It's that time a year again.....

You were thinking Elections...but you would be wrong. It is that time of year when they award the Nobel Prizes. Seriously folks, this is good stuff.....did I not say just a few months back, how important viruses are? (Thanks Dr. Martinez Hewlett for my awesome virology class at U of A.) Today, the awards for medicine and physiology were handed out to the geniuses that discovered HIV (French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier) and Cervical Cancer (HPV-Human Papillomavirus)(awarded to Germany's Harald zur Hausen ).....However, I bet for years to come there will be a controversy over the HIV award. If I can recall, the US group (Gallo) was working neck and neck against the French group....and although the French were the first to identify the virus (as ruled by the courts)--they waited a long time to use the HIV test to test their blood supply. As a result, many more people in their country got HIV from their lack of using the test. Anyways, many thanks to these brilliant minds. Awards to come: Physics tomorrow Chemistry Wednesday Literature Thursday Peace Friday Economics Monday I know you can barely wait....but I will keep you posted. You can depend on me for your Nobel news...... Here are what the guys in Vegas are saying: Rumors are that Bono is up for the Peace prize again. Others are saying that the committee may give it some Chinese or Russian groups to sort of "spit" on them for their horrible human rights policies.....

Little boys in overalls

A long time friend of my Mom's (Janet Clark) give me these overalls when Mason was born. They were too big at the time, but now they fit just right. She hand sewed "Mason My Son" on the front pocket with a little sun in the middle. Little boys just look so cute in overalls...why is that? Thanks Janet for being so thoughtful.

Some good things (music related)

Maybe it is the cold winters or the beautiful autumns or the abundance of beautiful lakes, but there is a lot of GREAT music here in Minnesota. (come visit, I will show you around). I am currently very much in love with the sounds of Haley Bonar. If you happen to be in Fargo, ND on November 2nd, she is playing with Mason Jennings (HOLY MOLY GREAT SHOW ALERT!) And strangely enough, the guy that makes her guitars, lives out here on the Lake. Check Er Out--NPRs Song of the Day AND Now for one of the greatest inventions....EVER. Pandora...geez what took me so long to find it? Pandora is an online radio station. You type in a band or song you like and it picks some music it thinks you should like. And so if you like a variety stuff, you can have your SnoopDog Station and your Dolly Parton Station and your Jimmy Buffett Station. Current Favorites of the Monkeys: 1)Dan Zanes (always at the top of the list) 2)The Pipettes

Nicknames

When I first found out I was pregnant with Kendall, at the time we hadn't thought of a name and so for the entire pregnancy she was Peanut. Then when she was born it was Sweet Potato or Sweet Girly.....(strangely, I still call her my Sweet Girly, but only when she is going to bed.) Well, Sweet Potato morphed into Tator...and well, that is her name now...sometimes it is Tatorbug, or Sweet Potator...but all in all, she is my Tator. Then along comes Emmie (Auntie Em, Emmylou, Lemonie, Lema-Nema-Ding-Dong (sp?)) and she starts calling Kendall, Dilly. All of which are fine names. So to summarize Kendall = Tator, Dilly, Monkey Then the Mace shows up and yes, we call him Mace (or should we spell it Mase?)---lately, he has turned into the Masonator and even Kendall will say (where is the Masonator, Mommy?) So now we have the tag team of Tator and Masonator(sometimes referred to as the Poopmonsters or the StinKy Pies or the Monkeys) (Side Note: Maybe we need a cutesy nickname for Mace? Toodlebugs, Pooh Bear, Sweet Pea---ideas will be considered). Now on to my lovely nicknames (can you hear the satire in my voice?)---my wonderful husband calls me, (hold on)--Beccalingus and Beccaringus. Aren't they soo purdy? No seriously, they sound like sexually transmitted diseases. Sometimes when we are joking he will call me Schmoopie. That is a tad cuter. Now on to the family, or as the Sisty Uglers referred to it--the famn damily or damn family.....there is my mom, Co. When we were kids, my brother and I jokingly (and VERY VERY lovingly) called my mom Annie (after that one Stephen King movie) and on some rare cooking occasions, "Jane Brody". Jane Brody was big in the 80s, she was ahead of her time. Nutritional and organic and healthy and well....YUCK. SOOO anyway, back to the nick names--on Josh's side--there are a gazillion nicknames....in fact, I can't even name them all. There is Dude, Cookie, Noonie, Birdie (Auntie Birdie Freaky).....name overload. can't. compute. can't. remember. the. rest. Then there is my brother, Dave. Now lovingly referred to as Unky Dave or Hunky Dave. In school my brother had a white guy afro, so he was called Screech, after that dude on Saved By the Bell. And then along the way, he became Roscoe. I have no idea why. And lastly, there is Lou-Lou. My little sister....she was just always little Lauren Lou-Lou. Oh wait, there is also my friend ALBERT that lives in Alaska, but to me he will ALWAYS be Binky. Got it.

Times they are a'changin.....

Have I mentioned lately how cute my husband and kids are???

So, yesterday, Friday, was my last day at work. For the past nine years I have been selling cytokines, antibodies and ELISA assays for R&D Systems. You are probably asking yourself, what the hell are those? Well cytokines are the majority of the proteins that float around in your body. They are critical for wound repair, cancer, HIV, alzheimers, heart burn, pregnancy, .....on and on and on.....and your next question might be....what is so great about them? Well, I will tell you why...because if you can control those proteins, or some in cases increase the level of those proteins or decrease the levels--then you can really do a lot for disease prevention. So anyways, my whole point for telling you all this is that I was very proud to have sold these proteins. But now I am moving on and not looking back. I have a new job, starting monday and I will take all the good vibes you send me. Change is scary, but necessary and so I am ready for the challenge.

Please Oh Please Let My Cable Modem WORK

I had this whole post about Sarah Palin and well, I just can't bring myself to publish it. All I have to say is, just because I share some X chromosomes with her and the fact she is a mom, does not make her "my gal".....I happen to appreciate my personal rights and freedoms (oh yeah, I also happen to love a library that is packed full of interesting/controversial books.) Mason is officially a walker And so I hope the above link works. I would post more but my stupid computer is not working well with the stupid wifi and some I can't get any pictures video to download....argh. The sorrows of living in suburbia......

I heart Hillary

Hillary was FABULOUS last night. I cried, I cheered, I clapped, I was very proud of my country and I was proud to have the right to vote. I was proud to be a mom, a wife, a conscientious citizen. To quote Brian Lambert:

Along with asking, "Were you only in this for me?" Hillary laid into McBush to the delight of every pissed-off liberal, Democrat and independent watching. It was very good. The people went home happy.

But it wasn't nearly enough. Tomorrow, (Wednesday), on Day #3, between first Bubba himself and then Joe Biden, who is on board as Obama's Veep as much for his adroit touch with dagger-like rhetoric -- "a verb, a noun and 9/11" -- as his foreign policy experience, it should be a sweet night for those of us hungering for the sight of Dick Cheney's gizzard on a plate. (I can wait another few months for the sight of Cheney in an orange jump suit being perp-walked for arraignment.) No one ever needed to tell Bubba or Biden how to put on the show people like Pat Buchanan and I want to see.

Baptism, Veeps, Barf and more

Wow, what a lame blogger I am. I am barely cranking out 3 posts a month. Sorry parental units and other readers.

Last weekend, Mace had his baptism. It was a great, boisterous affair. Some of you are thinking, "Josh and Becky aren't very religous".....that would be right, but we try and be traditional. And in our families, all of our parents were baptized and we were baptized, so we are sticking to it. Each of our kids has great God Parents (we like to think of them as Worldly Parents)--because they are open-minded, expressive and will do a great job of being objective and educational with our kids.

Mace was baptized at St. Joan of Arc. St. Joan of Arc is a great church, a little more open-minded and shall we say anti-war....then most churches. Noonie came all the way from IL to celebrate with us and she hand-crafted the most beautiful blanket (I bet you want to see a picture--well, those pictures on Josh's camera and I don't have those pictures yet....sorry.)

Here is the little studly guy with his God Parents Jenae and Travis.

VEEP

I am going to discuss with you my history of Democratic presidential candidates. I was a Hilary gal, not a full-court press type Hilary supporter, but I wanted to see how far she could go and see if for once a woman could get in there. But along the way, for the past few years, I also had a fondness for Edwards (and boy am I glad that was all it was)....but I also really kind of liked Joe Biden. He is a good guy. I am glad Barack choose him (I was hoping for Hilary, but I knew that would never happen.) They say the biggest complaint about Biden is that he talks too much. That is okay for me....I dig the guy. He is a straight-shooter (unlike the current guy running this country), hard-w0rking and he doesn't come from a uber-wealthy background.

A True Mothering Moment

Mason's been a little sick. Fever. Barf, you name it. I am standing in Wells Fargo, making some deposits and all of sudden Mason starts throwing up all over me. Bucket amounts of barf. The lady looks at me and says "Do you want a Kleenex?" I kindly said, "No, thanks." I secured the barf and child and walked out the door. Not one drop fell on the Wells Fargo floor.....I was proud.

Awestruck

Quick thing. The other night, Josh and I happened upon Anne Korin giving a speech on CSPAN about how the US has to free itself from foreign oil. I have not been this awe inspired in quite a few years. I felt proud to be a woman when I saw her speak. She is incredibly knowledgeable and a valuable asset to this country. Please take some time to watch her speeches....you will definitely learn a lot. The CSPAN speech is broken up on youtube...so you will have to watch it broken up in 7 parts. Here is part 1....please give it a chance.

On the road again

Well, we are back and we still have our sanity. Josh and I and the kids drove out to Lake Powell, Arizona (it is also in Utah). We encountered all the normal roadtripping situations (truckers falling asleep and driving into the median--right in front of you), the world's nastiest hotel (Budget Inn in Durango--you suck), people pooping in the swimming pool.....)

Here we are in Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado.

We went to see the family and to help celebrate my Dad and Stepmom's 60th birthdays. We had a nice relaxing time. I can't thank my mom and Mike enough for letting us stay in the camper. Dad and Kath, thanks for all the good laughs and thanks to the sibs for the good times, good food, and fond memories. I happen to think the desert landscape is quite beautiful and so I will try and post some pictures soon. On the way back home, we took I-70 from Utah to Denver and I tell you, that is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. The RV lifestyle is definitely having more appeal.

One day, Josh and I took the monkeys and my niece and nephew to the pool (some would also call them monkeys). You wouldn't believe the stares we got---people thinking we were insane to have 4 kids that close together. Speaking of pools, it appears that Speedos are still in high demand.....not kidding. I would have to say that Josh and my brother were the 0.01% of the male population in normal swimming trunks. There is a lot of summer travel coming up from the Grand Canyon. While driving, I got to catchup on my reading. I read about this new website: http://3trillion.org/ It gives you the opportunity to "purchase" whatever you want/can in an attempt to purchase 3 Trillion dollars worth of things (end reliance on foreign oil, worldwide vaccinations, universal healthcare). It is being used as a tool to show how expensive the war is and how much better use that money could be going to.

More pics and vids to come.