Book Report

Just so you know I have a penchant for nerdy, anthropological, non-fiction books.

Consequently I was intrigued when Quinn came home from work with one written by a former FBI counterintelligence officer about nonverbal behavior, specifically subconscious non-verbal behavior. It's called What Every Body is Saying written by Joe Navarro.

The person who writes the article in US Magazine about how they can tell Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are having marital issues by their body language at the park must have read this book.

Here are some gems:

This is called arms akimbo.
It's a territorial behavior used to "assert dominance and project an image of authority." I'm pretty sure I see cops standing like this all the time.

This is called genital framing. Ahem.
According to this book it's a "powerful dominance display." When you see a man do this, in essence he is saying, "check me out, I'm a virile male." It reminds me of Todd Packer...you know Michael Scott's crass friend from The Office.

This is called steepling.
Apparently it's one of the most powerful displays of confidence we possess. On a side note, Donald Trump was steepling during his entire interview with Barbara Walters that I watched last week.

This is called "the regal stance"
When someone is standing this way they are communicating that they are of a higher status and that they don't want you to touch them. It makes me think of a boss I used to have....


Did you know that when you compress your lips like this it is, "very indicative of true negative sentiment." There is usually stress or anxiety driving this behavior.


Since I read the book I keep asking Quinn questions I think might make him mad to see if he compresses his lips. I was also paying attention to which couples at the ward Christmas party are leaning toward each other or away from each other and who's playing footsie (a good sign of a happy relationship).

bits and pieces

A numbered list of blogworthy items:

1. We're currently knee-deep in an exhausting front yard makeover which should come to a head on Saturday (provided it isn't snowing). Maybe I'll post pictures when it's done. But if I'm being honest- it's not likely that I'll actually get around to doing that. We'll see.

2. Lola has taken an excerpt from a children's book about Samson: "Oh Lord, make me strong just one more time," and she keeps saying it at random times when doing something difficult. Like when trying to open the front door. Or going number 2.

3. Last Sunday, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Forrest shovel a huge handful of sacrament bread into his mouth while giving the deacon a sideways glace. Then, with a straight face he told me, "it wasn't more than one piece...it was just one really large piece."

4. Don't tell the environmentalists but I keep running my dishwasher nearly empty so I don't have to wash bottles. I hate hate HATE washing out bottles.

5. If you want a laugh and don't have cable, turn your TV to channel 16-2 after 10 pm. They play episodes of He-man. They are super-funny but I think the show would be a little more realistic if they showed Prince Adam or He-man in a tanning bed, getting his roots touched up, and having his little friend with the "O" on his nightgown injecting him in the behind with anabolic steroids.

The End

that about sums it up

1. My cute niece has Beiber-fever so I keep hearing his CD when I see her. Now I can't stop singing "baby, baby, baby, oooh" to my baby.

2. Will The Biggest Loser people please send their doctor to makeover week so they can do something about his weird hair??

3. I did the Insanity fit test this morning and discovered I'm way less coordinated and in shape than I thought. I also don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow.

4. Next time I'm meeting someone at a gas station to make a ksl.com exchange I will remember to ask what kind of car they drive. It would eliminate some embarassing staring issues.

4. Note to self: make sure you're signed into your own google account (not your husbands) when making comments on your friends blogs. It might seem weird and creepy to your friends to have your husband making silly comments on their blogs...

5. Is anyone else really annoyed by the woman in the RC Willey commercials??

Get me in touch with Margaret Rey

Nevermind- I just wikipedia'd Margaret Rey to make sure I spelled her name correctly and it looks like she died in 1996. Sad. She was born in 1906 so that's a pretty good stretch.

Moving on.

Did y'all hear about that woman's pet chimp that attacked and tried to kill her friend? Quinn and I saw a special on television a little while back about people who didn't have kids so they decided to buy monkeys and treat them like kids. In time, the monkeys ended up attacking them.

It gave me an idea for a new Curious George episode.



The Man in the Yellow Hat better watch out.