Who Did it Better?

Separately, Chuck and I recently came up with something we each thought was pretty clever. Of course, now we disagree on whose was more clever. So you get to decide. (And by "you," I mean "emily" unless anyone wants to come out of the shadows and comment.) Obviously, this will be a blind study and each clever-ism will be presented anonymously.

1. A family in our ward with the last name of Cranney had a baby. One of us named the baby, "Cranbaby."

2. A youth from our newly-married days named Rae is getting married to a man named Brandon. One of us named the couple, "Rae-bran."

Who did it better?

Glasses Poll

I heard about this company that does frames and lenses for only $95 so I thought I had to try. Since I think I'm going to be in glasses for the rest of my life, I should at least get some fun ones, right? They let you try on five pairs at a time, so here's my first batch. What do you think--any keepers? I can't really see how they look on since once I take off my regular glasses I can't see anything. (And yes, I know this isn't my finest photo shoot ever. In fact, maybe it's the worst. But I don't care. I'm puttin' it all out there!)

Glasses #1:


Glasses #2:


Glasses #3:


Glasses #4:


Glasses #5:

Beating the Dead Horse (plus the winner!)

I'm pretty sure you're hoping I'll stop writing about this. Even I am unsure why it's so intriguing to me. I guess it comes down to this: I thought Hatfields and McCoys were common knowledge. That's it. But I'm totally wrong! (Just like my co-worker who seems to think that everyone has heard of the Donner party.) There seems to be no pattern regarding who knows it and who doesn't. Did you go to college? Did you grow up in Utah? Are you a stay-at-home mom? Are you male? Doesn't matter. Nobody knows (except for the couple of us that do).

Anyway, the take home message is that Hatfields and McCoys are just a bit of trivia. Some people know about them and some people don't. The end. It's really not that interesting (unless you're me).

But what might be interesting is the stuff that you know that I don't! I mean, there has to be something, right? Kidding, I know there's tons of stuff I don't know, I just don't know it. And how does one go about finding out what general knowledge are they missing? I can't very well sit down with someone and say, "Tell me what you know." Duh. I guess I have to be patient, make many friends, and talk to those friends. And then I just have to listen and learn. Something is bound to come up.

And now for the winner...Congratulations to...Allen! But also a congrats to Purvi as the wife of Allen (yes, AllEn, not AllAn, sorry Sandra!), because she'll end up enjoying the prize as well. (Purvi, if you have something in mind, let me know! Otherwise I'll just surprise you. Which probably means something for little Saha.)

Have a happy weekend. Send us happy thoughts and pray we don't melt. Because it's a real possibility with this weather.

Poll Answers

First, thanks so much for being willing to answer my dumb questions. Remember, there was no judging from us, but I must admit there is some shock. I am amazed that more of you didn't know Question 1. I am not amazed that more of you didn't know Question 2. Okay. Here we go.

Question 1. Do you know anything about the Hatfields and the McCoys?
Answer 1. They were real (not fictional) feuding families in the late 1800s. Their feud was set in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky and may have started over a stolen pig. It resulted in the death of many, many family members. Now their names are synonymous for feuds. And yes, there was recently a six-hour miniseries on the History channel.

Question 2. Do you know to what, "That's a clown question, bro" refers?
Answer 2. Bryce Harper is an outfielder with the Washington Nationals baseball team. He also happens to be a 19-year-old Mormon. He was recently asked whether he'd get a beer while in Canada (it's legal for 19-year-olds to drink there) and his response was, "That's a clown question, bro." See it below. It's become quite the internet sensation and it still cracks me up. If I didn't feel so dumb, I'd try to find more opportunities to use it. (Sandra, Sen. Reid "borrowed" it from Bryce.)



Winner announced tomorrow!

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

Does that sound like the beeping of the emergency alert system? Cause it is. I interrupt the regular M/W/F posting schedule to bring you this incredibly important (to Chuck and me) post. We are so interested in your responses to this that I'm going to offer another PRIZE! Just by commenting, you'll be entered into a raffle for something. Won't say what that "something" is, but it'll be something good--promise. And note, your entry into the raffle is not dependent upon right answers, so please no googling...at least until after you post your first response. Okay, here we go.

1. Can you tell me anything about the Hatfields and McCoys?

2. I quote a recent clip of a conversation between Chuck and me:
blankChuck: Do you want a cookie?
blankErin: That's a clown question, bro.
Do you have any idea what I'm talking about? That is, do you know to what my answer is referring?

BONUS ENTRY: Ask your spouse their response to these two questions and comment with his/her answers. (That's right; you'll double your chances of winning just by making interesting conversation with your spouse. It's a win-win.)

P.S. Sorry Erika, but there was a limit on the amount of time in which you could claim your prize. And that time has expired. No hard feelings!

P.P.S. I promise that there is no judging from over here on whether or not you know these things. Cross my heart.

P.P.P.S. Rules and Regulations: You must be 18 years or older. You must live in the U.S. or Puerto Rico. Kidding! Really, the only one is that you must respond before I wake up on Thursday morning. And remember, I'm in the Eastern time zone and I got a little Ollie, so I get up pretty dang early.

Poll: Grocery Prices

While talking to my sister the other day, we briefly discussed our grocery items' prices, but I want to explore this further. I certainly expect us to have different experiences grocery shopping because I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. while she is in small-town Colorado (but big enough for a Target and Walmart). Below you'll find a list of some of our staples. If you don't mind (and if you know), please share the regular prices and/or sale prices of these items:

Gallon of milk
Pound of chicken breast
Cheerios
8 oz block of cheddar
Loaf of whole wheat bread
Goldfish crackers
Yoplait 6 oz. yogurt
Tortillas
Pound of bananas

Feel free to tell me the prices of other things; I just might not know our D.C. prices.

Another Vote, Another Day that I'm Too Tired to Post Anything Interesting

I am too exhausted to post anything too deep or thoughtful; sorry. You get this instead:

Do you think it's bad/unsafe/dangerous/should-be-illegal to drive a car while listening to headphones? I won't try to convince you (well, not now) of the correctness of my side of the issue. Just tell me what you think.

Only one P.S. today: Let's say your husband is a school teacher and therefore has school pictures done yearly. And because he's a teacher, he gets the prints for free. What would you do with them? Hand them out to all his bffs? Mail them to his grandparents?

P.P.S. (So what if I lied about the number of addenda.)  I bought some super cute skull fabric. What should I make out of it? Are skull ties appropriate for church?

Quick Poll

Let's say that marijuana was legalized as medicine in your state. Let's also say that you came down with some sort of illness and your doctor prescribed medical marijuana for your pain. Would you take it?

Thinking points
1. If you get badly hurt now and are prescribed codeine or some other narcotic, you (probably) take it. You'd (probably) not take it without a prescription because you'd feel like you are taking drugs.

2. Also, medical marijuana can be smoked, yes, but it can also be taken in capsule form or even ingested (brownies?).

P.S. Another government shutdown looms. Aiyiyi. On the bright side: I could go to park play day next Tuesday.

Insta-Poll

Let's say that you have a two-year-old.  You also have a husband, with whom you'd like to go out on dates occasionally. Doing so requires a babysitter.  But your lovely son goes to bed easily at 6:45 p.m.  In theory, babysitter could come over at 7 p.m. and when you get home around 10 or 11, all sitter would have done is sat and watched TV, played Wii, checked Facebook, read, texted...whatever. But no feedings, no playings, no diaper changes; no interaction with the kid at all.  Once the kid is asleep, he's asleep.

Question: What do you pay the babysitter for this?  (Remember, where you live, the going rate for babysitting is $10/hour.)

InstaPoll

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now (with unlimited budget and without kids, if that makes it easier), where would you go?

Poll Response

Oh my. I don't even know what to say. I'm as speechless as I was when Chuck and I talked about vasectomies yesterday. Here is my response to each of you, since you all made me laugh (in a good way).

Amanda: Hipps: not bad, but definitely not good. Head, on the other hand, definitely bad. Can you imagine if your mom had hyphenated?! "Hi. I'm Mrs. Hipps-Head." Oh boy. But yes, good job on your current last name. It's a keeper (as is Al).

Sister Emily: I don't know if Amanda is related to western-Coloradan Sellers. Amanda, can we get a verdict here please? And yes, Emily, I still say you won the lottery of last names.

Deanna: I think you took a lateral move from your maiden name to married name. I definitely feel for the unpronouncability of it, though. Do you feel your maiden name was in the same camp? Both of my names certainly are.

Cousin Emily: I think I would have become a Robinson just to stick it to the man. What man? I don't know. But Robinson would be another lottery-winner in my book. I would love to have been in the meeting where they finally decided to keep Pugh. I would shake them and say, "What are you thinking?!" Not really, but I would have wanted to do so.

Merry: Best. Name. Ever. Oh my. I was telling Chuck your story and Rhett overheard and kept repeating "Merry Balls." Then, because he calls his babysitter (who is named Mary) "Aunt Mama", it then turned into "Aunt Mama Balls." Not our finest parenting moment, but a dang funny one.

Jessica: Although your current name isn't bad, I would have grieved at the loss of Walker. But c'mon, you HAVE to get some "Whatcha talkin' about, Jess?" Right?

Sarah: I am interested in your feelings about your acquired famous-only-to-Mormons last name.

Meg: You, too, had me laughing. Especially since I have a couple-friend whose last name is Barfuss! However, the maiden name of the wife rhymes with a very, very bad word (let's call it, oh, I don't know, let's say the "F-er-word") and I'm pretty sure Barfuss was a step up in her mind!

Linda: "No matter what?" Wow. You're brave.

Angie: You didn't quite answer the question, lady. So do tell, would you ever consider keeping your own name if fiance's was bad?

Me: Seriously, I'm just astonished at how alone in this I am. That's all. Happy Monday. And a picture just for kicks.

Poll: Name Change

I love learning the maiden names of women who married and took their husband's last name. I did, although I wish I had at least thought before I acted, because I didn't. (Although I can't say that the result would be different.) I feel that the move from my maiden name to my married name was pretty lateral. My sister? That girl totally scored! Her married name kicks our maiden name's butt. Then there's my friend who went from Leinweber (pronounced line-webber) to Gordon. Can you believe the luck?? Another score! However, my dear cousin Natalie went down. (And yes, I've already posted about last names. I promise this is a slightly different take--and it's interactive! You can take a poll--fun, right?!)

Anyway, I'm frequently window shopping for a new last name for my family of three. Last names like "Sugarbaker" or "Lickliter" still top the list. So many possibilities!

But let's pretend for a second that before Chuck and I got married that his last name was "Figgit" or "Knipl" (yikes--a real last name! See here.) or something equally bad and mine was "Stewart" or "Watkins" (a duo of fine, solid last names). If this were the case, Chuck has indicated that while he would be 100% supportive of me keeping my last name (much more so than he was in reality), he wouldn't take mine. This baffles me! A chance to kick "Knipl" to the curb? I'd take it in a second if I were him.

Now the interactivity: Ladies, if you had a great last name and your fiance had a very unfortunate one, would you keep yours and encourage your husband to take yours as well? Or keep yours and he keep his? Or would you switch to his unfortunate one?

And gentlemen (all one of you, Todd), same thing. Would you take the better name or keep your own?

Let's take it a bit further: let's pretend both parties of an engaged couple have horrible names. Should they just pick a new one? I'm not sure I could do this, but I think I'd really like to!

Another Poll

Let's say that you just came into $5,000. Assuming that your savings accounts are well-stocked, what do you do with it?

A. Take a trip with the kids
B. Take a trip without the kids
C. Redo your kitchen counters
D. Buy a (used) pop-up camper
E. Save it because really, you're just too responsible
F. Other ___________ (Please specify)

You know, hypothetically speaking of course.

P.S. Emily found this ice cream pie recipe and I'm just looking for an excuse to make it. Can anyone give it to me?

Poll Follow-Up

First, Todd, if all Seinfeld episodes is too much, then yes, definitely too much Seinfeld.

Second, the results!

"Oops/opps": Natalie--you crack me up that you spell it opps! I'm pretty sure that your blog is one of the places I've seen it. But please don't feel like you're the sole offender, as I've definitely seen it in other places. It's just that now I don't feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

"Hanging clothes direction": I hang them facing left (as do most of you), but Chuck faces them right. I think that stores do it my way, but I certainly understand Emily and Deanna's reasoning for doing it the other (Chuck has no such excuse). Thankfully this question came from mere curiosity, not an actual husband/wife disagreement. In fact, last night I had him do a demonstration to figure out why and how he hangs it like he does and GET THIS! He takes the jacket in his left hand and the hanger in his right (I'm with him here) but then he sticks the hanger into the left sleeve! Not here, I'm a right sleever. He's weird. But I already knew that, and kind of like it about him.

"Storm Warning v. Storm Watch": Argh! This one makes me mad. I feel (like only three of you!) that a watch is more imminent. I mean, if I'm watching the storm, shouldn't that mean that I'm right in the middle of it? As in, it's right out my window?! Alas, the National Weather Service feels differently than I. I'll live. I'll just have to work hard (a.k.a. "go against my own logical reasoning") to think about the severity of weather when I'm issued the next warning or a watch. Here's hoping that the next is at least nine months away as I'm ready for Spring.

"Tops v. Bottoms": Unlike Amanda and probably others of you, I don't roll mine together (but I do for Chuck's underwear), but rather I fold them and keep them separate. After grabbing a pair from the drawer, I ALWAYS put on bottoms first. I think this has roots in two issues: (1) I like my top half more than my bottom, so the bottom must be covered first. And (2) I think when someone is wearing only a white shirt on top and nothing else, they look like a baby. When we see the other looking like said baby, Chuck and I will always call each other this. In the appropriate "baby" voice, mind you. And Merry? I'm a tucker. I don't like the loosey-goosey-ness of non-tuck.

"Light Bulb Scale": According to Energy Star, the correct order should be soft, bright, day. When we were recently picking out new bulbs for our new chandelier (pics will follow soon), I had it in my mind (like everyone one of you except Todd and Merry--good job guys!) that it should be soft, day, and then bright so we bought what we thought was the middle ground: daylight bulbs. Because, well, bright should be the brightest! Of course, I know now that we were wrong. Actually I knew it the second we installed the light bulbs and turned on the chandelier. However, I definitely can see that daylight should be the ultimate. I'm just not willing to spend an additional $35 just to tone it down a bit. We'll see if I still feel that way in a couple of weeks. Otherwise, we'll wait the 20 years for them to burn out and then replace them with bright lights. Maybe Energy Star should have considered focus groups when they named these. Or maybe my friends and I are just not that smart weird.

Thanks for playing!

Answer Some Deep Questions For Me Please

When you make a mistake, was it an "oops" or an "opps?" And if you agree with me and say "oops," then answer this follow-up question: why do so many people insist on spelling it "opps?"

When you hang up your coats or shirts, which way should they face? That is, which way does the front of the garment face: left or right?

When talking about a winter storm advisory, which seems to be more imminent: a storm warning or a storm watch? (Please answer this question using your intuition, not what you actually know about weather alerts.)

When getting dressed after showering, which goes on first: bottom underwear or top?

Put these light bulbs in order from dimmest to brightest: bright light, daylight, or soft light.

How much do I love this kid? Oh wait, no need to answer. I know this one: a LOT.

Choose Your Own Crazy Ending

Some time ago, Chuck and I had an experience in which I questioned how we handled the last move. Play along and tell me what you would have done.

Picture this: I'm driving my car, Chuck was in the passenger's seat, and Rhett's in the car seat in the back. We were stopped at a red light and were in the right lane, with a right-turn only lane on our right and no other shoulder. Out of nowhere, BANG! The driver immediately behind me didn't stop in time and hit us. As she was not moving that fast, I didn't even realize it was a fender bender. (I though my engine had fallen out. Silly me.) Did Chuck:
a) Just wave to her and say, "No problemo!" (You know, because he speaks the Spanish.)
b) Get out and jump up and down and scream and yell obscenities, or
c) Get out of the car and check for damages like a normal and sane human being.

Here we both agreed that (C) was the only right answer for us, although (B) would have been fun too. Upon car inspection and finding no real damage to the bumper of my car, did Chuck then:
a) Just wave to her and say, "No problemo!" (You know, because he speaks the Spanish.)
b) Approach the driver of the car and inform her we're calling the cops, or
c) Approach the driver of the car and ask for insurance information, you know, just in case.

Again, we both agreed that (C) was the only right answer. No need to involve the cops because nothing that bad had happened. If Rhett hadn't been in the car, we probably would have chosen (A). But if something latent happened to Rhett, well, we wanted to be safe. I still think it's the right decision. So, the driver rolled down her window and said that she'd like to pull off the side of the road. It was a Friday around 4:30 p.m., we were on a pretty major road, and the light had already changed to green. Clearly we were going to become a traffic hazard very quickly. And in D.C., you don't fool with traffic, so Chuck said fine. As Chuck got back into my car, we realized that she drove away! I'm not even lying. She. Drove. Away. Do I:
a) Just shake my head and exasperatedly say, "People!"
b) Get out and jump up and down and scream and yell obscenities, or
c) Start following that car!

Again, we both agreed that (C) was the only right answer. We made it through the light and then the next. At this point, the road starts going up a hill and we can see her little car flying and weaving through traffic. I thought I'd keep going through the next light, but I certainly won't commit to drive to West Virginia over this. We came up to a warning signal alerting us to a red light up ahead. We know we got her. Because she's in the right lane and we know we need to be along side of her, not just behind her, I pull into the left-turn lane and park the car (no one was behind us). Did Chuck :
a) Shake a fist at her to let her know we are most definitely NOT pleased,
b) Pull out a knife and stab her tires, or
c) Get out and approach her car and speak in a slightly louder voice.

Chuck chose (C). I'm not sure this is what I wanted him to do. I mean, it was afternoon rush hour and there were cars and a light that was soon to change to green. But this woman hit our car (a car with a toddler inside) and then she drove away. I was angry, and I knew Chuck was too, so I wasn't that angry with his decision. When he got to her car, she screamed that she wasn't going to stop and started to move when the light turned green. Chuck still tried to get her to stop by putting himself in front of her car and had he not moved, she would have run him over. Thankfully he moved. He safely got back in my car. Meanwhile, we wrote down her license plate number. Did we:
a) Just shake our heads and exasperatedly say, "People!"
b) Put up fugitive posters with her picture all over town, or
c) Call the cops to report a hit and run.

We chose (C) and even now, I think it was the right answer. Chuck and I have strong feelings that one of the problems with the world today is that people simply don't take responsibility for their actions and here was a perfect example of that coming true. This woman HIT OUR CAR and thought by driving fast and mean that she was going to get away with it. We were not going to let that happen. Later that night when the cop came to our house he took our report. He then put the decision on us. Did we decide to:
a) Drop it and nothing more happened, or
b) Ask the officer to pursue her and issue her a set of tickets that will have to be paid for in person in front of a judge.

Here's where I wonder if we did the right thing. We chose (B). What would you have done?

P.S. Chuck's out of school through the end of the week and the government is closed today for the third day in a row. Three days people. This is huge. More on our stormy week later.

Another Poll

So yes, I agree with all of you in that the picture (in this post) on Rhett's shirt is indeed a monkey. Case closed. (Except for Chuck who totally lost that one. A mouse? Really, Chuck? Teehee.)

Now tell me, how many servings do you think are contained in this container of yumminess?

Announcing "Blizzard of Aught-Nine: The Contest!"

(This will be the last snow-related post; I promise. That is, until we get the next big storm.)

While we were playing in the snow again yesterday, Chuck and I were wondering when we'd see our grass again. You know, this grass:


As usual in our house, the debate came to us making a Mormon-friendly bet. Then I thought, "You know, I still have a lot of Etsy crap that I need to get out of the house. Why not run a fun contest on the blog and give some of it away?" So that's what I'm doing.

How to Win: Submit a comment to THIS post telling me the date when you think the small green square of grass (where the tree resides) will be fully uncovered with snow. (Chuck and I will be the judges.) I will moderate comments so that you'll know no one's else's guess. When the contest closes next Monday (December 28th), I'll release all comments so you can see who bid what date. I don't believe in Price is Right rules, so it'll be the closest, whether you go over the date or not. Winner gets a bunch of handmade crap made by yours truly. Remember next year's Christmas is only 367 days away! Good luck!

Here are the pictures that show the current amount of snow in our small green patch:

Input Please

Quick reader poll: What do you do for internet, phone, and cable TV at your house? Do you bundle them? How much cable TV do you get (just the ESPN, TLC sorts of stuff or do you imbibe in a little HBO too)? Do you have a DVR or a TiVo? And if you don't mind, would you tell me how much you pay for all three?

Comcast has wronged us (WRONGED us, I tell you!) and so we're trying to figure out what we're going to do.

(And by "wronged" us, I mean treat us the exact same way they treat all of their customers. Which is basically the same way that Verizon and all other large corporations treat their customers. Like poo.)

What Would Good Neighbors Do?

What you see here is an aerial picture of my house (with the digitally-added smiley roof) and the house next door. As you can see, we share a driveway. Right now, that house is vacant (a victim to foreclosure) and Chuck (the green car) and I (the yellow car) have full access to the neighbor's half of the shared driveway. Of course we never park in that half, but we do use it to get around each other's cars.

However, one of our other neighbors has started using this driveway for their own personal vehicle's use (the red car). This is not only illegal but a complete nuisance to us! So here's the question: what do we do?

As we see it, we have a few options:
1. Leave a note on their car asking them to kindly not park there. This one is scary because it will obviously come from us. I mean, which other neighbor would give a fig about who is using this driveway ? Not one. And I really don't want to come off as the type of person who cares about this, even if I am the type of person who cares about this.
2. Put up a sign on the fence at the end of the driveway that says "No Parking." We'd do this at night, dressed in all black to avoid being seen. The violators would assume this came from the bank that owns the house and presumably stop parking there.
3. Report it to the county' housing authority. Not sure what they'd do, but I can do it and even anonymously. (I'm such a wimp.)
4. Do nothing. We take a couple of deep breaths and repeat the mantra, "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter." We will be the first to admit that we're upset about this more because it ruins our beautiful little parking setup rather than the legality of the issue.

I want to be a good neighbor, but I also want our driveway back!