What have I learned from blogging for the last 29 straight days?

I'm really not cut out for the daily blogging thing. I'm glad I don't run one of those design blogs that constantly clogs my Google Reader. I could never be Scribbit-- who never seems to run out of things to blog about. I'm so glad that the group blogs I belong to don't require daily participation. I can be funny and interesting sometimes, but there are days that just aren't that exciting. Today I ran 17 miles. Maren locked herself in my bedroom. Andrew and I took the kids to the Health Museum where Annie decided she never wants to get old and Bryce decided that he'd love be an alien descending on a suburban shopping mall. We sent our company home. I desperately wanted but didn't get a nap. I read an article suggesting that in the current economy, I might have to forgo True Religion jeans in order to buy my kids exactly what they want for Christmas. I forgot to change Maren's diaper and she leaked pee all over the chair in my room. I strung up Christmas lights in the kids' rooms. We still need to straighten out our tree, which I was too tired to do last night after cutting half of the lights off our prelit tree and stringing it with lights that weren't burned out. I signed up for the marathon on New Year's Day and realized I'm a week off on my training schedule. I did some online Christmas shopping (mostly for myself), picked up the house, and made pancakes for the kids for dinner. The kids and I watched a heavily edited version of Iron Man, and Bryce resolved to brag about it to his entire Primary class tomorrow. Eddie came home from work at 7:30, bearing cold cheeseburgers, which I ate greedily and washed down with the last slice of cranberry apple pie. I finished my book, and I'm still putting off writing all of the reviews which are piling up. Maybe, with some better perspective, I could turn one of those things into a witty anecdote you all would love to read about on the blog. But tonight, I just don't have it in me. I can't be the only one who's glad NaBloPoMo ends tomorrow, right?

1. no more pie in the house
2. locks that can be broken
3. answers to a child's prayer

Overheard at our house...

We're setting up Christmas decorations today, and I turned on a Christmas cd to get us in the mood (the kids have no problem getting in the mood, I, on the other hand, need some coaxing when it's above 70 degrees and our a/c is running). We were unwrapping decorations, listening to Madonna sing "Santa Baby" when Isaac turned to his big sister and said, "Santa doesn't have a real baby, Santa has a food baby."

1. help getting everything down from the attic
2. kids with a sense of humor
3. killer spinning classes

Sated

My belly is full of four kinds of pie, my home is full of people I love, my refrigerator is full of yummy leftovers, my legs are tired after running a great race, my kids are in bed after a day of chasing each other around the backyard, and after a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family and friends, my sweet Eddie and I (and his little brother) are about to snuggle up on the couch (Andrew won't be snuggling with us) to watch a movie.

Once again, today confirms my opinion that Thanksgiving is the finest of holidays.
1. good food
2. good meat
3. good God (oh boy did we eat!)

another thing to check off the list....

Tomorrow morning, I'm running my first 10K (and my first turkey trot). I've done a whole bunch of 5Ks, a handful of half-marathons and three marathons, but strangely never a 10K. I don't have the faintest idea how to even strategize for a 10K, although I doubt an 11-mile run the night before, followed by a big Mexican dinner and ice cream is what anyone would recommend. When I was a high school swimmer, I loved the short distances like the 100 (4 laps) and the 500 (20 laps) but hated the middle distance 200 (8 laps). It was too long to be a sprint and too short to dig in and endure, and I'm a little bit afraid that a 10K is the distance-runner's equivalent to the 200 yard freestyle. I guess I'll find out tomorrrow.

1. free babysitting
2. getting through the morning with six kids with a little help from my sister wives
3. lots of prep work today means less time in the kitchen tomorrow

Sometimes keeping up with all of the blogs is hard work

Check out my post at Segullah today in lieu of great blog here.

I've been busy prepping Thanksgiving (pie crusts, pie filling, cornbread, cranberry sauce, cinnamon roll frosting and butternut squash puree down, and lots more to cook tomorrow). We took the kids to Discovery Green this afternoon. I'm kind of hooked on the book I'm reading and don't want to come up for air to blog-- so read what I already wrote. And be sure to comment over there too! If comments were votes in group blog popularity contests, I'm pretty sure I'd never win much of anything.

Books on my to-read list

This one's for you, Melissa. Here's a bunch of the books on my ever-growing list of things I want to read:

Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How it can Renew America by Thomas Friedman
The Likeness by Tana French
Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken
Thin is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Domino: The Book of Decorating: A room-by-room guide to creating a home that makes you happy
Shadow the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Ballistics: Poems by Billy Collins
Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Rachel Fershleiser
Collections of Nothing by William Davies King
Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey
and everything I haven't read yet by David Sedaris
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

now I just need a month with nothing to do so I can actually dig in and do some reading.

1. The library
2. amazon.com
3. a husband who doesn't mind turning my light off

In Relief Society Today....

...the teacher asked us to think for a second (and man that second was quick!) about what we were thankful for. She said it could be the first thing that popped into our heads, as random as we wanted it to be. Then she went around the room and asked us what it was. The first person said something like "The Book of Mormon," I was second and said "gelato." Then everyone else in the room (either taking their cue from the first person or much more serious and spiritual than me) said very grand things: personal revelation, gifts of the spirit, eternal families, etc... No one else went for random. No one else went for gelato.

Yeah, sure, I am thankful for all of the serious things, but I also like me some good gelato. So soft, so creamy, so much less fat than ice cream.

1. gelato
2. dinner with friends
3. going grocery shopping without the kids!

drawing a blank

This NaBloPoMo thing isn't as easy as it looks. Here I sit, wondering what to write about. Topics I've discarded:

1) Why I'm putting off finishing the great book I'm reading (the main character is going to die, and I want to keep him alive as long as possible). I've already blogged about this book, and people might be bored.
2) The six book reviews I have piled up. Too much work.
3) Trying to decide whether or not to run the marathon on January 1st. Haven't I already blogged about that? If so, no one wants to know that the inner struggle continues?
4) Why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think I covered that one a few years ago-- maybe I should revisit it at fMh or Segullah?
5) The BYU-Utah game. Is anyone interested in the degree of passionate devotion to BYU football that goes on in our house?
6) An update on the ups and downs of home ownership after a major hurricane (we've got the roofers and the power washers and the house painters and the ceiling fixers lined up-- still need to find someone to fix our fence and decide what to do about the carpet). Too technical and boring.
7) What it was like to go without a phone for a week (It's rung about 10 times today-- I wonder how many important calls we missed last week?). Now that it's fixed it no longer seems relevant.
8) Suggestions for daddy-kid date ideas and things to do in the Texas Hill Country. Seems too much like I'm pandering for comments.
9) Link to Lyn's post at fMh. If I do that, then I darn well better get over there and comment like I've been intending to.
10) Meditating on finally being ok with the end of my childbearing time. If I post about that, then it means it's true, and I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet.

Got any more good ones for me?

1. Visiting friends
2. Somehow managing to be in three places at once this morning
3. Eddie going to work late so I could take a little snooze (and missing the kickoff in the process!)

On lasagne...

According to Lynn Rosetto Kasper, the correct spelling is lasagne, since lasagna refers to a single noodle. I made lasagne this week, but I should have made lasagna, because we've eaten it three nights in a row (and more than 1/3 of the pan remains) and I'm sick of it.

1. At least I didn't have to make dinner
2. A husband who always puts things in perspective (even if I don't agree with his perspective)
3. A phone that actually rings!

just a moment of perfect bliss....

Bryce had a doctor's appointment today and on the way back to school, I took him through the Sonic drive-thru for lunch. When I got home I cleaned out the cups and wrappers from the back of the car and set them down on the kitchen counter, and right at at that moment that Eddie and Isaac walked through the door. Isaac was not happy that he missed out on a trip to Sonic. Normally, I'd tell him that we'd go to Sonic another day, but today Eddie was home and could stay with Maren, so I told him to put his shoes back on. He was quiet as we hopped in the car, probably because I think he was shocked, and nervous that if he said anything I'd change my mind. Within minutes he had a cardboard sleeve of popcorn chicken in one hand and a rootbeer float in the other. As we drove back home, I kept stealing glances at him in the rearview mirror. He was so happy-- chomping his food and slurping his drink and looking up to shoot me chicken-filled grins. When you have a big family, it seems like there are so many times when indulging an individual child's whims just aren't possible, so I'm glad that today, when it was, I was able to indulge Isaac's craving for fats and fried food. Oh, and some tater tots for me. And bragging rights as the "first favorite" parent.

1. quick doctor appointments
2. having Eddie around
3. a great afternoon for a run