My Narcissistic Experiment

To all of you ladies out there (I don't think I've achieved the blogger popularity of having mannies read my blog, but in case I have, by all means, mannies...go right ahead, too), I've started a new blog called Mama Moda. I'm hoping you'll all visit and post your best advice, recipes, tips, etc. Hopefully, it will be a helpful forum to record and reference all the wonderful ideas we hear and share everyday. Thanks in advance for your input and I hope you enjoy it!

http://mamamoda.blogspot.com

Lost in Translation

Amber and Karli are talking up a storm these days; Karli is learning how to use sentences and Amber is rapidly increasing her vocabulary (a result of her constant stream of questions, I think). The cutest thing about this new linguistic phenomenon is that they both get new, large words confused with other words they already know. Here are some of the best:

Amber told Adam she wants a red "incredible" (convertible).
Amber and Adam bought "elevator" at Meijer (Gatorade).
"Bacteria" put Karli in her car seat for me yesterday (Octavia, our neighbor).
Karli's new favorite movie is "George Washington" (Curious George).

My Little Mermaid

Amber has always loved mermaids; she was Aquamarine for Halloween and is obsessed with Disney's "The Little Mermaid". She even has a crush on Prince Eric and pretends to call him on her Little Mermaid cell phone. Imagine her delight when she saw this large rock at Georgetown Park the other day. She screamed out, "Look Mom! A rock like Ariel's!" and climbed onto it as fast as she could. She immediately started singing, "Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be part of your world!" and did the dramatic back-arch move that Ariel does. It was adorable!

Great Dane

My little sister, Allison, was called to the Denmark Copenhagen mission today. My cousin, Skyler, is serving there, too, so they'll get to see each other once in a while. Our ancestors came from Denmark; maybe Allison will have an advantage with a Danish last name. She is set to leave on September 3rd and I know she'll be a great missionary!

Swamp Things

Living in Michigan has taught me to appreciate the things I hated while growing up in Idaho and Utah, but living in a desert is the thing I took for granted the most. Yesterday we had torrential rain for six hours. Normally, I would have been elated to open the windows, smell the fresh, cool air, and snuggle up with Adam to enjoy the sexiness of a rainstorm of that magnitude. This storm, however, had no cooling effect on the 88-degree temperature and the air was anything but fresh. In weather like this, showering seems utterly pointless as one can never actually dry off afterward. Fixing my hair is also pointless because despite using the best in anti-humectant technology, it hangs in the same, shapeless and frizzy mass only moments after I unplug my flatiron. I must say I cannot stand amphibious living any longer!

The 80%-plus humidity also wreaks havoc on my laundry, and I am falling victim to what I deem the most horrific domestic odor: sour towels. I suffered from this travesty for the better part of my childhood and vowed that when I had my own house, my towels would never have a discernible fragrance. I have, up until this point, been able to maintain wonderfully clean and fresh towels, but last night I experienced a terrible shock when I emerged from the shower and grabbed my newly-washed towel from the bar. As soon as it touched my wet face, the acrid, sour odor blasted into my nostrils and nearly knocked me out. I frantically thought to myself "How could this be happening to me?" After all, I use bleach and baking soda in every load of towels that I wash, and I am the from-washer-immediately-to-dryer Nazi of the Clark home. The only explanation is the cursed humidity; the towels don't even get dry in the dryer. They hang in the bathroom to dry but don't have a chance in heck, hence we are stuck in the awful, disgusting cycle of towel stench. Save us!