Judgy McJudgenstein = me.

I'm sure that most of you already know - or if you don't, aren't surprised by the fact, that I'm a pretty opinionated girl. Generally, I try not to express such opinions unless asked - b/c we all know how annoying that can be. But - what else are blogs for if not for complaining?

Here's my latest rant. I couldn't sleep. There was nothing on TV. So I left it on TLC whilst I emailed, and the Miss America Pageant came on. I think I'm the opposite of everything the pageant demographic should be - so this was disaster in the making. I should have just walked away. Long story short, the swimsuit competition came on. The girls paraded around in their bikini's - nothing out of the ordinary. Then Miss UT came out....In a one piece. Ah! Why this made me so mad, I have no idea. Lets try and figure that out.

1. I live in UT - Land of the made up modesty standards. Ex. The Alpine school district has made it mandatory that ALL girls MUST have sleeves of a certain length on their dresses in order to attend a formal dance. I'm not even going to go into that one.

2. Bikini or one piece - you are already parading your body around for millions to see and a panel of judges to judge. Maybe she didn't do her homework and get her body in shape - we'll never know.

3. Isn't it common knowledge that if you're going to do pageants, you're probably going to have to wear a bik, or its at least in your best interest? Why go for something you know will make you uncomfortable or that you don't agree with. This is an industry standard people.

4. Pure logistics: If they can't see what kind of shape you're in, how can they judge you? Some of those girls had rockin' abs. If that were me, I'd sport a bik everywhere! The store, the movies, cooking, church, you name it.

5. This isn't the same thing - but its along similar lines. She wore a tank top (gasp!) in the opening number with all the other 51 contestants. AND all her gowns from previous pageants were sleeveless too.

6. Lets say she was vehemently against bikini's, fine. But if she is so concerned with announcing her values, wouldn't she do more good and reach more people winning the pageant than her 15 seconds in a one piece on stage?

7. And finally - this is the Miss America Pageant, you've made it this far. Is this really the hill you want to die on?

Needless to say, she was the first to be eliminated. Oh, and don't get me wrong - there were plenty of other things that made me cringe with other contestants too. I'm an equal opportunity hater. Lessons learned? Sarah shouldn't watch pageants, and Sarah has been living in UT way too long.

Ah - I feel much better, and I"m over it. But don't worry there are more rants to come.

My Day.

Now that PG is on a good schedule, the holidays are over and things have calmed down a bit - I find myself wondering - why am I so busy/stressed out all the time? So I decided to break down my typical day.

It starts around 6:45 am. From there on out I have a three 1-1.5 hour increments of time to myself after PG has been fed and changed, or he is napping, - that's if he sticks to his 2 hours awake, 2 hours asleep schedule. During those increments I do the following on a daily basis (for the most part):

• Clean.
• Do Laundry.
• Treadmill & Pilates (baby weight isn't going to loose itself people)
• Chip away at our mountain of medical bills/insurance claims/paperwork from PG's hospitalization and surgery.
  
• Panic about what to make for dinner.
• Run any errands that can be accomplished within a 1 hour time span.
• Shower, and 50% of the time get my hair blown dry.
• Work on press kits for our films.
• Become outraged yet again at the $ of celery I had to pay at the store the other day.
  
• Entertain Preston.
• Go to the bathroom - you laugh, but sometimes I decide, "I just don't have time!"
• Eat - you laugh again, but I forget a lot of the time.
• Follow election news & continue to despise/fear Hillary (thanks Anna).
• Decide what's for dinner and make it.
• Eat dinner when Dave gets home.
• Pack Dave's lunch.
• Clean up after dinner.
  
• Do PG's bedtime routine (bath or story, then swaddling about 30 minutes).
• Put PG to bed.
• Do more laundry whilst watching TV or a movie or just hangin' with Dave.
  
• Dream feed PG around 10:45 pm.
• Get up intermittently during the night to check on PG (yes I'm that paranoid), or put his paci back in if he starts to stir.
  
• Start again the next day at 6:45am.
• And there's always the weekly/monthly commitments. Visiting teaching, preparing lessons for Sunday, PG's doctor appointments in SALT LAKE etc. which completely throw my day off......

So I know everybody is busy, just like me. But I do feel better having made my list. My pre-baby days were filled with established accomplishments I could list out - "I spent 3 hours in meetings today, I started BLANK # of projects today, I went to BLANK # of press checks today" etc. Now, I look at my day and think......I did some laundry - I think? But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Heath Ledger - RIP.

I'm not terribly into celebrity gossip - but I was horrified to find out today that Australian actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment. We know him from such films as 10 things I Hate about You, the Patriot, A Knights Tale, and Brokeback Mountain.

All Dave had to say about it was , "if this screws up the release of
The Dark Knight' I'm going to be pissed." Well said babe, well said.

We'll miss you Heath Ledger. Thanks for your hearty good looks, your fairly decent acting ability and your infamous boy on boy action. I was privileged to be your character from Brokeback Mountain for Halloween 07. May you rest in peace.

For the MSNBC news story click here.

Cousins, cousins and more cousins.

Since PG missed out on a lot of visiting his first few months of life - he's been catching up like crazy over the past few weeks.

Over Christmas - he finally got to meet Annabelle, adorable daughter of Jared and Michelle Aller. They pretty much just stared at each other, but it was fun for us none the less.


Last week he also got to meet mom's uncle Bert, aunt Janece, cousins Jessica and Eryn, and Eryn's little one Chris - again, more staring.

Thanks for all the family fun!

Opposable toe.

Ok, I saw this news story the other day, and its been haunting my dreams ever since. Its about a guy who had surgeons replace his severed thumb with his big toe. Eventually he will have 80% "thumb function" once he recovers from the replacement. Truly amazing.

BUT we all know how I feel about 99.9% of the feet out there. And while I am stoked that science can accomplish such an amazing "feat" (AHAHAHAHAHA), I still can help but gag/vomit a little in my mouth, at the thought that he will be eating with this toe-finger, shaking other people's hands with this toe finger, perhaps using this toe-finger to turn the page of a book or magazine after being licked etc. Am I crazy? Maybe. I can't say what I'd do if I had to choose between toe-thumb or no thumb at all. Let us pray my life doesn't head in such a direction.

Pooh.

Yes - Pooh, but this time it has nothing to do with PG. I came downstairs to this absurdity the other night. Don't ask, because I have no explanation. All I have to say is, I heart that David Aller.....I wonder if he's taken?

Christmas a la Aller

Better late than never right? 2007 was the Aller Christmas year - so we had the whole clan staying at various houses in Utah Valley. Normally Aller Christmas' are spent at Gary and Kathy's in Kansas. But Gary and Kathy have now retired and relocated to Wellsville UT, and their new dream home will hopefully be finished in 2008. For this year's gathering, we were all spread out between our home and Dave's sister Kristin's home in Springville.

1st night: Dinner Out

2nd Night - Dinner at Kristin & Scott's home (Dave's sis).

Christmas Eve: Dinner at our house



Christmas morning we did gifts for those camping @ our place:
Jared, Michell & little Annabelle, & little bro Kyle (who was asleep all morning).


PG got a "Wiggle Worm Gym" - we feel he needs to start working out.


Oh, and we had some home cooked (by me!) cinnamon rolls.



Then we headed over to Kristin's to do family gifts.

Scott, Kristin and Maya.


PG and Grandpa Aller - Any resemblance?

PG with his new quilt and Mom opening gifts.


Grandma Aller & PG with his new hat & mittens.

It was great to have everyone together - I'd call Christmas 2007 a success for sure.

Shumie Shums

Christmas break started out with a bang. Our friends Brett and Katie Shumway were in town for 5 minutes to attend a wedding. We haven't seen them in about year and it was so great to catch up and introduce them to Preston. The rest of the day Dave and I kept saying - "man, we miss the Shums - why did those bizos have to move to LA? RIP".