An Old Family Recipe

Doesn't this look delicious?

Ingredients:
Cardboard
Spray paint
Yarn
Puffy paint
Paper plate
Plastic utensils
Paper cup
Hot Glue


Assemble the above and add

ONE GIGGLY GIRL

p.s.
Who asked me this week why I love Halloween? Our conversation got cut off, but I kept thinking about it and here are my answers.
#1 Obviously, a chance to use the glue gun
#2 Chocolate? Hello, I've abstained ALL MONTH to make it that much more exciting (My kids know I get 10%)
#3 Traipsing around carefree in the dark
#4 Oohing and Ahhing all night at the neighborhood kids who come to the door; pretending to be scared by pint-sized goblins and ghosts

It's just good old-fashioned fun.

SURVIVAL OF THE SICKEST

I finished this book a week ago and can't get it out of my mind, so I think it needs a quick review.

Survival of the Sickest, by Dr. Sharon Moalem, explores and answers the question of why natural selection "failed" to weed out several hereditary diseases that are part of our genetic makeup. Moalem begins by explaining how some diseases have been passed on from generation to generation because they actually served an evolutionary purpose. These are diseases that kill us eventually, but they saved our ancestors from immediate threats, such as the bubonic plague.

Fairly interesting, right? Well, it gets even better. Many of the diseases we get actually control us for their own profit and benefit. It can be as simple as a sneeze, which helps propell the virus to find other hosts. Or more insidious, like an STD that increases sexual desire and reduces judgement. All those tropical parasites that make you itch do so for a reason.

Then it gets even more interesting. We have genetic coding that consists of innumerable "switches" that can be turned on and off based on our environment. This concept goes against everything I ever understood about genetics. For example, in one study fat yellow rats that came from a long line of fat yellow rats were given vitamin supplements in the first days of pregnancy, and they produced skinny brown rats. They still carried the fat yellow rat gene, but it was switched off because the fetus did not sense a threat to its future nutrition, so it's little body didn't need to hoard fat. Women who are on a junk food diet in the first days after conception trigger the switch that makes skinny babies, because they sense they are being born in harsh conditions and will need to be small to survive. Ironically it also triggers the switch to obesity in childhood and beyond, because they sense they will need to hoard fat later in life to survive. These traits are deeply set in our ancient DNA and helped our ancestors survive severe cold and famine. (I'm probably not explaining this accurately enough, but just giving you a taste of one aspect of the book that stuck with me.)

Aging unto death is another switch that is flipped. We are actually programmed to die. I can't do the explanation justice but it has to do with limiting rapid cell growth. In other words, aging is part of our bodies' defence agianst cancer.

So if you've ever wondered why we get sick or age, Survival of the Sickest is for you. I do not have a science background, but found this an easy and engaging read, Tipping Point- style. Five stars.

The book's website, For excerpts, reviews, etc.

must have been a beautiful baby

Dear Syd,

I love this picture because you shine so brightly in the sunset. In real life, you bring the sunshine to our family every day. Your enthusiasm for life bubbles over, sometimes into endless giggling, sometimes into singing and dancing. Your life is a happy musical and I'm just blessed to be a part of it! Happy Birthday, Syd!!! Thank you for seven wonderful years.

Love,
Mom

Syd with "Churro" and her Birthday Pies in the background
(Berkeley blogged about the fateful piemaking)

7 (better?) bits of Brenda Trivia

Okay, Bridget made fun of my last post so I'm going to try again. I'll admit that last attempt was a little lame, so I'm digging deeper into my childhood. I hope these pass muster because I doubt I can come up with 7 more.

1. I was the only Caucasian baby in the hospital where I was born in East Chicago.
2. My mom taught my kindergarten class in a little country church with a bell on top. One day we were running late so I had to come to school in my crocheted slippers.
3. I was considered an airhead in my family growing up. (I didn't discover my inner-nerd until graduate school.)
4. I broke my nose waterskiing. My ski flipped off and hit me right in the face. I was so panicked about all the blood I tried to get out of my life jacket in the water. I had to start my junior year of high school with two big black eyes.
5. For 18 months I was student body vice president and madame chair of the student council at my high school.
6. I was also a homecoming princess.
7. I went to community college for a year before my parents finally convinced me to leave the nest and go to BYU.

How's that? Now I want to hear 7-14 strange and interesting things about each of you.

7 bits of Brenda trivia

Okay, I don't claim that these are interesting things, just random unknown things. Everybody already knows about schizophrenic Brenda, right? (I was in a band and got my masters degree...) These are7 more up-close-and-personal bits:

1. I brush my teeth with hot water. I just like to, okay?
2. I love all things peanutbutter and chocolate--but not this month.
3. For the month of October, I'm doing a detox diet. No sugar, dairy, wheat, caffeine, or preservatives. I've fallen off the wagon twice already, both at social events. And I plan to fall hard on Halloween. (I'll probably do another post later about why I'm doing this.)
4. I'm not big on firm commitments.
5. I nap almost every day. 10-30 minutes. I can't get through the day otherwise. It's practically involuntary. My kids just deal with it.
6. I carry a book with me wherever I go, because I can't stand to be alone with my thoughts for more than a few seconds.
7. I like to cook but think of recipes as very loose guidelines.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged. What don't I know about you?

Four going on Fourteen

Maia started high school this year. Well, preschool at the high school. But it's "her" school, and she feels a sense of belonging as a "little warrior." Which is why she often sports her high school/preschool hoodie. Here she is posing as a smurf, holding our kitty Milo.


And tonight was her big night in her hoodie. The preschool kids got to lead the half-time parade at the Homecoming game tonight. Let me tell you, I think the last football game I went to was in 1989. It hasn't changed much--wet, cold, late, and long. And just like high school, I'm still much more interested in watching the marching band than the game. The half-time show was amazing and Sydney screamed her cheers for the awesome band and for Maia. We stayed just a few minutes past everyone's comfort level and left soaked to the skin.