Miss Spectacular!

I'm so sad I missed my little sister's special night!

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-special-needs-girls-shine-at-miss-spectacular/article_c5cfa4a1-9f52-59cc-9486-772dc1b5a755.html

Gloria

I am trying to blog more regularly. I have to get away from the notion that my posts must include some significant historical event such as announcing a pregnancy, sharing Alaina's newest developmental milestone, or putting a cute fall outfit together from my wardrobe. (Ok, that last one was a joke. I just see a lot of those lately.) So all I have to say is that the David Archuletta Holiday station on Pandora is the best ever. And that I miss my sister McKenna. That's it.

Edison failed like 1,000 times too.

I have all of these great entrepreneurial ideas in my head, but then I always find out that someone else has beaten me to the punch. Like I wanted to invent a toothbrush that played a tooth-brushing song, so kids would know how long to brush their teeth for. Then I saw one at Walmart. I also thought of starting a website that replaces all those sorry "Lost Dog" posters you see everywhere. A sort of Craigslist for the abandoned animal world, if you will. That way if someone finds or loses an animal they can log it in on my website, called LittleDog.com. (You know, like, "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?" That was Caleb's contribution. I told him I wanted to call it PoodleInAHaystack.com, but he just dropped to the floor in laughter. Anyway, a quick google search dashed all of those dreams thanks to petamberalert.com (really people? it's a dog, not a human), petfinder.com, lostmydoggie.com, and fidofinder.com. Apparently I'm not as innovative as I thought. There's still the sock mops I hope to invent so I can mop my floor as I walk around the kitchen. Wait. Just checked Google. Alas, they already have those too. I still have high hopes for a combination razor/shaving gel contraption so I can skip a step when I shave my legs. Maybe then it might happen more regularly.

White Friday

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but I am NOT a Black Friday shopper. Every year when I read headlines like, "Gang fight at Black Friday sale," "Man punched in face pulls gun on line-cutting shopper," and "Shoplifter tries to mace security guards," I shake my head with embarrassment for America. I'm all for getting good deals (I shop mostly at garage sales and Goodwill), but nothing kills the spirit of the Holidays like watching human  beings attack each other over the latest Apple product. Also, maybe it's the Triptophane, but I'd rather not wake up at 4am. I also have beef with the big stores that make their employees work on Thanksgiving evening just to extend profits by a few hours. Like I said, Thanksgiving is sacred. Besides, I can usually find the same deal online.

Instead, this morning I got in a good hour-long, sweaty workout. I ate back all the calories I had just burned with a delicious early lunch of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes... and 2 pieces of pumpkin pie. I'm sitting at Caleb's grandparent's home listening to kids playing, teenagers laughing, and the happy babblings of my daughter who has now learned to climb down the stairs (thank Heaven). 

This is my kind of holiday.

Bumpers, ballots, and babies

Halloween was a quiet affair for our family. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat, and then went home. You know what made me mad? A ton of families came to trick or treat from other wards/surrounding neighborhoods, and they didn't bring any candy to share. Hence, there were hundreds of children, and not very much candy, so the event lasted about 15 minutes. The takers outnumbered the givers. But since candy doesn't even exist in Alaina's world, we still had fun. And everybody loved our costumes.

 

 

On November 6th we voted. This is us at 6am outside a polling place. This is the second polling place we tried. The first one already had a 1.5 hour wait by 5:45. I loved watching so many Americans voting. I didn't love the election results, but what can you do? Just keep living life, working hard, and hope to make a better world for your kids.

 

  

Alaina found her favorite hiding place. It's the one cupboard that doesn't have a lock on it (she yanked it off). She is walking all over the place now. I can't wait to go home for Christmas so our families can see how adorable she is.

Miskin, Party of 2

Do you have any feelings of social inadequacy? Mine is hosting parties. This one time in college my roommate Mandie and I hosted an Olympic-themed party. We invited the whole ward to join us in watching the Olympics and snacking on patriotic food (layered red and blue jello with whipped cream on top, red, white, and blue, M&Ms, etc.). I thought it was a genius idea, but apparently I was the only one. A single person showed up: Mandie's cousin. I don't know why I take these things personally, but in my mind nobody showing up to my party translates to "you're a loser, and nobody likes you." I've been terrified of hosting ever since.

So this week Caleb told me he wanted to have a party. He gave me a list of a few families he wanted to come over for an "Ethnic Foods Night," where everybody brings a different dish from around the world. I sent out the evites three days ago, and so far I have 3 "no's" and a "maybe." The rest simply haven't responded. This is how my sensitive female brain translates:

No: a few people had valid excuses, so I can't really get upset about that. The excuse-less "no's" mean "I don't find you interesting enough to spend the evening with."

Maybe: this means, "I have no intention of coming, but I don't want to hurt your feelings by marking "No."

Unresponsive: Also means, "I have no intentions of coming, but I don't want to hurt your feelings by marking "maybe" or "no." So I'll just ignore you.

Looks like Caleb and I will share a lonely evening over Fe Jiaoda and Tim Tam Slams.