Feven Fosts for Friday

1. John's post was slightly incoherent yesterday. He was exhausted and frustrated. All you need to know is that I have the worst luck EVER with phones. They always break/suddenly start moving like molasses/lose signal ALL the time/etc. We thought my luck would turn when I got the fancy shmancy iPhone 4s. Nope. No change. So now I have none of the pictures/videos I took in the past year or so. So that's fun.

2. The video I wanted you to see is this one:

Proof that those Spanish books are working magic on my little guy. So if you haven't entered the giveaway for the 4 Susan Middleton Elya English/Spanish kid's books, be sure to do so by CLCKING HERE!! I’ll announce the winner on next week’s Feven Fosts.

3. We are resuming our "Search for a Church" this weekend. After 2 years of attending the same church and feeling like we still don't know a soul, we've decided to look elsewhere for a church home. While we LOVE the sermons at our current church, we've had such a hard time meeting people. We joined a Bible Study there in hopes of meeting people but it didn't work, we still felt alone and nobody ever talked to us. We have tried to reach out to the pastors and join Small Groups but the only ones we can find are during the day--and since I'm not a Stay at Home parent, we are out of luck. It's in a great community where people have grown up together and their parents went to high school/college together--this is fantastic for the people who are from that community but as an outsider, it is so terribly hard to "break in" and meet people. We don't want Jack to see that church is about going in, sitting through the service, and then leaving without talking to a single person. Luckily, we've had a good couple years--but it's tough to think about what would have happened if my eyes hadn't stabilized, if Jack hadn't been healthy, etc...the idea of not having a church community to support us like our beloved T!LC in Nebraska did is hard. We need that, we need a church family. So we've decided to start looking for a church that has great sermons and where we feel like people care whether we are there. Please wish us luck--I'm starting to feel really empty. Oh, and it'd also be nice if we could find one with a nursery that won't make me come get Jack just because he's crying. I NEED to listen to the sermon. It won't kill him to cry for an hour because he misses us, I promise. I mean, I'm REALLY fun to be around--most people cry when I leave...he'll get over it like everyone else does.

4. I am obsessed with painting my nails. I painted them at Glamazon weekend with Chelsea's fancy polishes/pens and I loved having some color on my nails--it looked so feminine. I painted them gray on Wednesday night (elephant skin, if you will) and I love that color too. My nails feel so much stronger with polish on and I find that I don't pick at them. If you know me, you know I'm a picker--I can't help myself! If my cuticles are dry, I have this insatiable need to pick at them. Sick, huh?

5. John and I don't have a "free" weekend until APRIL. APRIL, PEOPLE! I need ONE weekend where we just relax. I may lose my mind by the time April rolls around.

6. Did I tell you about the toaster thing John bought me? It's a breakfast sandwich maker/toaster. I now cannot leave the house in the AM without making a breakfast sandwich. I am obsessed.

7. I see my kidney doctor today to see if my levels have increased over the past few months of horse-pill taking. Cross your fingers!!!

8. I got a call from the day care yesterday afternoon that Jack had a nearly 102 degree temperature. The kid can’t get healthy for longer than a day at a time! If he still has a fever in the morning, I’ll have to stay home with him since apparently it’s frowned upon to bring a fevered child to daycare.

Son of a gun…

Molly woke up around 11:30 asking me to help fill up a blog post for today and mentioned she took a good video of Jack talking.  Videos of Jack are always awesome, so I was excited to see it. 

Unfortunately, her phone was running out of space and I was tasked with fixing it.  I think my most recent run-in with Apply is making me question whether I’m truly done with this closed off experience.  There’s no better user experience than Apple for some of the simpler items, but just trying to manage pictures… pictures that we took and we own mind you is one of the most maddening things in the world.

She was out of space, so I began backing up her pictures on my computer.  I removed the Photo Stream (which is probably one of the worst launched features in Apply history.  I can’t delete a photo?).  Then I go back into the phone and see:

Ummm… What’s “Other”?  And why is “Other” taking 9.7GB on Molly’s phone.  I looked around on the internet and the only solution to eliminate “Other” is to restore the phone completely.  Wow.  Just wow.  For all of the “amazingness” of Apple, it astounds me how restrictive and dumb it can be.

I’m in the process of restoring right now, but that cute video of Jack appears to be gone.  GONE.  However, the picture Molly took of her fingernails survived.  What?  Huh? 

Then the restore apparently made it forget that it was associated with Molly’s phone number.  I think I could punch something right now.

Anyway, a simple request to free up some room on her phone by moving some photos off the phone and onto my computer has now turned into a case of some lost pictures/videos, the phone forgetting it’s number, a complete restore from scratch, and a lost couple hours for something that should be quite easy.

So, in conclusion, I will leave you with a light hearted lesson on why the comma before the word “and” is quite important.

Next time you see me, I could be walking around with an Android… or my old Motorola StarTac.

Libros, Libros EVERYWHERE!

Okay, maybe not everywhere but on Considering Campbell, at least.

 
When we decided that we wanted to teach Jack Spanish, we bought a few "Used Book Lots" on eBay--just a bunch of random Spanish children's books for $5 or something like that. I can't remember whether "Say Hola to Spanish!" was in one of those lots or whether it was a gift. Nevertheless, it quickly became Jack's favorite book. The English/Spanish rhyming was catchy and Jack picked up on it almost immediately ("A dog is a perro, a cat is a gato, you drink from a vaso and eat from a plato!"). It's adorable to hear him call bread "pan" and open wide when I ask him to show me his dientes. One of my favorite things about the book is that there is a little glossary in the back that translates all the Spanish words used throughout the story. After Jack demanded to read "Español!" every night (even though it sounded much more like "Pan-OL!"), we decided to go online and see if we could find more books written by the author. We were in luck. The next day I ordered Say Hola to Spanish Otra Vez, Rubia and the Three Osos and a few other gems. Although I loved them all, Rubia and the Three Osos was probably my favorite of the lot. I just loved the retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears with the Spanish words thrown in and rhyming in a way that Jack remembered them later.

When we were looking for Spanish books at the beginning of our "Let's teach our Gringo Spanish!" quest, none of Susan's books came up in our search. It was sheer dumb luck that we ended up with the first one on our bookshelf. Now that we've fallen in love with her fun and effective way of teaching kids (and let's face it, adults too) a robust number of Spanish vocabulary words, I want to shout her praises from the rooftops. I am convinced that the rest of you will fall in love with her style too. And here's a little secret I found out: if you order her books directly from her shop, she sends it to you with an autograph inside the front cover. Umm....yes please! A few of the books on her site are only English so if you’re looking for the English/Spanish versions, be sure to make the right choice!

But you want more than just a link to purchase an autographed copy of the best books around, you say? Well, you're in luck. Because Susan Middleton Elya, being the peach she is, asked her publishers to send me 4 of her books to give away to you lovely folks!

What: Four of Susan Middleton Elya's English/Spanish rhyming books (a $55.00 value!!):
1) Rubia and the Three Osos The Campbell Favorite!! Jack likes to "Drink sopa!!!" and pretend to drink from the bowl of soup that Goldilocks brings to Baby Bear as a peace offering
2) Say Hola to Spanish at the Circus We don't have this one but we have Say Hola to Spanish (Jack’s favorite) and Say Hola to Spanish, Otra Vez which are both great
3) Bebe Goes Shopping Yep, we've got this one too....and Jack loves to show off his sweet Español Skills as we read it and he tells us everything he sees on the "shelves" of the grocery store
4) Bebe Goes to the Beach Don't have this one but we probably should. Nothing makes Jack happier than "Agua!" so an entire book about it? Yeah, gonna need to get on that.

Rules: Just leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite childhood book was. I'll use random.org to draw a winner at 6:00 PM CST on Thursday, February 2 so be sure to enter before then! The winner will be posted on Friday, February 3. And just to be sure that this giveaway and Susan's books get even more attention, if you tweet about this giveaway, leave me a 2nd comment telling me so (and your twitter name so I can verify---because, ya know, I'm a lawyer...I need evidence) and you'll be entered for a 2nd chance to win.

Note: I wasn't paid to write this post and I don’t know Susan Middleton Elya or any of her publishers. And frankly, I'd have written it even without the freebies to give away to you guys. I truly think that more people should know about her books because there's nothing neater than hearing your not-even-two-year-old ask you for "queso" on his "huevo" in the morning. Her writing style is very child-friendly yet still really reinforces the Spanish/English education. Really, all we do is read him one or two of her books each day and he's already picking up on it like a rockstar. So if you or anyone you know has/is expecting kiddos soon, enter this giveaway. And if you don't win, be sure to head over to her website to order a few of her libros---because who doesn’t want a bilingual kid? College scholarships, here we come!

Hitting “Refresh”

By now, you may or may not have already heard about my weekend. Perhaps you follow me on Twitter and read the 6,000 tweets I sent over the course of this past weekend with the "Glamazon" hashtag. Or perhaps you already read the recaps over on Chelsea or Lauren's blogs. Or perhaps you don't have any idea what I'm talking about. Well, you're in luck...because I'm here to serve.

As you may recall, my dear friend Chelsea has been going through a bit of a tough time recently. If you read her blog, you have heard her talk about her friend Lucy (Looooocy). Lucy was Chelsea's high school bestie turned chiropractic miracle worker. A few weeks before Christmas, Lucy got really sick and no one could figure out why. After weeks of testing, they determined it was an aggressive form of colon cancer. Just a few short weeks later, she was gone.  To say that Chelsea is/was destroyed would be an understatement. One of the wonderful things about Chelsea is that she loves. Hard. She is one of those people that makes you feel like you're the only friend she's ever had--she makes you feel like you matter, like you have worth, like you special--you are loved. And she doesn't just "make you feel" that way, she truly believes it. She loves her friends with such fervor and kindness. If you're her friend, you know what I mean. So yes, it would be tough for anyone to lose a friend. But for Chelsea? It was like losing part of who she was when Lucy died.

The Glamazons thought about Chelsea all the time during her heartache. We felt helpless not knowing how to serve our friend, unsure how to make her feel better. We knew that time would really be the only thing to ease Chelsea's pain but that wasn't good enough. This was our friend, we needed to be there for her. So after a few days of planning with some of the greatest girls on this side of the Pecos, a scheme was hatched. We may not know how to make Chelsea feel better but what we did know was that we were all going to be there for her--loving her and talking her through whatever it was that she needed from us--even if only for 48 hours.

Now don't get me wrong...Chelsea didn't need us. She has a family that supports the heck out of her, the kind of husband they make movies about (good movies, not some crappy Lifetime flick), and friends in Houston that love her to pieces. No, this weekend was for us. We needed our friend to know that she was loved. We needed to see her smile return to her face. We needed her to know that she was special and that it was OKAY to laugh again, to have a good time, and to go 3 seconds without crying. And we needed her to remember what it felt like to breathe. 

Lauren showed up on Chelsea's doorstep on Friday afternoon. They laughed and cried and talked until Kelly walked in the door a couple hours later to continue the weekend of surprises. A few hours later, Kelly "left for the night" and came to pick me up at the Houston airport. We returned to the house where I banged on the door until Chelsea opened it to see her short San Antonio pal standing on her doorstep with a smile and a bottle of Choco Vine. Seeing Chelsea's surprised face as she literally leaned up against the hallway wall with a "What is happening?" look on her face before pulling me in tight for a bear hug was one of my favorite moments in life. Kelly jumped out from behind the door and yelled, "Surprise! I'm baaack!" We sat on the couch drinking wine and talking until a knock on the front door rounded out the Glamazon surprises. Lyndsey had finished her drive from Austin just in time to put the Glamazon icing on the cake as we all settled in for a weekend of food, laughter, conversation, and love. So. Much. Love.

We stayed up late chatting until Lauren and I fell asleep on the bedroom floor. On Saturday morning, we headed to the grocery store for supplies. I went in my PJs. Because clearly, when you are with a group of women who look like these beauties, it's always a good idea to go out in public with them at your absolute worst.

We came home and ate breakfast casserole, drank coffee, and seriously sat on the couch doing nothing but laughing and talking until 4 pm. We may or may not have also eaten our weight in my signature bruschetta & butter-fried baguette.

It felt like maybe 2 hours had passed when I looked down at my phone and realized we'd literally just been talking the entire day away. We decided that we should do something “productive” with our time together so we decided a trip to Goodwill was in order. Now I didn't want to show these ladies up with my knock-out kind of beauty so I decided to do them all a favor and not get all dolled up for Goodwill. Lauren, Kelly and Lyndsey, however, got ready for a night on the town...for a thrifting excursion. Chelsea and I stood there in our jeans while Lyndsey pulled on a little black dress, Kelly applied wedding-day caliber makeup, and Lauren pulled her hair up into an updo.

At one point Chelsea said, "I thought we were just going to Goodwill...?" We all did, Chelsea, we all did (as an aside, even Chelsea in her dirty hair still looked like a hottie…showoff). We eventually got the girls to finalize their beauty regimen and we headed for a quick trip out. Yeah, they may have all looked hotter than I did...but I felt like my three-sizes-too-big sweater and jeans fit in much better at Goodwill than their hot little getups. So there's that, right? We headed back to the house where we had drinks, Lauren taught me a few of her hair secrets (listen, you don't spend an entire weekend with friends who look like these girls and not demand that they teach you something about looking like them), we painted our nails with Chelsea's nail pens, and watched Kelly cook us up a gourmet meal.

After dinner, we sat on the couch and talked some more....because there's always more to talk about with these ladies. This time it was me and Kelly who fell asleep early. First I'm always the one who dresses like a frump and then I'm always the one who falls asleep? I better get with the program here or my Glamazon invites are going to start "getting lost in the mail."

On Sunday morning, we woke up and said goodbye to Kelly as she headed home. We ate Lyndsey's pancakes (how did I live my entire life cooking pancakes in anything other than butter?) and lamented the fact that the weekend was coming to a close. At 11, Lauren and I hugged the heck out of Lyndsey and Chelsea before heading to the airport where Lauren dropped me off after a bit more hugging. As I sat in the airport terminal, I just kept thinking of the love I felt over the previous two days and I couldn't wipe the goofy smile off my face. There are things about these girls. Things that I can't quite put into words...but there are things. They just make you feel good. It's saying something when you can spend a weekend with a room full of girls who could seriously pass for Barbie's human equivalent and leave with more confidence than you had walking in. Most girls would spend the weekend picking at their flaws and thinking, "I wish I had her eyelashes" or "Why can't I be taller?" but instead, I left with all sorts of compliments and uplifting messages being spoken straight into me. I came into work yesterday morning and was subjected to the barrage of cut-downs and insults--I just kept thinking, "I wish I could hang out with my skinny, supermodel friends again so I could feel good about myself." That's not the kind of thought most people would have. But like I said, these girls are different. Spending the weekend with them is like slipping into the comfort of that extra large, extra soft sweater I sported to our Goodwill Saturday night excursion. It is like curling up with a good cup of coffee in front of a warm fire. It is just comfortable. It is recharging. It is GOOD. God intends us to have friends who lift us up and make us feel loved and worthy. This weekend may have been planned with Chelsea in mind, with lifting her up and making her feel loved and valued. In truth, I left feeling those same things. I left feeling beautiful, loved, valued, and special. What a great weekend to honor the memory of Lucy, a girl who epitomized all of those things.