I Hate Packing

I HATE packing, I really do. I have never complained so much in my life, I am sure that helps the process. How do you people do it that are moving from a house larger than a two bedroom, 1300 sq foot condo? Really I admire you. I get so bored. Bless Mr. L's heart, he knows that I am getting sick of it. All of the sudden my labeling of boxes starts to get really fancy so I can take more time labeling than packing. The words "Storage: Bathroom Junk" have never looked so good. I also like to really take my time with taping. Whoops all of the sudden I lost the end of the packing tape, finding it can turn into a thirty minute project. Mr L is good to me, I also have to be acknowledged for every box I pack. I am married to a good man!

My Twilight Rant

Mr. L and I decided to take a break tonight and rent a movie. Why I rented Twilight, I have NO idea. I was one of the few that did not fall in love with the books OR Pastie (Edward). For those of you that love Twilight, you might think my little rant sacrilege, so go ahead and skip this post.
I am disgusted. Really I did not like the books for the very same reason I did not like the movie. Bella. The girl is a co-dependent walking case study. I am sorry but, "I am going to my death, but at least I knew this guy (who I supposedly fell in love with in three weeks--- and yes I know what unconditional love is because I am 17)." "Forget my family I will never leave this guy who wants to drink my blood."
This girl is a follower with a capital F. Bella has NO life outside Pastie. My goodness gets some independence and live your own life. Discover who you are. It kinda makes me a little upset that so many young girls are reading this and loving it. Hopefully they are not getting the idea of what love and relationships are from this. And yes people I know that Twilight is fiction. But girls are girls.
Coincidentally, this article was on MSN today What do you think?


Is Twilight Bad For Your Love Life?
Some of you told me I wouldn't like Twilight, but I bought the book anyway just to see what all the hoopla was about. Well, I finally finished it, and ... I appreciated the romance-factor, but I couldn't help thinking it was giving girls the wrong idea about love and relationships. I did a feminist reading of Twilight and here's what bugged me:

1. Bella has no outside hobbies.
After she moves to Washington, Bella makes a few friends, but she's not interested in them. Mostly her life is about Edward, Edward, Edward. But what relationship can survive that? Take it from Simone de Beauvoir, who writes about this in The Second Sex: "Two lovers destined solely for each other are already dead: they die of ennui, of the slow agony of a love that feeds on itself." (658)

Outside interests breathe life into a relationship. If you want a healthy one, you better get a life, whether you're a dead vampire or not. On the other hand, Romeo and Juliet were teenagers obsessed with each other, so I don't know what to make of that.

2. The guys are totally unrealistic.
Women are always writing male characters how we'd like guys to be — not how they really are. We're setting up expectations. In Twilight's beach scene, Mike Newton brings Bella "sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from" (118). Excuse me, but a teenage boy at a beach is either going to be goofing around with the other boys, throwing marshmallows, or spending hours in the water.

3. Bella is brainwashed.
Bella tells us repeatedly that Edward the smug vampire is "too perfect," (256) "flawless," (261) and has an "angel's face" (262). I nearly got brainwashed. But it's like, he could kill her at any second, yet she continues to trust and lust. Of course he doesn't kill her, so we're supposed to be grateful and think highly of him. Such manly restraint!

But he is always talking down to her about her safety, like she's a porcelain doll. He tells Bella he can't leave her alone for a second. Even doing laundry, he speculates she might fall into the dryer. Really? There's nothing wrong with being a klutz, but even joking like she can't possibly function ... well, that doesn't do wonders for a girl's confidence. It turns her into a dependent. And as my mom says, no one loves a helpless woman. Obviously, for the story, it's the knight in shining armor thing, I get it, but I don't have to like it.

4.Bella is a domestic diva.
She cooks for her bachelor dad every night. (Okay, I guess cooking is technically a hobby. But she doesn't do it out of joy, really. It's more out of a sense of obligation.) Bella does laundry, too. But I think we only see her do homework once. See, she's too busy feeding a man to stop and feed her mind. There's nothing wrong with cooking for a man, but doing it in tandem with constantly getting saved by a guy and worshipping said guy ... it's just too much. At least Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast loves to read, right?

But! I am not saying I didn't enjoy the book at times, and that I wouldn't have swooned at 13. I just worry that some people will read it without a critical eye (I know, it is just a story). Some girls might expect their love life to look just like Bella's. Now that's what I call scary.

Sorry if you are a lover of Twilight. But honestly I am curious what YOU think, so leave me a comment if you feel like it.
Maybe for the white elephant Christmas party this year, I will get a shirt for Eric that says, "He is my Edward."

P.S. And WHATEVER Bella's Dad was TONS hotter than Edward!

And by the way, I couldn't get over Bella's Dad being okay with her driving from WASHINGTON to ARIZONA by herself in some old pickup truck. When I was 17 I wanted to go to Europe with my the Art History Class and my mother as a chaperone. My Dad's response, "Annie, don't you know.. people kill people in Italy."

It's one of THOSE days

So, it's one of those days. The day that I wish I could stay in bed all day and watch rented movies. The day I want to stay in my pj's without a bra. The day where I am craving the 42 grams of sugar that a can of cherry coke provides. The day that I wish Mack would nap for three hours, instead of his normal one (Is that awful to admit? I don't think so, honest is honest). The day where I wish I could eat out every meal so I don't have to cook or clean.
But in reality, we have ten days to pack. The Mr. and I have HORRIBLE snot nosed colds, and boxes are empty waiting to be taken to storage. Repair men have been lined up on the hour to come fix the washer, furnace and windows. I most certainly should not be wasting time blogging, but you gotta take a break right. Not even my trashy neighbor has been out on his balcony for his photo shoot. (Did I tell you about the conversation he had on his cell phone about refusing to take a paternity test? Quality people. You need a picture!)
But alas, everything will be fine. Everything will get fixed, and everything will get packed. My sister in law Suzy is getting induced next Monday! And I get to melt over Mr. Schuester tonight!

Irony stinks

Okay, to start out, I will not do this story justice at all by blogging about it. In fact I even hesitate to blog about it at all, but it was SO funny.
My brothers are pretty dang tough looking, don't you think? My goodness they still look tough in tuxedos. Anywho, so we were up at the school playing Bocce Ball tonight with the whole family. (By the way, I rock at Bocce Ball, seriously I ROCK) All of the sudden this punk kid is running across the school lawn towards us. And then two or three cop cars pull into the school. (The schools playground and the lawn are barricaded off, so the cops couldn't just pull in their cars after them, see already I am probably not making sense but oh well.) So the kid is booking towards us and sees James. James looks at him and yells, "I wouldn't come near me, I'll take you down kid." So the kid darts the other way.
My Dad took Carson to the playground to the other side of the school and the kid is running towards them. And the cops are trying to run after the kid, but they were not exactly fast. So my Dad starts to run after the kid. Rob sees Dad and Carson and runs towards the kid. (I do have to say Rob was dang fast) So Rob runs over there while the kid is trying to get past my Dad. Rob gets closer and the kid turns and looks at him. Immediately we hear the kid scream. "Holy S*@$, it's you." and all of the sudden the kid stops. Rob gets him in some kinda lock and takes him down. Meanwhile the cops finally show up with their tasers pulled out, and take the kid into custody.
Here is the funniest, most ironic part of the story. Rob and James both work for the state in criminal justice with kids that are in lockdown or detention. The kid was in Rob's program and ran away on Friday. So on Labor Day, the kid running from the cops, runs into some park with a family playing Bocce Ball and gets taken down by a counselor who worked at the program he ran away from. And there was NO WAY that the cops would have caught the kid had the boys not have been there.
See I told you, I would not do the story justice. By the look on that kid's face was totally priceless.

I put the stye in stylin'

So that gross eye infection.... Yup, turned out to be a massive stye. Well it was gross, it hurt BUT the tea bags took it away in two days! I will take it!
We had a great weekend with Eric's family up in Idaho Falls. It was so great to get away and take the Mr. to see Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. Eric parents took us to see Harry Potter and I must say fan-freakin'-tastic. LOVED IT! We mostly just hung out, which was what we really needed. We of course watched the BYU game, pretty sure I might nickname their house the Cougar Den. Thank heavens I am mature enough to be able to cheer for the conference. But I won't lie, I felt like I was kinda betraying my UTES.

I LOVE Mr. Schuester!

Of course Mr. L and I watched Glee last night, they said there would be un-aired scenes. As if I didn't like Mr. Schuester enough, I think he is now on the freebie list. Oh my goodness, was anyone else transfixed by his acoustic, "Leaving on a Jet Plane?" LOVE, LOVE, Love Mr. Schuester. Sing to me anytime and then wipe my melting self off the floor.
Mr. L and I made a few discoveries and observations about Glee last night(well more like last night early this morningish). Doesn't Finn's friend Puck look like Tony Almeda from 24? And wasn't Terri Schuester Claire's birth mom on Heroes? Once again I love Glee, and I am constantly getting the chills!

Randomness

The Larsen Fam has been going crazy! Life has been a little hectic and stressful. Last night and tonight we are painting my parents house. When we move in we are displacing my Dad's office up to my old bedroom. So as a part of moving we have to get their house ready for us. Painting, organizing, things in storage. Which we are happy to do, my goodness we are so grateful for their willingness to have us invade their home.
But oh my goodness I hate painting. HATE IT. I was under the impression that painting was fun, like in the movies. Painting with your spouse is supposed to be romantic, complete with playful and flirtatious paint fights. Not the case. In fact I was hideously wrong. I hate painting.
I have this weird eye infection thing, no idea what it is. But no, if you see me, I did not get socked in the eye. For some reason my bottom lid is pretty swollen. Could this be a result of my wearing two week contacts for eight weeks? Oh well, It looks like I am going all granola with no makeup and glasses for awhile.
However, in good news, I have made a few discoveries. Harmons has Quaker Oat Cereal on sale, 5 for 5. All you cereal lovers should know this is a steal. Run now to stock up on Quaker Oats, and say hello to Bob and Randy. Maceys also has General Mills Cereal for $1.88 a box. I hate going there though, but maybe the polygamous clan will be shopping there today.
I also made a pretty yummy dinner the other night, so here it is. Try it if you like pasta, but if you are like me, go VERY light on the alfredo sauce. My lower GI just doesn't tolerate rich food.

3 diced boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can of artichoke hearts cut up into small pieces
2 bunches of green onions sliced thinly
8 slices of bacon browned and chopped (I have been putting in the already cooked ones and it has been pretty good)
Bow tie or Penne pasta
3-4 large tomatoes cut up and diced (You HAVE to scald them to get the skins off)
about 1/2 of jar of Classico Alfredo sauce (this is where i go very minimal)
pepper

So brown your chicken, add artichokes, green onions, bacon (if using the already cooked variety, if not cook your bacon separately and add it now) and scalded tomatoes. (if you don't know how to scald tomatoes, boil a pot of water, when it comes to a steady boil, drop the whole tomato in for thirty seconds. Spoon it out and peel the skins off. They should come off VERY easily.) Let all ingredients cook and combine for about five minutes and then add alfredo sauce and pepper. Yummy, yummy!
The picture of the neighbor is coming as soon as he displays himself on his balcony again.

Sweet Rebellion

So now that the condo is sold (well mostly), pretty sure Mr. L and I have rebelled. After keeping a pristine house for the last five months we have turned into slothful oinkers. Spoons dried to the cereal bowl- no biggie, toilet flushing- nope conserving water, moldy gross rancid fruit on the counter- yummy! Really today I looked around my dwelling and was a little pleased and then a little disgusted at the place. We did such a great job keeping it clean, when we didn't have to anymore- we broke loose.
So I kinda have a trashy neighbor in the next building over. He is a little to a lot pudgy and gets in his John Stockton shorts and camps out on the balcony. It is truly a sight. He is in his super short shorts, topless, with the TV and fan out on the balcony. He texts and sips his Miller Light. What a sight! Would it be wrong to capture this moment with a camera? My description doesn't begin to touch the white trashness. I think this would be something that the three and a half readers of Larsen Living might appreciate.
Every time that I did laundry, my cramped laundry room would smell so bad. Well today T-Dizzle was going nuts pawing at the side of the dryer. Hmm... I stole a peek and three fresh tomatoes that are probably four weeks old fell down the side. That explains the smell. Sadly, it does not explain the washer dying.
In great news, Glee is on this week! Set your TIVOs, DVRs whatever else you people have to Fox tomorrow night. The original pilot is also airing on Friday night. The Larsen fam can't wait.
Randomness, but my new favorite snack is the Kirtland brand dried fruit Mango and Berry mix. DIVINE! My favorite thing to touch my lips, well almost. It's 8 bucks a bag but well worth it. Dig in, once you start you won't stop!