Rosie the Riveter... Sadly, I Am Not.

Last night, at 3 in the morning, Kyle woke me up to tell me there was broken glass in the house. Talk about an easy way to get your heart pumping and adrenaline coursing through your veins in the middle of the night. My brain (granted it was only woken up about 2.5 seconds earlier) started thinking we had a break-in or something. I stealthily went down the hall, not knowing what (or who) I was going to find. As I turned the corner, into the bathroom I got a punch in the gut.  Don't worry, it was a figurative punch in the "self-esteem" gut-- not my literal, way-too-chubby gut-- but it still hurt.

Let me pause in my story for a moment, and rewind about 2 weeks or so. We had a potential buyer coming over to look at our house, and I noticed the light in the bathroom had gone out. Ryan wasn't going to be home in time, so I decided to change it myself.  This was something I had never done before ("What?!? Never changed a light bulb before? That's pathetic. Kristen is so spoiled. Blah blah blah..."  My husband takes good care of me. Okay?) The point is, I did change the light bulb that day, and I was proud of myself. At least until last night, when-- two weeks later-- the entire light fixture came crashing down in the middle of the night, and shattered into a million pieces (kind of a metaphor for my light-bulb-changing-self-esteem). In my defense, the light bulb was still perched in place working fine. I really don't know what happened. I thought I did such a good job. I've never proclaimed to be anything other than a girlie-girl, but a light bulb? Come on! Its not rocket-science. (How many Kristen's does it take to change a light bulb?)

My Mother is a "Rosie the Riveter" type. There are so many times that she has studied something, and said, "I think I can do that." I am constantly amazed at how many hard things she can do-- and do well. You would think some of that would have rubbed off on me! Not so much! What's  the opposite of Rosie the Riveter? "Lucy the Loser"? "Nancy the Needy"? "Patty the Pathetic"? Well, whatever it is, thats pretty much how I felt as I starred at my miserable failure of an attempt.

Anyway, I swept up the pieces and headed back to bed (with a new resolve to try, try, try again next time) and-- feeling extremely grateful to have a husband who is so good at so many things... especially changing light bulbs.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Ryan and Cameron got to go to the priesthood session of General Conference together (for the first time) yesterday. Cameron wasn't really sold on the idea of more conference when he left, but he came home very happy-- so hopefully he will remember that in October. Ryan told me that after the session, they went out for ice cream. While they were walking into Wendy's, some upstanding citizens drove past them and yelled "Bleepin' Mormons" out their window. Cameron leaned over laughing and whispered to Ryan, "Actually we prefer to be called members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Get it right you ruffians!" Way to go Cams! Looks like someone was listening to President Packer's Conference address after all!

My Manly Men!

Our local public library has a wonderful summer reading program that my children like to participate in. Each week, if they have met their reading goals, they can go to the library to receive a prize. Part of this week's prize was a mini-poster. Kyle knew what he wanted instantly. He chose (from a pile of various Harry Potter posters) a poster of Hermione Granger. When we got home, Kyle excitedly taped his poster to the front of his bedroom door.

Upon seeing the poster on the door, Cameron said, "What is this!?! Now people will think our room belongs to a girl!" I didn't bring up the fact that nobody in their right mind would confuse his room for a girls room, considering it is filled with Legos, game systems, and -- on occasion-- a smell that can only be described as "sweaty-boy-stench".

Kyle didn't care if it appeared to be the door to a "girly room". In fact, knowing that his brother wasn't too excited about the new addition to their decor seemed to make him swell with pride at HIS choice of poster.

So, I'm sure you're wondering what macho poster Cameron picked as his prize...




a giant cartoon sticker sheet. ;0)


I sure love my manly men, and I'm proud of all the reading they did this summer!