Thoughts on Immunity

Last year I watched every episode of The Office on Netflix.  I'd watched it sporadically when it was actually on the air, but I didn't have consistent access to a television (and, when I lived in the Japanese House, we weren't allowed to watch TV in English), so it was fun to finally watch the whole series, start to finish, and get all the inside jokes that built up throughout it.  And, of course, I loved Jim and Pam.

It wasn't a perfect show (that honor goes to either Arrested Development or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Obviously).  There were plenty of times when watching Michael Scott was just painful, which is NOT the same thing as funny.  But his character mellowed nicely throughout the series, and by the end he was a pretty good guy who you could genuinely cheer for.

One of the things I thought they handled perfectly was the plot line for Jim and Dwight, office nemeses...  (Yes, I had to look up how to pluralize that word.)  In case you're not familiar with the show, Jim is the guy who's always playing practical jokes on Dwight.  For plenty of people, that would make them love him, but I don't especially like practical jokes, so this would normally make Jim the bad guy in my mind-- at some point, most jokes cross the line into bullying, right?  But the show always made Dwight a bad enough guy, that you ended up feeling that he deserved whatever Jim threw at him.  At the same time, the show gradually turned Dwight into an okay guy, and eventually made him friends with Jim until by the end of the series it was-- dare I say it?-- kind of sweet.  That's some good writing there!



Anyway, there was one episode where Dwight lectures the entire office about how, rather than using hand sanitizer all the time, they should embrace germs because it helps build up your immune system.  He declares that if a person sneezes on you, rather than be grossed out you should thank them for it.

This of course turns into everyone rushing to Dwight's side every time they need to sneeze so they can sneeze on him.  It's gross.  Watching that episode turns my stomach.  Even thinking about it too much to write about it here makes me want to gag.

But I've come to realize (to my horror) that it actually describes my life pretty accurately.  These kids of mine are CONSTANTLY sneezing on me.  Especially when we read scriptures in the morning!  Something about that makes Kendra and Ryder both have fits of sneezing.  Are they allergic to the Book of Mormon???    If they're not sneezing on me, they're coughing on me.  Or trying to wipe their noses on me.  I probably wash my hands dozens of times each day.  And then I have to just squeeze my eyes shut and try to not think about it too much. 

But on the plus side, I really do have a pretty rockin' immune system.  I'll get a cold every now and then, but even that's pretty rare.  I can't even remember the last time I had to see a doctor because I was sick.  If Dwight is correct (and we all know we can trust any medical advice we get from a television character!), is it possible that I have my children's disgusting habits to thank for how healthy I am?

Seminary and Winter

This week is killing me.

First of all, the kids had no school on Monday or Tuesday.  I kind of like it when they have random days off like that-- it gives me a break from getting up early to pack lunches and it's fun to not have a schedule.  But Mondays are not my favorite day for that to happen since that's my grocery shopping day.  So we spent a big chunk of Monday at Costco and Food Lion, my current stores of choice.  But on the plus side-- we had gorgeous weather in the 70s AND Craig managed to come home for lunch AND leave work early!  So Monday was fabulous.

I was getting excited to take the kids to a park on Tuesday since we'd finished our errands, but then the temperature dropped thirty degrees (WHY, EAST COAST, WHY????), so that was no longer appealing.  I took everyone with me to vote and then we went to the library instead.

I turned my back on the little kids to help Kendra find a book, and when I turned back, they were playing "Bus" with a bunch of other kids!  Camille seemed quite pleased to be the driver...

We stopped by Craig's work on our way home-- the kids always enjoy getting to see Daddy's office.  Then they mostly tore the house apart for the rest of the afternoon while I chased behind them trying to put it back together.

I was kind of a stress case by then, though, because I was worrying about the fact that I had to teach seminary* the rest of the week, Wednesday through Friday.  I'd agreed to substitute without much thought, but I hadn't realized the kids would be home for the two preceding days, so I somehow thought I'd have time during the day to look at lessons.  Ha!  Then I thought maybe I could work on lessons during YWs Tuesday night, but then our president was sick and so I was in charge, so that didn't happen either.  I got it done after everything else that night and it was fine, but that wasn't a great way to get it done, you know?  I felt like I had it looming over me for those two days and it was exhausting (as was not sleeping well the last few nights thanks to many mean factors working against me).

So anyway, this week I'm getting up early and showering.  I'm making sure my entire house is clean for the girl who comes over to babysit ("girl"-- she's a mother of two, she's just a lot younger than I am, so I feel like she's still a girl; is that totally anti-feminist of me???).  I get myself all pretty and actually dressed in a skirt (!!!) and then make those lunches.  At 7:25 I go down to the basement to wait for the students to arrive-- we had four kids today, so that's better than last year when our numbers dwindled to two.  Seminary only lasts fifty minutes, so within an hour I'm back upstairs and done for the day and then...

Then I don't know what to do!

I'm already showered and dressed.  The house is clean.  It's cold and dark and rainy outside, so I don't particularly want to go anywhere...  I just want to turn on my electric blanket and snuggle in my bed with a good book (currently: Essays by E.B. White).  But that doesn't really work too well for Colton and Camille who seem to think we should do more interesting things than watching mommy reading.

So that's where I am.  Tired and cold.  And looking forward to the end of this week when I won't have seminary hanging over me.

Basically, winter hit at the same time as seminary.  And that's a little much for me.

I'll do better next week.  And if I don't, well, then we'll be driving to Houston for Thanksgiving so that's one way for me to escape temperatures in the 40s for a bit!



*Astute readers might recall that I was a substitute teacher for seminary last year.  Ironically, I only ended up ever teaching a couple times-- my friend and I were supposed to have to cover for 6 weeks, but then that was too much so the mom of the seminary students just did a home study with her kids instead.  And then after that was all over, they released me from that calling.  But then they needed a sub again and didn't have anyone called, so they asked me.  But I actually prefer it this way, since now the stake won't bug me to go to their inservice meetings on 8am on Saturdays!

The Richmond Zoo

I woke up the morning of November 1st and thought to myself, "I survived Halloween!"  My kids had three different trick-or-treating events throughout the month, plus a neighborhood party that we missed.  Does that seem like an awful lot of celebrating for a holiday that doesn't actually mean anything???

We managed to do stuff in the month of October that wasn't focused on Halloween-- we took the kids to the Richmond Zoo one gorgeous Saturday.  This zoo is basically the exact opposite of the National Zoo in DC-- it's on the expensive side and it's kind of small (DC zoo is free entrance and huge), but it's NOT BUILT ON A FREAKING HILL, so walking around looking at the animals is actually an enjoyable experience.  And because it's small, you can race around and see everything and then make it back to in time to see all your favorite animals get fed.  So, yeah, I really enjoyed this zoo.  (And in case you didn't manage to read between the lines there, I loath the National Zoo.)  And more importantly, my kids had a great time, too!  The only bad thing is that now they keep asking when we can go back and I don't think we can afford to any time soon!  Ah, the irony!

Kendra with an emu

Ryder, the king of awesome faces, shows us how scared he is of the cobra

Since one of Camille's many nicknames is Chameleon (often followed with the song, "Karma Chameleon"), we HAD to take a picture of her with one!

Seriously the biggest iguana I've ever seen.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This monkey sounded like an opera singer getting warmed up.  Really.

This cheetah has a golden retriever as a best friend-- see him sacked out in the other corner of his cage?

Getting to pet a giraffe is just cool.  I know, everyone loves giraffes.  But let it be known that we do, too!

I think a giraffe got spit on Craig's camera lens, because all his shots (that aren't selfies) after this have this soft foggy glow to them...

You could ride on a ski lift that went over some of the animals

Closest I've EVER managed to get to a rhino, ever.  So that was awesome.  Also, I love the face Craig pulls when he's trying to get a selfie lined up just so!

Zebras and ostrich in the background

This peacock stole the last bite of Camille's sandwich and made her cry (she didn't get hurt-- she was just scared/mad).  This was especially funny because I was terrorized by a peacock when I was about three and bolted from my mom and she had to abandon my little sister in the stroller to chase after me.  Guess it runs (ha!) in the family...

Ryder, once again, pulls awesome faces for the camera.  Also, bactrian camels are super cool and super weird.

Waiting for feeding time

Camille kept wanting to lean way forward and I spent the whole ride afraid she'd fall off the lift

It 's hard not to get excited about a Galapagos tortoise

I like Ryder's toothless smile here

Dromedary camels are cool too, I suppose, especially when they have cute babies...  Some zoo somewhere had a baby camel and named him Alexander Camelton.  Brilliant!

We had a great time.  The weather could not have been better!  And as we were leaving, I found out that I would NOT be needed to chauffeur the young women all over the stake that evening, so I got to relax at home after a long day.  So everything was perfect.

Also, it was in the 70s yesterday and today.  Happy November, y'all!!!