Goodbye President Hinckley!

So sorry to hear this news this morning!

We love you President Hinckley! You'll be missed!!!

People Magazine Edition

Last night Doug said, (while looking at the computer)

D: "Do you know who Heath Ledger is?"

Me: "Uh...no. Not really. Is he maybe an actor?"

D: "Yeah. I guess so. He died."

Me: "Really?"

D: "He was 28."

Me: "That's YOUNG! How did he die?"

D: "Dunno. Doesn't say."

So this morning I see an article about him on my iGoogle. I click on it to see if I know who he is but don't recognize the picture nor have I seen any of his recent movies. So I click on a slideshow to see what else he's been in.

That's when I see this picture from "Ten Things I Hate About You" circa 1999:

And now I'm genuinely sad because I LOVE(d) this movie! Did anyone else love this movie?!?

(I'm not asking you, Kristen and Shawn!)

I may or may not even own this movie in VHS form.

I was going to leave you with a funny line from the movie, but when I went to look up some quotes I found that most of them are completely inappropriate. This is as good as it gets:

(Heath Ledger) Patrick: Hey there girly... how you doin'?

(Julia Stiles) Kat Stratford: Sweating like a pig actually and yourself?

Patrick: Now there's a way to get a guy's attention huh?

Kat Stratford: My mission in life but obviously I struck your fancy so you see it worked... the world makes sense again.

You'll be missed Mr. Ledger!

This Is A Public Service Announcement...

I've been thinking a lot about Blog Security lately. When I first created my blog, I followed my SIL's lead and kept my last name private. (Hence, Emily Dub instead of Emilina Destina Willberforce which is my real name). I've also never mentioned the specific city in which we live, (Springfield) my husbands exact place of employment, (Hasbro) and definitely not the name of my boy's school's. (Martin Luther King Prep.)

Hopefully these measures make it difficult for someone to flip open the white pages and find our address and or show up at my kid's schools and steal them. (Oh, and we're not listed in the white pages.)

BUT, according to some bloggers I'm not doing enough! They say I shouldn't use my kids names, show their pictures, or ever mention their birthdays or any details about their lives. And in some ways, it makes sense. What better way to stalk little kids then from the privacy of your own home on your own computer. (Sorry to be creepy.)

So am I really not doing enough? Am I putting my kids in jeopardy? After all, I can't control whether or not anyone else spills my last name. And I don't know everything there is to know about the Internet and whether or not it's possible to find me via my IP address.

I DO know that Jack Bauer could pinpoint my exact location in under a minute with the help of Chloe and a few clicks of the mouse. So what about a crazy computer geek with ill intentions? (You know who you are!)

I have Google Analytics installed and with it I can tell how many hits my blog gets, and the general location the hit is coming from. (Maybe I could tell more if I new anything about computers.) This tells me most people reading this are in Rhode Island, Utah, and Southern California. Which is totally acceptable since I know lots of people in all these places. What I don't know is who is reading this in Russia, Australia, Brazil, and France. Or why they're reading it?!? (I'm assuming it's because I'm so darn deep and insightful.)

Are you a crazy stalker planning to steal my kids? (If so, please tell me all about it including your address and phone number.)

I, for one, have one more line of defense. I'm leaving the country and taking my adorable children with me. We'll be in South Africa for the next few years if you need to find us!

Anyway, just wondering what all of you think about this topic? What steps have you taken to insure your Internet safety? Please share!

I promise not to stalk you!

Snow Daze

Around here, when it snows, the state pretty much shuts down. (Except for, unfortunately, where Doug works!) For example, this past Monday school was cancelled* state wide because of a (pretty pathetic) snow storm.

In Utah, on the other hand, school is rarely cancelled. While we were there over the holidays, there were numerous snow storms and life went on as usual. There, people have learned to handle the snow. But not just handle it, subdue it and embrace it.

And here's the proof:

Yep. That's Thomas. Sculpted out of snow and spray painted. This picture was taken in Springville, Utah by my Sister-in-law Christina. (There are, I believe, two more sculpture pictures on Christina's new blog.) Evidently, the guy responsible for this creates these snow masterpieces frequently and continuously all winter long. Here's one I got to see when I was there:
Notice the mailbox eye.

See, this guy obviously isn't afraid of a little snow. Or even a lot of snow in the form of 5 foot tall plowed snow banks.

Take note Little Rhody: Man is meant to be master of snow! Not the other way around!!!

...now bring on SPRING!


*Monday is my shopping day and I don't appreciate having my schedule disrupted! I just can't handle taking three boys shopping so I have to do it while one is in school. No school, no shopping. No shopping, no groceries, no groceries, no nightly dinners, which means no leftovers, which means no lunch for Doug, which means he buys lunch everyday, which means we're spending too much, which means more loans, which means an extra five years to get out of debt. See why this is a problem?

We'll call this one "Peed Upon"

After dinner tonight Sam said to Doug,

"I feo in da toiyet today."

Which reminded me of the story of when Sam fell in the toilet. Which happened earlier today.

(In Adrian Monk's voice)
"Here's what happened;"

All was peaceful in the Dub household. Six-year-old Max was playing happily in the family room. Mom and Sam were in the bathroom giving the baby a bath. Sam sat on the toilet seat supervising while Mom perched on the edge of the tub.

After a few minutes, Sam stood up and reached into the tub to grab a toy. At the same moment, Max came rushing into the room, threw the toilet seat up, and proceeded to (to put it bluntly) pee.

And then time seemed to slow...
You may see where I'm going with this...

Sam, with eyes still on the bathtub, stepped back to sit again. Only the toilet seat and lid were no longer down! They were both up!

So he fell right in.

And was peed upon by a bewildered Max.

It was all very dramatic. There were shouts from Max and tears from Sam. Sam was immediately stripped and plopped into the tub while I mopped up the mess.

I think the moral here is, "Always look before you sit down." Either that or "Pee with caution". Whichever works for you.
Either way, a good time was had by all.
(No, it wasn't.)
Gotta go. I have laundry to do.

Dear Man-With-The-Yellow-Hat,

Please quit leaving George unattended with instructions to "Be a good little monkey!". IT DOESN'T WORK! Haven't you learned that he always gets into mischief. He's never going to change! You're just going to have to stop trying to accomplish things during the day!!! (Oh, and no showering either.)

Good luck,

Sympathetic and Smelly in R.I.

We're BAAaaaaaaAHck!

Well, we're finally home from our marathon Christmas/Wedding/New Year's vacation to Utah/San Diego/Utah. And I think I can honestly say it was a fun/exhausting/exciting/relaxing/frustrating/satisfying trip.

(I don't want to be tied down to one emotion.)

In the past 2.5 weeks, my kids have gotten to see every single Aunt, Uncle, and cousin they have with only one exception--my sister Jenny who lives in Virginia and couldn't make it to the San Diego wedding.

We've also...

Lost one 6-year-old boy's brand-new winter coat,
gained numerous Christmas presents and pounds,
driven over 1500 miles,
flown for two days,
consumed 10,000 unhealthy treats,
cooked 2 delicious meals,
eaten-out about 100 times,
played with exactly 29 different cousins, 8 aunts and 8 uncles,
learned to say "chillax!",
suffered through a few colds,
slipped on much ice and slogged through much snow,
stared longingly at the beautiful, happy, Pacific ocean,
saw old friends,
met new people,
lost sleep,
slept in,
and generally had fun.

Boy, it's good to be home!

See more pictures at Doug's Blog!

Trips Within Trips

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Utah holiday vacation to bring you...(*DRUMROLL*)

FAE & JOHN'S WONDERFUL WEDDING!!!  ***

...and too few hours of blissful, warm, redolent, fabulous, euphoric, happy, (did I say 'beautiful'?) hours of San Diego sunshine and warmth.

And now back to the snow.

***Beautiful photo courtesy of (my genius cousin) Wendy of Blue Lily Photography