My Favorite Locksmith

About a year ago, one of my students hopped in her car to go home and couldn’t get it to start. In order to reach her battery with my battery, I had to park halfway in my neighbor’s driveway and halfway in the middle of the street. I figured it would be okay since it would only take a second. That’s when I locked my keys in the car.

By the time the locksmith arrived, my student had called her brother, gotten her car jumped, and left, leaving my car in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.

A few months later, Ben borrowed a truck from work so we could deliver our couches to the people who bought them off Craigslist. Liam locked himself in the car, and we called the first locksmith who could be at our house in 15 minutes. It just happened to be the same guy who came the last time, and you better believe he remembered my crazy parking job.

Since it had been several months and we knew that locksmith was good, fast, and cheap, I called him this week to see if he could re-key the locks on our new house. When he showed up, I pretended I had never seen him before. (No need to bring up past transgressions, right?) Everything went really well until he finished and I handed him a check. He saw my address and a light bulb turned on above his head. “Oh, yeah!” he said. “You’re the one who locked your kid in the truck, right?”

On Becoming a Permanent Utahn

I found my new favorite grocery store yesterday. It’s called Sunflower Farmers Market, and contrary to how it might sound, it’s neither outside nor temporary. It’s a real live grocery store with tons of cheap, yummy produce and bread and fresh salmon.

But here’s the best part. Remember my favorite kind of candy, which I have to buy online in bulk because it doesn’t exist in the state of Utah? The Sunflower Farmers Market sells sour strawberry belts! Now I can live in Utah for the rest of my life.

Fortunately

We spent last week in Yosemite with my family, hiking, riding bikes, river rafting, and checking out all of the cool wild animals.


One afternoon as we were strolling around the park, a squirrel came up to check us out. My five-year-old nephew, Jacob, threw a piece of bark at the little guy and hit him right in the belly. His mom reprimanded him for trying to hurt the squirrel, but finished her lecture with, “Fortunately the bark was soft, so you didn’t hurt him.” Jacob answered, “Fortunately I GOT that guy!”

Closing #2

We closed on the newer, cuter house yesterday. I'm really excited about this kitchen:


It makes me think I'll have to start making dinner more than once a month, though. Anybody know any good recipes for beginners?

Now we just have to wait and see if it actually records this time. Wish me luck!

Easy Breezy

Ben and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary this weekend. And when I say celebrated, I actually mean observed. We decided not to give each other presents this year because no matter how cool the present I receive is, it’s not worth picking out and spending money on the present I give. I’m selfish and Ben is indifferent, so it works out perfectly.

In honor of our easy anniversary, I’ve decided to tell the Internet the secret to our easy marriage. The feminist in me is a little embarrassed, but my mom is the one who shared it with me and she has more feminism in her than I have, so here goes…

When I found out I was pregnant with Liam, I was pretty stressed about how my easy life and perfect marriage were going to change. Ben and I were pretty independent—not the type to ask each other for help. One night on the phone with my mom I voiced my concerns about how stay-at-home moms and working dads scheduled evening diaper changes, baths, meals, etc. Were we supposed to take turns? Make a job chart? How would we make sure we’re each doing our share of the work without having to ask each other for help? (Did I mention that I’m selfish?)

My mom’s response was this: Instead of planning on doing 50% of the work when Ben’s home, plan on doing 100%. Then, when Ben helps out, you’ll always be grateful.

This advice has made my marriage so easy. I plan on doing everything myself, which means I never have to ask for help, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when Ben steps in to help. I plan on doing 100% of the work, and I only end up doing 60%.

See? Piece of cake. I dare you to try it.