It's hard to be mad at my witty husband.

I asked Caleb, "Do you still love me as much as the day we were married, even though I weigh more now?"

Caleb replied, "Yes. Just less per pound."

Mental Shrapnel

I think the Backyardigans is my favorite children's TV show. I've been humming their theme song all day. Weird-looking characters, though.

I also think that I'm being poisoned, unless someone else has a better explanation for some recent alopecia. I have to unclog my shower drain (the most vile job in history) every week. I've read that women grow more hair in pregnancy and lose it afterwords, but it's been almost a year. I've had it.

BYU Football is breaking my heart this season, but I still watch them every week. My dad has given them up completely. He says he has more un-Christlike feelings during those games than any other time in his life. 

My book club is reading "The Happiness Project." The author shares her experience of trying different methods to make herself happier over a year. It's not my fave. 1) Yes, anyone would be happier if they spent a fortune on a personal trainer to help them get into shape, and 2) all of her other methods seemed to mirror gospel principles. I think I'll just stick to reading my scriptures. I've never really cared for self-help books anyway.

My garden is dead. A frost wiped out anything that was left. I did manage to save the biggest bell pepper I've ever seen in my life. On the left is a normal-sized pepper that you'd buy at the store, and on the right is what I picked in my backyard.

We're still trying to finish it.

The Gr8 Deb8

Ok, I'm a political junkie. I hesitate in blogging my thoughts because I 1) don't want to alienate friends/readers who disagree with me, and 2) tend to get a little worked up about certain political issues. That being said...

Did you watch the debate last night? I did (as always). This time I actually took notes on my thoughts during the debate, so I thought I'd share some of them. Who knows, maybe I'll have my own talk show someday.
__________________________________________

*Winner? That depends on what you're looking for.
Winner on style? Obama. Winner on substance? Romney.
Obama had some witty one-liners that got the audience laughing. He also seemed much more at ease than at his last debate. It was such a dramatic difference from the first debate that he definitely gets the "Most Improved" award. Romney also had a solid performance, but I did feel like he was on the defensive more than in the first debate. That being said, Romney called to question many of the president's policies, and I didn't feel like Obama could give convincing answers. The most disturbing example of this was the question about the tragedy in Libya. Most of the conservative media is criticizing the mediator Candy Crowley for favoring Obama, but I didn't really agree with that except in the Libya question. Americans want to know why the Libyan ambassador was denied more security, and why we weren't given answers sooner, but I felt like Candy gave the president a pass on that question, and ignored Romney's very valid arguments.

*I wish that both candidates would just give a pep talk to the American people. I know it would mean political suicide, but I would love to hear: "Yeah, times are tough, but you know what? We need to be tougher. That may mean eating ramen, rice, and beans for a while. That may mean temporarily taking a minimum wage job out of college instead of moving into your parents' basement and complaining about sky-high student loans. That may mean saying no to the latest iphone because you can't afford it, or shopping at a thrift store or garage sale. WE CAN DO HARD THINGS! America is only as good as it's people. No matter who the president is, if we aren't a moral and a fiscally responsible people, our country will still fail.

*I'm sick of all the demonizing of rich people! We all hate them until we are one of them. The millionaires are huge job creators. Don't we all want to make more money? If we tax the snot out them, they can't pump that money into the economy. We need them. 60% is already a plenty high tax rate. And for those saying Romney isn't fit for president because he's too rich, I would say:
1) The fact that he didn't take a salary for being governor of Massachusetts shows that he isn't in it for the money.
2) His record shows that he knows how to manage money. I trust him with my tax dollars.

*Debates shouldn't change our minds on who we will vote for. They are more for entertainment, not for enlightenment. Look at the candidates' policies and beliefs, and vote based on that. But I sure enjoy watching. :)

Walking, she is.

I've always wanted to be a Star Wars family for Halloween. I've been Princess Leia like 5 times already, but this year I'll be joined by Luke and Yoda. Caleb has refused do dress up, (something about me ripping up his man card) but I'll convince him. I want to recreate this photo:

The hat is a little big. I made it out of a pillowcase from Goodwill. I'm all about costumes on a budget. Apparently she looks more like Shrek than Yoda. Oops.

Caleb turned 27 last month. He's been in mourning on every birthday since he turned 25. He thinks he's old or something. I tried to lighten his mood this year by taking him kayaking. He loves that kind of thing. Due to some poor planning on my part we spent 3 hours driving/setting up/taking down, and only 1 hour in the water. I also should have checked water levels. Who would have guessed that after Indiana's biggest drought in 100 years the Wildcat creek would be more like the Wildcat puddle. Despite all the setbacks we still had a really good time.

I also must showcase Alaina's latest outfit that I made... or rather I helped with. Caleb's mom did most of the work. 

She has some room to grow into it.

And lastly, Alaina started walking. This is the best video I got, but her record is 10 steps so far.

six kids and a sister

I'm back. Things have been a bit crazy for us over the past two weeks, and it's nice to finally catch up.

First things first. I read the Old Testament front to back for the first time. I always used the excuse that it was too long to read, but after finishing Atlas Shrugged's 1100-or-so pages, I figured Heavenly Father might raise his eyebrows at my excuse. There are some gems in the OT, particularly in what my institute teacher calls the "major" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel). Especially Daniel. I like him. I also realized that every chapter in the Old Testament is exactly the same: God is upset with Israel because they forsake Him for idolatry, and then invites them to repent. I found myself thinking that the Israelites were idiots until I realized that every day of my life is exactly the same: God isn't pleased with Lindsey because she sins, and He invites her to repent. Serve up some humble pie, please.

We watched my bishop's 5 kids for a week this month. It was busy, but good. Going from 1 to 6 kids wasn't as terrible of an adjustment as I thought it would be. I could totally have six kids if I gave up sleep and all of my hobbies. The highlight of the week was this: Caleb set his contacts and contact case in the kids bathroom one night. The next morning one of his contacts was missing. No idea where it went. The next day I was changing their 2-year-old's messy diaper, and I found Caleb's contact in her poop. She ATE his contact! Caleb didn't want it back.

Then until yesterday my sister and her baby were in town visiting. We had a blast. We toured Purdue, went garage sale-ing, and shared frustrations about our friends/family who brag about abusing entitlement programs. It's funny to think that I'm such good friends with a sister who used to punch me in the face and put toothpaste in my hair while I slept. She took all the pictures, so maybe later I'll get some from her and post them.