If you want to see me angry...

...make a racist joke.

There are still people out there who honestly think race or country of origin determines a person's worth or abilities or potential.  Then there are people who don't think that way and yet say things about how Mexicans make such good landscapers.  Is it really because they're Mexican?  Besides the fact that probably a huge chunk of those landscapers aren't even from Mexico but from another Latin American country.  My Chilean sister-in-law gets so tired of people saying she's Mexican just because she speaks Spanish, not because she has anything against Mexicans (well, she might, but that is neither here nor there) but because she loves her country and her history.

It might be funny to you, you might not consider yourself racist, you might not actually fire someone or think poorly of someone for their skin color or accent, but by telling that joke, you are propagating the underlying idea that race matters.  While you might think it's horrible that Josh's grandmother--a first-generation German American--didn't speak German or teach it to her children or grandchildren, she did it out of self-preservation.  German is cool now, but it wasn't then.  Making jokes about Asians being good manual labor might seem ridiculous now, but Asian Americans have not always been as well-regarded as they are now.  Well, you might assume everyone at the table knows you're not a racist, but I have these two issues with the joke:
1. I think you might be.  Many horrible statements have started with, "I'm not racist but..."
2. Spanish is not cool right now.  Latinos nation-wide are ashamed of their mother tongue and that is very sad.

I actually walked out of a party a few days ago.  I tried to be calm about it and simply explained that the joke made me uncomfortable.  I think I might have made a bit of a scene, but it would have been much worse if I'd stayed, trust me.  He probably really isn't racist.  He probably just said something in bad taste, we all do from time to time.  Either way, it's been an issue on my mind for a while.  Two other situations for the three people still reading (let's get a big cheer my fellow Spanglofiles [is that a word?]):

-Telling a story about seeing a family get hit by a car, she says: "A Mexican family was walking across the street in front of us."  Nothing wrong with that, really, except their race had nothing to do with the story.  She wouldn't have said, "A white family was walking across the street."  Probably a little thing, but I do think it's interesting that it made it into her story.
-I've heard more than once that you won't be racist until you live in the South.  Racial tension is alive and well here, that's true, on both sides.  But my issue with that theory and with the way a potential landlord tried to sell us on a house ("All the neighbors are white but that one") is this: it's not the skin color that is the issue.  Yes, the poor side of town which is also where most of the black people live has a higher rate of crime and worse schools than the affluent side.  That's true in every town I've ever lived in, whether the poor part is inhabited by blacks, whites, latinos, or all three.  While there is no shame in being born poor, the problem is education, opportunity, choices, work ethic...all of those and then some.  While it might be easier to lump people together the way they seem in your town or experience, it does nothing to heal the racial divide.  And when good kind people are saying things like that, it can only be expected that the nasty judgmental ones would continue on their racist way without sticking out of the crowd as the bigots they are.

I don't really want a political discussion or argument out of this, so please no angry comments.  I just needed a place to vent that was more socially appropriate than yelling at my host.  I mean, come on, they already worry about setting off the feminist in me.  I thought walking outside for a bit was a good compromise.  I mean, how many Mexicans has he actually ever known?  In the words of my favorite ASU delinquent (whose story seems to be gone!): "Him, none.  Me lots."

English is hard

Watching MegaMind (which I expected to hate and thought was kind of cute):
Jonah: What are those? (pointing to vials and tubes in the lab)
Me: Um, those are big glass things full of...different colored liquids. (Not my most eloquent description certainly.)

Me: I'm going to miss Daddy today.
Jonah: No, I'M going to miss Daddy today.
Me: Let's both miss him.
Jonah: No, I only one miss him.

Another only/both issue:
Me: Would you like grapes? Popcorn? Both?
Jonah: Both...let's have grapes and popcorn and those two can be our both.

There was at least one other funny thing he said that I was going to put up, but I forgot.  Either way, English is hard.

birthday week

We started a tradition last year that the week of your birthday, you get to pick dinner every night.  It's really not that different than normal since Josh and I pick our meals every week except we tend to eat out some, eat more expensive food, and when it's my week eat food Josh doesn't care for.  On Jonah's birthday week we were in AZ and the grandparents make every day birthday week for him, so he didn't get to participate.  So, this past week was our first in a while.  In a surprising move, Josh only picked 5 meals and just that many desserts.  He's not usually a sweets guy, so this was unusual.  He says he'll come up with 2 more soon. We'll see.  Just in case anyone is curious what it looks like (especially if we fall over from cardiac arrest), here was the menu:

1. Sushi--who knew Costco sells imitation crab California rolls 16 slices for $5?  It's not fancy sushi, but those who ate it didn't seem to mind. (I made potstickers and tempura vegetables [I used this batter recipe but did not make the dipping sauces or use any seafood.  It made at least twice what I needed and I made tempura for 6 adults.  I hope I can remember to half it next time.] for anyone who didn't want sushi as we had friends over.  The vegetables were great and I will definitely do it again.  Favorite veggies across the board were the sweet potatoes, green beans, eggplant.  While the asparagus and broccoli had good texture, they did have a bit of a funky flavor...just liked both veggies do cooked.)
2. Steak, potatoes, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms.  This meal was supposed to include sauerkraut, but I forgot to get it (really!) so he's going to add it to another of the mystery meals.
3. Enchiladas and Mexican rice.  We ate this just last night.  Yum, yum!
4. Asian lettuce wraps.
5. Indian food at Silver Coin. We didn't make it, having filled ourselves up at lunch at the Cheesecake Factory the day we were in Birmingham, but we will.  He has a lab mate from India who claims it's the best in Alabama.

Sweets:
1. Homemade donuts (delicious but made up both feel a bit oily this time.  The first 2 times we made them we loved them.  This time, we just needed naps and some exercise).
2. Strawberry cake and homemade ice cream.  I dumped a box of strawberry gelatin in with a yellow cake and frosted it with homemade cream cheese and strawberry frosting.  It was delicious.
3. Snickers bars.  I ate one so I guess I'd better replace it.
4. Banana cream pie, which I still haven't made (oops).
5. Rice milk with strawberry syrup.  I bought some, which he did use, but he also started making himself some chocolate rice milk.  What has happened to Josh and where did this sweet tooth come from?!

I guess we'll wait and see what else he picks.  I wish I could go back to bed, but instead I'm stuck convincing Jonah he can't just eat spoonfuls of Nutella for breakfast (unsuccessfully, so far).  I also broke my glasses yesterday.  Boo.

hiding out

We found a turtle on the back deck this morning.  Josh and I went inside to grab shoes and left Jonah, Dixie, and Silla (Jonah's name for the turtle), outside with the warning, "don't let Dixie bite the turtle!"  When we came back outside, the turtle was completely holed up inside his shell.  Jonah declared in his most distraught voice, "She took its face!"

Never fear.  Silla has its face again and Jonah now knows that turtles hide in their shells.

cause, correlation, or coincidence

I ate an entire jar of pickles in the last two days.  Since I used to drink pickle juice straight as a kid*, I don't really consider it a statistically sound effect, but there is some reason to consider it a correlation.

On January 1st (or so), we'll be a family of four.  Josh and I are excited and Jonah thinks he is.  We'll see.

*drink should read lap up like a cat out of a shallow dish while kneeling on top of the dinner table, but that would expose my weirdness.  I also used to wage wars between the sweet (gross) and dill (far superior) pickles in the refrigerator.

fire for dinner!

I have to post these things because they are a) funny and b) the only redeeming quality this boy has recently.  He has been stubborn with a capital S and it's starting to get on my nerves.  So anyway, when he makes me laugh I like him again.

Jonah: Raa! I blowed some fire on you!
me: Some fire? Aaah!
Jonah: Yes, cause I'm a dragon.
me: A dragon?
Jonah: Yes and I have fire in my belly because I ate fire for dinner!

the smoothie man!

While eating a smoothie for breakfast this morning, Jonah stood up on his chair threw his arms in the air and yelled, "I'm the SMOOTHIE MAN!"  We had to laugh.  He then proceeded to dub us the cereal man (me--I was eating cereal) and the straw man (Josh--no idea why).  Then he declared that we were all the smoothie mans and went back to eating his smoothie.

one of Jonah's new favorite things

good good bad bad

I have a few other cute pictures which I finally uploaded, but this one gets top priority:

Good: a house!
Good: we signed a lease (pending credit check)
Bad: someone is living there right now
Bad: we can't move in for at least a month (unless I can convince them to move out early..what college student doesn't have a friend's couch to sleep on?)

I'm holding out for a huge celebration until we actually move in (too many disappointments in the last few months to not have a little part of me expecting something to go wrong), but we really love it and it's close to campus...something we thought was no longer an option with everything that's been destroyed.

This is my favorite part:

A backyard!  Fenced in!

And here is Jonah's favorite part (he has a new thing for porch swings):

More details when it gets more permanent, but seeing as how I wrote a deposit check this evening, I'm feeling pretty good about things.

three posts in one day?

Well, this was too good to forget.

Josh disappeared an hour and a half ago to calm down an upset and should-have-been-sleeping Jonah.  All was quiet for a while, so I figured both had fallen asleep.

Just a minute ago, Jonah emerged declaring, "Mommy, I'm hungry."  Then, wiped his face and said, "my face is all messy with chocolate goldfish.  But don't worry, I cleaned it off."  I think I just learned what Jonah was up to when Josh fell asleep.

keep your chin up

Oh yeah! I forgot one of the best parts of yesterday: Driving through one of the harder hit areas I passed Temporary Emergency Services which is spearheading volunteer coordination at this point and is also incidentally where I got our dresser when we moved to town (for a great deal, too..I love that dresser!).  Their marquee said the following (more or less, I didn't write it down): We're all in this together.  It will get better!

Of course, that made me cry, but for once in the last week it was crying not because we still need a place to live but because things will get better.

grossed out

Cicadas here are at least three times the size of the ones in Arizona.  This means that the shells are also larger, thicker, and grosser.  Why, oh why, did Josh leave one on the trash can lid so I could freak out every time I throw something away?

*He put it there so Jonah could see it without having to worry about touching it.  We had a hard time convincing Jonah that there was no bug inside.  He was both fascinated and afraid.  It was actually like two minutes later when it freaked me out and that's just me forgetting it was there not Josh playing pranks.  Still, it was so gross.  And to think I used to collect the shells off the trees growing up.  Not these shells.  These are mutant shells.

a good thing, I think

While making a grocery list I asked the standard question: what should I get at the store, guys?

Usually just Josh answers, or even then only answers with a meal idea rather than specifics (that's okay by me), but for the first time tonight Jonah offered two actual suggestions: "apples and that cereal with the white stuff on it...let's get that kind at the store!"  I'm pretty sure he means Frosted Mini Wheats* since those are my current favorite, but he did have some Frosted Flakes a few weeks ago, so maybe he means those?

*Actually, as I've said before, I prefer the Malt-O-Meal version which is also cheaper.  One thing that is not better generic is Raisin Bran.  That bag of cereal has lasted us way too long because the flakes taste funny.

good, bad, funny

Good: We spent the evening with some friends in Birmingham, including a few hours at the botanical gardens.

Bad: Hearing a rental agent refer to prospective renters are "piranhas".  Things are being leased the same day they become available.  I don't have the stomach for that kind of intensity.

Funny (sort of): When Jonah was in his room but not quite asleep, he started saying things about the man talking.  Assuming he was talking about the television show Josh and I were watching, I just told him to go back to sleep.  A few minutes later he was crying that he needed a new phone to talk to that man again.  He only calmed down when I agreed to call the man back but really called Uncle Brandon.  Anyway, we finally pieced together than Jonah had called someone in the ward not once, but twice, and had a few minute conversation with him.  Brother Waddoups said all he heard was Jonah talking about going to bed and the park, etc. etc.  Ah, the things he comes up with.

this morning

I was making breakfast and Josh was still asleep when Jonah said, "I'm going to go tell daddy that breakfast is ready."

A minute or two later he came back and grabbed a drumstick (the wooden kind for playing drums, not the chicken kind) and said, "I need to use this drumstick 'cause he's kind of tricky."

I was at a delicate point in breakfast so the best I could do was yell after him, "Don't hit anything with that!"

...I hope it goes well.