Malcom Smith protested CPSIA by very publicly selling three dirt bikes affected by the law, more info here. I'm very interested to see what the result will be. If only stay-at-home mothers, used book sellers, and librarians had the money to back them that those guys do.
From Thomas Jefferson, "What country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?"
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
To My Brother, Whom I Slept With
The other day the boys WOULD NOT STOP POKING AND PICKING ON EACH OTHER. I finally said, "Okay, if you can't get enough of touching each other, you are sleeping together to-night!" (Insert lightning and thunder clap.)
By bedtime I forgot, but after everyone was all settled for the night Melanie (little mother) reminded me. "Maaaaaaa-ooooom!" (you know, that two toned "I'm tattle-telling-about-something" Mom?) "Aren't the boys supposed to sleep together tonight?" Grumble, grumble, growl. "Okay boys, Melanie is right."
So Sammy sidled into Adam's bottom bunk and they cozied in with a head at each end. I was very surprised how little I heard from them when I left the room. Thought it would be something like unto Bill Cosby's "To My Brother Russell, Whom I Slept With," but it was surprisingly quiet. (If you haven't heard that Cosby bit and you live close, come borrow our copy. If not, find a copy.)
Morning breaks, not a complaint at all.
A few days later they decided for fun to sleep together on Sammy's top bunk. I didn't realize or I would have put a stop to it - visions of one kicking the other off the bed in the middle of the night and all that. Again, quiet boys, though Sammy said Adam kept kicking him all night long. This coming from the king of climbing into bed next to mom and kicking HER all night.
Why beds, really? A few months back I knew something had to happen with the boys' room but didn't know what. I tossed around just mattresses they could lean up against the wall in the morning, or no beds no mattresses just sleeping bags. They thought both were cool, but we ended up getting hand-me-down bunkbeds with bookshelves on each end that my brothers slept on when they were kids. The boys think they are ultra sweet because they can pile all their stuff at each end to play with when they are supposed to be sleeping. It allowed us to move a big bookshelf out of their room, so that solved at least part of the space problem.
Sammy was quite the bed escape artist when he was a baby. I guess he has always really needed me at night, because that lasted till about a year ago. I don't remember how old he was when he learned to kick his leg back and hoist himself up enough to climb out of his crib, but we attempted to foil his plans by swapping the crib for the playpen. This added a few inches height to his cage, and few days of me going to him instead of him coming to me. Or maybe it was hours? Either way, it wasn't long before he figured out that the same trick would work to get him out of the playpen. When we realized we had been beaten by a less than 1 year old, the crib mattress just went on the floor. I remember one friend telling me she had mentioned it to one of her family members as a, "See we're not as radical as they are" type of statement. I still wonder why putting my child to sleep in the playpen or on a mattress on the floor is so strange.
I found it incredibly refreshing, like another family thought it was okay to "break the rules," to hear about a family that lived in a 3 bedroom home with their seven children - mom and dad in one bedroom, two girls and the baby boy in another, and four boys in the other. She said her husband built a triple bunkbed and two of the boys shared the bottom. Cool. I don't understand why some families think it's such a great thing to split up all their children into separate bedrooms. I bet those boys have stories and stories to share about their brothers, whom they slept with.
(By the way, when I thought of triple bunkbeds I thought of one on top of the other and didn't realize there were other really cool options for triple bunks!)
By bedtime I forgot, but after everyone was all settled for the night Melanie (little mother) reminded me. "Maaaaaaa-ooooom!" (you know, that two toned "I'm tattle-telling-about-something" Mom?) "Aren't the boys supposed to sleep together tonight?" Grumble, grumble, growl. "Okay boys, Melanie is right."
So Sammy sidled into Adam's bottom bunk and they cozied in with a head at each end. I was very surprised how little I heard from them when I left the room. Thought it would be something like unto Bill Cosby's "To My Brother Russell, Whom I Slept With," but it was surprisingly quiet. (If you haven't heard that Cosby bit and you live close, come borrow our copy. If not, find a copy.)
Morning breaks, not a complaint at all.
A few days later they decided for fun to sleep together on Sammy's top bunk. I didn't realize or I would have put a stop to it - visions of one kicking the other off the bed in the middle of the night and all that. Again, quiet boys, though Sammy said Adam kept kicking him all night long. This coming from the king of climbing into bed next to mom and kicking HER all night.
Why beds, really? A few months back I knew something had to happen with the boys' room but didn't know what. I tossed around just mattresses they could lean up against the wall in the morning, or no beds no mattresses just sleeping bags. They thought both were cool, but we ended up getting hand-me-down bunkbeds with bookshelves on each end that my brothers slept on when they were kids. The boys think they are ultra sweet because they can pile all their stuff at each end to play with when they are supposed to be sleeping. It allowed us to move a big bookshelf out of their room, so that solved at least part of the space problem.
Sammy was quite the bed escape artist when he was a baby. I guess he has always really needed me at night, because that lasted till about a year ago. I don't remember how old he was when he learned to kick his leg back and hoist himself up enough to climb out of his crib, but we attempted to foil his plans by swapping the crib for the playpen. This added a few inches height to his cage, and few days of me going to him instead of him coming to me. Or maybe it was hours? Either way, it wasn't long before he figured out that the same trick would work to get him out of the playpen. When we realized we had been beaten by a less than 1 year old, the crib mattress just went on the floor. I remember one friend telling me she had mentioned it to one of her family members as a, "See we're not as radical as they are" type of statement. I still wonder why putting my child to sleep in the playpen or on a mattress on the floor is so strange.
I found it incredibly refreshing, like another family thought it was okay to "break the rules," to hear about a family that lived in a 3 bedroom home with their seven children - mom and dad in one bedroom, two girls and the baby boy in another, and four boys in the other. She said her husband built a triple bunkbed and two of the boys shared the bottom. Cool. I don't understand why some families think it's such a great thing to split up all their children into separate bedrooms. I bet those boys have stories and stories to share about their brothers, whom they slept with.
(By the way, when I thought of triple bunkbeds I thought of one on top of the other and didn't realize there were other really cool options for triple bunks!)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
CPSIA on Law and Order
Law and Order SVU played an episode tonight about a man who chewed on odd things from the time he was very young on up (hunks of pencil, toys cars), was severely developmentally delayed, and eventually shot and killed someone. The issue? LEAD POISONING.
I've heard of product placement, but law placement is new to me. "See people? If we don't get rid of lead in EVERYTHING your child could eat it and shoot someone! The CPSC are the good guys! So stop sending us letters and stop calling us!!!"
No wonder I don't like to watch TV. The network execs do a bad enough job playing shows worth watching, but when politicians get involved, it's just plain gross.
Just for fun, read this post to from the Common Room. If you've noticed any of your old books going rancid, send them my way.
Go Mommy Bloggers!
I've heard of product placement, but law placement is new to me. "See people? If we don't get rid of lead in EVERYTHING your child could eat it and shoot someone! The CPSC are the good guys! So stop sending us letters and stop calling us!!!"
No wonder I don't like to watch TV. The network execs do a bad enough job playing shows worth watching, but when politicians get involved, it's just plain gross.
Just for fun, read this post to from the Common Room. If you've noticed any of your old books going rancid, send them my way.
Go Mommy Bloggers!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Gifts
As Randy Pausch puts it in "The Last Lecture," some kids win the parent lottery and I think Kathryn's and Cindi's (and many others that I also admire) won. I think there are far less "gifted" children than there are children that have been gifted with great parents.
For one fine example, go read Kathryn's post on OCD (not what you think).
For one fine example, go read Kathryn's post on OCD (not what you think).
Monday, February 23, 2009
More on Book Choices
I got this quote by Richard H. Cracroft e-mailed to me the other day. It goes right along with this post from a month ago.
"Because life and time are short, we will be able to read only a few thousand books in our lifetime. When we pick any book, we are ruling out hundreds and thousands of other books. How important it is then, to choose time-proven great books that will foster the Holy Spirit and enable us to rise to greater levels of truth and beauty and insight and understanding and, hence, spirituality. Many great men and women have found that a steady, systematic approach to literature has enabled them to fill their beings, in a lifetime of good reading, with the great thoughts of men and women of all ages, for through reading great books we are put in touch with the great minds of all time, and we become their spiritual and intellectual heirs."This is in response to a question about how to judge literature as good or bad. The rest of the article is excellent too. I highly recommend it. If I wasn't already getting picky about what I read, this helped me be even more so.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Grandma's Rolls and Other Recipe Info
Here is the original recipe, my revisions throughout and after. This is also great for scones and cinnamon rolls.
One Hour Rolls
1 c. hot water
6 Tbsp. shortening
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. lukewarm water
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 c. flour
Combine the hot water, salt, shortening, and sugar. Cool slightly (I start with very warm water but not hot so I don't have to cool). Soften yeast in lukewarm water, add yeast to shortening mixture. Add egg. Add 1/2 of the flour and beat well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Knead on floured board (counter, etc.). Roll out and shape into rolls, bread, scones, etc. Place on greased pan, brush with melted butter. Allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.
------------
The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. yeast, but when I made itthe other day I only used 2 tsp. of yeast and it turned out a lot better. Since I was making scones with it and used the extra for rolls, the dough had time to rise while I was cooking the scones and eating, so maybe the extra rise beyond what it says here had something to do with it too. I've learned that patience is a very good thing when dealing with bread.
The biggest help I had in my 'training' so far was reading about the 12 steps of bread in Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." He has 3 basic white bread recipes in that book and I was very happy with the first (haven't made it to the other two yet).
If you want to see someone that REALLY LOVES bread, check out this TED.com video of Peter Reinhart talking about it.
The recipe I used for wheat bread was from "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book," highly recommended by the breadly talented Cindi. If you look a few posts down in her blog, you'll see she is also very cakely talented.
One Hour Rolls
1 c. hot water
6 Tbsp. shortening
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast
2 Tbsp. lukewarm water
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 c. flour
Combine the hot water, salt, shortening, and sugar. Cool slightly (I start with very warm water but not hot so I don't have to cool). Soften yeast in lukewarm water, add yeast to shortening mixture. Add egg. Add 1/2 of the flour and beat well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Knead on floured board (counter, etc.). Roll out and shape into rolls, bread, scones, etc. Place on greased pan, brush with melted butter. Allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.
The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. yeast, but when I made itthe other day I only used 2 tsp. of yeast and it turned out a lot better. Since I was making scones with it and used the extra for rolls, the dough had time to rise while I was cooking the scones and eating, so maybe the extra rise beyond what it says here had something to do with it too. I've learned that patience is a very good thing when dealing with bread.
The biggest help I had in my 'training' so far was reading about the 12 steps of bread in Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." He has 3 basic white bread recipes in that book and I was very happy with the first (haven't made it to the other two yet).
If you want to see someone that REALLY LOVES bread, check out this TED.com video of Peter Reinhart talking about it.
The recipe I used for wheat bread was from "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book," highly recommended by the breadly talented Cindi. If you look a few posts down in her blog, you'll see she is also very cakely talented.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Bread Making Progress
I made wheat bread today using wheat we ground and it turned out great. This whole breadmaking thing just gets more and more fun.
While I was kneading the dough Adam asked if we could have scones for dinner, which of course involves a batch of white dough. With my newly learned bread making knowledge I cut the amount of yeast in the recipe and the scones turned out better than they ever have. With the leftover dough I made some rolls. Now they taste a lot more like grandma's (it's her recipe, but they still didn't taste like hers before).
Sammy's review: "When I first bite into these rolls, it's like fireworks!"
Hold the applause, he boosted my ego enough. :)
There's just something about bread, isn't there? We'll save some for you Jamie!
While I was kneading the dough Adam asked if we could have scones for dinner, which of course involves a batch of white dough. With my newly learned bread making knowledge I cut the amount of yeast in the recipe and the scones turned out better than they ever have. With the leftover dough I made some rolls. Now they taste a lot more like grandma's (it's her recipe, but they still didn't taste like hers before).
Sammy's review: "When I first bite into these rolls, it's like fireworks!"
Hold the applause, he boosted my ego enough. :)
There's just something about bread, isn't there? We'll save some for you Jamie!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Brain Wreck
I woke up this morning and thought, "I am not going to read anything about CPSIA today. I'm just not. I have other things to do." Then I made a list of everything I was going to do today.
Then I went to my computer. I'm rubber necking. There's a brain wreck out there in the CPSC, and I can't look away. I am so weak.
I'm not going to reiterate everything being written, but The Book Room has been posting tons of great information, including links to other posts and information. The Common Room has been writing eulogies for now targeted books. (I've personally added several to my wish list.)
It is ludicrious to think of books, clothing, and everything blanketed into this legislation as hazardous materials. While well-intended, I cannot imagine the thought process that expanded this law as far as it has. Even California and their stringent laws (you've seen the labels, "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer") had to prove a risk before products could be added to their lead law, and swarovski crystal, though high in lead, wasn't included because the lead isn't in an accessible form.
The Common Room posted this picture. We've all read the jokes about how we ever survived with only mom's arm as a seat belt (nevermind car seats), playing outside barefoot all day long only stopping in for meals, riding bikes with no bike helmets, drinking from the hose, chewing on crib railings painted with lead-based paint. Now we can add, how did we all make it this long with our mothers and grandmothers reading to us?
I'm glad people are writing about this. I hope people are listening.
What really chaps my hide for today is this really neat video of Julie Vallese, a CPSC spokeswoman and former director of public affairs talking about the CPSC's "very big sweeping piece of legislation" (0:40, that alone should scare you) that involves children's products, which are defined as "anything sold for the primary use of a child 0-12." Lead is defined as a "banned hazardous substance," as is anything containing it.
Ms. Vallese states that resellers are not required to test products they sell (which is why snopes made a false determination on the claim about the CPSIA), BUT they are required to obey the law. So if not test, how do you know? We really get a great insight into Ms. Vallese's superhero talent when she suggests resellers "look at it" (5:30) to determine if their products contain more than 600ppm lead. Thank you, Ms. Vallese! You don't have to pay to test! Just use your laserbeam eyes and determine whether there is too much lead or not. She also suggests calling the manufacturer about every product that comes into the thrift shop. Right. Watch the video closely, you can see her brain sliding out her ear.
I have to say the best part of the video is when she states that there is "misinformation being floated out by...the mommy blogs...that they are just not understanding" (about 3:10 in the video). Don't tick off the moms lady. Don't tick off the moms. Type "mommy bloggers spreading misinformation" in a google search and you'll find a whole lotta ticked off moms.
I guess we're all terrible mothers because we actually want to keep these "banned hazardous substances" in our children's hands. But I'm going to keep talking about this because I don't want to have to buy books on the black market.
The Handmade Toy Alliance goes point by point through the myths about CPSIA.
If you want to look at lists of lead recalls for yourself, here's the CPSC website.
Marni
Mommy Blogger
Then I went to my computer. I'm rubber necking. There's a brain wreck out there in the CPSC, and I can't look away. I am so weak.
I'm not going to reiterate everything being written, but The Book Room has been posting tons of great information, including links to other posts and information. The Common Room has been writing eulogies for now targeted books. (I've personally added several to my wish list.)
It is ludicrious to think of books, clothing, and everything blanketed into this legislation as hazardous materials. While well-intended, I cannot imagine the thought process that expanded this law as far as it has. Even California and their stringent laws (you've seen the labels, "This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer") had to prove a risk before products could be added to their lead law, and swarovski crystal, though high in lead, wasn't included because the lead isn't in an accessible form.
The Common Room posted this picture. We've all read the jokes about how we ever survived with only mom's arm as a seat belt (nevermind car seats), playing outside barefoot all day long only stopping in for meals, riding bikes with no bike helmets, drinking from the hose, chewing on crib railings painted with lead-based paint. Now we can add, how did we all make it this long with our mothers and grandmothers reading to us?I'm glad people are writing about this. I hope people are listening.
What really chaps my hide for today is this really neat video of Julie Vallese, a CPSC spokeswoman and former director of public affairs talking about the CPSC's "very big sweeping piece of legislation" (0:40, that alone should scare you) that involves children's products, which are defined as "anything sold for the primary use of a child 0-12." Lead is defined as a "banned hazardous substance," as is anything containing it.
Ms. Vallese states that resellers are not required to test products they sell (which is why snopes made a false determination on the claim about the CPSIA), BUT they are required to obey the law. So if not test, how do you know? We really get a great insight into Ms. Vallese's superhero talent when she suggests resellers "look at it" (5:30) to determine if their products contain more than 600ppm lead. Thank you, Ms. Vallese! You don't have to pay to test! Just use your laserbeam eyes and determine whether there is too much lead or not. She also suggests calling the manufacturer about every product that comes into the thrift shop. Right. Watch the video closely, you can see her brain sliding out her ear.
I have to say the best part of the video is when she states that there is "misinformation being floated out by...the mommy blogs...that they are just not understanding" (about 3:10 in the video). Don't tick off the moms lady. Don't tick off the moms. Type "mommy bloggers spreading misinformation" in a google search and you'll find a whole lotta ticked off moms.
I guess we're all terrible mothers because we actually want to keep these "banned hazardous substances" in our children's hands. But I'm going to keep talking about this because I don't want to have to buy books on the black market.
The Handmade Toy Alliance goes point by point through the myths about CPSIA.
If you want to look at lists of lead recalls for yourself, here's the CPSC website.
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will...shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."
Thomas Paine
Marni
Mommy Blogger
Friday, February 13, 2009
CPSIA - Bad to Worse
I first heard about the CPSIA Act in December when an eBay jewelry friend e-mailed me asking what I knew about it. My reply, "Nothing." December is always busy so I didn't read more about it then. In January another eBay jewelry friend e-mailed me about it so I did more looking. I got a little nervous, given the fact that it is in regards to lead in products intended for children, and yah, I've got a little business making children's jewelry. About half of what I sell is banned as of February 10th, anything with crystal on it (lead is part of all we like about crystal).
But enough about me. What is really chapping my hide is how this silly thing is affecting books. My kids don't regularly chew on books, and I've never heard of anyone getting lead poisoning from a book, but guess what? Books are included under the act. I can't even think straight over this, so just read more about it here at the BookRoomBlog.
For those that don't want to go read that blog, the basic gist is that books older than 1985 cannot be resold. So used bookstores are throwing them away, because what else are they supposed to do with them?
One of the quotes posted on that blog mentions that the government is trying to destroy history. I don't know if I could go that far, but I love older children's books because they have real home-grown values. Kids being taught honesty, hard work, love, virtue, and kindness.
Did you know there are book burning memorials? There are.
This one in Berlin is the site of the May 10, 1933 Nazi book burning. It is a translucent panel showing empty bookshelves below ground level. There are enough empty shelves to hold all the books that were burned. Nearby in Heinrich Heine's words it says, "Where books are burned, in the end people will burn."
So far libraries are exempt (probably an oversight), and I know there are lead-free reprints, but really, just go read these for my sake:
"Big Sister, Little Sister" by Charlotte Zolotow
"Big Brother" by Charlotte Zolotow
"Pelle's New Suit" by Elsa Beskow
"Pumpkin Moonshine" by Tasha Tudor
"The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" by Dubose Heyward
Pass on your old favorites so I can make sure I get to those too.
Even if you haven't heard of these, there are plenty of others you have, like the Beatrice Potter books and even the first Arthur books by Marc Brown.
BookRoomBlog also has other information, including a post on who to contact about this.
I wonder what the true intention of this straitjacket is. Seriously, I would like to see the cases of kids getting lead poisoning from buttoning their coats, zipping their zippers, and eating their books. We're all about protecting the individual, but at what cost?
More on this from Semicolon, here, here, and here.
As Marcellus puts it in Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
But enough about me. What is really chapping my hide is how this silly thing is affecting books. My kids don't regularly chew on books, and I've never heard of anyone getting lead poisoning from a book, but guess what? Books are included under the act. I can't even think straight over this, so just read more about it here at the BookRoomBlog.
For those that don't want to go read that blog, the basic gist is that books older than 1985 cannot be resold. So used bookstores are throwing them away, because what else are they supposed to do with them?
One of the quotes posted on that blog mentions that the government is trying to destroy history. I don't know if I could go that far, but I love older children's books because they have real home-grown values. Kids being taught honesty, hard work, love, virtue, and kindness.
Did you know there are book burning memorials? There are.
This one in Berlin is the site of the May 10, 1933 Nazi book burning. It is a translucent panel showing empty bookshelves below ground level. There are enough empty shelves to hold all the books that were burned. Nearby in Heinrich Heine's words it says, "Where books are burned, in the end people will burn."
So far libraries are exempt (probably an oversight), and I know there are lead-free reprints, but really, just go read these for my sake:
"Big Sister, Little Sister" by Charlotte Zolotow
"Big Brother" by Charlotte Zolotow
"Pelle's New Suit" by Elsa Beskow
"Pumpkin Moonshine" by Tasha Tudor
"The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" by Dubose Heyward
Pass on your old favorites so I can make sure I get to those too.
Even if you haven't heard of these, there are plenty of others you have, like the Beatrice Potter books and even the first Arthur books by Marc Brown.
BookRoomBlog also has other information, including a post on who to contact about this.
I wonder what the true intention of this straitjacket is. Seriously, I would like to see the cases of kids getting lead poisoning from buttoning their coats, zipping their zippers, and eating their books. We're all about protecting the individual, but at what cost?
More on this from Semicolon, here, here, and here.
As Marcellus puts it in Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."
Friday, February 6, 2009
I'm so Famous, Part 2
This is really a continuation of Famous Part 1. To remind you, I played on the computer a lot, loved the chat rooms, and was heavily involved in an online LDS community. I was still doing that when I went to Ricks College, chatting plenty with my pals in the youth group. During Christmas break, I decided I was maybe old enough to see what was going on in the singles group. Lo and behold, they were talking about setting up cool things like we had with the youth, monthly meetings and the like, but no one knew what to do. So I told them what to do, but no one would do it. I volunteered (hello, it wasn't hard). In the process, Jamie e-mailed asking for information and I wrote back. We e-mailed a few times during the next month mainly about that, but nothing too exciting.
My birthday is in January, and I was surprised when he sent me a Happy Birthday (he'd seen it on my AOL profile). I sent back a thanks, and mentioned I would be visiting family in Ogden the next weekend. He wrote back and said he would be in down from Utah State to visit his grandfather in Ogden. I had met some of the kids in the youth group and it was great knowing who I was talking to, so I asked if he would be interested in meeting, not thinking of romance, just fun. He said sure, so we arranged to meet at my aunt's house where I was staying. I don't remember a whole lot from that, but he never made it to his grandfather's.
My ride back to Ricks was meeting me at a friend's apartment at Utah State the next day, so Jamie stopped by while I was there to say hi. He couldn't stay long because he was going on a date. I attribute that to the fact that when I got back to Ricks I e-mailed my mom and said, "Nice guy, but no chemistry." (She still has the e-mail.)
Over the next week there was a lot of e-mailing, probably even a phone call. That weekend he drove to Ricks to see me. The next weekend we met at my aunt's again. A few months later we were engaged, and a few months after that, married!
Given the newness of this online thing, let alone online dating, we were on the front page of the Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho and the San Ramon Valley Times in San Ramon, California. Though I do say we weren't really online daters, because there was no romantic interest until we met in person, if then, given the whole 'chemistry' e-mail.
My birthday is in January, and I was surprised when he sent me a Happy Birthday (he'd seen it on my AOL profile). I sent back a thanks, and mentioned I would be visiting family in Ogden the next weekend. He wrote back and said he would be in down from Utah State to visit his grandfather in Ogden. I had met some of the kids in the youth group and it was great knowing who I was talking to, so I asked if he would be interested in meeting, not thinking of romance, just fun. He said sure, so we arranged to meet at my aunt's house where I was staying. I don't remember a whole lot from that, but he never made it to his grandfather's.
My ride back to Ricks was meeting me at a friend's apartment at Utah State the next day, so Jamie stopped by while I was there to say hi. He couldn't stay long because he was going on a date. I attribute that to the fact that when I got back to Ricks I e-mailed my mom and said, "Nice guy, but no chemistry." (She still has the e-mail.)
Over the next week there was a lot of e-mailing, probably even a phone call. That weekend he drove to Ricks to see me. The next weekend we met at my aunt's again. A few months later we were engaged, and a few months after that, married!
Given the newness of this online thing, let alone online dating, we were on the front page of the Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho and the San Ramon Valley Times in San Ramon, California. Though I do say we weren't really online daters, because there was no romantic interest until we met in person, if then, given the whole 'chemistry' e-mail.
If you can't read the articles, all the better. They were both terrible. I have a hard time believing reporters because they were pretty creative with something as simple as two wonderful young people finding each other online and ending up married. The Twin Falls one has a quote from Jamie saying the wrong city where we were engaged and says Orson Scott Card gave me a computer (it was a modem). The San Ramon reporter was feeling cheesy, including things like "love at first 'byte,'" calling my family and friends in Idaho "kin" (i.e. hicks), a quote from me saying that one of the three things we talked about online was Mickey Mouse (I'm a fan, but really), and a quote from Jamie's mom mentioning Mickey Mouse as one his three interests (eh?). You'd have thought Disney was hurting that year and asked the newspaper to advertise.
It was actually 14 years ago two days ago that we met in person. Happy Meeting Anniversary! I'm sure you would all like to hear Jamie's side of the story now. Jamie?
Interesting to note, the Times News article came out on June 24th, we were married July 1st, the San Ramon Times article came out July 15th, and the New Era article from Famous 1 was in September issue. Quite the big famous summer all around.
Straight from Newsies, "If you're in the papes, you're famous!" Don't worry, it didn't go to my head. I had all that hair back then to stop it. ;)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I'm So Famous, Part 1
Those of you that know me personally have probably never realized how famous I actually am. Some of this fame is shared with Jamie and thus deserves it's own special post, so that will be Part 2.
My family always had a computer while we were growing up, thanks to my dad. I remember playing these really cool games on our TRS-80 Radio Shack computer, one of which I still pine for (the one with the 5 or 6 pixel monster coming toward you through the box maze, and each turn different doors would open, and you had to get from point A to point B without the monster getting you. I kid you not, it was intense. Wish I knew the name, but I probably couldn't read back then). We would learn C programming on our Commodore 64, in exchange for equal game time (Pitfall, Montezuma's Revenge, Paper Boy, Boulder Dash - all the goodies), which was very helpful when I was a computer science major. Long story short, we were always up on technology.
I don't remember when it was that I first got set up on e-mail (sophomore/junior year in high school?), but my e-mail address was smilinsue@aol.com. For some reason I had to set up another one later so then I was smilinsue2.
I had a lot of fun playing in AOL chat groups, pre-online predator times of course, and got involved with an online LDS group (won't drop names of who else was involved, but you would recognize them.) I stayed in the youth area mostly, and got to know a lot of really great kids and met a few in person here and there. At some point I was asked to be the 'president' of the youth group, and we set up a day/time every month when we would all meet online.
At one of these meetings someone suggested we write an article about our group and send it to the New Era. Several of the kids mailed me pictures, I wrote up some great stuff, and mailed it off. A few months down the road I heard from the New Era saying they were going to be publishing our story, September 1995. We were all so excited!
Until the artcile came out. It was all just about ME!
I feel terrible to this day, and wish Emily, Geoff, Dallin, Rusty (racking my brain for more names) could have all shared in the glory. So here's the article, straight from lds.org. (To prove how back in the day this was, they didn't even know how to write "online.")
Friendship On-Line
Marni Adams has friends all over the United States. Every month, they get together and talk about gospel subjects, ideas for Mutual activities, and what they’ve read in the latest issue of the New Era. No, Marni doesn’t travel a lot, and she doesn’t have a huge phone bill. Every month, Marni and her friends “chat” on their computers
“Our group includes people from all over the country,” says Marni, a student at Ricks College. “Only a few have actually met in person, but even those who haven’t are still great friends with each other.”.
Known as “Smilin’ Sue” on the computer, Marni says
that through advanced technology, people who would have never become friends otherwise now really love each other.
“Probably the best thing about making friends on the computer is that appearances and age don’t matter. It’s a lot easier to really get to know people,” says Marni.
So there you have it. That's me in all my big hair, big glasses glory. Bring on the comments. I can take it.
My family always had a computer while we were growing up, thanks to my dad. I remember playing these really cool games on our TRS-80 Radio Shack computer, one of which I still pine for (the one with the 5 or 6 pixel monster coming toward you through the box maze, and each turn different doors would open, and you had to get from point A to point B without the monster getting you. I kid you not, it was intense. Wish I knew the name, but I probably couldn't read back then). We would learn C programming on our Commodore 64, in exchange for equal game time (Pitfall, Montezuma's Revenge, Paper Boy, Boulder Dash - all the goodies), which was very helpful when I was a computer science major. Long story short, we were always up on technology.
I don't remember when it was that I first got set up on e-mail (sophomore/junior year in high school?), but my e-mail address was smilinsue@aol.com. For some reason I had to set up another one later so then I was smilinsue2.
I had a lot of fun playing in AOL chat groups, pre-online predator times of course, and got involved with an online LDS group (won't drop names of who else was involved, but you would recognize them.) I stayed in the youth area mostly, and got to know a lot of really great kids and met a few in person here and there. At some point I was asked to be the 'president' of the youth group, and we set up a day/time every month when we would all meet online.
At one of these meetings someone suggested we write an article about our group and send it to the New Era. Several of the kids mailed me pictures, I wrote up some great stuff, and mailed it off. A few months down the road I heard from the New Era saying they were going to be publishing our story, September 1995. We were all so excited!
Until the artcile came out. It was all just about ME!
I feel terrible to this day, and wish Emily, Geoff, Dallin, Rusty (racking my brain for more names) could have all shared in the glory. So here's the article, straight from lds.org. (To prove how back in the day this was, they didn't even know how to write "online.")
Friendship On-Line
Marni Adams has friends all over the United States. Every month, they get together and talk about gospel subjects, ideas for Mutual activities, and what they’ve read in the latest issue of the New Era. No, Marni doesn’t travel a lot, and she doesn’t have a huge phone bill. Every month, Marni and her friends “chat” on their computers
“Our group includes people from all over the country,” says Marni, a student at Ricks College. “Only a few have actually met in person, but even those who haven’t are still great friends with each other.”.
Known as “Smilin’ Sue” on the computer, Marni says
that through advanced technology, people who would have never become friends otherwise now really love each other.“Probably the best thing about making friends on the computer is that appearances and age don’t matter. It’s a lot easier to really get to know people,” says Marni.
So there you have it. That's me in all my big hair, big glasses glory. Bring on the comments. I can take it.
Motor Mouth
So there's this Bill Cosby bit where he's talking about his family. He makes the comment that he and his wife have five kids, then says, "We have five kids because we don't want six." Since we also have five kids in our family, the kids latched right onto that and quote it all the time, thinking they are so very very funny.Today we were at the library. Carolyn is always looking for new friends, and she attached herself to another little girl and was chatting away with her. They followed the girl's mother while she looked for books in the children's section, Carolyn talking away the whole time. Just as we were gathering to leave I heard her say out of the blue, "We have five kids because we don't want six!" The mom chuckled and to me said, "That's one way to put it!" Of couse I quickly explained how something like that would pop out of my almost 5 year old's mouth.
Later, thinking of my embarrassment, I reminded Carolyn of the situation and tried to explain that we need to be careful about what we tell strangers. "That little girl and her mom were strangers?" "Well kind of, not the bad kind, but..." I knew I was attempting a conversation that would make my brain do cartwheels before she understood, if then. "Oh forget it. They were nice, weren't they?"
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