Milk

We've got Lauren on a straight milk diet.

The week's stories

Here's some funny (or just embarrassing) stories from this last week:

While teaching one of my psychology classes, I noticed a boy and girl in the front row passing a note. There was no attempt at subtlety, so I assumed it must be actual notes from my class. But no, they kept passing it back and forth. After a minute or so of watching this, I confiscated it and watched as the two turned bright red. This is how the note reads:

B: Hey, what's up?
P: What, are we in kindergarten?
B: No... we've been in high school for three years now. Where've you been?
P: Hey, let's guess our teacher's name. I'll start. Natasha Brenneman.
B: Hmmm. Jemima Butterworth.

At this point I took the note and read it to myself. Understanding now why they were so embarrassed, I asked the class if they wanted to hear. Of course the answer was yes, so we all got a good laugh. I told the two perpetrators I'd give them extra credit if they could give my real name, and they really couldn't! They were so flustered at this point, but hey, they were the ones passing it right in front of me. Then I asked why both names represented plump people (Albert Brenneman from "Hitch" and Mrs. Butterworth of syrup fame). They about died. "No, no, that's not what we meant at all! We had no idea..." It was a great day. Since they're the kind of kids who can handle a little teasing, I taped the note to the door for all my students to see. I think I'm going to frame it.


Our upstairs neighbors and landlords asked us to babysit their three children while they went for a church interview. We were fine with that; the kids love us, and the oldest girl has already announced that she's going to marry Erik. We played hide and seek the whole time, and by the end we were running out of good places. It was my turn to count, so I sat in the living room and started counting using really weird voices, just to switch things up. Meanwhile, Erik "hid" on the couch by covering himself with throw pillows as the kids giggled. I finish counting, open my eyes... and see our landlords staring at Erik and I. If Erik hadn't already taken all the pillows, I would have been burrowing under them.

Getting to know the Merkleys

I have been tagged for the first time... lucky you, getting to know all the sordid details.

A) The rules are posted at the beginning.
B) Each person answers questions about their sweethearts.
C) At the end of the post, the person then tags people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Erik
How long have you guys been married? 1 year and 2 months
How long did you date? 6 months, and then 2/3 months of engagement (I was a little skeptical)
How old is he? 25
Who is taller? Erik...definitely
Who can sing best? We sing best together. Mostly because I play the piano for us and because he drowns me out.
Who is smarter? Will Erik read this? In that case, him. He's the one going to medical school.
Who does laundry? Me. It's safer that way.
Who pays the bills? Pretty much me. Although Erik is the one in charge of tithing and fast offerings.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Erik. That's non-negotiable.
Who mows the lawn? If we had a lawn, it would be Erik. I've done it once in my life, and now I feel complete.
Who cooks dinner? We mostly cook together - it's our only similar interest: me for the housewifely skills, and Erik because he wants food NOW. He plans the menu, I buy the food... it all works.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Definitely Erik. I don't think I've admitted being wrong yet. It would be a shame to break my record now.
Who wears the pants? I like to pretend that I do, but we both know that he could crush me. When he says something, I listen.

Well, that's that. Whew. I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to copy and paste if you want to discuss your marriage online.

Presidential Bull

I don't know how you all feel about the presidential debates, but I'm fed up with them. Right now we're listening to the second debate, and I'm ready to turn it off! I wish that I was the mediator instead of Tom Brokaw so I could chew both candidates out. Brokaw asks a question that neither one of them answers - they take the opportunity to prove how unsuited their opponent is for the office instead of proving their own capacities. McCain is driving me nuts by calling everyone "my friend" every other sentence, and Obama hasn't given a straight answer yet (and what's with that little smirk that seems to say, "I'm winning, I'm winning"?). And what's with Obama fighting Brokaw for extra rebuttal time? Brokaw keeps reminding the candidates about time constraints and how they agreed to stick to one minute, but they just smile at him and keep blabbing about nothing. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't really think we have a viable candidate from either party. It's hard to encourage the 18-year olds in my classes to register to vote when I'm not even sure that I will. I wonder if voters in other eras ever felt this way. Do you guys feel like these debates actually resolve anything? Do you feel good about voting for any of our candidates? I'm wishing we could just start over. Maybe Hillary would win this time.

Conference etc

I realize that we haven't posted for a while. You'll just have to accept that. For one thing, at least be grateful that I'm a more consistent blogger than journal writer. For another, this semester has been pretty crazy so far. Erik gets up around 5:30 so he can be at school and studying before 7:00. I have to leave the house before 6:45 or I won't make it to school by 7:30. When we get home, we still have a ton of studying to do, along with the laundry, cooking, and cleaning. I don't know how mothers do it sometimes - I guess I'll find out eventually. The last thing I want to be doing in my few minutes at home with Erik is blogging.

Here's an interesting side effect of medical school: Erik will be giving me a nice backrub or neck massage, and then I'll feel his fingers starting to measure off my spine or other body parts. Before I know it, I've turned into anatomy practice. Erik gets all excited and wants to tell me about every vein and artery in my body, and all I want is a little more rubbing. I've been told it gets worse, though; my mother-in-law related the time that she was stuck in a dark bathroom for hours while her husband practiced checking her ears, throat, etc. I guess I should be glad for the checkup - there will come a time when the last thing he wants to do is examine his own family.

Erik's probably got it worse, though. He gets to come home and hear about high school and history, two things he gladly left behind many years ago. I really love high school kids, and I'll tell you why.

• No matter what, I'm cooler than them. I no longer live with my parents, I have a car, I have a husband, and I'm done with high school. They just can't compete.
• Because of this, I get to tease them all the time. It's like having a lot of little insecure siblings in class all day that I get to mess with.
  
• I'm also smarter than them. Unlike college, where I may be only average, I'm the teacher and know what's on the test. I know, I know, it's not that impressive to be smarter than a high schooler, but hey, it's a self-esteem boost every day.
  
• They think you're not going to catch on if they are texting in the middle of a test, or writing a note when they should be working on homework. Come on kids, as you've frequently pointed out, I'm young. I remember. Give me your phone.
• They always suprise you. The tough kid is the one who comes and hangs out with you at lunch, and the jock aces the test. Sometimes when you think someone totally slept through your class, they recite your lecture back at you word for word on a test.
• And even though they try so hard to look and act grown up, they still care about doing well and gaining my respect. That's worth going back for, even if the money isn't.

I hope that didn't give you any painful flashbacks. I wish all high school students could see school from my perspective - maybe then it wouldn't be such a traumatic experience for some.

It was nice to relax this weekend at the Merkley house and watch the LDS General Conference. We were really struck by how focused the conference was on how to deal with stress, trials and difficult times. It sure sounds like things in this world are just going to get harder and more insecure, but we're grateful to have the guidance of modern-day apostles and prophets. Even if things keep getting worse, we know that God will take care of us as long as we do what we know is right. What a blessing to have the gospel in our lives.