Life in My World in Which I Combine All Posts for the Week with Only One Picture of Asparagus

Traveling Tuesday, a Tip from Someone Else

When Grace called to tell me about their first ultrasound she said, “It looks like a grain of rice.” A few weeks later, I asked Abe how their grain of rice was doing and he said, “It’s a blueberry now.” A week after that when I asked how the blueberry was he said, “It’s not a blueberry anymore it’s a kidney bean.” A month later it was the size of a shrimp.

Each Friday Grace looks up on www.babycenter.com what size the baby is and where it is in its development and then Ty calls her and finds out what it says and names the baby for the week. This week he appropriately named it Bell as it is the size of a pepper. Bill, Bell. No matter. Grace finds out next week what it will be and then we will do our very best not to weasel it out of her while she waits for Abe to call from Iraq so she can tell him. We’ll do our very best not to eavesdrop while she’s on the phone with him for then Abe will call us and tell us what it will be. My guess this week is Bill. Last week it was Bell.  

"Mini-Makover" Self-Portrait Tuesday (Minus the Picture)

I thought I was the luckiest girl when Melanie began cutting hair in her home. And I was for many, many cuts and colors. And then she moved away and I felt sad and unlucky indeed. And then my luck returned when Grace moved home with Calvin and me for now we have a cosmetologist living WITH us. In the last couple of weeks she has colored, cut, waxed, filed, and painted. For the next year a makeover is as close as our kitchen sink and I’m counting my lucky stars.

Saturday Calvin whistled when he saw my nails all freshly painted and said, “Whoo-eee!” and then, “How much would that have cost Grace?” We both know how to count our lucky stars.

Homemaking Tip, Asparagus Bokay

“Pray, how does your asparagus perform?”

(John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail)

Ande’s job this summer is driving through various fields taking soil and water samples. She asked the other day how to find asparagus so Calvin taught her where to look along the ditch banks. She doesn’t even like asparagus. I’ve tried steaming, grilling, and creaming it and she has always turned up her nose. But now she has a friend that likes it and all be darned if she hasn’t decided it’s good. Enough so that she wanted to gather a bunch of it for him. Asparagus makes a lovely bouquet. Since Ande hadn’t been able to gather any, she suggested we buy some at the mercantile next to the asparagus fields when Grace and I went down to the temple yesterday. Hmmmm. What do you want to bet a few more meals with this friend and she learns to like stew, green beans, broccoli, and squash, too? I like this friend.

Thursday Thinking

I recently read about a study conducted on fish in the Potomac River. The scientists discovered that the female fish were normal but that 80% of the males were producing eggs instead of sperm. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Scientists discovered a similar phenomenon of emasculation in male alligators in central Florida. The study suggested phthalates (which plastic bottles are made from) as the contributing source of the hormone havoc. Further studies suggested that this chemical may actually damage a boy’s brain and encouraged aluminum or glass beverage containers instead of plastic.

I picked up a few bright colored aluminum water bottles at the store today—gray for Calvin, green for Ande, pink for Grace, and blue for me. Later I remembered the experts’ suggestions that there may be a link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s.

Hmmmmm. Aluminum or plastic? Alzheimer’s or Feminization? Decisions. Decisions. I liked it better when I thought we were invincible and seldom paid attention to studies.

Kid Catch-up

Ty leaves for a summer exchange program in China soon, but is only 52% as excited as he was a month or two ago . . . something about missing someone while he's gone. 

Cali no longer works the dreaded ICU night shift but works days instead.

Ray was promoted.

Ande likes her job, and her friend, and asparagus.

Grace is noticeably pregnant.

Abe sees orange skies during the sandstorms and rarely eats dessert or chocolate anymore.