you + me = US: Confessions of a Hermit

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Confessions of a Hermit - Part 2

Right now as I type, my neighbors are on the porch next-door visiting. Why have I not joined them? I don't feel excluded or alienated. But with the kids out on a playdate, I just would much rather be alone. Remember what silence sounds like. Enjoy an uninterrupted moment with the current book I've been reading. Is this antisocial?

Lately, I've really immersed myself in reading. It has been such a long time since I've been able to do that. On Tuesday, I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and now I'm getting deep into The Freedom Writer's Diary. I have my next selection at hand. What can I say? I like to read. It's like a healthy dessert for my brain. So for today, I'll let the neighbors chat, I'll let the kids play with their friends, and after I rotate the laundry, I'll even let that set for a time. But now, I choose to be alone and read.

p.s. Have you read any good books lately that you'd like to share with me? I'd love some suggestions!

7 comments:

Bronwyn James said...: I recently finished David Copperfield by Dickens and it was in my top five all time favorite books. Another huge favorite is Gone With the Wind. It's 800,000,000 x better than the movie.

I was listening to the Showtime Live CD yesterday. At the end of it you sing Back in His Arms Again, and I felt the spirit so sweetly as you sang. Thanks for bringing back sweet memories and brightening my afternoon. Sure love you! Enjoy your reading!; June 25, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Aloha_Misty said...: Rochelle I love to read. It is how I pass the time when my Greg is gone to school or studying...which is most of the time :) What kind of reader are you? I love reading classics, but lately I have needed easier books and am just reading to enjoy and have fun. So here are some recommendations from me: For fun reading: The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson, Aunt Dimity by Nancy T. Atherton, and The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright. If you like classics I highly recommend Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyeysky, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. Okay. I a might have gone overboard. I just love to read. I read like 3 books a week right now. Some of my college friends are doing an online book club if you want to join let me know!; June 26, 2009 at 8:01 AM
Bronwyn James said...: Hi Rochelle. Since I know you approve comments before they go up I knew you would see this without having to post it, unless you want to, but it's not about your blog. I was listening again to the CD today and just marveling at your voice! It is so clear and smooth and beautiful. It seems life has changed so much for all of us and I wonder how many Showtimers are still the song birds of yesteryear. But I hope you still get to sing once in a while and be admired for your remarkable talent. It's such a wonderful, powerful gift. And even if for no one else, I hope you get to sing just for yourself and your family. I for one could listen to you all day.

That's it. I'll stop stalking you now. :)
Love,
Bronwyn; June 27, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Rochelle said...: Bronwyn, you are so sweet! I appreciate what you said!; June 27, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Marcie said...: I want to be a hermit too... it sounds exactly like what I would do if I were in the same situation. I think its great! Although sometimes you should say hello to the neighbors, so that they don't stop inviting you!!! Love you Ro!; June 29, 2009 at 2:19 PM
Bond Girl 007 said...: Rochelle....This is Alfonso's Cousin....and I have been pretty good friends with Walkis more so. But when I learned your name, I thought of the only Rochelle I knew..... before you.....

La Rochelle is a city in southwestern France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.

The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) bridge - the longest in France - completed on May 19, 1988. Its harbour opens into a protected strait, the Pertuis d'Antioche.

So I will look forward to meeting you one day. You have a friend in me. Say hi, to everyone, and you have lovely lovely boys. They seem to be very much like boys......i have two.; June 30, 2009 at 2:49 PM
Shiv said...: Have you read the Book Thief? It's great, but I can't remember the name of the author and my copy is lent out right now. Also, The Goose Girl, and The Princess Academy, both by Shannon Hale. I second the Count of Monte Cristo! I also love the Children of the Promise series by Dean Hughes. It's a great LDS story about World War 2. I also love Follow the Stars Home by Luanne Rice and P.S. I Love You by Cecelie Ahern - both so much better than the movies!!

I am jealous of the time you get to spend reading, but you deserve it! I think you rock!!; June 30, 2009 at 11:05 PM

Kids Say The Darndest Things

9/8/14 After a massive pillow fight with Spence and Will, Mia fell to the floor and exclaimed, "I'm soaking tired!"

5/15/14 We were watching a Baby Einstein movie featuring a rhino puppet. Mia said, "Mom, that rhinoceros is a genius."

5/13/14 Mia just told me some disturbing news about her imaginary friend. "Squella, not like you, so her is hiding." I even offered Squella a popsicle to bribe her into liking me and she wouldn't budge.
5 minutes later:
No wait, Mia just informed me, "Her likes you now. Her gets a pop-is-cle."

5/02/14 Mia has been coming up with some unique names for her imaginary friends, Squilla, Quinley, Tortilla are just a few. Well today she was talking to her friend Celia and said,
"What's your Cat's name, Celia?
"Tiddley-Dee"
"Oh!!! GREAT name!!!"
Later, I asked her later about the cat and found out that there are TWO! One cat's name is "Tilly-Tina" and the other's name is "Tiddley-Dee."

4/21/14 Mia was shouting at me from the bathroom in a bossy way. I said, "Mia, don't talk to me like that." She said. "I YELLING at you." I needed to leave the room and she shouted again and said, "Mommy come here, right now. I gon count and you gon go in time-out!!!" Sweet swirling onion rings, I'm in for it.

4/4/14 While enjoying a chocolate chip cookie together, I asked, "Mia, why is chocolate soooooo good?" To which she naturally replied, "Cuz we gon' eat it."
Best reason ever.

1/07/14 At the store, at the top of her lungs, in attempt to tell me that she's going to "crack me up" Mia shouted, "Mom, I go a crap you up!"

12/11/13 Today at story time Miss Sally was teaching the kids about the color red. She was pointing out those with red hair. She said, "This little boy has red hair, and look, this mommy has red hair. And this mommy has red hair!" There was a pause and Mia shouted out, "I HAVE TWO MOMMIES!" All the parents looked around, Miss Sally bewildered, looked at me. Appalled I laughed and said loudly, "I have NO IDEA what she's talking about." Everyone started laughing. . . hard! For the life of me I couldn't figure out why she'd say that. So afterwards I asked Mia, and she pointed to the two mommies with red hair and said, "See? Two mommies!" Ohhhhhh, now I get it. Two mommies with red hair.

12/14/13 The dinner table was busy with multiple conversations occurring at once when Mia said, "Hey Will, this song my favorite: (in sing-song)
Hello Kitty, Hello Kitty,
I like Hello Kitty"

12/03/13 Ben was teasing Mia on the couch. When she angrily yelled, "Ben, DON'T BLOW ME! I NOT a bubble!!!"

11/13/13 Today I was crying and couldn't stop. Mia dropped what she was doing and ran up and said, "Hold me, you feel better!" I hugged her tight and put her down. A few seconds later she came up and said, "Here Mom, a have a Kleenex."

Lately, Whenever we are having a nice snuggle moment as a family, Mia will come up and say, "All To-ah-gedder."

10/13/13 I need to preface this by saying, Mia's word for "girl" is "grill." After church Mia got very upset and ran to her room. Alfonso went up to try to comfort her and said, "Don't cry, Mia." To which she responded, "But grills like to cry."

09/25/13 Mia and I were playing with pretend snakes. In their "conversation", they made a deal and so I told her, "Let's shake on it." she immediately began to violently shake the snake.

08/24/13 Once again, Pandora displayed the album cover (One World's Acoustic) of Justin Bieber on the screen. Mia looked at it again and said, "Mom, look! A doggie. Doggie wif guitar."

08/21/13 Pandora displayed an album cover of Justin Bieber on the t.v. Mia, startled a little by the music, looked up at the screen, studied for a minute and said, "Cute doggie!"

08/19/13 As we were all getting ready to go swimming, Mia was excitedly showing everyone her "swimming soup."

08/17/12 A day after I taught Will about the Star of David, Will was playing with a couple of triangle magnets. When he had overlapped them just right he held them up and said, "Look, it's Jared's star!"

08/16/12 After taking off Ben's newly acquired football gear, Will sat next to me, sighed, and said, "It's nice to have a football player in the house."

07/24/12 I was looking at my wedding ring while tucking Will in to bed. Will noticed and said, "That's a pretty fancy ring." I said, "It is. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever owned. But I love it mostly for what it stands for." Will surprised me when he responded, "You love it because it reminds you of the day you got married. Even if it was made of wood, it would be a still be a great treasure."

07/23/12 After a run to Dairy Keen, Will shared the following insight: "The most humblest flavor of ice cream in the whole entire world is vanilla." When I asked why, he said, "Because it's simple, it's plain, and it's always there. "

07/05/12 Fearing that Mia might ruin his pillow fort, Will asked, "Mom, can we put her to sleep?"

06/28/12 As we were setting the table for breakfast, Will (7)said, "I'm a simple man." I couldn't help but smile. "I'm a simple man with complex thoughts." Did I mention, he's 7???

06/25/12 While I was looking for a rubber band, Spencer handed a large one to me and proudly said, "I wear 5 rubber bands on my wrist at all times."

06/22/12 For the second time, Spencer said, "I don't believe in sarcasm." I argued that sarcasm does exsist and gave him an example. His response, "I call that oppositism."

06/03/12 While we were driving, Spencer spotted a slowly oncoming tractor and car and said, " 'Wow, tractors drive slow!' thought the lady in the green car."

06/03/12 We had watched a bunch of old footage of Beatles performing some of their hits, when Will yelled out, "Can we PLEASE stop listening to classical music?"

05/12/12 Trying to explain to our sick kids why we couldn't have friends come play, I said, "We need to get this virus out of our house." Will said, "Lets give it to someone else!"

03/03/12 Will just said, "I have a faculty butt."

03/01/12 Will told Ben that from now on he wants to be called Bethica, queen of the sea.

03/01/12 Will came inside from shoveling snow with cold hands. After explaining to me that the problem was his gloves, he asked,"Can I have an upgrade?"

11/29/11 Me: "Will, what do you want the person you marry to be like?" Will: "Hot and sexy." Room fills with shock & stifled laughter. Me: "Will. . . what does it mean to be hot?" Will: "That you just came out of the desert."

11/28/11 When it's time for oracion/prayer, Mia oftentimes will fold her arms and talk quietly while the prayer is said. At the end we say "amen." She loudly says, "BOB!"

11/26/11 Alfonso swatted at the pesky fly once again. "It's taunting me." He said. Will exclaims, "It's taunting you??" Mutters to self, "I hate taunting flies."

11/10/11 Will walked in the door and when he saw his friend Annie sitting on the couch said, "I knew this day had something special in it." "What?" Annie asked. "You! I knew you were coming over. You make today special."

11/10/11 In the car, Annie (a girl I'm tending) said, "Jesus is so lucky! He gets to be born on Christmas, huh!"

09-09-11 Alfonso and I went on a date for our anniversary and left the kids with family. After we picked up the kids, Will politely asked, "Were there a lot of people at the anniversary?"

09-08-11 At the breakfast table, I was telling the kids that tomorrow would be Alfonso and my anniversary. Will lowered his head and said, "I'm glad I don't have to see that."

09-07-11 At a restaurant, we were all joking back and forth and Will said, "You gotta be pushing my leg!"

08-20-11 At our moving sale, my 3-year-old neice, Nicole held up a shiny quarter and said, "Look, I have a quenny."

08-20-11 5 minutes later, Nicole was whining. Her Mom, D.D. said, "I'm not going to talk to you until you use a big girl voice." Nicole gave her a mean look and said, "But you just talked to me."

08-19-11 Will, sitting at the table kept singing, "Can't you see, I love my pancreas, look at me, I love my pancreas." Over and over. Thank you, Wierd Al.

08-19-11 Quite proud of himself and giggling a little, Spencer announced, "Faster than a speeding two-year-old, able to leap a towering pile of laundry, it's SUPERMOM!!!"

04-29-11 We had just finished a large meal at Chick's Cafe when Spencer leaned back in his chair and energetcally patted his stomach saying, "Now I know what Santa feels like."

04-28-11 Will was helping me pull our huge new stroller out of its box. His job was to pull the box down as I held the stroller up off the ground. It wouldn't budge. He paused and said, "Wait, should I go drink some milk, to make my muscles stronger?"

About Us

Our blended family is many years and obstacles in the making. We two were raised in separate countries, different cultures and upbringings. For each of us, God's blessed broken road weaved through marraige, the birth of a child (or two) and a painful divorce, in the end, leaving a himless her and a herless him. We met on a blind date in 2008 and haven't been able to stay away from each other since. Married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple, we and our four children are determined to BE a forever family. This blog is an account of our daily lives, our ups and downs, and our journey to become "one."