Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Today was the first time Mark and I have been able to attend the newly renovated Houston LDS Temple since Hurricane Harvey infiltrated the building. Which fact is a Big Deal to me. I forgot to take a pic, so I've drawn us in, bottom right corner Before Mark and I got married, we set out some goals for the marriage, and one of them was to attend a LDS temple once a month, assuming it is within a 2 hour drive. It is a holy house that usually brings me peace and purpose, so having the Houston temple out-of-commission for 8 months during a time when both Mark and I are stressed about school/work/general-human-ness stuff was Not Helping. We tried visiting other temples. The San Antonio temple is pretty close (3 hours), but it is a much smaller temple that became overwhelmed with the visits of all the LDS people in the Houston area, so we only went once. I had a plan to visit the next-closest temple, in Dallas, when Mark and I went up for a Penguins hockey game, but I became s...

I was scared of this third-decade birthday. It just seems that the world expects you to know how to be an adult by age 30.  But I can't even floss my teeth on a regular basis   (unless that basis is yearly) . This is how TOUGH GUYS floss. With a .50 caliber machine gun I'm guessing denial kept me from asking for the day off from work. But it turned out fine. I talked with my co-workers about ways of staying young, different lotion regimens or dermabrasions. I mentioned that I had recently gotten Botox (for migraines, but some of the injection sites included my forehead and between my eyebrows) and hoped it could work in my favor. We had donuts, and pancit, and egg rolls, and boba drinks, and everyone at work basically was forced to celebrate with me!! Ha-ha! When I got home from work, I found Mark trying to make blueberry muffins for me (I like blueberry muffins. I like poppyseed muffins more, but that's okay). It really wasn't his fault that it wasn't worki...

For the past two weeks, I have been spending a lot of time at the county morgue. I've seen lots of cold bodies. And the scene of death. And then their autopsies. Lots of really vivid memories to be made there. So, with the authority of 80+ hours of reviewing cause of death, I have some things to say. --For goodness sake, DON'T CO-SLEEP WITH YOUR BABY --Also, if you have a gun, LOCK IT UP. AND DON'T TOUCH IT WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY --Death from drug abuse doesn't discriminate between rich and poor. Don't waste your time or money on illicit drugs. --People with high blood alcohol levels do really stupid things. Don't be one of them. --Based on how many suicides came through the doors, we need to PAY ATTENTION TO MENTAL HEALTH. We need coping skills. --High blood pressure has a visible effect on internal organs. It's a problem. It can kill you. --WEAR A HELMET when riding on motorcycles. Bicycles, too. --Cars are really great at moving people arou...

I'm starting to believe that Mark and I are destined to experience the odd and improbable. My data so far?    -way abnormal meeting-and-dating story [I'll write about it sometime. It involves dating sisters.]    -equally abnormal wedding due to near-fatal crash of his parents    -currently, uncommon division of labor (I work, he does laundry and dishes and vacuuming and grocery-shopping and volunteering. Although I hope we switch soon.) etc. I'm getting more evidence. This past weekend, my youngest brother got married, so Mark and I flew to Utah to reunite families again. We started with cautiously visiting his brother in SLC. Remarkably, the very morning Dave picked us up from the airport was the morning his sons threw up repeatedly. We stayed away from the house for a little bit playing Battleship at a shooting range. I actually wasn't too bad with the .22 rifle, but Mark still won. Armed with good hand hygiene, Mark and I visited with our t...

Remember that time my husband accidentally got  ZERO presents  from my family for Christmas, except for the one from me? Well, even the one from me fell through, because the day we were supposed to see the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game in Dallas, I was breathtakingly sick. Thus, when Mark's birthday came around, I was nervous about my gift of going to see actual penguins at Moody Gardens in Galveston. I really worried I would get sick and ruin it. But I didn't! And we loved it! And we took so many pictures!! Penguins are such social animals! They really liked interacting with us. The artistic penguin Marley And my dad says I can't take good pictures! [actually, this was a total accident] They're snuggling! Monkey see monkey do. Look at Mark, look at me  There were other animals besides penguins at the aquarium in Moody Gardens, but that was our primary motivating factor to go. Notice that Mark is wearing his Pittsburgh Penguins hat; I...

The tagline of one of Houston's religious radio station is "God Listens." That's a pretty good endorsement. I've become less and less enthused about cooking, and consequently meal prep has gotten more and more stressful. Maybe it's because being a grad student on top of working full-time has finally caught up to me. Maybe it's because I know I will dirty dishes that Mark will end up washing. Maybe I'm lazy. I don't know. But figuring out what we will eat has become a dreaded responsibility. And so I pray, in my innermost heart, that someone else will provide some meals for us. Obviously this is not a noble cause. It's not even strictly necessary, because we could eat cans of soup or ravioli or (Mark's vote) cereal. That's part of why I haven't told anyone; I haven't even expressly asked God for such food delivery. But even so, He listened. Right after church today, a lady approached me and said she would like to invite Mark a...

As the media has dredged up the horror of abuse of power and sexuality at the cost of human innocence, I cannot help but hurt. Oh, ladies, I am so sorry. Absolutely sorry. I weep with you to think of the pain, hurt, turmoil, self-doubt, and loss of trust that so many like-minded men have caused. It is painful to think how things could go wrong, and wrenchingly chilling to realize that it did, in fact, go wrong. It wronged girls, their families, and even the entirety of the human race. Such pervasive abuse has exacted an exorbitant cost, one that no human—or even a group of them--can repay: mental repercussions, physical reminders, maligned relationships, damaged integrity, and the growth of fear and hate instead of joy and love. This is a twisting of authority and a mangling of sex that we cannot stand for; indeed, that we are required to stand against. No man, no person, that commits sexual abuse can walk away unscathed. And for that, I also weep. How humanity has fallen! Like King D...