I love...

I love Sidral Mundet.

If you've never had it, you should at least give it a try. It is an apple-flavored soda and it is far and away my favorite carbonated beverage. It's not a syrupy, candy flavor. It's made with real apple juice. It's so delicious.

Albertson's and Walmart don't carry it (at least the ones in my neighborhood don't), but I think most grocery stores do. Especially the Western Family grocery stores (but this isn't a Western Family product). But it's not in the beverage aisle, it's with the Mexican foods. I don't know why it's not more popular with us gringos. 

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P.S. My husband just sent me this:

"The drink has been renowned in Mexico for its nourishing and hydrating abilities and has sometimes been used as a home remedy for stomach aches."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidral_Mundet

If I was Miss America

First, let me tell you a little story. When I was 17 my best friend, Jessica, and I decided that we would compete in our local Miss Magic Valley Pageant, which was part of the Miss America organization. It's likely that, had we gone through with it, one of us would have eventually become Miss America. Highly likely.

But we didn't. We had priorities, and the pageant became less important when we found out it was being held on the same day that we could move into our apartment at Ricks College. We could have participated in the pageant and then moved in the next day, but we wanted to get there early to ensure we would share a bedroom.

We had chosen to live at the Colonial House, and in our mailed information we were told that check-in was no earlier than 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 10th, 1999. (This is where Dave will wonder why I have such a good memory of some things and such a bad memory of the things he wants me to remember.)  We decided we would get to Rexburg early and be ready to check in promptly at 2:00. 

When we got to Rexburg, around 1:00 or so, we were surprised to find that they had already checked everyone else into our 3-bedroom apartment. This meant that there were only 2 beds left, in separate bedrooms. We asked if someone would switch rooms so we could share a bedroom. We even showed them our matching bedspreads, but no one would budge. 

Brats. 

So I ended up sharing a bedroom that summer with Sara from California. She was nice enough. 

We gave up our chance to be beauty queens just so we could share a bedroom, and it backfired. But life went on. Sara moved out in the fall and Jessica moved in with me. Good thing, too, because later our roommates turned on us and we needed the refuge. 

Anyway, if I would have gone ahead with the pageant back then, my platform would have been to support music education in schools. That's something I still think is very important. 

However, if I was Miss America today I would FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT for infertility benefits. 

It frustrates me that people (like myself) who struggle with infertility, even with good insurance, don't get better benefits to make treatment more possible. I suppose those who decide what benefits to offer might not view infertility as an illness that needs to be treated, but why not?

Is my body not supposed to be able to function that way? Most people's bodies reproduce. If mine doesn't, which it is supposed to, why would that not be seen as something that should be covered as well as other health problems are covered?

I was lucky that I didn't have to have very much treatment before I was pregnant with my son. But we've been trying for a while again and it's not happening, so I've been looking into our benefits. We do have some benefits, but they're not great. So if we need extensive treatment this time around, much of it could be out of pocket. 

There's nothing wrong with having to save money for something that you want. But I just don't understand why infertility is not treated as the health issue that it is. 

Observations from the park

My Frauness

I was talking to a friend a few days ago who told me that she looked up "Frau" to learn what it meant. So I thought, in case anyone else isn't familiar with the term, I would do a little explaining.

My husband is of German descent and served a 2-year mission for our church in Germany. "Frau" is the German equivalent of "Mrs." or "Woman."

When I do something particularly domestic, like cooking a good dinner or cleaning the house, Dave is very happy and usually exclaims something like, "What a Good Frau!"

(I'm serious about the exclaiming part. He's a jubilant man.)

Most of you are probably Good Fräuleins all the time, but it's a special treat at our house.

When I first started this blog, the best address I could come up with was "bloggingistrendy" which I thought was clever until about one nanosecond after I shared the address with everyone.

So then I came up with "Good Frau," because it's what my David Dearest calls me. His mother once asked me why I chose a degrading name for my blog. But she decided it wasn't degrading anymore after I told her it was her son's nickname for me.

I think it's nice.

So, since I've been itching to change my address for a long time, I decided to take the plunge and buy a domain. It's only $10/year and Blogger redirects my old address to my new one (I'm not sure changing it to another blogspot address would do that).

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My blogging friend Valentine sure knows how to cheer a girl up. It's been one of those days. I'll spare you the details, because if I shared the details they would involve a fair amount of self pity and a small amount of unspeakable things that my dog did. And I have made a personal blogging vow to not write about those kinds of unspeakable things.

Anyway.

Valentine has been good to me. This is the second time she has passed along a blogging award to me, and it's nice to feel special. :)

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I pick:

1. Rachel at "Trapped Between a Scream and a Hug."

2. Wonder Woman, who is "Taking on the World."

3. My new real-life BFF, Diana at "Worth the Waite."

4. Debbie at "Cranberry Fries."

5. Laura at "La Bella Vita."

6. Kristina at "Pulsipher Predilections." (Even though I know she won't post it. I'd still like her to know I appreciate her bloggy friendship.)

7. Jen from the Block.

And 8. One of my vintage friends, Nicke. She knew me when I was a teenager with my head in the clouds, and she still likes me. 

2 Legit

You can now see my blog at http://www.goodfrau.com/.

The old address will redirect to my new address, but feed reader users (like Google Reader) might need to subscribe to the new address to get updates. But I don't know. Maybe you won't.

That's all!

Play it safe. Go with the Speedo.

I actually uttered the words "Play it safe. Go with the Speedo," to a family member this weekend. At a wedding celebration, even.

But we'll get back to that later.
I usually save my Weekend Update for my other blog, but this time I feel a great need to share with you how awesome my family is.
We went to my hometown of Twin Falls, Idaho, this weekend for my cousin Steven's wedding.

He's one of my favorite people, so I was pretty excited for him. And for his new frau.

They're cute, huh?
I would love to tell you that the wedding was beautiful and wonderful. I'm sure it was. I didn't actually get to be there for that part because I lost my ticket to the venue. Oh well. I was there for all the other celebrations.
I have to say it was one of the most fun wedding celebrations I have been to. They had a nice reception Friday night with lots of yummy Chinese food (and we were the recipients of lots of leftovers).
Then they were married Saturday afternoon and we all gathered for a pasta dinner at Tomatoes in Twin Falls. Delicious! I sat with my parents across the table from friends of the bride's family. After about 10 minutes I raised my hand up near my face for some reason, and the woman I was sitting across from said, after seeing my wedding ring, "Oh! You're married! I thought you were a teenager."
She said it was because I looked "so young," but I've never heard that, so I didn't believe her. I am very paranoid that for some reason our conversation led her to believe I was much less mature than my 27-year-old self.
But here's the good part.
Apparently two of my cousins made a bet. I don't know when the bet was made or any other details, but it was decided that if Steven (the groom) ever got married (I don't know why he wouldn't... he's a pretty great guy... a little shy, though), that my cousin Ryan would have to run down the street in his undies.


I first heard about the bet at Tomatoes, from Ryan's wife. I told her that I hoped he didn't get arrested. She hoped not, too. She said they were debating between tighty whities or a Speedo. I told her to play it safe, in the eyes of the law (as if I know the law) and go with the Speedo.
So at 10:15 that night, the whole family gathered at Ryan's parents' house to witness the settlement of the wager.
Ryan showed up ready to run in his white boxer briefs, white socks and sneakers, and a white headband. His extended family and his old neighbors lined the street to watch him jog behind a truck, as those in the truck shined a spotlight and took a nice video, for posterity.
I don't know if my family will ever be able to live up to the precedent that was set at this wedding.
Tell me, did anyone run down the street in their skivvies for your wedding?
Me neither.