Polygamy { Wow! Polygamy! }

So, i missed the first episode of Sister Wives on TLC.  I have my DVR eagerly set to record future episodes.  Polygamy has become a really interesting subject for me lately.  I didn't give it much thought while i was a member of the LDS church, my limited thoughts naively glancing over the probability that polygamy wouldn't bother me.  (GAH!)  Now that i've had time to give polygamy the amount of thought it properly deserves, boy have i changed my mind.  I'm very bothered by it!  Not by the thought of my husband being with someone else sexually, but by having to share his down-time.  And hot damn, we can just barely eek by on his pay as it is, so can you image him having to support more wives and more children?  Crapstain.  We'd be living in a van down by the river.

Well, let me back up and say that i'm not bothered by the polygamy being practiced by the folks on Sister Wives.  I haven't seen it yet and therefore can't comment on it.  The polygamy that bothers me is the polygamy that was practiced by the early leaders and members of the LDS church.  Many of those women lived in poverty because their husband didn't make enough to support them all.  And the way the women got passed off to other men, or how some women who were already married to good men were married to church leaders, then discarded later.  It was not pretty, folks!  Here's a first-hand account from Eliza Young,  Brigham's 19th wife.  You can read her entire book online:

http://www.ebershoff.com/pdfs/Wife_No_19_Ann_Eliza_Young.pdf

My heart goes out to the lonely wives of the LDS church's early polygamous practices.  What sorrows me even further is that some people choose to not believe these women; they would rather deny the truth and dishonor these unfortunate women who suffered so much.  Nothing good came of polygamy instituted by the early LDS church.  NOTHING. 

So, now here's the BIG QUESTION OF THE DAY:

If polygamy is legalized in the U.S., will the LDS church start practicing it again?  I mean, the practice of polygamy was ONLY stopped because it was outlawed in the U.S.  So, if "God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow," then will polygamy once again be practiced by members of the LDS church if it becomes legal in the U.S. as the Sister Wives folks are attempting to make it? 

Whooooo weeeee!  I feel a cluster f%&* in the making.  Not because i think polygamy couldn't work in some instances.  I'm sure there are people (most likely of the non-religious sort) for whom it could work well, for whatever reason they saw fit to do it.  I'm just sayin'...can't wait to see how it all unfolds!

I'm Seeing The Pixies Tonight - Oh Yeah!

Good Stress, Change, Outted Ribs { Adios Miller&Miller Photography }

My rib is out again. I can only describe the pain it sends shooting up my spine, neck and head as "!#$%*" and sometimes blinding. It happens when i spend long days at the computer.

I've been at the computer making some big changes. Miller&Miller Photography is no more! We are now known as StudioCentric, partly because we're shifting our focus more toward studio work and also because we're a bit eccentric. It just seemed to fit. And there are just too many Millers out there doing photography, so....

Sneak peek of the new website is here (very much still a work in progress)
http://67.23.237.183/~stut/  We should go live in a day or so.  In celebration, anyone reading this post who wants to come in for one free Facebook shot, call to schedule!  480-286-0112

Cheers!

Future Photographer?

Can you just see it in his eyes?  I think the hood loop he's got around his neck adds to it, but i do think i see a budding photographer here. 

Gonna Find Another Place, Maybe One I Can Stand

http://crapstain.blogspot.com/2010/08/oh-huh-uh-no.html

Listen.  Read.  Reflect. 

That song is a perfect reflection of what's going on in my mind right now.  Portland had a huge impact on me.  It's calling me.  I loved the people of Portland.  Those are the people i want to photograph.  Those are the people i want to live among.  "Gonna find another place, maybe one i can stand." 

I'm so ready to leave Arizona.  It's so dead to me here, so characterless and bland.  "Went to the porch to have a thought, got to the door and again i couldn't stop."  I wasn't cut out for living in a flat, brown, lifeless (in oh so many ways) place. 

I have got to get out of here.  I waited so long to live my life as myself that i don't want to waste another minute. 

People, don't waste your life trying to force yourself into a mold that isn't you!  One day you may find it was all a lie and that years of your life are gone that can't be gotten back. 

I think it's time to pack it up and move along.   "Gonna float on maybe would you understand."

Haiku for Menopause

I wake up soaking
Like i just climbed from a pool
Eff off, menopause

True Exhaustion

How about 4 days of 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. photography?  And then being too amped to get to sleep.  I have two new loves:  first--Portland, Oregon.  There are signs and bumper stickers that say, "Keep Portland Weird."  Yes, please!  Everywhere I looked were tats and piercings, people playing music on the streets, super-yum and cheap food from street vendors, TREES!, interesting and old architecture...CHARACTER!  And don't get me started on the Voodoo Doughnuts.  All the things i'm lacking and missing here in Arid-zona, Portland supplied (even crazy and over-the-top friends with whom i instantly clicked and added to my family).  I cried on the flight home.  After telling Allie about it, she's decided that's where she needs to be.  Yes, please!  I'll come visit lots!

My other new love is After Dark Education.  If i could just upload all my thoughts and feelings from those 4 days, i so would.  There aren't words to describe.  I'm so grateful i went.  I'll be at all the rest, too.  It's just.  that. good.

Pop over to my photog blog if you wanna see some of my images from there:
http://millermillerphotography.blogspot.com/

Whip Scorpion Alert Called Off { Wind Scorpion Captured }

A strange sensation woke me from a deep sleep around 4 this morning.  It was an odd "pecking" feeling on my elbow.  I opened my eyes and there was Allie, pecking on my elbow. 

"Mommy, the whip scorpion is in my room.  Come get it!"

Oh huh uh.  I'm not going anywhere near that thing.

"But Mommy, I caught it under a Pringles can and it got out, then it climbed up my curtain.  Now I'm afraid to go back into my room.  PLEASE COME GET IT!"

Wow, that sucks for you!

So, after moaning and wandering around my room for a while (me, not Allie) with a wicked headache, Todd rubbed my back until i finally got back to sleep (around 6:30). 

At 6:45, Bryce comes barrelling into my room to tell me Allie caught the bug.  I got up to investigate.

Sure enough, Allie had cornered the bug in the living room and was holding him under Bryce's "bug scope" cup.  I grabbed some cardstock and slid it under, then flipped the cup over, cringing and mewing all the way.  After a few minutes of freaked-out deliberation, i dumped the wind scorpion (i should clarify--it ended up being a WIND scorpion and not a WHIP scorpion) into a huge (Costco-sized) pretzel jar (that previously housed Allie's used syringes), then sliced a hole in the top for air. 

Right now, on my kitchen counter, in various containers, i have to keep me company during the day:

One katydid, one wood beetle, and one really ugly and menacing wind scorpion. 

Lucky me!

Our friend { as yet unnamed } the wind scorpion.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ Dr Seuss

Exactly. 

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ Dr Seuss

Just that.

I love people.  But i especially love people around whom i can be completely myself.  They are a rare breed, these people who are so comfortable in the world and so aware of themselves that they can allow others to just live freely. They have let go of judgment; they have let go of fear.  No confines, no walking on eggshells, just pure acceptance and ease.  Anything else is unease which leads to disease.

I choose ease.

The Carb Experiment

For a week or so, i've been allowing a few more carbs into my diet.  It started with potatoes.  That seemed to go okay, so I let some simple carbs slip through, in the form of candy corn (blast!) and carrot cake.  { Sidenote:  i will take a good, properly done carrot cake over any other cake, any day of the week.  It must contain pineapple chunks, golden raisins, lot of shredded coconut, and pecans.  The cream cheese frosting must be extra thick and creamy. }

My body fat percentage is at 19.0% this morning, but my weight is up to 103.5--and i feel it.  My shorts are definitely tighter, and not in the good junk-in-the-trunk kinda way.  I'm retaining water.  I feel like shit.

Part of that is probably minnow paws (that just sounds so much cuter than the devil menopause, so bear with me), which is still kicking my ass.  I hope i'm feeling more myself by this Sunday, when i leave for Portland for a fun photog field trip (complete with food-and-beverage debauchery at it's finest).  Ayeayeayeayeayeayeaye.

When You Get Peed On....

This morning, the fam went to a meeting in Gilbert and hung out with some wonderful friends. Bryce drank a glass of water and then an Italian soda. In other words, the 4-year-old had a VERY full bladder by the time we left. Todd took Boogs to the bathroom before we left, so i thought he'd make it home (about a half-hour drive). Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Less than 10 minutes down the freeway, Bryce is doing the pee dance in his car seat.

Todd pulled into In N Out (the drive-through) and I climbed into the back of the 'burban and opened an old cup of water for Boogs to pee into. Why i didn't throw the remaining water out the window before letting him unload his bladder into the cup, i will never know. So, B-man starts whizzing into the cup of water and it's getting nearer and nearer the top. I'm holding the cup in front of him, he's standing in the aisle between the middle captain seats. As the pee is juuuuuust about to overflow from the cup, i say, "Stop! Stop peeing!" and all i can do is start laughing, because he's reeeeally peeing and can't stop so i know we're about to have a yellow Niagara Falls flowing onto the floor of our car. But nooooo...even better, instead of continuing to pee into the overflowing cup, Boogs just starts spraying me. He's really hosing me down. All i can do is laugh so hard i'm shaking. My jean shorts, my Hello Kitty t-shirt, my legs...all dripping with urine.

When he finally finishes, Boogs steps back, pulls up his shorts, gets a side-ways face and says, "Sorry Mommy." And all i can do is continue to laugh. At that point, we're at the window to take our food and the kid is asking Todd if he wants ketchup. I'm yelling "Napkins! Napkins!" and i'm still laughing hysterically.

Todd hands me a wad of napkins and i soak up the pee on my legs, then my shirt and shorts. I ride home wet with pee, still laughing.

These are the moments in life, the ones worth writing down and remembering...those wacky, silly things that happen randomly and unexpectedly and put a big smile on the face.

Next time, though, i'll empty the cup first. Or maybe even go inside to use the bathroom.

Craaavings and Minnow Paws and { Labor Day }

I know i've mentioned in prior posts that perimenopause sucks. I would now like to upgrade that statement to:

Menopause sucks!

It's like an evile combination of PMS and pregnancy:  mood swings, fatigue, hot flashes, sore boobs (sorry you had to read that, Chris), and wild cravings. 

This morning for breakfast i had a bowl of black beans mixed with alfredo sauce and topped with fried eggs.  That sounds very reasonable to me, but Allie freaked out at my putting alfredo sauce in the beans.  If she only knew some of the other foods i've been craving and eating lately.  I'll have to start posting recipes. 

On another note, do you know the origins of Labor Day?  It's really freaky!  I'm totally freaked out right now.  Go see!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

Young Folks

Are they kidding me with how great this song it? I dunno why, but Swedish music has been in my ears a lot lately. I'm late catching that boat, but glad i finally got on board.



Young Folks

If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?
If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?

I did before and had my share
It didn't lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like you
It doesn't matter what you did
Who you were hanging with
We could stick around and see this night through

And we don't care about the young folks
Talking about the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking about the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talking about our own style
All we care about is talking
Talking only me and you

Usually when things has gone this far
People tend to disappear
No one will surprise me unless you do

I can tell there's something going on
Hours seems to disappear
Everyone is leaving, I'm still with you

It doesn't matter what we do
Where we are going to
We can stick around and see this night through

And we don't care about the young folks
Talking about the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking about the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talking about our own style
All we care about is talking
Talking only me and you

And we don't care about the young folks
Talking about the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking about the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talking about our own style
All we care about is talking
Talking only me and you
Talking only me and you

Talking only me and you
Talking only me and you