Whats up with you guys?

You guys are sooooo boring! I come to to this blog to see some lame thing someone wrote and there are no new posts! I am so disapointed in all of you.

The world of Mormon Blogs

Ah me. I am avoiding studying. I am enjoying reading bits and pieces from the many, many LDS blogs out there on the WWW. Today I found a new friend. Her name is Kacy and she is hysterically funny. Check her out! I'm going to keep an eye on what she posts. She's almost as funny as Marie.

Natalie's new place

Is darling! Congratulations honey on your first "all your own" apartment. I'd love to help you decorate it when you get all those boxes organized.

The furniture repair guy came and our sectional is now officially hooked together. He also fixed some of the other little things (like staples that were poking out). He didn't speak much english but brought he daughter along to translate. She was very sweet, but all dressed up in Goth style. Anyway he did say that I spent too much money to have furniture with such poor workmanship. I'm going to call Reeds on Tuesday and complain to them on general principle about the shoddy workmanship and quality control of Robert Michael (the furniture manufacturer.)

Today is the Shisley wedding and reception. I will make an appearance and give them some money as a gift. I need to work on some pharmacology study guides.

I'm so glad that yesterday was my last clinical day for the quarter. I'm really looking forward to summer. I think next Wednesday I'll stop by the office and give them my hours so I can earn some money. Chelsea we need to plan exactly when we're going to go to New York so I can plan around that. And Natalie, we may have to figure something out for our August date with Lynda and Emily in Palm Springs, now that Grandma has disowned me. Although maybe you can borrow the keys instead of me. :)

Skyler it was great talking with you on the phone last night. You should post some of it to fill in the rest of the family!

Love mom

California_Screamin_1

California_Screamin_1
Originally uploaded by debionken.

This is the one in the Jesse montage.

potatohead

potatohead
Originally uploaded by debionken.

Now who are these lovely ladies?

Disneyland History

Little did I know that my friend Queen of Disneyland made sure that she and I were part of Disneyland History. The photo murals that have been placed all over DL in honor of its 50th birthday . . ., well here's what Lynda sent me:

Photo: "California Screamin"
Collage: Jessie
Location: The Golden Horseshoe, Frontierland
Position: Row 36, Column 19, Middle Center, Behind Jessie

This is the picture of you and me, the same one I'm using for this year's story quilt....

So, make sure you look for us next time you go!

Just a bunch of BL-ONK!

Recently I became aware of a slang word "plonk" so I wanted to know what the heck that meant, being dangerously close to my made up work for the Onken Blog. Well I found out it was British net slang for cheap booze. NOT a good idea.

For the heck of it, I googled the word "blonk" and found this: http://www.jaapblonk.com/Pages/biography.html Some poor Dutch guy out there has that unfortunate name. But it was pretty funny to read his bio. Jaap Blonk and his band the Splinks.

And you MUST listen to one of his recordings. (Warning, do not have any drink in your mouth when you hear this: http://www.subdist.com/kontrans850.htm You have to click on the recording Oslo.)

Do people pay money for that? I mean, really. And he's a year older than me and dad. LOL!

Hooray

It finally arrived... the newest member of the family, my new G5 PowerMac. It's AWESOME. Now I don't have time to take bathroom breaks while I wait for web pages to load! Yay!

pretty Natalie

Nat_052305
Originally uploaded by debionken.

Nice hair! Good job Jamie.

Sore legs

Awesome time at DL with Nick and Jamie. Even with all that walking though I think I gained 10 lbs. My legs hurt. I didn't post the photo of me shooting aliens because I didn't want to make Nick and Jamie look bad :P

School was soooooooo boring today. 8th week, 10 to go and finals then I'm officially half way through.

Disneyland

So I ditched my second class on Monday to go with Jamie and Mom to Disneyland. It was a really nice day, and the park wasn't full at all. There's a Toy Story 2 ride where you sit in a cart and shoot things for points; to see the picture of me and Jamie, go to this page and cut and paste the code 493F2B9AC914264A22500759D32E7582
. That ride was awesome.

Must see

Check this out.

Hope you guys (Jamie and Mom) have fun at Disneyland!

Saturday

Nick, I looked at that Cosmic Encounter. It was too complicated for me to understand. I think it's another role playing game liike you guys play!

I officially decided not to pursue the CNS dual specialty that would have kept me in school through 8 weeks of summer. I feel a weight off my shoulders having made that decision. Now I can work a little, play a little and decompress. I've got one paper, a take home exam and two finals left in this quarter and I'm just hanging on by my fingernails. I got my exam results back from that last exam and I only did 1.5 points better than the previous exam. That means I still have a B in that class. It will take a miracle to pull an A out of the class and I'm disappointed because I was really hoping to maintain that 4.0 average. :(

Dad was at a ballgame last night so I stayed home and worked on the alumni newsletter, watched a movie and pigged out on ice cream. There goes the diet!

Can't wait till tomorrow . . . a relaxing Sunday. What shall we have for dinner? Quinn called me today from New York to ask for the Debi Dip recipe!

Long Day

I did okay on my test I think. Had dinner with Nat and Dad - love you pretty girl. Now I'm tired and need to veg.
Love mom

Question

You know, every time someone posts something here, even a comment to a post, I get an email. That's cool, but I don't think any of you get those emails. So I'm thinking I should set us up on a mailing list that the blog site uses to email those posts to all of you. What do you think of this idea? Please let me know if you'd like to have these posts emailed directly to you.

I am soooo edgy today. And Chelsea found I lost my ATM card. Fortunately I remembered where I used it last (making a deposit yesterday) and so I called the bank and it was there. Close call.

I got a whopper of a parking ticket today during my clinicals. I'm bummed.

Big exam tomorrow. The last Bachelor tonight!

love mom

Celebrity siting!

Melissa Ethridge just came into our place to rent an RV for trip to New York! Very warm & friendly. Hope she rents.

my day

I had a great day today, even though nothing went as i thought it would. We got up and had our usual morning conversation about what we plan on doing for the day. We were going to chruch and then going to the beach and then we were going to have to go to the ex relief presidents house for a long and boring dinner that I felt to mean to say no to.
I get to chruch late and alone standing outside the chapel looking for Nick. I can't find him anywhere! Then I see him, he is sitting on the stand getting ready to bless the sacrament and the first thing that comes to my mind is"oh great!" Poor me I was going to have to sit alone for the first part of the meeting! I hate that. Well I sat down and got out the hymn book and started reading the words to the song everybody was singing around me. That made me feel terible, here I was feeling sorry for myself because I had to sit alone! How lame am I? So i take the sacrament and said a prayer and felt the spirit take over. It ended up being one of the best meetings I have gone to for a long time.
Then we have to stay in the chapel because we are going to learn about family history work.Of couse the first thing that comes to my head now was "Ok this is going to be boring and I will fall asleep if they turn these lights off." Whats the first thing they do? Turn the lights off. And of course it ended up being a great lesion tought by our stake president. and to think i actually turned to Nick and said"why don't we leave now and go to the beach" I was 1/2 joking. And again proved wrong by the spirit.
Then we come home and get ready to go spend a nice sunny afternoon at the beach with our Ensigns. We get there and it is overcast and cold. Disapointed we come home and have a great afternoon together enjoying eachother.
Then the dreaded dinner comes. I have nothing in common with these people! What are we going to talk about? This was going to be very long and very boring. Well what comes to my mind now? The article Nick posted the other day about the Breakfast Club. So needless to say we had a great time. I am happy to say that I had a total attitude ajustment and after what I thought was going to very a sucky day ended up being one of the best days I've had for a while.
Well I hope you all had a great day also. Debi, I really like the sofa. Looks like it is just waiting for me to sit on it!
Oh this thrusday I'm teaching enrichment on hair. Anyone have any ideas?
And Natalie I thought you were going to call me about your hair!

New sofa

www.flickr.com

Sunday

Raise your hand if you are missing Skyler! (ME! ME!)

We got the new sofa for the family room. It looks great! But of course now I think I need a new area carpet, new lamps and maybe take the old wallpaper down in the kitchen and try something new. But all in all, the whole family room looks cozier. I am going to go and get a tray I can use on the ottoman to be able to use it as a coffee table. I'll take a photo and upload it later. I also need to think about some quilt displaying ideas.

Chelsea is home from New York but I will let her tell the story. She's sleeping now. I'm hoping she'll be able to go to Sue Graff's fireside tonight.

I sure wish more people would POST.

Oh, Lisa Hanson sent me an email essay she found somewhere. I think it tells it like it is and says a bit about what I feel like at this stage of my life, although I didn't really read a lot of "expert" books, and I have four children rather than three, I almost feel like I could have written this one myself:

On Being a Mom

by Anna Quindlen

If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they ever existed. The pensive infant with the swipe of dark bangs and the blackbutton eyes of a Raggedy Andy doll. The placid baby with the yellow ringlets and the high piping voice. The sturdy toddler with the lower lip that curled into an apostrophe above her chin.

ALL MY BABIES are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same book I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like.

Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within reach, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all. Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit- up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.

Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the, "Remember-When-Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them ,sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity.

That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were....

Friday Nite

Dad and I went to a dinner for the Agoura 1st Ward. Nice to see the old faces. Chelsea made it safely to New York. I hope she and Kristi have a good time. Tonight Dad and I were talking with Jennifer Brown who told us that Dental Hygienists make a ton of money and are in hot demand and pretty much can call the shots: they only work a couple of days a week, make $400 a day and only see 8 patients or something like that. Sounds like a good job.

I had clinical today and have to work on a paper and study for an exam tomorrow. Lucky me :(

I got some cute shoes from shoebuy.com. I love shoe shopping this way. Saves money and hassle.

Neat article

I was perusing Times and Seasons, a mormon-themed blog where people post thoughts or ideas and people (most are members) comment on them. The link to one cool article in particular is here , but I'll post it here, too:

The Breakfast Club Redux
by Elisabeth Calvert Smith
As my 15-year high school reunion looms dangerously close on the horizon, I’ve been thinking a lot about the classic 80’s movie of teenage sturm und drang: ‘The Breakfast Club’. For those of you who may have missed one of the 157 airings of the TBS ‘Dinner and a Movie’ versions of ‘The Breakfast Club’ (’Twister’ is this weekend!), the story is about five teenagers all from very different backgrounds, forced to spend the day together in the school library one Saturday as punishment for various indiscretions or acts of violence perpetrated upon unsuspecting freshmen.


At first, the teens eye each other uncomfortably and pretty much keep to themselves, but then, with no other form of entertainment around to distract them, they finally start talking to each other and, of course, discover they have a lot in common. The day of detention then becomes a day of discovery and reconciliation. And, true to form for all respectable John Hughes movies, Molly Ringwald ends up with the cute, but rough around the edges, guy (Judd Nelson, for all you fans of ’80s trivia).

But everyone watching the movie knows that while they’re all happily dancing around the library now (where is the principal when all this is going on?) and sharing their innermost teenage secrets and desires, they’ll awkwardly ignore each other in the school hallways on Monday morning (completely forgetting the Simple Minds’ prescient warning ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’).

So, back to reality. Jim Faulconer has a great post up today about (among other things) how much he appreciates all of the unique people and their interesting personalities in his Ward. Which got me thinking. Are our experiences at Church like “The Breakfast Club"? Where we say hello, share a few meaningful spiritual experiences together, go home, and never make much of an effort to really get to know each other? Are we supposed to spend time outside Church activities getting to know each other as part of building a community of Zion, especially in places where there are few members? Do we have to be friends with people just because they are Mormon?

And, in our every day lives, how often do we go out of our way to acquaint ourselves, get to know, and appreciate people who are different than we are, i.e., of a lower or higher economic class, different race, religion, etc.? When we find out that someone is different in ways that we may find difficult to identify with, do we want to continue to be their friend? Say you just found out that someone at work you like and are getting to know better is gay and lives with a long-term partner. Do you continue the friendship in the same way?

How many of your friends are just like you? Do you socialize with people of different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds?


The comments are interesting, and can be viewed by visiting the link I posted above. What do you guys think?

I just checked out the airline tickets again and they went up $10. So they are $413 now, which is still good but I wonder how much longer we should wait. I talked to a travel agent the other day and he has not gotten back to me yet. What do you think? If you want to check out the tickets go to American air and check dates from dec 31 to Jan 9. Check by fare not by schedule. Debi, you have to go down the page for a while before you get to the flights that come home early on the 9(around 5 or 6 pm).

Chelsea have fun in New York!!!!!!

Big Bear

Grandma just called and said she's booked a place in Big Bear from July 22nd to July 27th. Mark your calendars. It's an 8 bedroom house on the lake.

Questions for the Man

I recently found out that the Camarillo YSA ward is holding a fireside that our ward has been invited to. The topic will be "Questions & Answers". They are asking members of the 5 YSA wards to submit questions in writing, anonymously if desired, and will take more when we get there. What questions would you ask, honestly, if you had the chance to ask it anonymously? I don't know who will be answering the questions, I guess it will depend on what the questions are. Anyway, what are life's puzzling questions that you would ask? No answers will be offered, just interested to see what the important questions of our heart are. The reason? It is said that the trick in life is not to know the right answers, but to ask the right questions.

Here's one I'm pondering these days: Why do we forget so many important things that we swear, when we experience them, that we will never forget? Like with my dad, I find myself thinking of him less often, and forgetting several things like his smell, touch, fameous phrases, etc. Puzzling, and a little disconcerting.

Love you all
P.................. (you know)

Thank you!

I had THE very best Mother's Day ever. The only thing that kept it from being totally PERFECT was the absence of the baby of the family. However, he was so amazing by sending Ali over to the house with tulips and a hug. Skyler, thank you so much for thinking of me. We all missed you very much. Here is a list of all my special treats in no particular order.

.Chelsea speaking in church. She was awesome. Not only did she not cry, you could not tell that she was even a little bit nervous.

.Natalie came to see Chelsea speak!! And she hung out the whole day and helped Dad pull off the amazing party and she stayed until late in the evening. I enjoyed every minute of her being here. She is amazing.

.Clayton came to church.

.Skyler sent a flower and a hug and later he called

.Nick and Jamie came and stayed until late and gave me hugs and gave me a gorgeous picture frame

.Tarrik, Diane, Ashley, Blair, Blake, Jacob and Scott came to join our celebration. Kristi came! The house was full of people.

.Dad made my favorite dinner - Brower chicken and that spinach salad! Chelsea made mashed potatoes. Everything was extremely yummy and I didn't have to do any of it.

It was a perfect day. Thank you all so much. I can't tell you how special it was for me. I have the BEST husband and the BEST kids.

I cannot believe it is raining. Too weird. But a good day to stay at home and study for that pharmacology test I have tomorrow. Maybe hit the gym this afternoon when Chelsea gets home. Chelsea, did you finally get to sleep last night now that your speaking assignment is all over? LOL!

Skyler, thanks for the pix. I enjoyed them very much. But don't feel you can't fill up the pages with photos. We will enjoy them very much. Where did you find to upload them from?

Love mom

wonderful husband

nick, you are not annoying. you are very handsome, smart, and wonderful in every way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

annoying husband

IIIIIIII LL OOOO V V EEEEEE
II LL O O V V EE
II LL O O V V EEEEE nick.
II LL O O V V EE
IIIIIIII LLLLLL OOOO V EEEEEE
even though he plays the air drums and LAME computer games.

Mostly for Skyler

So today the SBC repair guy came to the house. He couldn't find anything wrong inside the house, no shorts, nothing. Then he went outside to check outside and said there was definitely something wrong with the "capitance" (which I actually knew what that word meant!). Anyway he said that could be causing the problem and that he could fix it by putting in a "splitter" which would also eliminate the need for filters in the house. It cost a total of $95. ($35 for the splitter). He's pretty sure it should fix the problem but if not, he said to call him personally on his pager and he would arrange for a visit in the evening from a repair guy that works in the evenings (since that is when our problems usually occur.) He also said there is something really bogus about our phone wiring. Something about a wire that runs up and over the roof to the upstairs phone? Does that make any sense to anyone??? There's something vaguely familiar about it. I'm very excited that our DSL problems are finally fixed. It's been a frustrating year.

I went to the community gym today for the first time. It's pretty busy there but I did 30 min. on the treadmill and used a few machines. It's not quite a lovely as Stay Fit but it's a good deal. I wish Chelsea and I had thought of doing it together sooner since a whole family membership is $66.00 and since I'm paying $40 and she pays $26, we could have gotten privileges for Dad and Skyler when he's here for free. Maybe we'll revisit that in 6 months?

Temple baptisms tonight. I'm looking forward to going. Skyler, you never said anything about your visit with your new bishop?? Emily's dad called here the other day to invite you and Dad to the Father-Son's campout. I told him you were Hawaii with his daughter and that she was being very sweet to you.

Love mom
PS did you get the package I sent with the book and wire?

5 weeks down, 5 to go

I attended an open house at the Dean's home. She has this amazing place way up in Brentwood that actually looks down onto the Schwartzenegger compound. We all did a cheer for Arnold. I received a $1,000 scholarship. Yeah me! I'm going to write a thank you note. Cleo, our neighbor, was there. She's so nice. I'm thinking it might be cool to have her as a preceptor in one of my rotations next year.

Dad told me that Clayton was in a car accident. I guess he got pretty banged up. Here's an opportunity for the ward to love him back into the fold. Skyler, I know it must be hard to be far away from him right now. We'll take care of him.

I have a big pharmacology exam next Tuesday. Keep me in your prayers while I study!

Love mom

i'm confused

i just did another blog because i didn't see my first one. and Debi i finally just saw it when i went to archives, so the new page doesn't even show up on my computer.help me!

I just found round trip tickets for $403 for Venezuela!!!!! Oh, for those of you who don't know we are going to VENEZUELA!!!!!! We are very excited. Debi, you two better still be going with us. I've also found some very helpful websites.And while our power was out for 18 hours last night we went to Barnes and Nobel and got a travel guide to Venezuela, and it seems to be very helpful. I've tried not to do to much planing already but i can't help it!
Well i hope you all have had good day. Personaly for me i am very happy for the day to be over. It has just been one of those days when nothing goes right. But thats ok, i have American Idol to look forward to. I will probably stay online and keep on looking for good sites on Venezuela.(nick doesn't get home until 10:30)
Well hope you all have a good night!
Jamie
p.s.
the other day i ran over a duck. isn't that sad:( (i thought skyler would like that.)

Color of Love

I guess we all know there is no correct answer to this question: "What is the color of Love?"

A close friend of ours (to remain unnamed) was asked this very question recently and replied: The color of love is Black! When asked to explain this seemingly odd choice, they (aha, thought I was going to give away the gender of this close friend, didn't you!) replied: "It is because black is all colors mixed together." Technically right, I guess, but somehow lacking.

As for me the color of love is...........................always changing. It has been the twinjkling color of Debi's eyes when I picked her up for dates when we were courting so many years ago. It has been the color of her skin when she held our first born for the first time at Hollywood Pres Hospital (as I was melting to the floor, amost fainting from the birthing experience). It has also been the color of Nick's smile, large, happy and friendly. Once or twice it has been wet, like the tears of dissapoinbtment on Nat's dusty cheeks after one lousy goal is scored, while 9,999 werre blocked. Often it is the color of Chelsea's cheeks when she laughs, so full of life, at one of our simple jokes. Recently it has been dyed into red, or black or brown, in Chelsea's ever changing hair, applied gently, artfully, and affectionately by her new siter-in-law. And the color of love has also been the stars in my eyes after Skyler had me in a titanium-like headlock for seemingly hours, taunting me all the while.

Wouldn't it be boring if love was just one color?

Love with all colors,
Dad

Monday Morning

First the good news, no I mean GREAT news. I did not flunk the test! I got a B. I would have been delighted with a C. I knew I had performed poorly, so I'm grateful that it was not as poorly as I had thought. If I pass this class with a B it will be enough.

Second, last time I babysat my grandcat, I lost one of the little matruschka dolls for almost a year. Dad found it inside his closet. Guess what is missing again as of yesterday morning? That Dakota is a rascal. And I think she likes to get into cupboards because I keep hearing all these doors opening and closing and when I came down this morning, the door on the china hutch in the front room was open.

Skyler, POST!!!! Chelsea, you too.

And this to my 103 year old adopted child from Bahrain - wash your socks!

The phone company is supposed to fix our DSL today. They say that they can see there's a problem with the line (finally!) and it's supposed to be fixed by 6 p.m. tonight. Or maybe they're just supposed to have looked at it by 6. Whichever. All I know is that I am now hooked up to the internet via dial up and that is slow as molasses in January.

I have more studying to do today, plus I have to go to the grocery store and buy some diet food and I think I'm going to go get a membership to the Community Center gym.

Love, mom
P.S. I'm changing my name on this thing. Marie says I can be queen of anything I want so since Deborah means the bee, I'm going to be Queen Bee until I think of something else I want to be queen of.