Sometimes my brain doesn't work

This is for you, Tamara...

So I was pretty stressed out last Sunday. It was "Young Women in Excellence" and I just happen to be the Young Women's President. Fortunately I have great councilors, advisors, and a great secretary. But, nonetheless, I get super stressed about things like this. In fact, all I could dream about the night before the event was about how everything would go wrong. I was tossing and turning, probably muttering things like "Oh, no. We forgot 'Integrity.'"

So one of the things I was in charge of making was tags for each of the values. I tried to make them really cute by gluing the name of the value onto a pretty rectangle of glittery, rainbow scrapbook paper and then gluing that onto a white piece of cardstock folded in half. My husband was laughing at me while I was meticulously cutting and gluing. I'm sure he was thinking something like, "If men were in charge of this, they would just scribble the words on a piece of lined paper, rip it out the notebook and fold it in half so it would sort of stand up."

At the time, I didn't think much of it, but some reason, the paper didn't stick very well.

I went to the church early and started setting up with my whole young women posse and I put the tags out. My secretary, Tamara, mentioned that we needed glue because some of the names were falling off. I get all proud of myself, for being prepared, and pulled out the gluestick. Tamara takes one look at it and starts laughing. "That's chapstick!"

Yes, I tried to glue paper together using chapstick. It worked surprisingly better than you think it would.

Besides the whole using lip moisturizer as an adhesive, the event went really well. Even though I get stressed out because of my responsibilities as the Young Women's President, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. I was so proud of all of the young women.

Jung-Myers-Briggs Personality Type

I love a good personality test. Who doesn't? I think all of us like to be validated.

I recently took the Jung-Myers-Briggs Test. There are 16 possible personality types based on 4 factors:

• Introverted or Extroverted (I or E)
• Sensing or iNtuitive (S or N)
• Feeling or Thinking (F or T)
• Judging or Perception (J or P)

I'm curious as to what all of you are! Please take the test and let me know:

Personality test based on Jung - Myers-Briggs typology

I'm an INTJ or "mastermind." That's right. A mastermind. So what do I want to do tonight, you ask? The same thing I do every night, Pinky -- Try to take over the world!

I was very surprised to read the description and to see how closely it resembles me. Kinda creepy. If any of you want a glimpse into my psyche, read on:

"INTJs are analytical. Like INTPs, they are most comfortable working alone and tend to be less sociable than other types. Nevertheless, INTJs are prepared to lead if no one else seems up to the task, or if they see a major weakness in the current leadership. They tend to be pragmatic, logical, and creative. They have a low tolerance for spin or rampant emotionalism. They are not generally susceptible to catchphrases and do not recognize authority based on tradition, rank, or title.

Hallmarks of the INTJ include independence of thought and a desire for efficiency. They work best when given autonomy and creative freedom. They harbor an innate desire to express themselves by conceptualizing their own intellectual designs. They have a talent for analyzing and formulating complex theories. INTJs are generally well-suited for occupations within academia, research, management, engineering, and law. They are often acutely aware of their own knowledge and abilities—as well as their limitations and what they don't know (a quality that tends to distinguish them from INTPs). INTJs thus develop a strong confidence in their ability and talents, making them natural leaders.

In forming relationships INTJs tend to seek out others with similar character traits and ideologies. Agreement on theoretical concepts is an important aspect of their relationships. By nature INTJs can be demanding in their expectations, and they approach relationships in a rational manner. As a result INTJs may not always respond to a spontaneous infatuation but wait for a mate who better fits their set criteria. They tend to be stable, reliable, and dedicated. Harmony in relationships and home life tends to be extremely important to them. They generally withhold strong emotion and do not like to waste time with what they consider irrational social rituals. This may cause non-INTJs to perceive them as distant and reserved. Nevertheless, INTJs are usually very loyal partners who are prepared to commit substantial energy and time into a relationship to make it work."

(wikipedia, entry "INTJ")

One thing about myself that has always bothered me is that I am "distant and reserved" as wikipedia states. Maybe I should just accept that this is me instead of always, painfully and unsuccessfully, trying to change it.

Some notable INTJs are Warren Buffet, Jane Austen, Caesar, Thomas Jefferson, Steven Hawking, C. S. Lewis, Plato and Issac Newton. Oh, and Arnold Schwartzenegger which I'm sure you can see the similarities :)

Matt, on the other hand is an ENTJ. We pretty much the same except Matt is extroverted and I'm introverted. His profile is so "right on" that it is scary. It mentions being good at business, which he is, having energy, which he definitely does, and a desire to create efficient systems, which is half of what Matt talks about.

So I really am interested: What are you? Do you find it accurate? Take the test!

Hasta la vista, baby!

Action figure Phobia

I have no idea why, but Parker has developed this fear of action figures. I mean, he is seriously freaked out when he sees those things. We have this little GI Joe we found doing some geocaching some time ago. It was just sitting on my desk minding its own business. Parker spots it and starts pointing (as he always does) at it. Matt thought, "Oh, he wants to play with it." But Parker was thinking, "What in the crap is that freaky thing!!" Matt, being the good father he is, went and got it for Parker and Parker flipped out. He started shaking in fear. Literally shaking!

It doesn't stop there. Parker also had a melt down at Old Navy. The culprit: Scary friendly-looking mannequins. His Aunt Rachel was introducing him to these giant-sized action figures and he started crying! When ever he sees an action figure, he will look away from it and hold me as tightly as possible.

I know I must be a bad mom, but I find this hilarious.

Well, some time has past and Parker has made amends with the GI Joe. They're friends now. Next stop: Old Navy.

In honor of New Moon

I think the whole "Twilight" phenomenon is a little funny. Why are all these adult women obsessed with a make-believe, overly-dramatic relationship between some clumsy, needy girl and a vampire? That being said, I couldn't put the books down and read all of them within a month...but I'm not obsessed. I just need to clarify that.

Nothing like a good SNL parody.



Even though I'm not really one to stand in a line for an hour waiting to watch the movie, I am looking forward to seeing "New Moon." (I hear it is a lot better than Twilight which I wasn't completely impressed with.) I have had lots of friends who have seen it already and have told me about the inevitable girly screaming that happens whenever Jacob takes his shirt off. I completely understand. I mean, look at him... But I thought it was funny when my sister-in-law brought up the idea of adult men whistling at a 17 year old girl coming onto the screen in a bikini. A little disturbing......But what's wrong with a complete double standard anyway?

Here's a hot picture of Jacob, in case you don't know what I'm talking about.
I feel kinda naughty for even posting a picture of a guy without a shirt. That's why I made it small. Somehow, it is less naughty this way.

Treasure Hunt

I know some of you have been dying to hear this story since I gave a little teaser of it in my Halloween post. Lets see...where to start....

Parker and I were hanging out on my bed because he was as little sick and I was a little tired, so I broke my rule (as I occasionally do) and we were watching cartoons. (My favorite, by the way, is Super Why. It is repetitive and predictable, but the characters are so darn cute.)

Parker always wants to get into things that he shouldn't and at this point he was going for the lamp on my nightstand. He has the weird fascination with lights. Whenever one turns on, he freaks out and points as hard as he can. When he starts to cry, sometimes I carry him over to a light switch and let him turn on the lights. He is happy in no time. No joke. Ok, Back to the story: He crawls over to my messy, messy nightstand and he successfully attempts to get into everything. I literally pull him back to the center of the bed and I notice he grabbed the lid from my deodorant (I have everything but the kitchen sink on my nightstand). "Meh," I think and I let him play with it.

When Parker is really tired or sick he sort of just collapses into a lump of chubby goodness. He was in his collapsing mode so I layed him down in the center of the bed. The next thing I know, he was choking. It was possibly the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. I didn't know what he was choking on, but he would go a little without breathing while he was gagging and it would then be interrupted by short bouts of crying hysterics. I was glad when he cried because I at least knew he could breath. Some more gagging, then some more crying, a bit of praying on my part and then a few gulps to finish it off.

I realized he had swallowed something, but I had no idea what...sure my nightstand was covered with catalogs, hair accessories, pens, pencils, markers, pretty much any type of writing utensil, deodorant, candles, etc. etc. but surely there was nothing chokable there. Then I looked around and I thought, "uh, oh." I looked at my finger, looked back at the nightstand and realized that my wedding ring was not where I last put it. Crap. That can't be good. I searched and searched, but to no avail. "It must be in Parker's stomach."

I called the doctor's office and told them the situation. After a little chuckle, the nurse asked,"Are you serious?" Yes, unfortunately I was. They fit me in as soon as possible and we got an X-ray that confirmed my suspicion. After the doctor looked at the X-ray, he asked me, "Does your ring have several diamonds along the band?" You could see the ring perfectly, sitting in his little stomach just below his tiny ribs. "Just check the poop." That's the only advice his doctor gave me.

The next day we put Parker's lovely poops in a Ziploc bag. I gave it one squish and found my beautiful ring covered in feces. Matt, for some reason, volunteered to get it out of the bag-o-fun. He really is the best husband. I scrubbed it a little, ok, a lot, and now good as new. Actually just the week before I was commenting about how I needed to clean my ring. I procrastinated. Well, I definitely had a reason to clean it now.

I apologize to anyone who received the picture text from Matt of the Poop Bag with the ring. No one should have to see that.

PS The picture is not Parker's X-ray. It is of an adult. I'm going to try and get a copy of the actual X-ray.

Healthy and Happy

What more can you ask for than health and happiness?

I love listening/reading about how Utah compares in various categories. One of the more recent studies concluded that Utah is the happiest state. They interviewed 355,000 people to make this conclusion and it was based on a variety of factors life satisfaction, work quality, healthy behavior, physical health, emotional health, and basic access to necessities like food and shelter. Some contribute this Utah's low unemployment rate which is 4.6% compared to the national rate of 7.6%.

In addition to being the happiest state, Utah is also considered the 2nd healthiest state by another recent study. I know that I've heard the whole "fat mormon" stereotype, but it simply isn't true. In fact, Utah ranks 8th lowest in obesity rates and lowest in childhood obesity rates. Another important contributing factor, believe it or not, is our location by the mountains. It follows the trend that mountain states are more health than states without mountains (in general).

I can't really say that Utah is both healthy and happy because of the large percentage of LDS people living here, but I believe it is a contributing factor. The fact that the LDS church discourages smoking and drinking and encourages its members to have a healthy body makes a huge difference in the lives of many people, leaving them to live healthier, happier lives. "By their fruits, ye shall know them."

Read here for my past post on the past US census (which also, undoubtedly, contributes to the happiness of the people in this state.)

My secret to happiness...

...Is my family. I love my husband and my son. My mom and dad, brothers and sister rock too. I'm also grateful my in-laws aren't too crazy. They have been so accepting of me and loving. I love my family!!

I am the luckiest.