some links to enjoy

Here's a guy who wrote an op-ed in the Seattle Times who agrees with me about yesterday's post. Woo hoo!

Here are new pics of the Wes man. He is SO STINKING CUTE and is currently napping which is even more cute.

forcing us to be good

For those of you who haven't heard, the Seattle City Council approved a measure yesterday so that starting January 1, 2009, everyone who grocery shops in the city and puts their groceries in bags to take home with them will pay 20 cents for each paper or plastic bag they use. This is mainly to discourage waste, since kabillions of these bags are thrown away each year.

I am 100% opposed to this. I am just so peeved I can't even think straight. I'm all for taking care of the environment and reducing waste (reducing, reusing, and recycling to be exact), but this is ridiculous and I hate it. Thankfully, I don't live in Seattle or King County and this actually doesn't apply to me. But the principle may reverberate around the state or country or who knows.

Here are some of my reasons for being completely irked at this:

• No motivation to recycle: In California (where I lived for four months in 2003), they have plastic and glass bottle deposits you have to pay if you buy a product in a plastic or glass bottle. This includes milk cartons, soda pop, apple juice, whatever. They use the deposit as a way to encourage recycling. I love it! The reason why I love it? When you take your plastic bottles in to be recycled, you get your deposit back. Did the Seattle City Council approve this? No. They get the 20 cents from the people, who have no way to get their 20 cents back if they do the civil thing and recycle. Is there really motivation to recycle here?
• No motivation to reuse: I use plastic bags from grocery stores as trash bin liners. If I am forced to pay 20 cents for each one, I guess I'll buy the official trash bin liners that Glad or Hefty or whoever manufactures. And isn't that actually creating more waste? Instead of using a bag to bring my groceries home then using that same bag to throw away my grease can, now I'm using TWO BAGS? And paying TWICE for the privilege?
• Less motivation to reduce: Currently, I take seven reusable sturdy bags with me to the grocery store when I get my groceries. Yay! I am doing what the City of Seattle wants people to do. I enjoy doing my part, because I've decided that's the person I want to be (more on that later). When I use my bags, I get 5 cents off my bill for each bag I bring in. My question: are people still going to get bag refunds for the reusable bags they bring in? Will I still get money off my bill for doing what the City is now forcing me to do? Or will I just be charged if I don't?

Some other issues to consider:

• The Costco/Sam's Club method: If you shop at Costco or Sam's Club, they don't have bags. Instead, they have huge bins with the boxes that the products you are buying came in. Has the City thought about encouraging the grocery stores to adopt this method? Use the boxes from the back, the boxes that people who are moving come in and beg for, to take groceries home? And therefore reusing those boxes, instead of just compacting them down in a bailor and throwing them out?
• The ridiculous bagger issue: How many times have I been to a grocery store and asked for paper bags, and the cashier or bagger responds by putting my paper bag in a plastic bag? And then proceeds to load my groceries? Or I buy four boxes of cereal, and the employee double bags my items? Or I buy 12 things but somehow I find my items in five separate bags?? Did the City ever think to talk to the stores about training their people better? To reduce waste that way?
• The exercise syndrome: Think about P.E. in elementary school or high school. You hated it. I absolutely hated it. Couldn't wait to get out of it. It was awful. But, then, I get to college, I gain 15 pounds living in the dorms, and I decide to give running and weight-lifting a try. I start to love exercise. I decided to do it myself. I converted myself. It's the same thing with eating broccoli or watching less TV. Something happens, and you have a change of heart and then change your behavior. I think this whole green/earth living thing needs to be the same way. If people don't do it for themselves, they won't keep it up. If you're charging them for it, they'll be bitter instead of grateful for the opportunity to help.

Well, that's all the time I have for today folks. Feel free to comment if you agree or disagee. Judging by comments on the Seattle Times Web sites, people are all over the map on this one. I'm so dang glad I live in Lynnwood.

what's goin' on

A brief summary of some of the interesting goings on in the Gottula home as of late:

• A whodunit suspense thriller: for some odd reason, the "No Fishing" sign in our fish tank is knocked over. By whom? One of the four remaining fish? Wesley? One of our sneaky houseguests from this weekend? I can only assume someone put their hand into the tank to knock it over, which doesn't sound pleasant. In any case, it remains down, probably until I clean it next.

• Last night, we moved Wesley's crib from our room into his room. I cried. The room's official title went from "the second bedroom" to "Wesley's room" overnight, and that's a big deal. He's all grown up. Shane told me, "you've got to cut the umbilical cord sometime!"

• Tuesday was my first day "on my own." My mom is gone, and Shane was at work. It was an awful day. The worst part: when I got a tupperware of baked beans out of the microwave to eat, and instead dropped the whole thing on the floor. Baked beans on my pants, my shirt, Wesley's swaddle blanket (not him, thankfully), the cabinets, the floor, even the fridge. Are you laughing? Does it sound funny? Well it wasn't. So there. It was awful. Again, I cried.

• I got an estimate from a plumber to "clean the pipes" of our place so we don't have to keep buying Drano. Have any of you guys done this before? To do two bathtubs and three bath sinks (since one of our baths is a double vanity), they quoted me $600! Does that sound reasonable? Shane says he also wants the toilets done... so that should, I don't know, add another couple hundred to the bill. Boo.

• In Wesley's room is a stereo and I like to listen to 88.5 FM at 3 in the morning. They play soft jazz. It's awesome for feeding the little guy and rocking him back to sleep. After 5 or so they broadcast NPR. I'm turning into an NPR junkie, which I never expected. This morning's news included a story on healthcare in the U.S. vs. Great Britain, and a report on the "vitrification plant" (sp?) being constructed in Richland, Wash., for Hanford nuclear waste.

• For our huge Wesley bash this past weekend, we got his picture on a cake! It was the coolest thing ever. I keep telling him, I'll know I've made it when I have my picture on a cake. And he's not even 2 months old. What a guy.

• I'm trying to drink five 1 pint 7.7 ounce bottles of water a day. It's quite the task. My mom had an awesome idea that I've been doing and I will pass on to you: as soon as you finish one bottle, wrap a rubber band around it. That way you don't lose count of how many you've consumed. Genius! I get my five during the day, then I have No. 6 waiting in Wesley's room at night if/when I get thirsty while attending to him at the aforementioned 3 am. It's been great. The doc says I need buckets of water.

• People have asked if our kid's name is "Wes-ley" or "Wez-ley." I don't really think it matters. My brother's wife is named Leslie, and we call her both. I think it's just whatever happens to come out of your mouth when you say it. I'm not going to be picky. I did know a girl once in high school whose name was Laura, and if you called her "lore-a" instead of "laure-a" she got rather offended and corrected you. I'd prefer not to raise my son that way. (I wonder if Leslie gets offended? She's never told me I've offended her).

• We watched The Devil Wears Prada the other day. I just love that movie. Add it to the list of movies I could watch over and over and over again (perhaps the subject of a future blog post?). I could maybe watch it every day.

That's all for now.

a video to bide my time

It's been more than a week since I posted. Sorry sorry. We've been busy busy busy. Wesley was blessed in Church on Sunday, which was AWESOME, but we had family in town and we were entertaining and we planned a huge Sunday buffet and we were hoping to get the six piles of laundry taken care of, and on and on. Lots to do. I've got a list of about eight good blog subjects to do and one of these days I'll get one of them written for you. Soon.

Shaner sent this on to me today. It's so stinking cute. I am proud of myself for getting through it without crying (those post-pregnancy new mom hormones are quite strong). Feel free to enjoy. I'll tell you to watch the whole thing to the end, mainly since the last spot is Seattle. I think the dancing man is from Seattle, too, which makes it extra cool. More on him here.

love that ca$h

I was reflecting the other day on how priorities change as we grow up. Mainly re: mulah. Let me explain.

I love dancing around the house with little Wesley, and my super cool friend Liz gave me this CD, Philadelphia Chickens, at my baby shower (my mom calls it, "what all the kids have in their ipods these days"). It's me and the Wes-man's dancing music. It totally rocks, but it is the only baby dancing music I have.

So, I decided we needed some new dance music. I could try Wal-Mart or amazon.com or some fancy store in the mall, but another idea seemed better. I tried Value Village. I found two CDs of lullabies (score one for us parents when sleep training comes) and one CD of sing-along songs for road trips (or dancing around the house). Total bill: six bucks.

As we drove home, my shopping buddy -- my mom -- and I started talking about finances and how when you're all grown up and it's your hard-earned money, you care about it so much more.
When I was a kid, I remember kids at school making fun of my (or anyone's) clothes and saying "your clothes are from Kmart!" which was this super insult. Somehow I equated Kmart, a value retailer, with poor quality and uncool clothes. I needed to shop at "the mall" and mom needed to fund my escapades. I still remember several pieces of clothing (my black/purple/teal sweater and my blue vest) that came from the mall, and how I was more proud of myself for owning them and wearing them. They came from the mall. They were obviously cooler.

What a difference a decade makes. I'll just append to the above paragraph with a big "Whatev-a!"

I'm all about saving money these days, and if poor Wesley gets embarrassed, then son, I apologize now. I worked hard to earn that money. I don't feel like just giving it away to someone else, corporation or what. I pinch pennies and am proud of it! I remember being at BYU and going shopping one day and finding two shirts on clearance -- one for $3 and one for $4. I still wear those shirts, I get compliments on them, and I just love to feel good about myself and say, "you'd never believe how much they cost!"

Another example: grocery shopping. One of my favorite hobbies. I search the weekly ads, circling stuff that is on sale that I should stock up on. This task alone gives me a real good sense on how much stuff costs and how much it should cost, so I feel like a very informed shopper. I never buy anything unless it's on sale (I'm terrible at The Price is Right).

I also clip coupons in the Sunday paper. When something is on sale and I have a coupon, bingo!!! I remember, as a youngin, being embarassed that my mom used coupons. Mom, I apologize. Thanks for showing me the light, doing what was best for our little growing family in the '80s, and teaching me what it means to be frugal. My proudest moments are at the end of my shopping trips I check the receipt and see that I "saved" more money that I actually spent.

Albertsons last week: Spent $78.44. Saved $68.30. Not quite there, but close. Respectable.

Hence, my first stop when I decided I needed baby dancing music: Value Village. Yeah, the store smells a little, shall we say, different, but it all comes out in the wash, literally. All of my maternity clothes were from either there or the clearance rack at Kohl's. Why pay full price for something I'm only going to wear for 9 months? Or less? I didn't make it to the full 9 months.

And what about the baby? He'll grow so stinking fast, am I really going to pay a boatload for clothes he'll wear once? Twice? He is already growing out of a few of his onesies. He is only 9 pounds for cryin out loud! We got a huge box of hand-me-down clothes from one of Shanester's friends at his work. They're in such good shape and we'll definitely use them. YAY!

My boss gave me and AWESOME present at my baby shower for Wesley. Many of you know I work at an engineering firm. She found -- at Value Village no less -- a cute 12-month-old-sized "heavy duty construction" jacket (to which she affixed a patch of our firm logo, very cool), a pair of baby work boots, and a baby hard hat (which also got a company logo). It was one of the most thoughtful presents, made possible by a very creative boss who knows how to find great stuff at Value Village!

Like they say, if you're into recycling and sustainability and living green, shop second hand. I guess I'm into those things, but I'm more into saving money. I'm not a cheapskate -- I'll tip 18 to 20 percent if service is good -- but I've got the extra money to do nice things with because I know where to save on the day-to-day living. Give it a try! It feels liberating!

an analogy

An analogy for this lovely Thursday:

Wesley's cute little drooly mouth is to my clothes as a slug is to a screen door.

Ahh my new life. Just love it!

wesley update

Well, our little tyke is a month old. Can you believe it? Wow. We are still getting used to it. Still in shock. Probably will still be in shock for the next 18 years.



Little guy is growing and being good and having all sorts of fun being the center of our universe. Some highlights:

• He officially grabbed my hair the other day while I was laying him down on the changing table. Kung-fu grip, I tell you. It makes sense why a lot of new moms cut their hair short.

• I was trying to calm him down and was holding him near his crib, and I turned on his Looney Tunes mobile for some soothing sounds. He saw the rotating plush figures and reached out his hand toward them. That was a first! I moved him a bit closer, and he grabbed at one of them! A big milestone, if I do say so myself.

• We have gotten small smiles every once in awhile. Six weeks (now) is about the time they smile socially. The pediatrician says the more we smile at him, the better chance he'll start smiling back. So we're being plenty happy.

• When he's in a fussy mood, a sure-fire way to calm him down is by putting him upside down on our knees and playing bongos on his little behind. How funny is that?

• He's getting VERY good at holding his head up! I'm so proud!! He is really working those back/shoulder muscles during "tummy time." Pretty soon, he'll be all grown up and getting a job! (kidding)

• He had what is known as "breast milk jaundice," which I found on wikipedia so I know it's for real (because at first I didn't believe the pediatrician but of course I believe wikipedia), which means he still kind of looked like a pumpkin baby even at a month old. The pediatrician said to put him on formula for 24 hours, which jump-starts his liver and gets the offending toxins out of his body so he looks less like a pumpkin and more like a baby. Oddly enough, it worked. Yay!

• He is a bit colic-y. Boo. But the bongos and swaddling and a pacifier and running the dishwasher usually do the trick.

Guess that's all for now. We love the little guy!

immobility 101

At the end of my pregnancy and up until now, I've had some serious problems with my left wrist. Ugh, it is just terrible. I thought I slept on it wrong, and somehow sprained it or, heavens, broke it in the middle of the night or something. I was convinced amputation was the only acceptable treatment, until I saw a doctor recently. By the way, she was a totally awesome doctor and if anyone needs a primary care physician I'd recommend her highly.

So, I was most impressed since I was sure she wouldn't be able to help me, and I only made an appointment with her to get a referral to an orthopedic specialist who practices in the same office. But, to my great happiness, she knew exactly what was wrong with me and could help. I have a form of tendonitis, whatever that means, called DeQuervain tenosynovitis. Yeah. It's an overuse injury that affects the tendon that connects to the thumb. If you make a hitchhiker thumb, that is the tendon you use.

To illustrate, these are a couple things I cannot do without writhing in complete pain:

• Tuck my shirt into my pants


• Put on my seat belt


• Use a round brush while blow drying my hair


• Pour milk
• Get something out of my jacket pocket

The list goes on. It also hurts to hold my baby (sob!).

To help me get better, I am primarily wearing a thumb/wrist brace and taking ibuprofen. If that doesn't work, I get cortisone shots that have a tendency to bleach the skin (meaning, my wrist and arm will tan but one spot will always be white. Weird.)

The brace is OK, but it's kind of a pain:

• I tried buttering a piece of bread and got butter all over it.


• I brushed my cat and got cat hair all over it.


• I wash my hands and it gets all wet.

What a mess. The funny thing about this brace is that I kind of feel like Batman or something when I'm wearing it... like there should be a button I can push and out comes a wire with a ninja star attached to it and I can swing from building to building. You know. Or maybe I'm thinking of Power Rangers?

I saw one of my friends recently and we were catching up, and it turns out she recently broke her right hand and had a cast for 6 weeks. Whoa! She had the use of only her ring finger and pinkie finger. What a PAIN. She could barely write or type. It was just awful to hear all about it. At least I can take my brace off if I'm trying to swaddle Wesley and get frustrated trying to maneuver my hands to get the job done. (Even though that is counterproductive and I shouldn't do it.)

I can't help but be grateful for the bodies we have been given. They're so functional. I seriously take for granted being able to put on my seat belt or hold my baby. When it hurts, you really notice how often you use a part of your body. It's wild to think about. I'm also thankful for medical technology and that they know so much these days and can fix us when we're sick.

So wish me luck as I try to be diligent about this wrist brace thing. I love it, I hate it.

words of patriotism

Happy 4th of July everyone. I've just spent an hour researching this and I'm pretty sure it's not made up. Whew. You know you can never trust email forwards unless you can verify them.

I wanted to share a portion of an essay I read that really impressed me. Entitled "All Four Stanzas," it was written by Isaac Asimov and published in the March 1991 Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. I read that Asimov was a fan of history and enjoyed learning the context of things. Additionally, I have a book, Our Latter-day Hymns, by Karen Lynn Davidson, which details the background of all the hymns in the Latter-day Saint hymnbook. Davidson's story of the Star-Spangled Banner corroborates Asimov's below (isn't "corroborate" such a fun word?).

I've never been much of a history buff, but I do like to learn the background of songs/stories/movies/etc., and it is definitely interesting when something is explained like this. It makes history come alive. If only my 11th grade AP U.S. History teacher could see me now (Hi Miss English!).

I like to read this every 4th of July. Happy BBQ and fireworks day to you, and let us reflect on how blessed we are to live in this amazing nation. Here it is:

The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1,000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they would have to take the fort.

On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release. The British captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of September 13, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start.

As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs bursting and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the fort was resisting and the American flag was still flying. But toward morning the bombardment ceased, and a dread silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British flag flew above it, or the bombardment had failed and the American flag still flew.

As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at the fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must have asked each other over and over, "Can you see the flag?"

After it was all finished, Key wrote a four-stanza poem telling the events of the night. Called "The Defense of Fort McHenry," it was published in newspapers and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old English tune called, "To Anacreon in Heaven" -- a difficult melody with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work became known as "The Star Spangled Banner," and in 1931 Congress declared it the official anthem of the United States.

Now that you know the story, here are the words.

Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key:

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

("Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a fort.) The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer:

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

("The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure. In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise.) During World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here it is:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling):

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven - rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto --"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

and then there were four

Big sad news. One of our fish committed suicide last night. I speak the truth.

Saturday, Shane gave me a hard time and I finally cleaned the fish tank for the first time. Shane's been bugging me to do it for months, since he always does it, and he hates doing it, and I'm the one that loves the fish so much. (Basically, he is waiting for all the fish to die so he won't have to clean the tank anymore. Since I protest, he has asked me to assume the cleaning responsibilities. As if I don't do enough around here.)

So I took our little blue tetra's suicide pretty personally. He didn't like my cleaning job.

Oddly, it was his second kamikaze attempt of the night. His first flop-out was when I was at the fridge, and he flopped onto the kitchen counter amid all the newly cleaned baby bottle stuff. Yeah. They all got seriously cleaned again.

Then, when I got up to feed the bebe sometime later that night, during the MASSIVE thunderstorm, Shane came out to get some water and I asked him to count the fish. He said... "I only count four." I was hoping he was kidding. We had FIVE fish...

Nope. He found the corpse on the floor near Gabby's water dish. It's like the fishie was hoping to leap from water to water. Question: If he had made it into Gabby's water dish, would he have lived? Or would she have eaten him?

Another nail in the coffin, you should know, is that at the beginning of the week we had SIX fish. There was another casualty this week in a separate incident. You know, natural causes. Not suicide.

AND, the last nail in the coffin (there are so many), is that this isn't the first time we've had a fish attempt suicide. This is just the first time a fish has succeeded. Maybe we should take this as a hint to put the lid back on the fish tank? (This is all particularly relevant since I just read the movie spoiler for Shyamalan's The Happening, which is all about people committing suicide.)

sigh

Shane was reading an article recently about the hardest parts of parenthood, and one of them was explaining mortality to your children. Whether it be grandma or a goldfish, it's tough. I'm not looking forward to that. I have a hard time with it myself! Thankfully, Shane tried to be positive. He took care of our fish's remains and so kindly called it, "sending the little guy to the hospital in the toilet."

Yeah. One of these days I'll just go buy some new fish and will feel worlds better.

wild america

Now that it's officially "Summertime" and all of us are so excited the sun is showing its marvelous face, I supposed it's no surprise that the creepy crawlies are out on the town, as well. This week we've had many close encounters, are here are my favorites:

• We are on our way to Church. My fabulous Mom (the one of Facebook fame discussed recently) is in the back seat beside dearest Wesley. All of a sudden, I hear an audible gasp and witness in the reaarview a lurch toward the child. I almost wreck the car. "What is it, Mom?!" A caterpillar on darling Wesley's blanket. Mom "rescued" the caterpillar and promptly "released him" back into the wild, aka, rolled down the window and let go.

• I am in the passenger seat of said car and feel a sensation on my arm and look to behold a common ant hitching a ride to Fred Meyer on me. Eek, I scream, and open the door (car not in motion, don't worry) and deposit said ant onto the driveway. Whew.

• Mom, protector of all things baby, finds an itsy bitsy spider on the diaper bag. Again, she promptly, successfully removes it.

What's the deal? Are we attractors of creepy crawlies in the same fashion we're attractors of well wishers at the grocery store? New baby = everyone wants to check it out, I suppose.

Well, "can't we all just get along," they say. Guess we'll make due. I can't think of a better way to teach the young'n about our great outdoors anyway. Good luck to all of you navigating the blessings of nature as the summer unfolds. I'm convinced that when Mom goes back home and I can't see Wesley in his car seat, birds will construct nests in his hair.