A Belated Introduction

I have debated whether or not to put pictures of myself or my children in my blog. Then I took a look at other blogs and realized ones without pictures were usually pretty boring. So I'm introducing my family. And I'm adding pictures.

This is me. I'm a bit of an oddball, but I'm okay with that...most of the time.

This is my husband, pictured when our cat was a wee one and we were newlyweds. He's handsome, kind, ridiculously intelligent and fits into my realm of weirdness very nicely. I really really love him. Although not pictured, he is usually bearded. And he works it. ;)

This is my oldest, Eilee (pronounced EYE-lee) Rose, who will turn 3 this December. She is loving, bright, energetic and headstrong. Eilee is a princess and she knows it. In fact, she likes to remind the world of this fact by almost always wearing dresses and a tiara. While I certainly didn't discourage it, I didn't program her to be that way. She just is.

This is my baby girl Cora Lynn. She is calm, happy, and magnificently pudgy. Much of her personality is yet to be revealed, as she is only 5 months old. She loves to be close to her mommy, and has a habit of making people smile.


The four (five if you count the cat, I guess) of us live in an upstairs two bedroom apartment. We're planning on buying a 3 bedroom home as soon as we find "the one". Until then we have our mutual craziness to keep each other company.

Lazy treats and Scruff McGruff

It has come to my attention that, while I've been neglecting my new blog, I've been spending waaaaaaaaaay too much time on Facebook. However every time I get on here I get instant writers block, mentally drooling all over my brain because I honestly can't think of anything particularly interesting or witty to say. THIS ENDS TODAY. So I'll be writing more often. I promise. Pinky promise. And since my writing skills are uber rusty I'm just gonna mention some new things I've been doing and learning lately.

Weight loss after having a new baby is a pain in the...everywhere. Especially when you can't starve yourself with nifty diets because you're nursing and need the nutrients to feed your little citizen. So I've had to eat healthier, which I honestly don't like very much. I could lie to myself and say I love vegetables but I don't. Most vegetables taste like dirt to me. I get used to it once I'm in the "eating healthy zone", but it's expensive and time consuming and I WANT ICE CREAM ALL THE TIME! But recently I found a little trick to help out with my sweet tooth without completely conquering my laziness. I've discovered Juicy Juice Fruit Punch. It is the best tasting 100% juice in my price range that I've had so far and it's even better in slushy form. I take an entire container and put it in the freezer in the morning. After an hour I take it out, shake it, and have an instant frozen treat that doesn't give me the guilt of a milkshake. I told you I was lazy.

I've been turning off the TV more and more often around the kiddies these days. It's super difficult, and often annoying, but looking back on it I'm glad of it. I'm not one of those people who will ever get rid of their TV altogether "for the sake of the children", but I've been limiting it and really enjoying the time spent playing with my kiddos, mostly Eilee, my two year old. She's obsessed with princesses, which is cute and all, but I've been trying to expand her horizons and have her pretend to be more of an adventurer. She doesn't like it as much, which is funny because when I was a kid I desperately wanted to be Scruff McGruff and "take a bite outta crime." Not really because I wanted to fight bad guys, I just thought it'd be cool to become a talking dog.

I had more to say, and I probably would spend a decent amount of time correcting my grammar mistakes and basic writing faux pas, but as my darling oldest child is demanding a lollipop in the bathtub, I'd best call it a day.

My 11 year old mind

When I was 11 years old I was homeschooled and my mother made me write in a journal. Sometimes I enjoyed this, but usually I was lazy and had to have my mother force me to get anything down. I discovered my journal quite some time ago and was greatly amused by a passage I wrote that pretty well defined my personality with regards to anything work related. So here it is, a work of 11 year old prose from 1997:

August, 23, 1997
Boy is my mom fussy. She makes me do work in the Summer. I can't stand it. I've had a lot of stuff happening. I going to be in a play, I'm going to be in a Finally (I meant "finale")--life is just tuff on me. It's hard to get through I have to go outside and play so bye. Oh I have to keep on going moms being bossy, I hate doing this reading is great but this.
I'd rather go play. Why me I have to do so much boring stuff wile every bodys playing. Why cant I write when I have the time insted of makeing me write when I dont want to. writing also hurts your wrist. Its just a big waste of time. Someday I may be the smartest person in the world and the'll (in my mind "the'll" were news reporters) ask if reading is better or is writing. and I'll say reading because writing hurts your hand and Its really really boring. and the person (news reporter again) will ask the second smartest person in the world and she will say DIDO (I meant "ditto").

Yeah, I was kind of a brat sometimes. Still waiting for that "Smartest Person in the World" title so I can answer that all-important question.

The funny thing about two-year olds is...

The funny thing about two-year-olds is...everything. Everything about them is ridiculous. Two-year-olds are ridiculous people. They're old enough to be independent and defiant but often too young to explain ways to make their lives easier. They can recite their favorite song but can't remember anything about the 50 million times you told them not to color on the walls. They want to dress themselves, which often means you're leaving the house with a child whose shoes are not only on the wrong feet, she's also made a brave attempt to wear pants like a shirt. Your pants.
I have a disciplinary book that swears by the counting method, as long as it is used with consistency. e.g. Don't count if you don't plan on getting up and putting them in time out. This does not work when you're in a store and your kid is acting like the grocery cart is a surf board. Time out? Where? In the corner of the cart? Please. So you threaten to take something away from them that they really like. The problem with this is that you have to remember to bring something they really like everywhere you go. You also have to depend on that particular toy to keep it's charm throughout the trip, which often isn't the case. Baby dolls lose their luster, electronic toys get monotonous, and candy is consumed too quickly with dire sugar-related consequences. So I've recently moved on to a worse threat: buckles. To my daughter there is nothing the world worse than confinement (or a shower but that's a story for another day).  Since I have an infant now it means moving the sleeping baby from her carseat that cleverly snaps into the cart, and putting a screaming, thrashing two year old in the seat and strapping her in while the baby hangs out in the lower section.
I have done this quite a few times on many a grocery trip. Always at the same store. The amazing thing about it? People still tell me my kid is cute. They smile at her, talk to her, the cashiers comment on how big she's getting. It's strange if you don't realize the fact that most of them have gone through the same thing. Sure their kids are always different and they've had to make different adjustments than mine because of it, but they've all had the same tired look in their eyes. They've all had the same feeling of embarrassment and parenting inadequacy. You can follow the advice of a discipline book exactly and still not get the results it promises. Children are imperfect and so are their parents. So why do we do this? Why do we put up with the frustration and exhaustion? Because it's amazing. Because even when they're screaming from their bedroom when they're supposed to be taking a nap while mommy's writing her blog, you love them. Because nothing can darken the sweet moments of pure joy you spend with them. Because you can never forget that look on their face when they figure out how to draw that circle for the first time, or when they cuddle up to you while you read a book and the whole world slows down just to keep the moment a little longer.
So I move on, sometimes smiling, sometimes not, but never, never regretting the choice I made to start a family. And when things get really tough, I can always somehow make time to read a comic book in the bathtub. :)

Hi. My name is Liz and I am a nerd mom.

I have to admit something, I was in denial about my nerdiness for quite some time. It occurred during the playful years after I discovered makeup and before I found the Love of my Life. In desperate attempts to obtain and keep boyfriends, I hushed my obsession with Lord of the Rings and often neglected to mention the little fact that I was raised on Star Wars and Fifth Element. I continued to embrace however, the drama nerd in me by taking part in whatever performance arts opportunity came my way.
 I entered the theater world at BYU and discovered how big of a challenge it actually was to learn to become an academic actor. Then Dave came into my life. He was cute and funny and passed all of my tests for dating suitability: liked the movie "Kung Pow", enjoyed Martial Arts films, and not only had seen the animated series of "The Tick", but owned several comic books of it. In a year we were married, and he began to work his nerdy magic on me, causing me to peel layer after layer of shallow covering to reveal the Nerd Within. 3 1/2 years and two kids later, we're about to buy supplies to paint pewter figures for Savage Worlds and Dungeons and Dragons, and he tells me "You're about to plunge into being way nerdier." And I did so, happily.
So here it is, a list of a few of the epicly awesome things I love.
Doctor Who, the more recent series
J. R. R. Tolkien
Steam Punk novels
Firefly
Dungeons and Dragons
Savage Worlds
The IT Crowd
Fantasy novels
The original Star Wars
Neil Gaiman
BBC's Merlin
Fables (graphic novels)
Hellboy, the movies, the books, the graphic novels, the comics, everything.
Angel (yes the vampire, shut up!)
Miyazaki films

My name is Liz. And I am a nerd mom.