The Date

This font is called "Lucida Grande". I don't know that it looks much different from New Roman Times, but it sounded lovely, and I thought a post entitled The Date should have a lovely type font. Hmm. They need more font choices.

So last Saturday, my husband and I decided to go on a date. Our last "date" without our daughter was on our two year (!) anniversary in December. We went to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at that time, but I didn't enjoy it as it was our first time leaving Elora with anyone. But, seeing it on video this week assured me that I wouldn't have been that impressed without the baby in the back of my mind anyway. Good fun, but not great. The book was better.

This Saturday, we were also going to see a book turned movie. We had found a theatre that was still playing Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Our first Christmas together, Joseph bought me the book series and I found it surprisingly enjoyable, despite my memory of despising said books in middle school. (My favorite in the series is The Magicians Nephew.) The previews for said movie had built our excitement, because Lucy wasn't buck-toothed, and Aslan wasn't a bad anamatronics puppet. There weren't even cartoon ghosts as one might fear based on previous versions.

We made preparations for a last minute babysitter, looked up movie times, and did our grocery shopping in the morning so we wouldn't have to worry about anything that afternoon. By now, Elora has been watched many times on the days that I work, and I knew she could handle it. True, this was the first time she was being watched by a 12-year-old young woman rather than an adult, but I wasn't too worried.

The movie started at 4:20, at a huge 16-plex theatre in the Alderwood mall, with each theatre having stadium seating. Nice. I told "sally" (names have been changed) to come over at 4:00. That was my first mistake. The theatre is actually about 20 minutes away. sally has never been to my house. So, naturally, sally was ten minutes late and we didn't have more than ten minutes, much less twenty, to get where we needed to go.

Joseph drove like a madman through the mall traffic, where the drivers didn't seem to understand that we were in more of a hurry than they were. In fact, most seemed oblivious to the 'Baby on Board' sign in our back window, and we almost got in a few accidents. Okay, you're right, the baby wasn't on board, but they should still respect the sign!

Finally we pulled up next to the large and spacious theatre, and Joseph said I should get a place in line while he parked the car. I held out my hand for his debit card as I had paid for the babysitter earlier, and I left mine at home. Joseph looked at me blankly. "I don't have it, you do." he said. I smirked; he always plays this game when I ask if he has the keys, or something of similar importance, and he inevitably cracks a grin and pulls them from an inner pocket.

"No really, it's in your coat; you had it when we went shopping this morning!" He insisted. Uh- oh. That didn't sound like his joking voice. And as I felt around vainly for the plastic card, I realized this didn't look like the coat I'd worn that morning either. Already stressed from the hectic car ride, I couldn't bear this new complication and I burst into tears.

I know. Pathetic. Its just a movie, right?

Joseph still had his head on his shoulders though, and he lost no time in getting us back to our apartment. Miraculously, we again avoided any car accidents. I didn't want to go inside because I didn't want the baby-sitter to see me, and I had no idea what to say to her. Joseph retrieved his card from my coat in the closet, and quickly looked up all the other theatres and movies playing in the area. He printed off the list and brought it out to me in the car, where I grumpily reviewed the offerings.

Watching Narnia was now out of the question; it didn't play again until 8:00 that night. Lets see, pay the babysitter double and hope the baby doesn't get too upset that she hasn't eaten in seven hours? I think not. Most of the shows out were rated R or looked really stupid. I hate wasting money seeing a movie that isn't special, but I still wanted to go out.

Finally I settled on The Pink Panther, with Steve Martin. Because it didn't play until 6:00, that meant we had to pay full price....which here means $9.50 a person. Yeah. Now thats a real waste of money. Especially since the sitter was already getting a $20.

But because we now had an abundance of time, our drive back was much less stressful. When we sat down in the theatre we were actually in a good mood. And although the movie was indeed corney and pricey, Joseph loved it and I had fun being with him.

So what if our date cost forty dollars and we didn't even eat anything? ( a small soda was $4.00)So what if the baby got a really bad diaper rash because "sally" didn't change her diaper the whole time we were gone? So what if she let her chew on a chapstick container that she could have swallowed and choked on? And so what if those twenty-somethings in that red car almost rammed into us on purpose? (jerks.) We had a fun date, and I'm not complaining.

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But mommy I missed you!

(I couldn't resist at least one)

Um...so here's the camera

Yes, and I purchased it at a Wal-mart...just not the same one where the grandpa man worked. This one came with all of the accessories that were being pressed upon me in the previous story, and all for one low price! Well, not really low, but lower than one might fear in these situations.

While we were splurging our gigantic tax return this weekend, we also bought a dandy $25 High Chair and some baby toys. The remainder of our return, of course, is reserved for our extravagant trip home this summer.

So, this blog isn't really a story, but a beautiful display of our first digital pictures on our own camera. Enjoy!

Me writing my blog at 11:00 PM

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Putting together the high-tech high-chair

look Burnsie/Jewels, there's your table in the background!

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Our sweet little Ya-ya looks so tiny in her new chair.

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But it gets the job done.

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Time to change a diaper with daddy!

(no promotion of Whinney the Poo is intended, although a future blog may in fact feature a Whinney the Poo fuzzy outfit on an unidentified baby.)

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Okay, stop taking pictures now. No. Really.

But thanks for playing.

The day I almost bought a digital camera

I consider myself to be fairly intelligent. But then most people feel that way about themselves. And most salesmen know it , too.

Joseph's birthday is coming up soon, and I wanted to get him something REALLY COOL. Not just a movie or a t-shirt, as is the usual birthday fare. Money is fairly tight most of the time, but I figured with our tax return coming soon, I could afford to splurge a little, especially for the 'Big Three- 0h'. Yes my husband will officially be a grown up this week.
So a few weekends ago, we were wandering around Wal-Mart. (Please disregard any previous blog regarding the evils of said superstore). Joseph took Elora to the toy section -more for his own amusment than for hers I'm sure- while I looked around for a suitable token of my love. There they were. Along the most well-traveled isle of the store were displayed the shiny new digital cameras. Small, large, silver, plastic, cheapish, and wildly expensive.
Now, I must admit I was initially drawn to the assortment of technological toys for my own selfish interest. Hey, we have a baby now. How else can we keep everyone up to date on her latest new hair growth or cute outfit? I couldn't help but think how useful such a device would have been on my previous blog about her pink bear suit.
"I would have recieved way more comments with such a cute picture to anchor my blog post," I thought whistfully.
Suddenly, a kindly looking grandpa salesman was leaning over the counter, watching my anxious dance back and forth in front of the cameras. (Anxious because of the many choices, not because I had to use the restroom.) Had he been a younger gentleman, or young lady, I may have been better at brushing him off, but the nice grandpa man got my attention with his twinkling eyes and grey moustache.
He asked what features I wanted. I told him it would be a gift for my husband but I didn't know if I should get a camera he'd be happy with or one that I would appreciate too. The salesman in him heard what I wasn't saying: "I think I know about cameras but I probably don't really, so you should try to sell me a more expensive choice. I'm an easy target."
Its true I took photography and was the darkroom operator at SUU, but our class had very little to do with the digital realm, and what little I knew of technical terms has already been leaking out of my memory bit by bit. Nevertheless, I kept up my knowledgable facade and smiled at the grandpa man.
Of course he advised me to get the better camera that I would be happy with myself, and he proceeded to show me why camera A was better than camera B, though camera C was also very popular. I pointed to the SLR film camera, and said, "I have a camera like that. It cost $400 when I bought it in 1997." See. I'm smart. My camera is expensive, so I must know a lot about photography.
The camera man smiled indulgently, and said he had one too. He told me the digital version of one of those cost around $900 or more. No thanks.
So even though I wasn't even sure I wanted to buy one, I felt really bad when the old man had been talking to me for about twenty minutes. So I chose one. I was buying a camera. But wait! That one is the only one thats out of stock! You can choose a cheaper one thats not nearly as good, or the next grade up that is probably out of your budget.
I was already nervous about the whole thing, but now I was feeling distressed. They don't have the one I deliberated over so carefully? He could tell I didn't really know anything, my intelligent facade had been broken! Quick, pick another one! You don't want to waste any more of his time!
(This was the side of me talking that doesn't want to annoy people... Don't waste their time, don't get in anyone's way at the grocery store, take your baby out of the room if she coughs too loud. When I start listening to this inner voice, it drives Joseph nuts, because now it applies to him too. I have to consciously restrain myself from moving him out of other peoples' way at the store. Anyway.)
So I picked out the slightly cheaper model that wasn't that great. He removed it from the case, and I asked if I really needed a memory card. Oh yes, that is essential. So he showed me which one I needed and he held that for me too. What about batteries? Oh, regular batteries aren't good at all, and these Lithium batteries won't last more than a few weeks. You want a battery charger.
I pointed at one of the batteries on display. "Thats the kind my camera uses." See grandpa man, I wasn't lying about owning a fancy camera!
Again, he smiled indulgently, as if amused by the babbling of one of his many grandchildren. "Yes, my camera uses those too."
So I had him show me the battery charger, and he removed it from the hook for me. I saw the many products now cradled in his arms, and I was worried. Did I even have that much money? Just then, I heard the voice that would save me.
"Waaaaaa! Wahahaha!"
"Tearese! Tearese, she's been crying for like twenty minutes. She wanted the toys I was showing her and when I took them away she cried really hard and spit up all over the floor in the toy section!"
There was Joseph, holding a tired baby and a very soiled burp cloth. He handed her to me and took off, not wanting to see whatever it was that I was buying for him..though I'm sure he did.
The salesman asked how old she was and commented on her cuteness, trying to reel me in again by appealing to my motherly pride. But it was too late. The spell had been broken, and now I had an excuse not to stay and purchase the wares of this wiley salesman.
"Um... you know, I think I might try back in a few weeks to see if you have that other camera in stock again. I'm reaaally sorry for wasting your time."
I bounced the baby in an obvious way, so he'd know it wasn't personal, and wouldn't go home and tell his wife about the annoying redhead he helped today.
"Oh, don't worry about it, its my job," he said. "It's just that much sooner that I get to go home."And now he had to put all that stuff away for me. Poor grandpa man.
As Joseph and I walked out into the dark parking lot that evening, I explained what had happened, and confessed he probably wouldn't get such a thing for his birthday this year.
But it really all turned out for the best because we needed the money for an unexpected bill.
I bet the salesman still went home and told his wife about me.

A week in the life of...

I’ve been doing some self-analyzing the last little while, and have come to a sad conclusion: I’ve become quite boring in my ‘old age’! My sister and others have encouraged me to update this blog, but I really can’t think of anything interesting I could write about. I haven’t gone on any romantic getaways with my husband, nor have I even been to the beach just a few miles away, due to the crummy weather. So what could I write about?

(me and my hubby in the Northwest)

I thought about writing on Elora’s cute Whiney the Poo outfit she got for Christmas. Its pink and fuzzy, and the hood has ears on it. We took her for a walk in it today, and motorists were smiling and waving at her. The only downsize was the pink fuzzies all over mine and Joseph’s clothes. But that’s not an interesting story, especially to people without kids, so I won’t mention it.

I could write on the interesting article I read yesterday, about Westerners’ misconceptions on the nature of Christianity. We often assume it is divided between Protestants and Catholics, when really, its about Western/Roman Catholic beginnings vs. Orthodox or Eastern Christians. In the article, an Egyptian Christian said he was tired of Westerners asking if his family was converted by English, French, or Germans. His family had been Christians since the first century AD, and were actually converted by Mark of the New Testament, over a millennia before most Europeans were Christian at all. But that has nothing to do with anything, so I can’t write about that either.

I thought about discussing that cool program I watched on PBS about Fractals, and perfect equations. They were showing how everything in nature could be created by a fractal equation, and they created an image of a tree before my very eyes. It was very exciting. Similarly, I could mention the Golden Mein, which is a theory taught in math, art, interior design, and countless other disciplines. (Joseph was learning about it in his math class yesterday). This concerns the idea that everything can be broken down into perfect thirds (or something like that), and there are natural examples from seashells to seeds, to even the human body. And while its all very scientific, I think it’s a blatant example of how God created everything with great care and logic. But, I couldn’t really write a whole blog about that stuff, because I'm not good at math. So never mind.

I haven’t done much professional art lately to speak of either. But I read a cool thing about a mural in Red Deer, Alberta Canada. Its in front of an art gallery, and was made to look like a real window with paintings inside. Not just any paintings, but famous pieces by such artists as Hopper, Sargent, Degas, and Cassat. Then brilliantly, the artist created tromp l’oeil windows above it (meaning they looked real) And another ‘store front’ window next door. Warnser probably would have appreciated a blog about that. But, I couldn’t find the accompanying picture online, just other works by the same artist. So theres no way that blog could get written.

(by artist Michael J. Downs)

So I guess tonight I will end up going to my Young Women’s activity (I am one of the leaders) and I won’t write a blog at all. There’s really nothing I can write about. Do you have any ideas, those of you with more exciting lives?