Let's Dance the Last Dance

I've never been into Dancing with the Stars. When I've caught the occasional show, I've enjoyed seeing the dancing and such, but I never cared all that much about it. Not even when a certain former boy band member, whose face used to litter my bedroom walls, participated. Although, I do remember being mildly upset when I found out that Slater didn't win the year he was in it. But even so, I never really watched it on a regular basis.

That has changed. When in GJ in March, we watched an episode at my aunt Camille's, and I just kept up on it once I returned to Provo. There are now four couples left, which means that the nail-biting can really begin. (sorry, melissa gilbert -- there was no way you'd last past this week, as much as i was shocked to see you saved last week.)

My favorite this season has been Donald Driver, but I have a feeling he's not going to win. The judges keep on low-balling him, which is driving me a little nuts. They rave about his performance, but insist on giving him mere 9's, which seems to me unfair, especially when compared with William Levy's lackluster foxtrot that garnered him a perfect score this week. Not that William didn't do well, but I don't think he deserved his score. Donald, however, seems to put so much personality into his dances and has so much fun in addition to dancing well. I really enjoy his dances, and I really like seeing his cute wife and kiddos cheer for him.

(p.s. i loved, loved, loved, the dance trios this week. donald's jive = totally my favorite.) (are you listening, len goodman?)

Since I have my doubts about Donald winning, my hope then is that Katherine Jenkins will take it all home. She's had some beautiful dances and has been at the top of the leaderboard very consistently. Not to mention the fact that she didn't miss a single step when her pant leg didn't rip off correctly and was stuck on her foot for part of her trio dance this week. Wow! She, however, is another that has yet to grab that elusive perfect score. Come on, judges! Maria and William have been dancing well, but I simply like Katherine and Donald so much better! (and that's even discounting maria's maniacal laughter, which also drives me insane.)

I do not profess to be an expert. Heck, my husband knows more about ballroom dancing than I do. So maybe others disagree with my hopes/assessments of the remaining contestants, but I can definitely look forward to some great dancing as the season comes to a close. Good luck to my favorites!

-Megan

"Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough." -Groucho Marx

Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?

I asked myself last night if I'd eaten too many cookies. And then I realized something . . .

. . . There is no such thing as too many cookies.

-Me

"Watch, learn, and don't eat my cookie." -Phoebe Buffay

They Say It's Your Birthday

Warning: there is birthday stuff in this post, including videos about opening gifts, which are probably really boring. However, no pictures were taken on my birthday, and I looked darn cute, so I'm putting up the video of me opening gifts so you can all see how adorable I was at the beginning of the month.

Glen and I were born only one day apart . . . sort of. He came along four years later, but since our birthdays are so close, he will never have a good reason to forget my birthday. Mwuhahahahaha! It's probably weird to post about our birthdays nearly a month after the fact, but oh well.

Here's Glen's:

What a nice wife he has to make him such a pretty cake.

I have a feeling we're going camping this summer. (yay!!!)

And mine:

The addition of Sgt. Schulz was particularly fun.

Glen was attempting to "hide" the dresser he got for me while I was off playing with Mama and Kelly in GJ the week before. But I'm afraid subtlety wasn't the dresser's strong suit.

I like my earrings, that is certain.

So here's to being a year older . . . and wiser, too?

-Me 

"There is nothing better than birthday cake. It's like a slice of concentrated love with buttercream frosting." -Takayuki Ikkaku

I Was Born Under a Wand'ring Star

I don't know how many colds I've gotten in the last year or so, but I'd say it's excessive. I blame it on the fact that I work at home and never see people, so on the occasions we go to hang out with other people (usually when it includes children), my immune system is not tip-top. Although Glen thinks I should blame communism. Also a viable option.

What's lucky is that rarely have I gotten Glen sick. Except this time. My "cold" really hasn't been too terrible, but Glen came down with one about two days after my throat started feeling prickly, and last night, he could hardly breathe because he was so stuffed up. Poor fella. And this is what he sounded like this morning.

Nice, huh? And this is the guy who sings tenor in songs like this.

And I thought getting a cold made me sound like a man.

-Me

"Women don't want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think -- in a deeper voice." -Bill Cosby

Pump It

No longer being single, I don't hear as often about the creative and fun dates my friends go on. But when I was hearing about such things, a popular date activity was racquetball. I never did it myself, but in retrospect, it's probably better for me that I didn't. The sight of my face alone, not counting my ultra-competitive nature, would probably have been enough to send my date running in the opposite direction . . . or at least, make them not-at-all eager for a successive date. This spectrum should give you a good idea of what color my face is when I exercise.

Exercising on dates really would never have worked for me when I was single.

Fortunately, now that I've landed my man and he's stuck with me, I can exercise on dates all I want to and he just has to deal with how I look. Bahahahaha!!!! Which means I've pseudo-taken up racquetball. We've only gone twice in the last couple of weeks, and I'm just awful. But as we keep going and I (possibly) get better, perhaps the predominant expression on my face while I play will change from this . . .

. . . to this.

Minus the fur, of course.

-Me

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises." -Buzz Aldrin

Let the Memory Live Again

Picture this:

It's early 1996, you're 11 years old, and all you want to do after you come home from your ballet lesson is play solitaire on your family computer. (why? because computer solitaire is the coolest.) It's you and your 14-year-old brother at home, and he won't get off the computer. What do you do to make him move? Or rather, what does he coerce you into doing so that he will move? Observe.

I must have really liked solitaire.

-Me

p.s. Tom was nice enough to not post this video without my permission, and when he told me he had avoided the temptation, I responded that he should load the video so that my husband could at least see it. And then I figured, I get a laugh out of this, and I may as well let others do the same. (you don't see me posting the video link directly on facebook, though. i only post here because not many people read my blog.)

Who am I?

If anybody else read this post title and immediately started singing Les Mis, you're not alone. ("two-four-six-oh-OOOOOOOOONE!") And even if you were the only reader who initially thought of that, you're probably not the only one thinking of it now. (ah, the power of suggestion.)

But in all seriousness, this is a question that is constantly popping up in my head (and the song subsequently gets stuck in there, too). How many of us really go through life without contemplating who we are and who we want to be? That's not me at all. And then there are the questions that accompany this reflection: Am I bridging the gap between who I am now and who I want to be at the right pace? Am I moving in the right direction? What lack I yet? How much change can I really take before I become someone unrecognizable? How much do I want to change? What do I want to keep?

Lots of questions. But that's all right.

Without these questions, I would never evaluate myself and my life. I would never question why I am the way I am. I would never get to know myself. I would never seek for answers. I would never look for ways to improve myself. I would never identify my weaknesses. I would never identify my strengths. I would be simply content to lie back and be dormant. Apathetic. Stiff. Stale. BORING!

No, thanks. I know myself well enough to know that's not what I want to be. That's not me.

So back to the original question: Who am I?


I'm Megan. I'm Glen's wife. I'm Don and Kathy's daughter. I'm Kelly, Craig, and Tom's sister. I'm Mildred, Reed, Sam, and Joyce's granddaughter. I'm Nicole, Jake, Andrew, Jack, Ali, Lucy, and Graham's aunt (i think that's the order they came in, at least). You may say I'm defining myself by others, but I don't see it that way. These people are so important in my life that I couldn't define myself without them. They are part of what makes up who I am.

I'm Danish. I'm Manx. I'm . . . okay, I'm a Scandinavian mutt. I'm an editor. I'm a teacher. I'm a committee member. I'm a secretary. I'm a neat freak. I am compulsively early to everything. I live by lists. I'm a pianist. I'm a singer. I'm an accompanist. I'm a last-minute substitute organist. There are a myriad of other things that help me identify myself. No, none of them are very glamorous, but they're important to me. That's the key.

And that's not even all. I'm also a daughter of God. I've been taught this and believed it for as long as I can remember. I know so many other things about myself because of this simple truth. Because I know who I am, because I know I am loved by a Heavenly Father, I can become so much more than I am right this moment. There are still questions and I still need to evaluate who I am and which direction I'm going to take in my life, but I know I can go and do, grow and improve because of Him. His love and plan makes it possible for me to find the answers to the questions I mentioned above. How amazing.

No, I'll never be rich and famous. My life is quiet and probably will continue that way. But in the end, I do know who I am. I know who has helped shape my life. I know I can become who I really want to be. And no matter how many or few people I touch in this life, who I am is someone valuable.

So are you.

-Me