Tagged

I love how Stephen Colbert addresses his audience as, "Nation." For example: "Nation, the crisis we find ourselves in at the present time is unacceptable." Since this form of address is already taken, I choose to address our reading public as "Gawkers." Just kidding.

With that pointless interlude, let me segue into the reason for today's post: I've been tagged. For those who don't know what that means, someone in cyberspace comes up with some sort of quiz or series of questions to answer and posts them on his or her blog. After answering these questions, they "tag" people they know who not only read their blog but also have blogs of their own. This means that those who were tagged now have to answer the same questions and post them on their blog for the world to see. It's kind of like a cyber chain letter, only less intrusive, because it doesn't show up in the inbox of everyone you know and promise a horrible death if you don't send it to everyone you know and Bill Gates. I have mixed feelings about tagging, but in any case it helps you get to know a different side of the bloggers you keep up with. Therefore: I shall now favor you, Gawkers, with a taste of "Brittny."

8 Favorite TV Shows:
Seriously, 8? That's a lot of TV. These are in no particular order, by the way - I'm writing as I come up with them. Apply that to all of these "Crazy 8's!"
1. Project Runway
2. Blue's Clues. One of only 3-4 QUALITY children's programs I will ever let my son watch.
3. Chuck
4. The Office
5. Sesame Street. ("And now I have to ask you: Meal...or No Meal?" Greatest parodies ever.)
6. Wife Swap/Trading Spouses. Strange, I know, but I LOVE to examine human behavior.
7. Unwrapped (Food Network)
8. Still Standing. One of the most overlooked sitcoms ever. SO funny.

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Bombay House (or Haus)
2. P.F. Chang's
3. El Paso
4. Olive Garden
5. Firebird Rocky Mountain Grill
6. Wherever we ate at Pier 39 in San Francisco - the most divine sea bass and mango salsa EVER
7. Macayo's or Micha's
8. TCBY. Yes, it is a restaurant, because I would eat their yogurt as a meal any day.

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. It was COLD in Tucson - yes, you read right! It was about 45 degrees when we woke up and it stayed relatively cool - about 72 - all day! I can't even begin to tell you all how refreshing it was. It was like something awoke in me that has been dead for a long time...you know, that part of you that yearns for a visible change of seasons so you don't want to tear down all the snowmen decorations people put up here at Christmas just because you find it a horribly cruel joke...

2. Gavin went to nursery for the first time...sort of. The nursery leaders didn't show up to church, so Casey ended up substituting for the first hour and two other elders for the second hour. Next week will be his first "official/legal" week in nursery, and hopefully he will have his permanent nursery leaders there. Not to worry about him taking to this nursery thing, though - he practically shoves us out the door!

3. I didn't prepare a lesson for my 9-year-olds, as per our schedule that was handed out to us to follow, and as it turns out I was supposed to have prepared a lesson. Sigh. My solution was to combine gospel topics with fun: we played hangman. I had the kids ask any question relating to the gospel that they wanted to, and whoever asked the question came up with a word for the game based on our discussion of the answer. I decided that lynching people in church was not very spiritual, so we changed it to "dancing man." The kids were now able to create a crazy dancing man (or woman) who stood on a stage rather than hung from a rope. I think it went rather well, considering the lack of preparation and the near-creation of a disco legend on the chalkboard.

4. Our Bishop asked us from the pulpit to discuss Prop 102 on the Arizona ballot with someone this week. Prop 102 is like California's Prop 8: it would add an amendment to the Arizona Constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we fully support this amendment and invite others to do so. For more information, go to yesformarriage.com

5. We figured out that Gavin knows how to tell us what a sheep says, and it is extremely amusing. If you ever want to hear it, I'll try to upload a video sometime or you can try to Skype with us on the webcam.

6. I talked to TINA for a longish time! I love her so! She inspires me.

7. I endured playing the piano for the ward choir in the absolute coldest chapel in America. I think I came out with frostbite. On the bright side, at least we are singing "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need," as suggested by yours truly.

8. As I was hanging up the phone from my evening conversation with Tina, I walked into the dark kitchen barefoot and felt a crunch. I looked down, saw a dark spot on the floor, and knew exactly what it was. A dang cricket. That's right - I crushed a rather large cricket with my bare foot. For those who have read prior blogs relating to bugs and my general attitude towards them, I'll leave it to your imagination to decide how I felt about that. Casey's reaction? He tried not to laugh. Tried and failed. He thought it was pretty darn funny. I sat there with Bert-like mad, furrowed brows, cleaning off my foot, and he tried hard not to crack. At least I made him clean it up.

8 Things To Look Forward To
1. Fall weather, at last!
2. Good food in the Fall. Mmmmmm.
3. Gavin dressing up as Blue from Blue's Clues and getting to go Trick-or-Treating this year.
4. Thanksgiving and Christmas when we finally get to be with our whole families again.
5. Casey getting into USC.
6. Getting landscaping in our backyard.
7. Having another baby...someday!
8. Casey graduating from USC...in 3 years...sigh.

8 Things I Love About Fall
1. As before noted: the weather! It is my absolute favorite season, and I love the crispness of the mornings and evenings.
2. The food, of course! Bring on the creative Halloween and Thanksgiving-themed foods for my culinary expression and my family and friends' enjoyment! This includes applesauce doughnuts, cakes, cookies, turkey, mashed potatoes, stews, soups...I need a snack.
3. The color changes in the landscape. At least theoretically. The color change here? Green from monsoon season to brown. That happened in all of a week.
4. Fall clothing - and yes, blankets are a part of my wardrobe.
5. Baseball season, or at least the postseason. I know, I know - why would I love a sport? It makes Casey so happy, so therefore we watch and enjoy it together.
6. General Conference, though it has come and gone. What a wonderfully uplifting conference it was!
7. BYU football! GO COUGS!!
8. Anticipating Christmas!!

8 Things On My Wishlist
Warning: I am totally boring.
1. Financial stability for all those who struggle in my family at this time. This really is Wish #1 for me.
2. An awesome wheat grinder. No, make that an awesome electric wheat grinder and a hand-held one.
3. An armoire for my TV. I'm growing weary of my living room looking like a college apartment, especially since there are few accessories due to the necessity for childproofing.
4. A brother or sister for Gavin
5. The ability to fly at any time to see family, or the funds to fly them down here any time
6. A Family For Joe (Just kidding, Adlishes!)
7. The ability to do some of Casey's homework for him to help him have more time (even though that's cheating...good intentions?)
8. To live closer to family. Any family.

LAST CATEGORY!!

6 Quirks
1. I make an unidentifiable noise in my sleep, not unlike grinding but it isn't really grinding. I also smack my lips. I'm no Sleeping Beauty, that's for sure.

2. I have 2 very bad pet peeves. The first is when people don't clear the microwave interface if they take their food out of it before the allotted time is up. Just press "Clear/Off," people!! The second is when people drive at an inconsistent rate of speed and I am behind them. Either drive slowly or speed by me, but pick one or the other!!

3. I am a nut for the human body. I was a teaching assistant for 3 years at BYU in a Human Biology class, working alternately with a reproductive physiologist and a neuroscientist. Chances are that if you ask me a question relating to the biology of the body, I will go into deeper detail than you ever wanted or needed to know. One plug: I honestly believe that everyone should know way more about the body than they do. I can't tell you how useful it is in medical situations to know what the heck the doctor is talking about!

4. I used to eat a teaspoon of butter-flavored Crisco dipped in sugar if I was having an intensely insatiable craving for something sweet. I will also admit that I would eat a few spoon-fulls of Jiffy muffin mixes to accomplish the same satiation. I no longer do this, I promise, but if I ever get desperate again...I better have something on hand.

5. I am losing the vision in my right eye and have been for about 5 years. It is getting progressively worse, but very slowly. Luckily, my left eye compensates and I have no special restrictions. I will say that I miss the handicap placard I used to have that allowed me to park on campus all the time!!

6. My secret ambition is to be a singer. Maybe it's not such a secret, but not in the way that every other "high school musical program" graduate dreams of. They all want to go to Broadway and think that they are talented enough to get there, but I am not that delusional. I only want to tour with an excellent orchestra and sing all the songs I love on the stage. Think Linda Eder or Christiane Noll...and if you don't know who they are, you better look them up and buy their music because they are two of the best singers in the world, hands down. If I had the talent, the time, and no family to worry about, send me on tour! For now, though, I'll just have to settle for what is the REAL best job in the world: being the mother of the world's most darling child.

I'm too exhausted to tag anyone. That was way too much work. I hope you got to know me a little bit better, though, and maybe I'll just tag Casey and let him tell you all about him sometime!