-2 days

I have a sister-in-law who LOVES holiday/seasonal decor. This is the DIY gift I'll be giving her this year. With the help of my Cricut, this gift was easy, and cost very little to make. I think it turned out kind of cute.

8, 7, 6, 5, 4, NOW 3 More Days till Christmas!

I know that's a cheap move for a holiday countdown, but give me a break. Jared has forgiven me for the same negligence I've given the sock advent calendar, so I'm sure you all (you same three) can find it in your hearts, too. This holiday ambition sure can get the best of you sometimes. The good news is I've caught up on the calendar, and just about all my other projects, too. More importantly, and most needed however, we had our first annual Error Christmas Devotional.

Of course I bit off more than I could chew that day and was super frazzled with preparations to make the night perfect. I MAY have even been so distracted with it all that I was a little grumpy before we actually got started. And MAYBE the over-the-top efforts weren't actually worth it because it didn't turn out perfect anyway and I just ended up grumpy. But although we MIGHT not have had the "special dinner" till 8:00 (and it MIGHT have been a little over-cooked and MIGHT have set off the smoke detector), and we MIGHT have put Grant to bed before we even started, I managed to regain my perspective, accept it for what it was, and have a really special night with Jared.

We started with a prayer and Christmas song, and then I shared this talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. His message focused on the simplicity and humility of the first Christmas, and on the perspective of the Savior's earthly parents the night of his birth--perspective I have new appreciation for as a new mother myself. It's so humbling, and almost unbelievable to remember the lowly circumstances to which the Savior of the world was born. It's a great reminder to us of what we should be focusing on during this time. I'm so grateful for the Savior, and so happy that when He comes again it will be in all His glory. We looked at different art depictions of the first Christmas, sang more songs, and then Jared shared a message about the different symbols of Christmas. We talked about the gifts we wanted to give the Savior this year, wrote them down, and put them in a specially wrapped box under the tree. It was just the two of us, but turned out to be a really great dose of true Christmas spirit for us. We definitely hope to keep this tradition.

-9 Days: Pretty Packaging

There's something about a good wrap job that makes a present seem more special. Okay, maybe that's just the effect I'm hoping for to redeem my gifts. Seriously though, it seems like the simplest of gifts can make a big impact when they are presented in a thoughtful, creative way. Here are a few examples of easy ways to jazz up your wrapping.

Did you know that paper curls just like ribbon? Use some colorful scrapbook paper to create an adornment reminiscent of formal dance up-dos. The fuller, the better.

Give a brown lunch bag new life and decorate with a fabric ribbon and paper tag. Perfect for smaller gifts.

I love the personalized touch of monograms. I tied this paper ornament with orange embroidery floss to match the wrapping paper. If you don't want to cut the letters, you can hand-write them, or type and print.

You can find these cute snowflake embellishments at Target. They come in a pack of 5 for $1!

This is one of my favorites. I did the snowflake and lettering on my Cricut, but you could easily make a snowflake the old fashioned way. I wrapped a turquoise ribbon around the gift, and glued this paper embellishment right on top. I love the color combo. The black and white paper is fun because you can add so many different accent colors to it.

Okay, now I am sounding really nerdy; I better just end this. For some ideas from an actual expert, click here. Look how easy this one would be:

10 MORE DAYS!

We are almost in single digits, people. Just a report on the Pecan Dippers: So easy, and so good. I'm going to have to give some of those other recipes a whirl.

Additionally, I discovered that no child is too young to take part in and enjoy a little holiday cookie baking. I put Granty in the Bjorn while I kneaded the dough and did other prep work. Let's just say I never knew making cookies could be so comical.  I thought he might be slightly amused at what I was doing, so I strapped him on to watch the show. Boy, did I ever underestimate the entertainment value of crushing pecans. For some reason, Grant found me banging the wooden spoon on the bag of pecans simply hilarious. It seriously made him belly laugh--which made me belly laugh. It was so cute, I about couldn't handle it. I couldn't figure it out at the time, but now that I think about a disheveled lady with a baby strapped to the front of her, banging on the counter rhythmically with a wooden spoon, it is pretty funny. Wish I could have recorded it to share, but I'm sure you can see it all in your mind's eye.

-11 Days: Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

I feel like that's all I write about these days. This is the recipe I am preparing for our Relief Society cookie exchange tomorrow--Pecan Dippers. These ones in particular piqued my interest because they are made with store-bought dough. In fact, I stumbled across an entire article of cookie recipes using prepared cookie dough. Hope these turn out alright. But either way, I will still come home with an assorted plate of deliciousness to enjoy. Win-win.

-12 Days

I know I am behind. The countdown is getting the best of me, but I will come out triumphant in the end. For day -12 (yesterday) I give to you cute tags my paper-expert friend, Lyndsey, posted about on her stationery blog.  This seems only appropriate since most of yesterday my living room was littered with wrapping paper. Grant and I had a blast listening to Christmas music, and he crumpled paper while I wrapped presents. I've gotten the basic wrapping done as a "blank canvas" of sorts. Now I can begin beautifying. These tags or something similar would really add that special touch to any holiday gift, don't you think? Lyndsey has compiled tons of great ideas. Check her out.

13 More Days-"The Betty Ten"

I've somehow neglected Betty Crocker this entire holiday season. Luckily I went searching her site tonight for an old recipe. Check out her tips for making the holidays special--"Red Hot Holiday Trends--or, The Betty Ten." Pretty enticing ideas. (Not that I condone the cocktails or "Mancakes.") The Reindeer Feed looks simple and delicious, and I am pretty sure I will be testing out her Lemon Linzer Bars. Yum.

On another note, Jared and I watched The Santa Clause this weekend and laughed our heads off. Okay, maybe it was mostly me. If you haven't watched it yet this year, do. It is a classic. "You have much more important things to worry about-- like where to get more sweaters when the circus leaves town." That Tim Allen. What a crack-up.

-14 Days: A Little Paper and a Little Twine

Here's a shot of the final Christmas card product. The picture was really the best we could do--out of about a hundred of these self-taken pictures, this was the only one that Grant was looking. For those of you who want one of these on your mantel or other card displaying location, send me your address. Everyone, enjoy this digital version.

And while I'm here, might as well share a couple pictures of what little Granty J has been up to at 6 months.

 Doing baby push-ups, trying desperately to crawl . . .

 sitting up. . . 

 dabbling in some baby food . . .

and of course, taking piano lessons.

-15 Days: Gift-giving Traditions

I can't BELIEVE I have kept this crazy countdown going. I would say I am really getting conditioned for New Year's resolutions with all this commitment-keeping I've been up to. It has been just the perfect little extra dose of holiday stress.

Today's topic: gift-giving traditions.

When Jared and I first discussed all this holiday tradition shenanigans a couple months ago, one of our key objectives was to come up with ways to make Christmas really special, meaningful, and fun for our family without focusing so much on big, expensive, or numerous gifts. Someday, even if we can afford it, I don't want to find myself in the common trap of better, cooler, bigger, and more expensive than the year before. Let's face it, both gift-givers and receivers can get a little carried away sometimes. My theory however, is that with a little creativity and careful planning, this can be avoided. My dream is that with some great traditions, and just a few meaningful gifts, those visions of sugarplums will dance away in my kids' heads.

For example, why not make the ACT of giving the gift just as fun as the gift itself? One of the most fun things at Christmas in my family is drawing names for the sibling gift-exchange. Does your family do something similar? A white-elephant, or one of those exchanges where you can steal others' gifts? I love when gift-giving has a game element to it. Why not spend more time in the presentation of the gift? Cool or creative wrapping? I read somewhere on the internet (and this is my tip of the day) about a family that plays a gift-giving game that goes something like this:

Before each gift is opened, the recipient has to guess what they think the gift is. Because of this tradition, the family goes to great lengths each year to throw each other off. They put little things in big boxes, they might pack a brick in the box of a really light-weight gift, you get the idea. I think this sounds like some rambunctious fun I would love to get in on. Throw in a simple prize for the best guess and one for the best-disguised gift, and you've got the makings of a GREAT gift-giving tradition that actually takes a little focus off gifts and adds a little more fun. Any other fun gift-giving games or traditions out there? Send them my way.

16 More Days--More on Cards

Breaking News: According to two of my friends' blogs today, Shutterfly is offering 50 free photo cards if you write about them on your blog. If you still haven't gotten Christmas cards, check out this site! And then be sure to send me one!

17 Days Left for Christmas Card Sending!

I need to get these things made and sent ASAP. If you're a procrastinator like me, you may give up on your good, but ambitious ideas. Fear not--there's still time to get a cute Christmas card in the mail to your people this month. If you want to do something cute and simple, check out www.picnik.com. This is a great, free photo-editing website, perfect if you don't have something similar already on your computer. My favorite thing about it is the special holiday features. You can add snow, Santa hats, and festive fonts to any picture. Way easy, and way cute.

Martha S. has lots of great handmade ideas if you're looking for something more crafty. These button ones are pretty adorable.

My card is a little craft-photo combo. If you want one, send me your address! Or just wait for the post in a couple days.

-18 Days: 2-Star Cookies

I'm on the hunt for good, new Christmas cookie recipes to use this season for gifts and an occasional cookie exchange. I get so many e-mails featuring holiday cookie recipes, that it's hard to sift through all of them. But when I read the words "No Bake" in an e-mail from Better Homes and Garden, I had to check it out. These are the ones we tried tonight for Family Home Evening. They look pretty, right? Well, don't be deceived. They didn't come out nearly as pretty in real life, and that would have been the only thing that redeemed the vanilla wafers, marshmallow creme, and maraschino cherry combo. Two stars go to the "Easy 'Mallow Cookies." Still, if you're interested in trying any other no-bake cookie recipes, check out this site. I know I'm always looking for ways to eliminate time and mess in the kitchen. I will be in touch with more cookie recipe trials in the near future. Hopefully with better results. If you have some tried and true recipes, send them my way!

-19: Semi-handmade Gifts

If you love DIY projects, but sometimes need a little help starting out, check out Poppyseed Projects. They sell project kits for things such as antiqued temple pictures, wood signs, wood photo blocks, little wood countdown calendars, and lots more. It's also a great resource if you like this kind of stuff, but don't want to spend a fortune to buy it already completed. The genius behind Poppyseed Projects is that they provide you with the idea for the project, and the basic materials--wood, vinyl lettering, etc. You provide the materials that make the project personal--scrapbook paper, colored paint, photos, etc. and save money by putting together the project on your own. You could probably save even more money finding the basic materials yourself, but sometimes it's nice to have that jumping off point. 

I found a picture of this adorable temple block online and searched until I found the source of its creation--It was Poppyseed Projects.

 I ordered my kit for 3.95 which included the block (about 5x5 in), and the temple print with lettering. I painted it, sanded the edges, and added my own paper. It took me probably 10 minutes to make after the paint was dry, and voila! Now little babe Error has a temple displayed in his room. And a cute, child-style one at that. I'm hoping to make more for the nieces and nephews for Christmas. Check out the site for other great gift ideas for the people on your list! They ship anywhere and offer free pickup locally. 

-20 Days: Christmas Books

This will be short and sweet since the day is almost over. The holiday idea for tonight comes from my creative and talented sister-in-law, Rachel. A few weeks ago I ordered a few Christmas books from Amazon to begin a little collection for Grant. (I love ordering books online, and did this frequently when I was teaching last year because you can get some really good, used copies for cheap. I recommend it.) I wanted to do something special with the books, but wasn't sure what. Just found out tonight that Rachel has been building up her own Christmas book collection for her kids and does something absolutely WONDERFUL. She has 24 now (some really special, and some she says are less so) and wraps them up each year to put under the tree. Each night leading up to Christmas the kids get to unwrap a new book to be read. Isn't that perfect? I definitely don't have 24 books yet, so it will take a couple years to get ready. But this is definitely a tradition I am going to start preparing for. Thought I'd pass it along so you can do the same!

21 Days- Family of Shepherds

Last night we made our acting debut as a family. That's right. Jared and I, and even little Granty, were all shepherds in the ward Christmas program. Our role consisted of walking out onto the stage and basically creating ambiance. No, we didn't have any lines (Jared was just holding the mic for Mary after her solo), but we were a pretty big deal nonetheless. 

This isn't a very good picture, but I love it anyway simply because Grant is dressed up like a little shepherd! Seriously. How cute is that? It was pretty silly, but it's a reminder to me that I really do want my baby to be a seeker of Christ, and to want to be the kind of shepherd the Savior was. It reminds me of the important Christmas traditions I want to establish with my family. I definitely don't plan on dressing as a shepherd every year, but I do want the Savior to be our focus.

I'm really excited about the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this Sunday to really set the tone for the rest of the month. In an attempt to maintain the focus, we're going to start the tradition of having our own family devotional sometime later in the month. Kind of a special style Family Home Evening (better start now while Grant is too young to contest it). We don't want this to be a yearly repeated message , but a chance to prepare something new and special. lds.org has tons of great resources--talks, media items, a special fhe lesson, etc. compiled into a Christmas Topic Page. If you're looking for ways to focus on the Savior this Season, check this out! I spent just an hour today browsing through the ideas and talks and felt a rush of true Christmas spirit.

Just to give you a little taste, check out this cute little VIDEO of Kids' thoughts about Christmas. As the little Shepherd Grant proves, you're never too young to focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

Paper Potential (22 Days Left!)

Yesterday I attended a most glorious holiday event--American Crafts' Scrapbooking Warehouse Sale! Thanks to my good friend Lyndsey, ex-American Crafts employee, who invited me. If you're in the area and use scrapbook supplies at all-go. You won't regret it (I've pasted the flyer at the bottom). I told Jared that I probably saved at least $40 dollars in craft store trips for the next 3 months and that he should be glad :).

I LOVE cute paper. You can do so much with it, and around the holidays there are endless uses. Wrapping paper, tags, cute cards . . . the list goes on and on. I'd like to add one more little paper project to your holiday repertoire. For those who have long tired of cutting snowflakes, use these paper ornaments for decor!

These ones are hanging in one corner of my living room. Try them in front of a mirror or in a window.

They are the easiest in the WORLD to make. You need five strips of paper of three different lengths. The one in the middle is the shortest, the two right outside it are a little longer, and the outermost two are longer still. Stack them on top of each other and fasten them on both ends with brads. And voila! The varying paper length creates the ornament shape. Enjoy.

1 Day Down, 23 to Go!

tThe weekend is fast approaching and there are lots of fun activities out there to be enjoyed. If you live nearby, may I recommend the Riverwoods in Provo? Great food, shopping, and Christmas lights. Also, on the weekend they offer free horse-drawn carriage rides, and La Jolla Groves offers free hot chocolate and dollar sugar cookies. (If the Riverwoods isn't in your neighborhood, any place with lights, treats, and Santa will do to really get you in the holiday spirit.) We kicked off the season there a couple weekends ago at the tree lighting. The objective: to take Grant's first picture with Santa and enjoy a festive atmosphere. When we first got out of the car, I really feared our little trip would backfire. It was FRIGID, crowded, and loud. But, it IS the season of miracles, and Grant--who was bundled from head to toe in his stroller, slept through all the chaos until about two minutes before we reached the front of the line to see Santa! We didn't do much else besides wait in the 45 minute line, but it actually worked out quite perfect for us. The line was close enough to the stage to enjoy the entertainment, but far enough away that our ears didn't bleed. We got to see all the pretty lights and shoppers bustling around. AND, I even escaped for a minute to get us a caramel cheesecake brownie from LJG to enjoy in line. All in all, it was a success. Here are the pics to prove.

24 days of Christmas: A Countdown!

Welcome, December! You make the snow outside a little more bearable. Christmas season is really underway now, and I am L O V I N G it! I said it at Halloween, and I'll say it again-- holidays just come alive again when you have kids. All last month I was looking forward with an eye single to Grant's first Christmas (Hopefully this didn't detract too much from being thankful which is customary during this time.)--"What should I do for our first family Christmas card? What should Grant wear in his first picture with Santa?" (Thankfulness definitely should have replaced that frivolity.) "What kind of fun and silly traditions do we want to start? What kind of meaningful/service-oriented traditions do we want to start?" etc. etc. I have been racking my brain and scouring the internet for ways to make this first Christmas extra special. In light of the season, I have decided to share my holiday spirit with everyone in the form of a holiday countdown! I will share at least one holiday idea, project, or experience that I'm using to make Christmas special every day from now until Christmas. Brace yourselves (all three of you who are reading this).

Day 24

What better way to start a countdown than with an ADVENT CALENDAR! Seriously, one of my very favorite things as a kid at Christmastime was my own advent calendar that I could count down the days with. I loved opening the little doors on the paper calendars and seeing a new picture each day. Anticipation is half the fun of anything, after all. I found this little gem on the Queen of Craft herself, Martha Stewart's website:

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/baby-sock-advent-calendar

It was love at first sight for me. You put a treat or small toy inside each sock to pull out each day till Christmas! The socks are hung with little clothespins on a ribbon, and the ribbon hangs from your mantel or staircase. What a cute, crafty, and classy spin on an old favorite! I bought most of my baby socks from Kid-to-Kid (and Grant sacrificed a couple plain white ones), I bought the small clothespins at the craft store, and I cut the little numbers out on my Cricut. Here is my final product:

Since Grant is still too little to enjoy treats or toys small enough to fit inside baby socks, most of the loot will be for Jared this year. I've come up with various cheesy puns to go with the treats.

24 more days!

This is Halloween

Halloween is fun again! This past weekend proved to me that holidays really are more fun with kids. I had such a great Halloween. The real anticipation began about three weeks ago when I made Grant's costume. I was feeling in the spirit enough that I decided to plan a Halloween dinner party. About a week before the big day I had nothing festive left to do to show my enthusiasm so, I made Grant his own baby-sized trick-or-treat bag. I honestly haven't looked forward to Halloween this much in a LONG time. You might even say I was a little OVER-zealous, considering that we also planned to move apartments that same weekend. ugh. Well, with me there is a very fine line between fun and stress. I like to take it to the limits. Good thing there is enough time in between holidays for me to forget the stress part, so I can plan more crazy fun (poor Jared I don't think ever forgets, but he supports me anyway).

Anyway, here are a few pictures commemorating my baby dalmation's first Halloween.

Jared was Pinnochio for his work party--his department's theme was Shrek. I made him take off his nose so he wouldn't scare Grant. He still looked kinda scary, though.

Grant's eyes crossing due to his mother driving him crazy with all this Halloween exuberance.

Grant got to meet his Aunt Rachel, Uncle Paul, and sweet cousins this weekend. Him and baby Brooklyn were so cute in their costumes.

I LOVE this picture of Grant with all his cousins. Jared and I had the best Halloween. Special thanks to Grant for providing us with renewed enthusiasm, cute pics, and a little bag full of trick-or-treat candy.

Mean Mom

I once saw a bib at Target that read, "That's it! I'm going to Grandma's." Clever little saying. Profound underlying truth. Grandma's are the nice ones and moms have to do all the mean mom stuff. It is just one of life's realities. My mom came this weekend to visit, and her mission to cuddle and spoil her grandbaby was thoroughly accomplished. Don't worry, I also made great strides toward my goal of becoming the mean mom.

Grant's bib on Saturday night would have said, "I hate Girl's Night." Don't repeat this to Grant when he's older, but, the mean mom took him to Gardner Village (aka- shopping center explosion of crafty, home decor, girly-boutique goodness) with Grandma and Aunt Leslie, while his dad and uncle went to the BYU football game. A witch theme pervades the place during the Halloween season, and it is just so charming and cute and enjoyable, we couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

Grant in his new Cougar apparel, wishing he were with the boys and not being forced to take pictures in a pile of hay.

And as if Girls' Night at a crafty-witch-boutique-explosion isn't bad enough for a boy, the mean mom tried to get him to sit on the lap of the live witch who appears with the caramel apple in the above picture. Mean! I really thought he was too young to know that ladies dressed in all black with red eyes and vampire teeth are scary. Mean and dumb mom. As I held him out to her and he caught a glimpse of his first ever villain, he screamed a shriek of true terror. You might not be able to tell, but he actually had calmed down quite a bit by the time we took the picture.

Anyway, if you see that bib anywhere, let me know. It's not at Target anymore, and I think Grant would really like it.

Friends

On September 18th Chile celebrated the bicentennial of their country's independence. I celebrated here at home with Jared and some good friends from our mission eating us some good ol' completos (amazing how much tomato and avocado can improve a hot dog). I topped that off with some Facebook stalking the next day, looking at all the pictures my Chilean friends posted of the festivities down there. I always get a little trunky when I look at their pictures, but these ones in particular really got me feeling emotional. Besides the typical cueca dancing, empanadas, and extreme quantities of soda, I saw in these pictures a family I taught, now more than three years after their baptism, celebrating with their ward family. The bishop is hugging the mother, the father is assisting with the cooking at the grill, and they are having a wonderful time. They were fellowshipped, nurtured, embraced, and now they are clearly at home in their ward and in the gospel. I've never worried about these people because of this exemplary ward. There is no doubt in my mind that if every ward was like this one, there would be no new member lost. I wept over Facebook for a good 10 minutes (don't underestimate its influence), feeling so grateful for this ward that is taking care of some of my special people, and realizing just how important friends are.

Here's a little photo tribute to the importance of friends.

It has been a week full of mission memories. Here some of us are welcoming a mission friend from Chile to Utah. He's moving his family here in a couple months which is HUGE. Pretty awesome to already have friends waiting for you on the other side of the world. Grant is in the picture. He is the baby in the back--too busy socializing to be sitting with his own parents.

And if that picture doesn't say friendship, check out these little guys.

Last Friday my friend Lyndsey and her little Jack came to visit. Grant let Jack borrow his toy, and Jack let Grant borrow his hand to suck on. Quite the budding friendship. I laugh every time I look at this picture. How did they know to hold hands and look at the camera? I promise it was not posed.

The Mystery of the White Scrunchy Blanket

I have decided to officially become a blogger tonight. I thought that in order to make a debut on this blog scene I would need a fancy introduction--a prologue, a pivotal moment of some sort to start from, but I just can't deal with the pressure or work of backtracking. That being said, my little blog begins today.

It starts with a white scrunchy blanket that made the foot of our bed its home about a month ago. I thought it was a lovely blanket from the first time I saw it in that blessed store, Ikea. I saw the potential of its unique, gauzy texture and thought it would be a great prop for baby pictures. I purchased it without hesitation. Indeed, it has been used in many a picture of my sweet boy. However, I am starting to wonder a little bit about this scrunchy blanket. It has had influence in this family that I wasn't expecting, and frankly that I'm not so sure I like.

Reason #1. Jared has not slept under the sheets of our bed since the blanket arrived. Summer nights are hot. We all know this. Before the blanket however, Jared would just sleep under the sheets and keep the comforter down--you know, like most people do when they get hot at night. I would keep my side up because I don't find the heat uncomfortable and find the fluffiness of the duvet cozy. In those days we had a good thing going on--he was sheets only, and I was sheets plus duvet. There was no restriction of bed space. I could toss and turn and kick my legs about as I pleased. I could even play a little footsie with my husband if I wanted to. Now, he sleeps ON TOP of everything with--you guessed it--the scrunchy blanket stretched from under his toes all the way tucked up under his chin. When I question this behavior, he says that the blanket feels better than the sheet. It's cooler, and it's a better texture. I have tried the white blanket, and I don't get it. In the meantime, I am trapped under the covers on my half (third, really) of the bed. Cuddling is not what it used to be. We might as well be in two separate beds!

Reason #2. A few days ago, Grant was "helping me" make the bed. "Making the bed" with Grant starts with Grant watching me from the rocking chair until I get the sheets and comforter situated. Then he moves onto the bed while I arrange the pillows and throw blanket. When I rustled the scrunchy blanket around his face and fanned it up and down above him he seemed entertained. Still, I didn't think much of that. Well, today he woke up super cranky from his nap. I could not get him to relax. There wasn't a position I held him in that could keep him from screaming at full decibel strength. This is not typical. I attempted all that I could to console him, and just as he was starting to calm down, a picture fell from the wall, knocking down a bunch of stuff from a shelf, sending Grant over the edge. I thought of a great idea! "I will give him a little massage with lotion to try to soothe him!" Well, the lotion just happened to be on the floor in my room, so I had to put him down on the bed for a moment to bend down to get it. Well, before I could even stand back up, he had calmed down. I had, inadvertently, placed him on top of . . ..the white scrunchy blanket. It was almost instantaneous. He was clinging to the fabric, bringing it to his little face, and almost cooing! That fast! I had been trying to calm him for at least fifteen minutes! I have to admit, I was appreciative at the time and proceeded to play with Grant under a little "scrunchy blanket tent" for another ten minutes or so.

Well, there you have it. The evidence speaks for itself. It's a good thing the scrunchy white blanket can't cook dinner or nurse babies, or else I might start to feel a little unneeded around here.