It's a WOOT!

check the personal essay section. yay for moments of happy!

That's *DR* Mommy to you!

Passed my dissertation defense this morning.

Thanks to all of you who helped along the way!

(they were really impressed that I had 36 research assistants, and even more impressed that I hadn't even met all of you, and then even more impressed that y'all just volunteered your time out of the bloggy goodness of your hearts. so, really, thanks! xok)

(ps: woot!)

Worst. Mother. Ever.

Lily: "Mommy, Mommy. Let's read some books!"

me: [wanting to sleep] "Huh? what? books? Nah. TV is WAY better than books." [turn on TV and go to sleep.]

[time passes]

Lily: "Mommy, you should wake up sometime. I'm VERY late for school."

me: [sleeping]

Lily: "Mommy, don't you think I should go to school?"

me: "School totally doesn't matter until college anyway."

Lily: "But I'm very hungry."

me: "Go grab yourself something."

Lily: "Just wake up, okay?"

me: "Okay, okay."

Lily: "Yay! Can you make breakfast now?"

me: "Um... Let's just go to McDonald's for breakfast."

Lily: "Mommy, breakfast is much cheaper and healthier if we eat at home."

me: "Yeah, but I don't have a cup as big as McDonald's does and I need a lot of diet coke."

Lily: "You drink too much diet coke. You need to go on a diet coke diet."

me: "Probably. Let's hit the drive-through."

[we hit the drive through and show up at school.]

Lily: "Hey, Mommy?"

me: "Yeah?"

Lily: "Why is everyone wearing green?"

U_iqt= Γ_(i,s{iqt} ) X_(i,q,t-1)+Φ_(i,s{iqt} ) U_(iq,t-1)+ε_(iqt,s{iqt} ),〖 ε〗_(iqt,s{iqt} ) ∿ MVN (0,∑_(s{iqt})▒〖),〗

just because that is an actual formula that I just had to cite and explain in my dissertation.

Why I haven't been blogging

I just finished the first totally complete draft of my dissertation.
all 500 pages of it.

WOOT.

Okay, I guess sometimes dreams are useful

We bought the kids a set of those "car dvd" players so that we could drive to CA for my brother's wedding and not lose our minds.

Well, they love them. So much.

But last week, Lily's stopped working. We told her, "that's what you get for kicking it so much!" because she does kick it too much. She has some rage issues.

Then a few nights ago, I dreamed that if I messed with the voltage input, I might be able to get it to work again. When I woke up, I said, "yeah, whatever. I don't even know what that MEANS!"

But when Lily was kinda sad about her little DVD player, I felt so bad that I thought, "maybe I can try to figure it out..."

So I messed with the voltage. I figured out how to vary the voltage input. And LO AND BEHOLD, the DVD player WORKED again!

Sam was so happy he giggled and said, "Oh, Mommy. You're so FIXABLE."

"Heh." I thought. "I wish."

Not to brag or anything

87 words

Speedtest

With ZERO errors, I'd like to add

yeah, I'm THAT Molly

me: "Hey baby Sam"

Sam: "I'm not a baby."

me: "What would you like for dinner?"

Sam: "A cheese and lettuce sandwich."

me: "What a coincidence! Two months ago I foresaw this very conversation and cultivated a garden with lettuce in it just so that it would be ready for us to pick and eat tonight!"

Sam: "Can I pick it?"

me: "Yes."

I guess I can't Publish anything in the Ensign now

Sunstone magazine just published my remembrace of Gordon B. Hinkley.

Oh, well. I was already on the official church heretic list, anyway, so it's not like the Ensign'd even read anything I sent them.

Fess up, people. Was this one of you?

There was an online forum on the Deseret News asking people who their favorite LDS writers were. People said Dean Hughes, Stephanie Myers, etc. But *somebody* said their favorite writer was *me.* They said I was a "rising talent."

Baffling, I suppose.

But I *like* it.

This morning's weigh in

167

Four More Pounds until we get to Pre-Lily weight.

(One more tummy tuck until we get to Pre-Lily waist size, though. Alas.)

reaching the final stretch

this morning's weigh in: 170.

that means I have exactly 7 more pounds until I weigh what I weighed before I got pregnant with Lily.

Let the countdown begin!!

It's a miracle!

In an annonymous evaluation, a student *didn't* say they hated me! Woo hoo!

Here, in fact, is what they said:

"I never had an AP test score because I was never in an English APclass, but with the instruction we got from Prof. Spencer, I can'timagine that any AP course from any High School could have come closeto her expertise"


I know. I'm as shocked as you are.

Awww Yeah Baby!

Remember my laundry room yesterday? This is my laundry room today:

whooppeeee!

Woo hoo!

You'll notice that I haven't posted my weight since June 4. That's because I was in the third most annoying plateau EVER.

It's over, though! I lost six (?!) pounds in one week!

174, friends!

An annoying/embarrassing problem that was kinda cool

Steve and I went to a wedding tonight. (One of his co-workers.) I wore a dress. The problem was, my underwear kept falling down (and almost totally off).

I've lost more weight than I can keep up with the underwear purchasing!

So, yeah. Totally embarrassing. And totally cool. ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

I'm gonna get up and clean now

Really. I really am.

She who is like unto Aphrodite

That's what I make my students call me. It's actually on the syllabus. Right underneath my office hours and email address.

This has been a good week for the whole Aphrodite thing, too. Earlier in the week, I told my students that I'd been teaching at BYU for almost 8 years. This kid looked at me and said, "What? Have you been teaching since you were like, twelve?"

And I said, "um . . . no."

He said, "So, why do you look like you're *my* age?"

I just said, "Like unto Aphrodite, honey. Like. Unto. Aphrodite."

Well, today there was another blessed Aphrodite moment. I was at the records office, getting a grade change form. When I got to the counter and asked for the form, the chica there gave me this nastly look and was like, "You have to actually be from a *department* to pick up a form."

I said, "I'm a professor."

She just grimaced and was like, "Yeah. Right."

I gave her my evil professor glare and said, "Um . . . *yeah.* *right.*" Voice all stern and stuff.

She was like, "Seriously?"

I kept that evil professor glare on and I nodded.

And then she said, "Oh my gosh. I am so sorry."

Like unto Aphrodite, my friends!

Essays by Martin Luther King, Thomas Jefferson, and oh, that's right, ME!!

I just had an essay published in a BYU textbook. We got our copies a few days ago, and here's what I think: it kind of rocks. A few hundred kids are going to have their minds warped by what I have to say. MWAHHAHAHA!

Hey, look!

I figured out how to make links! And my brain kinda hurts now. Oww. How come so many other people think this is so easy?

Now, if I can just figure out how to post pictures . . .

Alas.