bad. I read about the first 20 pages all the way through, and then I realized, "You know what? All I want to know is what happens." So I skimmed the rest, and finished it in about a half an hour. I still want to see Count of Monte Cristo, mostly because of Jim Caveziel or however you spell it, but also because of the murder and intrigue.

Dinner

Honestly, why do I buy Budget Gourmet? The meals are only like a buck-fifty, that's probably why. And because you can put it in the microwave. But they should be a little more honest with themselves and call it "Budget Poop."

My life is a little different now, but as it turns out, my blog hasn't changed much. Now I'm off to read Amelia Bedelia and the Baby for the...57th time. OK, bye!

College

When I read things like this, I just have to laugh, and also tell myself to have sympathy for all those lazy ol' college kids because college is hard. You need to sleep in until 3 p.m. sometimes just to get through all the mental stress. (Hester and I weren't the only ones who slept in until 3 p.m. in college...were we? Were we?)

March 1, 2002

I have 2 papers due today at 2:00. I have not yet begun to write said papers. They’re both for German, they’re both about The Magic Flute, and one is supposed to be in English, the other in German. Glorious. When will I do this? I have no idea. I work until 11, then I have my piano lesson, then I have English at 1. I would skip English, but I already skipped it this week. I swear I’m going to fail that horrid class.

While we’re on the subject, my term paper for Teachings of the Living Prophets is due on Tuesday. Have I written it? No. Have I done research? No. Do I even have a topic? Definitely not. Also, my term project for communications is due on Monday. Have I started that? Nope. Do I even know what the project is? Nope. Have I met with my group? Not in about a month. See a pattern? Then there’s my English project and midterm, which I definitely don’t want to think about, because I’m going to fail them both. I don’t think I can keep up with all this. I already had 2 major papers due earlier this week in world civ and communications, which I barely wrote on time. Argh.

Let’s see, what else? I went out with Sam last night. It was weird. I mean very weird, as in super awkward. As Hester pointed out (I tell Hester everything, if you couldn’t tell), if you make out once and then don’t immediately make out again within the next few days, it’s going to be weird. And it was. Also, we had another DTR in which I think he was trying to dump me, which was funny, because we weren’t ever together. Also, I thought we had already covered everything in the DTR Sunday night. Basically it was the same conversation over again, only this time he was the one saying we should date other people. I don’t even want to continue going into this. It was all too surreal. After he dropped me off I told Hester, “I can’t believe I just had the most typical BYU relationship ever.”

COLLEGE WAS AWKWARD...glad those days are over. Glad that somehow I graduated. And yet, life was also pretty fun then.

And yet, it's so much more fun now. More fun, fewer DTRs. Make that no DTRs. Heaven knows Matt and I had enough of those in college. Enough DTRs and enough midnight runs to Maverik for frozen yogurt.

Maverik! OK, so maybe I do kind of miss college a little bit, sometimes. Or do I just miss the midnight frozen yogurt? And maybe the sleeping in until 3 p.m.

Kinda Like My Life Is Like a Sequel to a Movie Where the Actors' Names Have Changed

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

1:42 PM
OK let me just say right now that I am not happy with my mom.

Try this on for size: no TV on school nights; no internet (not even e-mail) on school nights; no answering machine, ever. Practically no after-school activities--as in, I have to be "ON CALL" so my mom can get ahold of me. What am I, a doctor? So get me a freaking pager or something! Is she a prison guard or what? I guess this is punishment for being a righteous, straight-As daughter. Where does she get the idea that I'm any kind of rebel?

Well anyways, I get to leave The Cell (that's what I'm calling my house from now on) to pick up Hannah at school and take her to Temple City for an orthodontist appointment. Whoopee.

3:23 PM
Well...today I looked cute. For once. My eyes hurt.

I love the Dixie Chicks. I really do.

I think I have a lot of homework but I'm not sure.

Oooh, I'm going to be Mr. Tom's TA next semester! You need to understand that Mr. Tom is like Hottie Teacher of the School. I'm dropping ceramics, which is no huge loss.

Victor's soccer game is in a few minutes. However, I'm not sure if I applied for parole soon enough, so I probably won't be going to it. The warden (that's what I'll be calling my mother now--just to clear up any future confusion) isn't even home from work yet.

3:38 PM
We'll pack a lunch, and stuff you in the trunk Earl!

Ya, so I'm bored. So what? BLEAH!

6:47 PM
Well we went to Vic's soccer game. And caught the last, like, 3 seconds of it. Oh well. I guess they won.


Commentary
1. You may be aware of my ardent love for posting my old brilliant journal entries. I came across this one as I was--once again--going through my storage in preparation for Phil and Lynnette's return IN THREE DAYS! I can't believe how fast a year and a half went by. Or 6.

2. I thought it would be appropriate to blog it, since it was exactly 6 years ago.

3. "Try this on for size"--who says that?? No one. It reminds me of the roommate Holden Caulfield had and hated (because, for one thing, he was always saying "Try this for size" and goosing everybody).

4. My mom rocks.

Mom and me
Originally uploaded by Elizarock.

I often go walking in meadows of clover

Earlier today I called my mom and told her Happy Mother's Day--and of course proceeded to tie up her phone line for an hour and a half just chatting. One of the things I love about my mom is that I pretty much tell her everything, and she never tells me to stop. Fortunately she's the same way, so we get along. Really, really well, actually.

We didn't always get along--I guess that's sort of a given when you mother a teenage girl, at least if the girl is anything like I was. Well, looking back now, I think we got along more than I thought we did at the time. Barb's pretty easy to get along with. Unlike me, at least as a 14-year-old--I was very into tantrums and other theatrics. But I was also a little bit bi-polar--about as much as you can be without actually being bi-polar. I was very much into the "I hate you" (then five minutes later) "I mean I love you! I'm so sorry!" (Still a little bit into those emotional swings, actually, only less intensely [I think].)

I found these two journal entries awhile back--summer of 1997, I was 14. (The above picture I think is about summer of 1997, BTW.) Notice the dates--they're like a month apart. Kinda gave me a chuckle.

Happy Mother's Day--to Barb and to everyone!

********

Friday, July 11, 1997

Have you ever been so mad at your mom you can hardly breathe, almost?

Well, I have.

I hate when I'm watching a program [Editor's note: who in the world says "program"?] and my mom is just sort of bustling around and not caring and then all of a sudden she IS caring. "Have you done your practicing?" "You haven't taken a shower, have you?" "All you ever do is sit around and watch TV." "You wouldn't talk to your father that way." "I have half a mind to unplug this TV and store it in the garage. Or, just get rid of it altogether." "You'd do FINE without TV." "Fluff, this is just fluff." "Soap operas? Isn't there anything better on?" "Days of Our Lives is pure trash." "There's two whole loads of clean laundry needing to be folded." "Why don't you get off the couch and DO something?" "If someone suddenly called and wanted you to go to Disneyland with them, you wouldn't be ready." (And how many calls like that have I gotten in the past, oh, fourteen years?) [Editor's note: So true. My mom used that threat a lot.] "When I was your age, I'd be punished if I talked to MY mother that way." "We're not TALKING about Phoebe or Hannah, we're TALKING about YOU." "You're just a LITTLE too smart-alecky, young lady." "You just worry about Eliza and I'll take care of the rest of the worrying." "If you want something to do, I have a whole long list of chores that need doing." "YOU are CRUISING..."

It never stops.

********

Monday, August 18, 1997

My parents are probably the two most important people in my life. It's not like I tell them everything, or that they tell me everything...it's just that they're there, you know, in case I need them....It's really good to know that.

My mom is a great person. I wish I could be more like her. She's fair, she's kind, and she's firm in her beliefs. She makes you totally at ease because she can always find something to talk about. She has a loud, hearty laugh. She finds humor in a lot of things. She loves learning new things, and teaching them to everyone. She has a love for life and shares it. I like the way she pronounces my name "E-liza" instead of "Uh-liza." She puts up with my tantrums. And she loves me.

I love her. I don't tell her everything, I get more annoyed with her than I do anyone else, and she's awesome.

"Let's don't wait 'til the water runs dry"

Just a little somethin' for all you Boyz II Men fans out there. Well, it seems my blogging well has run dry again. Nothing to write about. So I'll do what I always do when I run out of things to write about...open up my high school journal (now conveniently located next to my computer) and quote from it. Names have not been changed today, because I no longer talk to any of these people (besides my brother, of course) and I'm pretty sure they're not the "blogging type."

"Wednesday, March 12, 1997

[Eliza at thirteen (almost fourteen).]

"Today after school I got home and started doing homework. Actually, never mind. I read the comics and then I started doing this survey for Cal State LA, at the kitchen table by the front window."

[Note how she's setting the scene...brilliant.]

"All of a sudden I hear someone yelling "ELIIIIIIIZAAAAA!" At first I thought it was Jesse (my really cute next-door neighbor who's a sophomore and sits behind me in biology). Well no such luck. I looked out the window and saw a white minivan with someone practically hanging out of it. I had no idea who it was. Noah was about to go out there, but I stopped him. (He was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes: plaid cape, two baseball caps--one frontwards and one backwards, a pipe made out of a paper cup and a straw; the whole enchilada.)"

[This story doesn't matter; I just love the descriptions, in particular the winning phrase "the whole enchilada." I also love the fact that Noah was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes.]

"So anyway. I went out there in my shorts, T-shirt and Birkenstocks, my hair looking all dumb because I have a habit of playing with my hair when I'm concentrating. I couldn't see who it was in the car, because it was around 4:30 and the sun was at that annoying time when it blinds you."

[Again, such rich detail.]

"Anyway, they drove up in front of my yard and I could see Jimmy at the wheel and Adam in the passenger's seat. I was like, 'What are you guys doing here?' They sat and talked to me for a few minutes. The extent of our conversation was:

"'What are you doing here?'
'We're driving around and decided to stop by.'
'Oh.'
'Wanna go drive around with us?'
'No, I can't, my mom's not home and I'm babysitting my little brother.'
Sits and squints at his watch. 'Oh. OK. Are you sure you don't wanna come?'
'No, that's OK.'
'All right, well we'll see you at school tomorrow.'"

[I really should have been a writer. I'm tellin' ya. Genius brewing.]

"And I was like..."

Periodically I flip through my journal from high school. You may know this, seeing as I've quoted from it before.

Anyway, this is what I read the other night. Me at 14.

"Monday, October 20, 1997

"I'm glad that I have a journal so I can write down everything that I think and feel. Without someone judging me. Because when I tell people what I think and feel, it's different because although I tell them basically what I'm thinking or whatever, it's never getting to the core and I'm never COMPLETELY and FULLY honest with anyone at all, not even myself sometimes. Of course I always basically tell the truth, and I don't leave out important things. But I don't say everything; sometimes, although something might be important to me, then I don't say it because even when it sounds okay in my head and I understand it exactly, that doesn't mean that it won't sound stupid out loud, and it doesn't mean that other people will understand what I mean like I do.

"Even that paragraph was basically constructed so that if someone read it it would sound good. That's kind of the way I am. The things I say, I usually think of how it will sound before. When I don't think before I speak, then I start kicking myself, because it sounds bad and I like to sound good.

"Anyway, enough of the self-psychology crap.

"Steve was being dumb today. Well, what else is new? I was like, get a life, reject."

"Reigning champion of the geeks"

Remember my diary project? You would not believe how much stuff I wrote in high school. Every single thought I had, it seemed, got written down in this huge journal. I've been reading it for almost 2 weeks now and still haven't finished.

So, I gather from my 13-, 14-, 15-, 16-year-old musings, apparently the first couple of years of high school, I dressed sort of sloppily. Very sloppily, actually, and I wore the same things over and over - those were the days of Birkenstocks with socks. I also cut slits in the cuffs of my pants. I also had three or four ratty sweatshirts I wore over and over. I had forgotten about all of this, but at the beginning of my junior year in high school, I decided to be more creative with my clothes.

---

Monday, February 1, 1999
OK I just need to start off saying that I have not weakened and I still have not worn the same outfit to school twice! That, naturally, makes me reigning champion of the geeks.

---

It's so funny to re-read this stuff and remember my thought processes. Anyway, so I wrote down what I wore to school every day. Every Day. And I never wore the same outfit twice. I have it in writing.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for me today. I often wear the same clothes twice; nay, three or four times within a few short days. But I also try to be creative, and wear them in different combinations so that people don't notice that I wear the same things over and over again. But one thing I don't do, which I think I did in that infamous junior year, was wear ugly stuff or stuff that looks bad on me solely for the sake of variety. I think you can still be creative with a few articles of clothing - that look nice - regardless of a tight budget. Which I've always had. Forced me to learn how to be creative. Though I've lost the desire to be so creative that I wear jeans that are too tight, shoes that need Super-Glue to stay together, or a shirt that was cute for a few months in 1994, just to add variety to my wardrobe.

I'm happy to admit that I realized my goal made me reigning champion of the geeks.

That said, I realize now, once more, that that reign has not stopped. I carry on as champion. Anyone who reads my blog knows this.

Anyway, to get your mind off my materialism, here's another entry. Me at thirteen. Trust me, this is a good one.

---

Saturday, February 15, 1997
You know what, I'm kind of pissed off right now. We got this thing in the mail that said my mom was a $1,000,000 winner of this sweepstakes thing that she had entered, and of course I had to go show my dad and get him all excited about it, and then when you look at it, it says this:

If you return the grand prize winning entry in time, and you have the right number, then

BARBARA T. IS A $1,000,000 WINNER!!!

Notice that the BARBARA T. part is huge and the rest isn't. I'm so mad at those people, because they had me and my dad thinking that we had won a million dollars. My dad even said, "Eliza, I want you to realize that before we even get into this, I won't let it go to my head. I'll keep going to work every day just like normal."

I hate to see my dad that disappointed. I'm so mad at those people now. I thought my dad was going to cry.

---

Tee hee.

I can't believe
1) that I was that gullible at 13, or
2) that my loving, caring, serious dad thought it would be funny to mess with my mind.

haha. You need to know my dad though. He is loving and caring and serious, but he's also very funny. I wonder whether he knew I actually believed him, and he was teasing me, or if he thought that I was smarter than I was and that we were both kidding around. My guess is the former. At any rate. No one can ever say I can't laugh at myself. Even if it is 8 years later.

Music: Life on Mars - David Bowie
(I'd also like to give credit to Kacy for the fact that for the past 2 days a Led Zeppelin CD has started playing every time I start my car.)
Love: pumpkins. We bought some last night to carve. Hooray!

Dear Diary...

[This would be me at age fourteen.]
Sunday, November 2, 1997

Sometimes I wonder if I should have been born and raised in the country or something, where I could just kick it in the barn all day and milk the cows, or something. And not have to deal with everything moving on all the time; just live life at a slow pace, which I guess is what I'm doing now - only it would be better then because everyone else would be at a slow pace too, and not two steps ahead, which everyone seems to be. Sometimes I just want to give up for a few days and lay in bed and be in my comfort zone, and have everything else stop for awhile, until I'm caught up with everybody.

Tuesday, November 11, 1997

Last night I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was pretty good. It was about how Giles was part of this demon sort of thing, I don't know, pretty twisted. When he was a teenager he hung around with these four other people and they practiced black magic and had demon orgies and all this wacked stuff. Hannah's like, "What's an orgy?" I was like, "Don't worry about it."

Yesterday we got Chinese at the mall, then last night Hannah ate my orange chicken. Which pissed me off, especially because when I asked who ate it, she didn't even say anything until my dad said he saw her eat it. That really made me mad. The chicken was good, too. I guess Hannah thought so anyway.

meanwhile, back in 2004 -

Music:
Everything in Its Right Place - Radiohead
The Seed (2.0) - The Roots

Love: Brownies. (as in chocolate ones, not the Girl Scout ones.)

The way we were...

"Memories...light the corners of my mind...misty water-colored memories, of the way we were."

What a terrible song, but I love it anyway. Okay, I've been going through some old stuff that's been packed away in the basement since May, and I came across the "autobiography" I wrote for Mr. Coccaro's AP history class my junior year of high school. I haven't read it in a few years, so I thumbed through it and found this in the "friends" section:

"Like I mentioned before, my friends and I can pretty much entertain ourselves. We always find things to talk about and weird, quirky things to do. One time Katie and I were bored in fifth period and we were looking for something to occupy the time. I found about ten McDonald's straws on a table, unwrapped them, and we tried to fit them together. Once that was accomplished, we had a long chain of straws about six or seven feet long. Katie had some ketchup packets and she decided to see if she could blow the ketchup all the way through the chain of straws. Needless to say, it took awhile and there was ketchup all over the place (and all over Katie's clothes) but after about twenty minutes we had succeeded and a drop of ketchup dripped out of the other end of the straws. We laughed our heads off the whole time.

"Now that story's a little embarrassing but it kind of illustrates the idea that you never have to be bored, because there's always something to do.

"Besides blowing ketchup through straws, my friends and I like to go to the movies, go to the beach, go to Raging Waters, swim, walk around, sit around, and talk."

Yeah...that was me at sixteen. I just thought it was kind of funny, brought a wave of nostalgia over me. Aw, my Katie! Those were the days. We really were kind of weird. And dorky.

Geesh, I'm supposedly 16 in this picture (original found in the autobiography next to the story about ketchup) but I look closer to 12. That's Katie on the right. Nice shirt, Lizer.