cuter scooter

Cecily has been outside on the driveway riding Lula's scooter around and around in circles, in the dark, for more than an hour. She really, really wants to ride it to school, so she's trying to get fluent on it.

Last night Grandma Wendy siad, "Cecily, can we hear your poem?" and Cecily said in her best Grandma Wendy voice, "Only if you don't say 'Oooooh that's so gorgeous! You should be a poet person when you grow up.'"

I know it seems I'm obsessed with Cec lately. That's because I am. We spend a lot of time together these days. She's the new Eva/Ingrid.

x's,

Mom

Gunter Lox (not fox, lox)

When I thought Ingrid was lost, I called Gunter Lange in Germany, the supposed local CBYX representative. Gunter Lange told me I actually needed to phone Gunter Lox. I phoned Gunter Lox and he was SO SWEET! I asked if Ingrid was ok and he said, with great enthusiasm and a rich German baritone (do all the men over there have that?): "She is more than ok!!! She is very kindly, she is healthy, she has friends at her school, she learns German in many different grades, and her host mother is very good."

I felt reassured. Gunter Lox is very kindly himself. Sorry I'm too lazy to insert umlauts.

Pre-October Highlights

It's almost my favorite month of the year. Here's what happened last week:

--YAY--email from Ingy. I thought she was dead or being tortured, but she's not.

--Josh's b-day--he's way handsome and grown-up (hope that's not a creepy aunt thing to say).

--Mom and Dad flew in--I attended and survived surprisingly well the dreaded Women's Broadcast, only it wasn't really I broadcast as Mom finagled tix to the conference center. Although it was actually pretty much the same as a broadcast 'cause you can only see the speaker on the screens. Mom gave me a hand rub, which helped me concentrate, and I knew they were taking us to Little America for dinner afterward.

--LITTLE AMERICA rocks. It hasn't changed a bit since I first went there in the seventies. They still have calf's livers on the menu and if you order the meal, you get a scoop of Snelgrove's ice cream in a little metal cup. And they chill their salad plates and warm their dinner plates. It's just my favorite kind of old school goodness.

--The Locust Salon--Dad sang a fab. new setting of "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes" (I'll give you a dollar if you can remember the sonnet #), and Uba sounded great. A student said, "When I'm a professor I'm going to have a Locust Salon, only I'm not going to call it the Locust Salon."

--Eliza's beautiful personal narrative--Andrea C. better fully appreciate!

--Eva's been hitting the town. Cuban Jazz, the New Museum (is that what it's called) in Soho and some other stuff.

--26 more pages of the B's I.

--Everyone's healthy all at the same time.

--Grandma Wendy asked Moses what he was grateful for after he came out of nursery holding his picture that said, "I am greatful for animals" and he replied, "MoMo!!!!" with gusto. He's also chubby from being on oral steroids for a week. Cute!

--The mountains are scattered with bright splotches of pink, red and yellow.

seriously

I don't think my closest friends and family are appreciating this blog enough. Christian thinks it's pretty funny but kind of boring. So I'm asking for a response to this post RIGHT person, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME from the blog seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com, so as I can know if it's a guy thing or if I just have bad taste in humor.

chickn-n-dumplins

Discovery: who knew that a spoonful of pesto change everything you thought you knew about the genre?

the inch of a worm with a rhyming word

by Cecily Anna Asplund

The inch of a worm with a bird coming by
makes an inch to an inch with a rhyme to a rhyme
'til a worm to a bird to an eating ferd
'til the bird snatches up to eat me.

Well, all it says is, "Just in time for lunch!"
Unitl the inch of the inch of the slimey slime
But the worm is a slime is the deet is the reet
'til the eating section the bird comes over
'til the slime to the slime, every day all he says
when he sees a worm is, "Just in time for lunch!"

'Til the bird takes a rhyme to the bird to the word
to the slime, to the rhyme, to the bird, to the word
to the slime, to the rhyme, with a cry me crime crime
with the bird with the bird with the flerdy flerd flerd.

At night in the snickey flerdy eating that the blue bird eats
in a snickey snacky chew.

P.S.

Who figured out about how to make their post title into a link? What did I say about instant gratification and commas etc.?

P.P.S.
Thanks for posting, mama. I read and reread, and even commented.

Here's what I did today:

Cuz ya'll are so interested in my life.

1. Carried my shoez around in my bagz because me and shoez are so not on good terms right now. Until I had to cross the street to Columbia, because peeps over there are totally judgmental of people who only wear socks, probably.

2. Woke up at 8:40 (that's right, folks) to see a TA at 9 (who was half an hour late) and was late to Econ (but prof couldn't remember who I was because my hair is still straight, and I certainly wasn't going to tell her).

3. Made myself eat salad and only a little bit of pasta because it is time to get my life back on the right track again, and my RM was making me feel insecure with his super healthy meal plus OJ plus milk.

4. Made a real live computer program with inputz and outputz (funny how puts with a z is putz. Not that puts is a word.)

5. Cleaned my room a little tiny bit (it was actually last night, but past midnight, and people here are always pretending like they think of a day as starting at 12:01 am instead of starting at whenever they wake up, like normal people do).

6. Dropped/spilled a lot of things.

I am finding time to miss each and every one of you (even anonymous blogstalkers who are scheming about how to steal Cecily because she is so adorable/a genius) even with my busy busy busy schedule.
Talk to me about the Serial Comma. Why is everyone so anti-comma these days? My First Year Seminar prof says it is because of the New York Times (which is why I am boycotting the NYT) but I think it must be something deeper. More sinister.
Akin to the instant gratification generation phenomenon, and also probably gangsta rap.

EDIT: Puts is a word. Excuse me.

hilarious blog

Lula in the Herald

Lula was interviewed by a reporter from the Daily Herald yesterday in her art class at the Provo community center. Lovely Myrtle brought the paper over to show me since I don't take it. Here's the quote: "'Maybe the reason we're so quiet is because we're so into it,' said 10-year-old Lula Asplund of Provo after being asked why the class was so quiet. Isn't she adorable?

Her art show happens the end of October.

She's been glazing and firing ceramics lately.

snap cup

We finally had the Snap Cup FHE that Lula has been planning for nigh unto a year. It was a great success! After a nice dinner with Bam (I made spaghetti with italian sausages, salad, zucchini, bread--lula made whipped cream and served us all pumpkin pie), and a small recital where Lula played some piano pieces and sang "Jubilate Deo" that she's been learning with Dr. Jaccard, we all wrote snaps and read them and snapped. Here are the snaps:

Mommy to Cecily: Cecily has a cute new haircut, has a great rock n' roll voice, and wrote a really good poem last week.

Cecily to Lula: Lula is a lover. She looks like the queen of Provo and her new bangs look great. I never imagined anything like it. I never imagined a girl like Lula. I think she FEELS like the queen of Provo.

Bammy to Lara: Lara is a great hostess.

Daddy to Bammy: Bammy is always ready for fun. She is happy when other people are having fun.

Lula to Daddy: Daddy always has something to play on the piano.

Momo was asleep.

snaps to Eva: Eva has amazing hair, is rocking her challenging classes, and has a terrific new job.

snaps to Ingrid: Ingrid is rocking Oberdorla, has been conversing on the bus, and helps Uta with the chores. She has a great attitude when she faces challenges.

Memory Wipe

I keep trying to post, but I keep forgetting what I was going to say. Really, one year past forty and my brain cells are shrinking at an alarming rate. Anyhoo, here's what I can remember of last week:

--Momo's voice went bye-bye when he had bronchitis. He's now much better , what with the oral steroids, antibiotics, and nebulizer.

--Farmers Market! Bought green zebra tomatoes, armenian cukes, little green round summer squash.

--Haircuts for me (just a trim--it looks exactly the same), Cecy (chin length stacked bob), Lula (straight across bangs), and Mo (short with some spiky spiderman hair in the front).

--Cecy's poem "The Inch of a Worm is a Word that Rhymes" poem.

--Cecy's rock n' roll singing.

--Massage, by Cecy (try this some time): an ice cube with lotion on it slathered across the calves.

--Cecy.

--Ingrid's possible kidnapping (no one has heard from her stateside). I'm kidding, of course, sort of.

--Momo kissing kids at 'benture--teacher: "Who do we kiss? Right! Just moms and dads!"

--Fall Festival--I actually didn't loathe it this year, and Cecy and Lula got awesome rock n' roll updos from the gals at Paul Mitchell who were workin' for free at the Fest. Then their hair got spray painted. And they had yummy home made'ish cupcakes.

--Got 14 pp. written in the BI. Fewer than I wanted 'cause Momo was home sick.

--Hannah Montana concert movie for Movie nite with Lula and Cec.

Java City

I just ate a bad muffin.

Barnard makes us buy 125$ at this horrible cafe on campus as part of our meal plan. I am trying to find good things to use it up on, and so far only the steamed milk is good. I've been drinking a lot of whole milk since I've gotten here.

The internet works here, though, which is nice.

hi-lites

--Momo earned a helicopter with a button by pooping on the toilet.

--Happy B-day Emily!

--More peach pie from Bam, a caramely roast, and a many-varietied tomato salad from the Jasplund's garden.

--Phone call with Ingrid.

--Eva's first Barnard paper.

--A tour of the Clifford Family Farm (the only certified organic farm in Utah Valley) from Farmer John. Momo and Cecy got to pick and eat tomatoes and arugula, pet baby chicks and bunnies and see peacocks and a very large, very beautiful flock of chickens.

--THE ART OF FAMILY DINNER.

--26 pages written of the B's I.

--Daddy's Book of Mormon overview using Minerva Teichert paintings in home evening.

--THE FARMER'S MARKET is now my favorite event of the week.

--Primary rocked my world this week.

--The Gingerbread Man--written and illustrated by Cecily Asplund.

--Crazy muscle response medicine with one of Grandma Beth's far out doctors.

--Lula's new recipe for hot chocolate with pumpkin spice called "Lula's Cocoa Loco"

--Choir with Dr. Jaccard.

--Lula's new math class.

--Provo Reads--the whole town is reading "Tales of Desperaux" together.

--Clfford Farms eggs--the most beautiful and delicious I have ever tasted. For reals.

--Early fall skies.

I shaved my legs, am pursuing a boy with a rainbow mowhawk, and eat Nutella every day (or, how Europe has changed me)

First week of school. I am a little bit scared. Fortunately, I am in a class with Leander, and I have learned much of what they are teaching us already, but even so I rarely have any clue what is going on around me. I tear five 3 by 5 cards into quartes every night and make twenty flashcards, which I learn on the two different buses that I take to reach school. So it's not as though I'm not learning twenty new words a day, but it's also not as though I'm not scared to go back on Monday.
About the legs and underarms: On Monday, my sister pulled me aside and told me that I would not be accepted socially if I didn't shave. I resisted the urge to burn my bra right there in the kitchen and determined that I was already going to have trouble making friends, and should probably shave. So I did. I am exceedingly sad about it, though, and decided that I would give myself body hair as a Christmas present, because I will speak German and have friends by then.
About the boy: I said something (was ist dein leiblingsfarbe in dein haar?) that I'm sure was around 30% coherent, and he smiled at me, and I decided that he would be my boyfriend. Not that I've said anything to him since, but you know... don't want to be forward or anything.
About the Nutella: Does this need explaining? I think not.
I visited Erfurt yesterday, which was neat. Me and some family/ friends went shopping, and I admired all of the street performers and buildings. In the evening, I went to a party with big sister Annagret, where I was offered alchahol (I said no, but keep in mind that it would have been legal, as the drinking age is 16)and answered lots of questions (I won't lie, though: they were in English). I am kind of loving it a lot over here, though I really miss being able to talk to people. And here's something interesting: I haven't known a single person who I currently talk to for more than a week. I think that is a new thing for me.
I'm sorry if my English is getting worse. They said that would happen, and I am certainly getting no opportunity to use it.
It's really cold here, I want you all to know that. And not just between the house and the car-- Germans love fresh air, and the house is always the same temperature as outside (hopefully this will stop by the time it starts snowing, which will probably be next week). I wore my long johns to bed last night, and seriously considered getting my scarf, before I realized that that would mean getting out from under my comforter.
You know what else Germans love? Southern Utah. There was a delicate arch poster on the wall of one of my classrooms this week, and I tried to say, "I've been there!", but ended up with "Ich!....gehen... *blushes, sits down*". Which is cool.
I have no idea what to do about homework. I've tried to ask my brother for help, but I don't think he understood me. I would love advice on that aspect of things, because I don't even know what our assignments are.

For once in it's sad old life, the Hewitt Dining Hall was brimming with excellent food. My dinner consisted of (in this order):
Stir fry on rice noodles with broth and lime.
Carrot Cake.
4 fairly large pieces of brisket with gravy (so good.)
"Confetti" rice pilaf (not good.)
Salad with too much blue (bleu?) cheese dressing.
"Rosemary" polenta with tomato sauce.
To be fair, I didn't eat much salad. I did eat way too much of the bad pilaf, though, before I realized there was polenta to be had. But even still, I think Mackenzie would've been proud.
Now my dilemma is what to do next. The theme of this entry is: It Never Rains But It Pours. For the last few days I have been bored senseless. Bored to the point of cursing loudly alone in my room... But to be fair, not to the point of cleaning my room.
My to-do list today is as follows:

(Old things I have been putting off:)
Go to B.Babysitting office and find job.
Fold laundry.
Acquire fridge.
Clean room.
Clip fingernails (**acquire nail clippers)
(New things--assigned today:)
Switch stupid CompSci book for newer, bigger, 160 dollar Textbook entitled "Big Java".
Do first Econ problem set (algebra, mostly).
Read last 200 pages of Ragtime.
Fix painfully long Hindi assignment from last week.
Memorize Hindi vocab--pronouns and corresponding "to be" verbs.
Read first three chapters of OTHER compsci textbook.

And, last but not least, watch House season premiere at 8.
And also... buy Hindi books.
Crap.

week of labor day highlights

2 x IKEA--once with Bonnie and Emily, once with Kindra, Bam, Eliza, Kendall, Taylor, and Moses with frequent encounters with Emily's Dave working security there.

79 Degrees!

Picnic at Rock Canyon Park with Bam, Jasplunds, Eliza, Emily and Dave and a quick visit from Kate and Ken.

Chuck-a-rama with Bonnie and kids, in honor of Dad's absence.

Bam returns from Canada!

Bam's peach custard pie!

Bonnie's b-day party with the Whitakers at Grandma Beth.

George Handley's speech on Religious Values and Environmental Stewardship at Pioneer Park & the Living Green Festival on Saturday with Wade and Kendall, Lula and Cecily (MoMo had a playdate with Kindra during the talk.)

Daddy's back!

The Farmer's Market got HUGE! OK, not Union Square Farmer's Market Huge (have you checked this out yet Eva?), but about four or five times bigger than it was. Raquel gave me Ingrid's Provo Farmer's Market Bag. Cecily and Lula got to hang out with an owl and a hawk. I got to hang out with the Utah Valley Cohousing people, and eat a fantastic tamale from one of the booths.

87 new pics of Ingrid in Germany!!!!

Kindra's rhubarb cake with almond whipped cream.

Lula represents the Asplunds at the ward fish fry and plays her last night games of the season on the blocked off Locust Lane until 11 pm.

Mommy really digs George Pellecanos--writer for the Wire and fantastic mystery writer, a poet really. Mommy makes some progress on her own mystery novel, but feels all Evanovich/Grafton after reading Pellecanos.

Daddy is a Herb Alpert Arts award finalist!

Mommy is getting published in Fence!

Eva gets a mention in Jezebel--after only a week in NY!

Lula makes THE BEST cookies (Split Seconds from the cookie book) ALL BY HERSELF.

now i'm wishin that i didn't wear these shoes

I forgot to go to the Barnard Babysitters office again today... It will happen when the time is right. There was a crazy fiasco with the bank that was extremely inconvenient, and also boring, so I won't get into deets, but suffice it to say that the good people at JP Morgan Chase were kind enough to waive a 25 dollar fee out of the goodness of their hearts. Everyone who works there (men and women) is attractive and ethnic.
I bought an umbrella today, and wore my spray-painted boots for the first time (with my cut-off denim skirt from Karen, a black v-neck quarter-length-sleeve t-shirt, and my turkish flag earrings) which earned me quite a few approving glances from the oh-so-desirable Columbia boys (The lengths we Barnard girls go to... It's ridiculous).
Hindi is starting to be comprehensible (not the language, obviously. The class.)
Other than that, not much is going on these days.
Keep posting!
Love you.
Eva

jezebel

Apparently I'm the last to know that Eva is "the Barnard student" mentioned in this article. I want some mileage out of my daughter's fame, or infamy, as the case may be. Does everyone else already know this?

http://jezebel.com/5044483/let-us-hope-that-the-traditional-woman-is-resurrected-and-feminism-forever-banished-from-the-record-of-man

Ich leibe meine Gastfamilie!

I arrived at my host family's house yesterday, and they are very wonderful. I nearly cried when I left my Language Camp friends and started reading the heartfelt notes they had written in my journal on the train. As soon as I reached my HF, though, I determined that I would probably be for real crying when I got on the bus to the Frankfurt airport in June. They are super chill and okay with me walking around the house barefoot. They have "ein kleine Hund" named Charlie or something, and I have a quaint room with an excellent view of a pear tree. When I entered my room, I saw that there was a stuffed snowman on my pillow, and a flower and Kinder bar on my bedside table. Fer cute! I would tell you the German word for cute but
a. I can't remember it, and
b. It is one of the least cute words ever. In fact, it sounds a teensy bit vulgar. But all German words sound vulgar.

humid

I love coastal rain. It is better than other rain. Really.

Good News for Mommy

I just received this email today from one of my favorite lit journals!

Dear Lara,

Thanks so much for sending us your work. We'd like to publish "Des Esseintes . . ." and "Provencal . . ." in the Fall 2009 issue of Fence. Attached is a contract for you to fill out and return when you can.

best wishes,

Colie

Congrats Daddy!

Daddy was just notified that is a finalist for the Herb Alpert award for composers given out by Cal Arts--he is one of 20 finalists and the award is 75K!!!!! He was nominated anonymously. As a finalist, he gets special consideration for an artist's residency at MacDowell, Ucross, Hedgebrook and the like. We all know that Daddy rocks--nice to see some one else give him the props he deserves.

Sunday Dinner

Hi Girls--This is Mom, posting on Dad's computer. I thought you all might be homesick for Sunday dinner, so here's a little run-down on the meal. First, I'll start with potatoes, since they're vegetarian, vegan even, so Liza could eat them. I got the recipe from thepioneerwoman.com, and they're called crash hot potatoes. Ingredients include red potatoes, olive oil, kosher salt, cracked pepper, and chives from Tamara Call's garden. They were a hit with the diners. Here's a close-up so you can really understand the crunchy kosherness of these delicious little pommes de terres.



Onto the salads--the green salad was mine, and included orange cherry tomatoes nestled among the greens. They were so sweet with almost no acidity, verging on too sweet, but residing just enough on the tomato-y side to make them perfect. Emily composed the gorgeous red tomato salad with two kinds of tomatoes, which you can see from the different shades of red. The more purpley deeper colored tomatoes were an heirloom variety from the Frandsen's garden and the more common looking tomato from the Farmers' Market. Again topped with Tamara's chives, olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. It was a delicious salad and I think we'll make another one for dinner tonight again.

Finally, the chicken, which I selected during a black-out at Albertson's. As Lula and Cecily stood sobbing, "Let's go home now!" I determined to find the last thing on my list and I felt my way through the meat section until I groped something that felt like a chicken. It felt fantastic! I couldn't tell what kind it was, or how much it was, but I decided to go out on a limb and purchase it anyway, and hope it wasn't 20 bucks. I got to the last working register (must have had some sort of back up power source) and bought my chicken (it was 7 bucks rather than the usual 5--but was a roaster and a little bigger than the normal birds I buy, and was also "all natural, no hormones, vegetarian fed, but not free-range --which would cost a lot more than seven.) Roasted the chicken for an hour at 400 degrees after liberally coating with coarse sea salt and cracked pepper. It was delish.

Finally, I have no pics of dessert, but Emily made summer pudding (berries and bread in a mold--beautiful and delicious), we had five varieties of ice cream, I made Grandma Eva's hot fudge sauce, and Liza made vegan brownies. Also, Liza played a movement from a Beethoven sonata on the piano, and she and Dad performed "Autumn Leaves" and "Angel Eyes"--she sang beautifully. Uncle Ray and Aunt Carol from Alberta were here, and Bonnie also stopped by. It was a lovely evening--we sat on the porch eating while it poured rain--nearly perfect but for the absence of our darling daughters.


xxoo,

Mom

Kollege

Went to bed at 7:30 last night. Really. Spent a LONG time yesterday on the phone with various people (we have free nights and weekends, correct?). Walked down to Riverside park and sat on a bench like a real New Yorker. I thought about bringing a newspaper, but I thought that would've been a little too much.
My roommate is a doll. She plays show tunes in the mornings and sings along, which is actually quite endearing. She insists on pointing the fan in my direction at night, even though it's her fan. She says living in Lebanon has made her immune to heat. She has curly hair, which makes me like her a good deal more.
My nail polish is starting to wear off, but hopefully I will have a regular babysitting job soon enough--I am going to an orientation on Thurs. to become a "Barnard Babysitter". I miss the kiddies so much. They would love it here. If we ever win the lottery, I think we should all take a family vacation to NY.
I think I am finally going to figure out how to do laundry today. I need to go to the bank. I'll stop by the West Side Market on my way back and eat some samples. One thing about New York City is that you can have fun by yourself if needs be. Not that I'm planning on becoming a recluse or anything, but it's a type of independence that I really enjoy.
Love you all, and love hearing from you. Keep posting!