There's this old song that we used to sing when we were little kids about being a mom.
"When I grow up, I want to be a mooo-ther, have a family
One little, two little, three little babies of my own."
I'm sure there is more to the song than that, but that's the only part I remember knowing. It would get a little out of hand because when the song gets stuck in your head, pretty soon you're saying "10 little, 11 little, 12 little babies of my own." and it doesn't take long to get there. Anyway, I've always wanted to be a mom. But I've also always liked working. And right now I have "no little babies of my own", so I'm exploring my professional future.
When I graduated from high school I went to college, because that's what you're supposed to do. I didn't really know what I wanted to study, there were a lot of things that interested me and I didn't really know what I'd do with any of them. There was always some aspect of whatever vocation that wasn't really appealing.
I'd go into Accounting - but I don't really want to do taxes, and that's all Accountants do.
I'd go into Psychology - but could I really handle dealing with other people's problems empathetically on a consistent basis? Realistically I'm probably not mentally/emotionally stable enough to keep myself sane, much less other people.
I'd study Business - except what are you supposed to do with that?!?! The classes you take for business are EASILY the most applicable to real life of any other degree, but you don't really do anything with it. "Hi, I'm Amy and I have a business degree - would you like me to be the CEO of a company I know nothing about? I could do it because I have a business degree." While you learn a zillion very helpful, pertinent things, it seems like you still have to study something else to make your Business Degree valuable to someone else.
Since I couldn't find anything I really loved, I figured being an assistant lets me help other people do what they love, and that's good while I wait for something to come to me.
Today, I think the solution came. I'm not quite sure how to make it happen, but it involves all of my interests. Here's my plan - tell me what you think:
I will be a "financial counselor" (aka money shrink). A friend of mine asked me for some help in his financial world. He went to his regular shrink and found that he's been feeling really anxious and up tight lately. It's because he's worried about money. I know this guy (let's call him John), and he spends money faster than anybody I know. I know a lot about his personal finances because I see a lot of his bills. He had a horrible childhood and some pretty traumatic experiences, he moved out of his druggie parents' house when he was 15 years old, got a job and an apartment (fully furnished with milk crate furniture) and finished high school. Now most 15 year olds get a job at a fast food restaurant and spend their money on dates, movies, fast food, electronics, music, etc. Instead, he spent his money on rent, utilities, and groceries with very little left over. Since he had to be a grown up (financially) when he was 15, I think that now (he's in his early 30's) he's ready to have the financial freedom and be stupid about his money. He spends it on stupid stuff, and gives a lot of money away. He makes a ton, but manages it very poorly. What he needs is to develop a healthy relationship with money and build wealth for his future. He recognizes this and asked me to help him make a budget and figure out how to get him out of debt.
I'm SOO excited for this! I'm fascinated by his attitudes and habits. I want to learn not only why he spends like a maniac but how he can still feel like he's living comfortably without being stupid. I want to examine every aspect of this relationship with money, and it's making me look at myself as well! Why do I spend money on the things I do? What about the people around me? What can I do better and what can I learn from him?
So, if he needs it, and I need, I think other people probably need it too. So, why don't I become a money shrink? I'm sure there are tons of people who need help learning about money (a lot of parents just never bother to teach their kids basic principles) and not only learning how to manage it in a way that makes sense (numbers-wise) but that also meets their emotional/mental needs.
I read a book once where the lady talked about needing to feel rich. She went to the store and picked 1 thing that she thought only rich people could afford (for her it was fancy olives) and bought it. She felt rich. She wound up getting rich, but more importantly, it met her emotional need of feeling like she had enough. So many people go through life thinking there will never be enough money and when they think that, there usually isn't. BUT the people who live comfortably always feel like there is enough.
Obviously there are limitations, and restrictions must be set, but I truly believe that everybody is capable of feeling wealthy. I've felt wealthy making $6/hour before. I really think it's possible.
People just need a coach. A cheerleader. A club. Something to help them stay motivated and keep their goals. It'll be like AA, group therapy, and weight watchers but with money! Why isn't there something like this already? I'd love to get a degree in money-shrinking, but I'm pretty sure they don't offer that - so I'll have to build it myself. Now if I can just figure out how to get started.....
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The gender of objects
You know how some things just have genders? Like when you refer to a boat, it's a girl "she's real pretty on the water". Or cars which are always either male or female, even if you don't name it, it has a gender "she's such a pansy, she can barely make it up the hill." but "my big man truck could drag himself and the 3 pansy cars we passed on the way up that hill." My red Bosch is definitely a girl. The ugly green couch was definitely a man. Most electronics are male, except cute little things like cell phones, pink iPods (which are clearly female) and watches with ribbons as the band. Drills, hammers, and saws are male, while pillows, doilies, 'knick-knacks' and bedspreads are female.
Then of course there are those items that, like cars, can go either way. Different cars, select tools, (my cute clean tape measure is a girl, but Josh's manly big dirty tape measure is a boy and therefore lives in the garage), furniture (rocking chairs vs. lazy boys), and maybe even food/snacks.
I never really realized it until this morning. I opened our center console in Suzy (my VERY female car, doesn't go uphill, doesn't do 4 WD, but plays all media types, has radio buttons on the steering wheel, cup holders, a spot for your sunglasses, and trash compartments, and was made for cruisin' with the windows down, not to mention she's a little PMSy every now and again) and saw this very sleek package of gum. It was clearly man-gum.
"Can I have a piece of your manly gum please?" I asked Josh.
"You want a piece of my what?" He responded confused.
"Your manly gum."
"Sure, but why is it manly?"
"You want a piece of my what?" He responded confused.
"Your manly gum."
"Sure, but why is it manly?"
Somehow he failed to see the clearly man features of this gum. It wasn't pink, it wasn't fruit flavored, it had no pictures of people or bubbles or food on the front of it. It was just gum. Very simple, dark packaging. Shaped like it fits in your back pocket as opposed to fitting in your purse. Everything about this gum screams "man" to me and he just doesn't see it. Back me up in this! Tell me that this is man gum!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
My job will NEVER be done.
I just figured out why so many moms are so sad, worn down, tired, feeling behind, discouraged, feeling inadequate, etc. I know this won't be a shock to many of you, especially those of you who are moms, but the general mom-jobs (cleaning, cooking, etc) are truly never complete. You never get the satisfaction of knowing you did a great job.
I spent all night long on Thursday doing laundry. There was not a dirty article of clothing anywhere in my entire house. This is rare for me because I usually do one or two batches a night and am just in a constant cycle. Not this time. I was bound and determined that everything in my home would be clean. I did 8 batches of laundry, including sheets, towels, cleaning rags, along with the regulars. Not only did I wash them all, I also had them all put away. Then my husband came home. He got ready for bed, and took off the clothes he was wearing to trade for pajamas. I'm not kidding when I tell you he wore, in 1 day an ENTIRE full batch of darks! I was already a batch behind and I had only been done for 5 minutes! That's not even counting the clothes I was wearing, or the pajamas we were now both wearing! What am I supposed to do with that?
No matter how many batches of laundry I do, we'll both be wearing something and I won't be finished. No matter how many meals I cook - my husband will have gotten hungry in the time it took me to clean up what he just ate, and I'll be behind again. The dishes will always be dirty, the bed will always become un-made within 24 hours, I will never ever ever be caught up at any wife/mom jobs! That is a depressing thought.
The worst part is that I have it easy! There are a lot of moms with much more mundane tasks than mine. Most moms do more of these things than I do, and I'm already whining and complaining about it. That's a bad sign.
I like going to work, I like finishing a project and taking it off my to do list. I hate looking at the same tasks over and over again knowing that it should have been done a year ago, but I love the feeling of finishing a year long task! I love being able to finally say "it's done!". I think though, that I'm going to have to go get over that, because at home my jobs never change. I create the same to-do list every single week, and it's boring. "grocery shopping, laundry, exercise, cook, dishes, clean bathrooms, vacuum, pay bills, put that recipe in my recipe book" that's a boring list. It's time consuming, it fills my evenings alone, and before I have the time to check off one thing, it's added back on. I think I need to stop listing things to do because it's discouraging and disheartening and that doesn't make me feel happy so I'm officially done with to-do lists that never change.
From now on, I'm going to make cool to-do lists. In fact, I don't even care if I do anything on those lists, I'm going to make the lists and take stuff off even if it's not done. "Sky-diving, tubing, snowshoeing, shopping (not for groceries, for anything I want), go to France, eat out, read a good book" this is my official to do list for the day.
I spent all night long on Thursday doing laundry. There was not a dirty article of clothing anywhere in my entire house. This is rare for me because I usually do one or two batches a night and am just in a constant cycle. Not this time. I was bound and determined that everything in my home would be clean. I did 8 batches of laundry, including sheets, towels, cleaning rags, along with the regulars. Not only did I wash them all, I also had them all put away. Then my husband came home. He got ready for bed, and took off the clothes he was wearing to trade for pajamas. I'm not kidding when I tell you he wore, in 1 day an ENTIRE full batch of darks! I was already a batch behind and I had only been done for 5 minutes! That's not even counting the clothes I was wearing, or the pajamas we were now both wearing! What am I supposed to do with that?
No matter how many batches of laundry I do, we'll both be wearing something and I won't be finished. No matter how many meals I cook - my husband will have gotten hungry in the time it took me to clean up what he just ate, and I'll be behind again. The dishes will always be dirty, the bed will always become un-made within 24 hours, I will never ever ever be caught up at any wife/mom jobs! That is a depressing thought.
The worst part is that I have it easy! There are a lot of moms with much more mundane tasks than mine. Most moms do more of these things than I do, and I'm already whining and complaining about it. That's a bad sign.
I like going to work, I like finishing a project and taking it off my to do list. I hate looking at the same tasks over and over again knowing that it should have been done a year ago, but I love the feeling of finishing a year long task! I love being able to finally say "it's done!". I think though, that I'm going to have to go get over that, because at home my jobs never change. I create the same to-do list every single week, and it's boring. "grocery shopping, laundry, exercise, cook, dishes, clean bathrooms, vacuum, pay bills, put that recipe in my recipe book" that's a boring list. It's time consuming, it fills my evenings alone, and before I have the time to check off one thing, it's added back on. I think I need to stop listing things to do because it's discouraging and disheartening and that doesn't make me feel happy so I'm officially done with to-do lists that never change.
From now on, I'm going to make cool to-do lists. In fact, I don't even care if I do anything on those lists, I'm going to make the lists and take stuff off even if it's not done. "Sky-diving, tubing, snowshoeing, shopping (not for groceries, for anything I want), go to France, eat out, read a good book" this is my official to do list for the day.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Temples shall dot the earth
Last night I drove to American Fork so my sister could dye my hair (thanks Sarah!) for free. I have to say I believe it is well worth it because every time I go to a salon I get grumpy. One time when I lived with Chelsea at the Business College we went to fancy place in the mall to get our hair cut because she knew somebody who worked there and it was going to be super-cheap and we were poor. We went to this place, and the girl that cut our hair was just getting back from doing a live makeover on the news. She was all pumped and "LOVING" the makeover she just did.
I am a generally easy person to get along with, and I'm really not over-protective of my hair. Usually when the hair stylist asks what I want I say "it's just gross on the end, so just a trim, maybe some layers, whatever works." and then they use their creative genius and I look beautiful (using the term loosely) at the end of it. So, this time when she asked I did the same thing. "I don't really care, it's just long and gross and needs to be cut." Keep in mind I look like....well...me. I'm pretty sure I was wearing a skirt (I had to go straight to work), and a sweater and I looked like a nice little relief society lady. This girl has SHORT (like boy-short) blond (white) hair with some hot pink streaks in it and a nose ring. Now I'm not one to judge a book by it's cover, but I should've thought this through.
"Ooooh....this will be fun! I just gave this really cute haircut live on TV and it was amazing, and she looked like a rock star after! It's amazing and you have perfect hair for it. Can we try something new?"
"sure." I responded, I'm not one to disagree or argue unnecessarily, and truthfully I could probably use a little more "rock star" in my life. So I went with it.
Little did I know that "rock star" in her book was "mullet" in mine! This woman seriously gave me a mullet! She cut this top layer really short, and left me with a long ugly tail - then styled it with bangs coming all to one side (I believe she used the term "swooping"). Oh it was ugly. SOOO ugly. And she put lard in my hair (read: palmade) and it was so gross I wanted to vomit. Anyway, Chelsea got a haircut that wasn't quite as extreme as the mullet, but she wasn't really pleased either. So much for our fancy salon experience! I went to work and pulled it up (as much as possible, but the short part of the mullet wasn't long enough to tie up - so I had a mullet in a pony tail) until I got home. At which point I made Chels cut it off with kitchen scissors. I felt much better, it was still mullet-y, but much better. Since then I've learned my lesson - it's better to have an untrained roommate/sister you trust do your hair than a trained psychopath rock star. Thus the trip to American Fork.
Since I was so close to my parents house, I stopped by for a quick visit and to drop off some stuff. On my way home. I realized that driving from my parent's house in Lindon to my house in North Salt Lake, I see 4 existing temples (Mt. Timp, Jordan River, Salt Lake, Bountiful) on the way. That is only a 40 minute drive! That means that there is a temple roughly every 10 minutes along I-15! If that isn't dotting the earth (or at least dotting Utah) I don't know what is. With the 2 in Draper/South Jordan under construction we'll have 6 that close together. And it's not like you have to drive far to get to others.
Last night happened to be creepy and nasty and the air was smoggy and red and weird - but on a clear night, you see every one of those temples from the freeway. It's not like this is news, or anything, but it kinda hit me last night that we live in the last days, and we are incredibly blessed to live in Utah in the last days. It's just not like that everywhere.....Yet.
I am a generally easy person to get along with, and I'm really not over-protective of my hair. Usually when the hair stylist asks what I want I say "it's just gross on the end, so just a trim, maybe some layers, whatever works." and then they use their creative genius and I look beautiful (using the term loosely) at the end of it. So, this time when she asked I did the same thing. "I don't really care, it's just long and gross and needs to be cut." Keep in mind I look like....well...me. I'm pretty sure I was wearing a skirt (I had to go straight to work), and a sweater and I looked like a nice little relief society lady. This girl has SHORT (like boy-short) blond (white) hair with some hot pink streaks in it and a nose ring. Now I'm not one to judge a book by it's cover, but I should've thought this through.
"Ooooh....this will be fun! I just gave this really cute haircut live on TV and it was amazing, and she looked like a rock star after! It's amazing and you have perfect hair for it. Can we try something new?"
"sure." I responded, I'm not one to disagree or argue unnecessarily, and truthfully I could probably use a little more "rock star" in my life. So I went with it.
Little did I know that "rock star" in her book was "mullet" in mine! This woman seriously gave me a mullet! She cut this top layer really short, and left me with a long ugly tail - then styled it with bangs coming all to one side (I believe she used the term "swooping"). Oh it was ugly. SOOO ugly. And she put lard in my hair (read: palmade) and it was so gross I wanted to vomit. Anyway, Chelsea got a haircut that wasn't quite as extreme as the mullet, but she wasn't really pleased either. So much for our fancy salon experience! I went to work and pulled it up (as much as possible, but the short part of the mullet wasn't long enough to tie up - so I had a mullet in a pony tail) until I got home. At which point I made Chels cut it off with kitchen scissors. I felt much better, it was still mullet-y, but much better. Since then I've learned my lesson - it's better to have an untrained roommate/sister you trust do your hair than a trained psychopath rock star. Thus the trip to American Fork.
Since I was so close to my parents house, I stopped by for a quick visit and to drop off some stuff. On my way home. I realized that driving from my parent's house in Lindon to my house in North Salt Lake, I see 4 existing temples (Mt. Timp, Jordan River, Salt Lake, Bountiful) on the way. That is only a 40 minute drive! That means that there is a temple roughly every 10 minutes along I-15! If that isn't dotting the earth (or at least dotting Utah) I don't know what is. With the 2 in Draper/South Jordan under construction we'll have 6 that close together. And it's not like you have to drive far to get to others.
Last night happened to be creepy and nasty and the air was smoggy and red and weird - but on a clear night, you see every one of those temples from the freeway. It's not like this is news, or anything, but it kinda hit me last night that we live in the last days, and we are incredibly blessed to live in Utah in the last days. It's just not like that everywhere.....Yet.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Just one easy payment of $39.95*
Josh and I have developed this really bad habit of watching tv before we go to bed after he gets home from school. Usually the night goes like this:
doo do do to do dooo do do dodododo.....dododododo (that's the Simpson's music in the background)
"Hey, how was boring old school?"
"So cool because today we learned about _____" (insert something I don't understand here)
"That's nice dear. Would you like to practice on me?"
"No. I'm too tired. Maybe tomorrow." He answers in his "yeah right, maybe after I've graduated and have spare time but probably not even then unless you pay me" voice.
"OK I'm tired, you ready for bed?"
"Yeah sure." He says as he flops down next to me on the love sac. He immediately changes to channel to something unbearably boring, and wiggles around making me uncomfortable (which I thought was impossible on a love sac - I want my money back!) and cold.
Pretty much every night he turns it to the movie channel that plays some surprisingly good flicks, or this History channel. Last night he didn't even make it past the infomercial channel. All of these are like a whole new world to us because neither of us has ever had TV before. We've done speaker wire with tin-foil on the end, but no real tv channels before - so having more than 5 channels makes us feel rich. He got sucked into whatever the REALLY cheesy guy was selling and I immediately fell asleep. The next thing I know I hear him talking to himself.
"Josh."
"Egbert."
"Yes, I'm interested in this book, but I'd like to hear a little more about it first. Can you tell me what kind of cures I can find?"
Prolonged silence.
As I slowly come out of my deep deep sleep I realize he's not talking to himself, he's on the phone! With the infomercial people! He has full blown muted the TV - watching some old guy mouth the words "one easy payment of $39.95 - but that's not all!" The screen slams a big big down in front of it like it's a big deal. "for a limited time only" appears at the bottom of the screen and I suddenly realize that he's on the phone so he can BUY this thing!
Now you should understand 2 things:
1. I'm a sucker for advertising. I drive down the road, see a McDonald's sign and immediately want a big mac. The next sign is for hang gliding and I feel the need to jump off a cliff. Driving home from work is an emotional thing for me because I go from being a "mom meth addict" to an "experienced tax accountant" all the while craving 8 different fast foods, and needing to hear 23 artists' concerts. If I bought everything that I truly believed I needed when I thought I needed it....well I'd be in a lot of debt.
2. Josh doesn't spend money. He doesn't buy anything, he takes time to consider everything before purchasing, and after he bring it home he considers it some more deciding if he should take it back or not. (Seriously, the man returns rotten produce to the grocery store to get money back....he's insane.)
So, for me waking up to him wasting money on a book seems unbelievable. I look at him like he's crazy and tell him we don't need it. Even if it cures cancer (which I doubt) we don't need it because we don't have cancer. While I'm mouthing this to him he's still talking to this girl on the other line!
"mmmmhmmm. Now what about asthma, does it have a cure of asthma?" he asks her attentively
"Josh hang up that phone! If you spend $40 on a book we can buy online for cheaper, I will beat you till you cry!" I'm fully awake now. I know very well what he is doing and he knows very well he's in big trouble.
He hangs up with the girl and looks at me like he's hurt. I proceed to look on amazon and ebay for the book as well as read some reviews of it online. We find version 1 of the book for $5 on Amazon and reviews saying the book is useless and frustrating. I make him lie next to me and kiss his forehead so he knows I still love him. We turned off the tv and go quickly to bed before either one of us gets sucked into anything else. The problem is that when I was looking for the book online I saw the website and started reading about it trying to figure out why my otherwise intelligent husband would ever even dream of wasting his money on something like this. I quickly learned.
I mean, this book is literally 576 pages of incredible medical miracles discovered by very credible human beings. The audience is full of people who have used these cures and it saved their lives! How can I say I don't need that? This thing promises to cure diabetes, help with weight loss, Alzheimer's, how to prevent a stroke, fighting cancer, lowering blood sugar, flu-proofing your home, the list goes on. What person doesn't need that? Why did I stop my husband from having that sent to my house? PLUS it comes with 3 bonus gifts*! *a $149 value absolutely free!
I suppose it's probably a good thing I was asleep the first time the ad was on and now Josh is thinking clearly, so we side-stepped getting sucked into this useless purchase - but I think I need to have the infomercial channel blocked from our tv. I have no doubt that he would've bought it if I didn't stop him, and I have no doubt that there's something equally enticing just waiting for us tonight. It's time for a new bedtime routine if you ask me.
doo do do to do dooo do do dodododo.....dododododo (that's the Simpson's music in the background)
"Hey, how was boring old school?"
"So cool because today we learned about _____" (insert something I don't understand here)
"That's nice dear. Would you like to practice on me?"
"No. I'm too tired. Maybe tomorrow." He answers in his "yeah right, maybe after I've graduated and have spare time but probably not even then unless you pay me" voice.
"OK I'm tired, you ready for bed?"
"Yeah sure." He says as he flops down next to me on the love sac. He immediately changes to channel to something unbearably boring, and wiggles around making me uncomfortable (which I thought was impossible on a love sac - I want my money back!) and cold.
Pretty much every night he turns it to the movie channel that plays some surprisingly good flicks, or this History channel. Last night he didn't even make it past the infomercial channel. All of these are like a whole new world to us because neither of us has ever had TV before. We've done speaker wire with tin-foil on the end, but no real tv channels before - so having more than 5 channels makes us feel rich. He got sucked into whatever the REALLY cheesy guy was selling and I immediately fell asleep. The next thing I know I hear him talking to himself.
"Josh."
"Egbert."
"Yes, I'm interested in this book, but I'd like to hear a little more about it first. Can you tell me what kind of cures I can find?"
Prolonged silence.
As I slowly come out of my deep deep sleep I realize he's not talking to himself, he's on the phone! With the infomercial people! He has full blown muted the TV - watching some old guy mouth the words "one easy payment of $39.95 - but that's not all!" The screen slams a big big down in front of it like it's a big deal. "for a limited time only" appears at the bottom of the screen and I suddenly realize that he's on the phone so he can BUY this thing!
Now you should understand 2 things:
1. I'm a sucker for advertising. I drive down the road, see a McDonald's sign and immediately want a big mac. The next sign is for hang gliding and I feel the need to jump off a cliff. Driving home from work is an emotional thing for me because I go from being a "mom meth addict" to an "experienced tax accountant" all the while craving 8 different fast foods, and needing to hear 23 artists' concerts. If I bought everything that I truly believed I needed when I thought I needed it....well I'd be in a lot of debt.
2. Josh doesn't spend money. He doesn't buy anything, he takes time to consider everything before purchasing, and after he bring it home he considers it some more deciding if he should take it back or not. (Seriously, the man returns rotten produce to the grocery store to get money back....he's insane.)
So, for me waking up to him wasting money on a book seems unbelievable. I look at him like he's crazy and tell him we don't need it. Even if it cures cancer (which I doubt) we don't need it because we don't have cancer. While I'm mouthing this to him he's still talking to this girl on the other line!
"mmmmhmmm. Now what about asthma, does it have a cure of asthma?" he asks her attentively
"Josh hang up that phone! If you spend $40 on a book we can buy online for cheaper, I will beat you till you cry!" I'm fully awake now. I know very well what he is doing and he knows very well he's in big trouble.
He hangs up with the girl and looks at me like he's hurt. I proceed to look on amazon and ebay for the book as well as read some reviews of it online. We find version 1 of the book for $5 on Amazon and reviews saying the book is useless and frustrating. I make him lie next to me and kiss his forehead so he knows I still love him. We turned off the tv and go quickly to bed before either one of us gets sucked into anything else. The problem is that when I was looking for the book online I saw the website and started reading about it trying to figure out why my otherwise intelligent husband would ever even dream of wasting his money on something like this. I quickly learned.
I mean, this book is literally 576 pages of incredible medical miracles discovered by very credible human beings. The audience is full of people who have used these cures and it saved their lives! How can I say I don't need that? This thing promises to cure diabetes, help with weight loss, Alzheimer's, how to prevent a stroke, fighting cancer, lowering blood sugar, flu-proofing your home, the list goes on. What person doesn't need that? Why did I stop my husband from having that sent to my house? PLUS it comes with 3 bonus gifts*! *a $149 value absolutely free!
I suppose it's probably a good thing I was asleep the first time the ad was on and now Josh is thinking clearly, so we side-stepped getting sucked into this useless purchase - but I think I need to have the infomercial channel blocked from our tv. I have no doubt that he would've bought it if I didn't stop him, and I have no doubt that there's something equally enticing just waiting for us tonight. It's time for a new bedtime routine if you ask me.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
How many people do you know?
Josh and I went to Josh's mom's house for dinner today and it was quite fun. Always is. We took Imaginiff with us to play and hadn't ever played it before. So, we learned with them and it was really fun. It's a hilarious game, and I lost REALLY bad both times because I don't get his family. For example:
The question is: "imaginiff Amy were an emotion. Would it be: 1. Glee 2. Smug 3. Paranoid 4. Dread" (there are really 6 but I can't remember the others) then everybody votes and whichever words gets the most votes wins (each player voting that word moves forward on the board). I, thinking this is a game about honesty and forgetting I'm playing with my inlaws say Paranoid. Which I think is fairly accurate. Josh will attest to that. But everybody else says Glee because they are trying not to hurt my feelings! Ridiculous. I lose points. The next round is Megan (Josh's little sister who is easily the rebellious one in the family) and the question is about kisses on a first date. "Where would she plant it? 1. lips 2. cheek 3. hand 4. tonsils (and the others I can't remember)" I (now understanding that we're nice in the game) debate between lips and cheek, and finally decide lips is OK because the table talk going around is that "I guess we're being honest right?" Everybody else picked tonsils. I lose again. I just don't know the family rules that well! They're nice on some subjects, not on others, but only to some people! I definitely want a rematch in 10 years.
On the way home we talked about the game and thought it would be fun to play with another group of people too (that way I wouldn't lose so bad). We suggested Jamie and Cameron, but when we tried to think of 4 other "subjects" we both know, it was rough. If you don't have 8 people playing, you make up other subjects like famous people, other common friends, fictional characters, etc. We thought we could do batman and optimus prime, but then we ran out.
When we got home we talked about it more and I suggested that we play just with 2 of us.
"Who else would we put on the board?" Josh asked, laughing.
"Jamie, Cameron, and Batman." I quickly responded - that'll show him! We totally have friends!
"And....." he waited
"umm.....that's only 5 huh?"
We both started laughing when we realized that we only know 5 people including ourselves and Batman. It took a while to realize we both know our families, but excluding our families, we seriously don't know 6 other humans. Not even well enough to play an imaginary game and imaginary circumstances. That's pretty sad. Maybe now that we're in a new ward we'll be brave enough to make some new friends, but I doubt it. Maybe we can convince Jamie and Cameron to play with us even though they have a new baby now.
The question is: "imaginiff Amy were an emotion. Would it be: 1. Glee 2. Smug 3. Paranoid 4. Dread" (there are really 6 but I can't remember the others) then everybody votes and whichever words gets the most votes wins (each player voting that word moves forward on the board). I, thinking this is a game about honesty and forgetting I'm playing with my inlaws say Paranoid. Which I think is fairly accurate. Josh will attest to that. But everybody else says Glee because they are trying not to hurt my feelings! Ridiculous. I lose points. The next round is Megan (Josh's little sister who is easily the rebellious one in the family) and the question is about kisses on a first date. "Where would she plant it? 1. lips 2. cheek 3. hand 4. tonsils (and the others I can't remember)" I (now understanding that we're nice in the game) debate between lips and cheek, and finally decide lips is OK because the table talk going around is that "I guess we're being honest right?" Everybody else picked tonsils. I lose again. I just don't know the family rules that well! They're nice on some subjects, not on others, but only to some people! I definitely want a rematch in 10 years.
On the way home we talked about the game and thought it would be fun to play with another group of people too (that way I wouldn't lose so bad). We suggested Jamie and Cameron, but when we tried to think of 4 other "subjects" we both know, it was rough. If you don't have 8 people playing, you make up other subjects like famous people, other common friends, fictional characters, etc. We thought we could do batman and optimus prime, but then we ran out.
When we got home we talked about it more and I suggested that we play just with 2 of us.
"Who else would we put on the board?" Josh asked, laughing.
"Jamie, Cameron, and Batman." I quickly responded - that'll show him! We totally have friends!
"And....." he waited
"umm.....that's only 5 huh?"
We both started laughing when we realized that we only know 5 people including ourselves and Batman. It took a while to realize we both know our families, but excluding our families, we seriously don't know 6 other humans. Not even well enough to play an imaginary game and imaginary circumstances. That's pretty sad. Maybe now that we're in a new ward we'll be brave enough to make some new friends, but I doubt it. Maybe we can convince Jamie and Cameron to play with us even though they have a new baby now.
just like home
Today was our first Sunday in our new ward, and of course I have all kinds of observations.
For example "Young" wards have different issues than "old" wards. During Sacrament meeting I was truly amazed at how many babies there are! In our ward last week they made an announcement about the new primary classes. There were 2 nursery's and only 1 senior primary class. In this ward there were a grand total of 4 young men (one of them could've been an Elder, I couldn't quite tell) passing the Sacrament and 3 young women in our Relief Society meeting. However, there were approximately 89,000 cheerios/goldfish; 17 trips from the 3 rows in front of us out to the foyer; 8 VERY audible random bursts of noise/laughter/crying during the sacrament; and probably a partridge in a pear tree. In our old ward it would have been 89,000 puff of air from the oxygen tanks (yes plural); 17 trips to the bathroom from the nice old ladies who truly can't sit through a 3 hour meeting; 8 VERY reverent page turns from people studying their scriptures during the VERY quiet Sacrament service and still a partridge in a pear tree. After the speakers were finished with their talks on goal setting, the bishop stood up to make a few "housekeeping announcements". He first talked about the new chapel being a sacred house of the Lord and that we need to treat it with respect so please clean up after yourselves. I guess last week after he made the same announcement, he walked through the chapel and found 2 handfuls of garbage to throw away without even trying. Personally I think that should be somebody's calling, because no way on this earth will every mother/father of 2 or more children ever catch EVERYTHING that was thrown about the chapel by their 2 children during the meeting - but we sure can try. Then he mentioned that it's distracting for the deacons to spend more time passing the sacrament in the foyer than in the chapel, so when you take you're kids out, please stay near the doors. In our old ward the announcements would have been: "please make sure to get to the RS room quickly following Sacrament meeting so you can visit there instead of in here. And please try to stay away during the sacrament service so the deacons don't have to poke you when it's your turn." I recognize that all wards have different issues and truthfully I'm kindof excited to be in a ward with "younger" problems. I love our old ward, but I'm excited for this one too.
When we went to Sunday School they asked us to say the prayers again. Josh and I looked at each other and kindof laughed, but of course accepted. They introduced us as new in the ward this time, and that made me feel a little better about it. The teacher in Sunday School was fantastic. Josh thinks that he's just like Randy (my brother in law). When he first stood up he said something about the clock on the wall saying the wrong time, and how that's why he had his cell phone on the stand with him.
"That's why I hate teaching in this room." He muttered to himself.... "I guess we all have trials. Nephi thought he had it bad!"
The lesson was actually really good. We talked about being prepared to leave at a moment's notice, as well as being willing. We talked about obedience, and whining, and how Lamen and Lemuel were probably no worse than a lot of us in the beginning. They did everything they were supposed to, but they had to be pushed the whole way and a lot of us are probably like that. But in the end they turned pure evil and that's probably where we're headed if we don't knock it off and stop whining.
In relief society all of the Young Women came in (seriously, only 3 of them) and we had our opening exercises together. I asked the nice girl next to me if they always did that and she said it was the first time since she moved into the ward. We all stood up and did the Young Women theme which was pretty funny. Back when I was in Young Women's it just said "we will be prepared to make and keep sacred covenants" until about my last year when they changed it to "be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants...." turns out I wasn't alone in not saying the new one naturally. All of the RS said it how we knew it, and the 3 young women tried to keep us on the straight and narrow. At least I wasn't alone in goofing it up. I guess they're trying to make the women more like the men in the opening exercises. Josh said in Priesthood they recite the mission of the aaronic priesthood and D&C 4. Pretty cool. I like it anyway.
The new ward also has a lot of small groups. Our old ward had 2. A book group (that studied strictly church books, big long boring ones) and a temple group that went to the temple every Wednesday at 11:00 am. Neither of those groups really excited me, but in this ward there is a craft one (they're making cute journals this week) pilates, playgroup, book group (reading something about sunshine), children's book group, and probably some others. I'm excited to get to know people in the ward and have some activities like that to participate in.
All in all it was a great Sunday and we're really excited to be in this ward. We voted and we really like 9:00 church, and we really like the ward, so it was a good move for us. We also voted and we do miss some of the characters from our old ward, but I think this will be a great fit for us! Now, if only we can steer clear of any major callings......
For example "Young" wards have different issues than "old" wards. During Sacrament meeting I was truly amazed at how many babies there are! In our ward last week they made an announcement about the new primary classes. There were 2 nursery's and only 1 senior primary class. In this ward there were a grand total of 4 young men (one of them could've been an Elder, I couldn't quite tell) passing the Sacrament and 3 young women in our Relief Society meeting. However, there were approximately 89,000 cheerios/goldfish; 17 trips from the 3 rows in front of us out to the foyer; 8 VERY audible random bursts of noise/laughter/crying during the sacrament; and probably a partridge in a pear tree. In our old ward it would have been 89,000 puff of air from the oxygen tanks (yes plural); 17 trips to the bathroom from the nice old ladies who truly can't sit through a 3 hour meeting; 8 VERY reverent page turns from people studying their scriptures during the VERY quiet Sacrament service and still a partridge in a pear tree. After the speakers were finished with their talks on goal setting, the bishop stood up to make a few "housekeeping announcements". He first talked about the new chapel being a sacred house of the Lord and that we need to treat it with respect so please clean up after yourselves. I guess last week after he made the same announcement, he walked through the chapel and found 2 handfuls of garbage to throw away without even trying. Personally I think that should be somebody's calling, because no way on this earth will every mother/father of 2 or more children ever catch EVERYTHING that was thrown about the chapel by their 2 children during the meeting - but we sure can try. Then he mentioned that it's distracting for the deacons to spend more time passing the sacrament in the foyer than in the chapel, so when you take you're kids out, please stay near the doors. In our old ward the announcements would have been: "please make sure to get to the RS room quickly following Sacrament meeting so you can visit there instead of in here. And please try to stay away during the sacrament service so the deacons don't have to poke you when it's your turn." I recognize that all wards have different issues and truthfully I'm kindof excited to be in a ward with "younger" problems. I love our old ward, but I'm excited for this one too.
When we went to Sunday School they asked us to say the prayers again. Josh and I looked at each other and kindof laughed, but of course accepted. They introduced us as new in the ward this time, and that made me feel a little better about it. The teacher in Sunday School was fantastic. Josh thinks that he's just like Randy (my brother in law). When he first stood up he said something about the clock on the wall saying the wrong time, and how that's why he had his cell phone on the stand with him.
"That's why I hate teaching in this room." He muttered to himself.... "I guess we all have trials. Nephi thought he had it bad!"
The lesson was actually really good. We talked about being prepared to leave at a moment's notice, as well as being willing. We talked about obedience, and whining, and how Lamen and Lemuel were probably no worse than a lot of us in the beginning. They did everything they were supposed to, but they had to be pushed the whole way and a lot of us are probably like that. But in the end they turned pure evil and that's probably where we're headed if we don't knock it off and stop whining.
In relief society all of the Young Women came in (seriously, only 3 of them) and we had our opening exercises together. I asked the nice girl next to me if they always did that and she said it was the first time since she moved into the ward. We all stood up and did the Young Women theme which was pretty funny. Back when I was in Young Women's it just said "we will be prepared to make and keep sacred covenants" until about my last year when they changed it to "be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants...." turns out I wasn't alone in not saying the new one naturally. All of the RS said it how we knew it, and the 3 young women tried to keep us on the straight and narrow. At least I wasn't alone in goofing it up. I guess they're trying to make the women more like the men in the opening exercises. Josh said in Priesthood they recite the mission of the aaronic priesthood and D&C 4. Pretty cool. I like it anyway.
The new ward also has a lot of small groups. Our old ward had 2. A book group (that studied strictly church books, big long boring ones) and a temple group that went to the temple every Wednesday at 11:00 am. Neither of those groups really excited me, but in this ward there is a craft one (they're making cute journals this week) pilates, playgroup, book group (reading something about sunshine), children's book group, and probably some others. I'm excited to get to know people in the ward and have some activities like that to participate in.
All in all it was a great Sunday and we're really excited to be in this ward. We voted and we really like 9:00 church, and we really like the ward, so it was a good move for us. We also voted and we do miss some of the characters from our old ward, but I think this will be a great fit for us! Now, if only we can steer clear of any major callings......
Saturday, January 12, 2008
It's official
Last night Josh picked me up and we came home from work with no plans. Seriously zero plans. That was weird, after a month of parties every night and not being home EVER, it was weird to come home and realize that not only did we have no plans, we had no work. Eerie if you ask me. Josh had no homework, I vowed not to work from home on a Friday night and wait until Saturday morning when he'd be in school, so we really truly had the night off. It was much needed.
We moved into our home exactly 2 weeks ago today. And I still love it, a good sign right? It's take more than that to get everything taken care of - change our address with everybody who cares, and learn how to drive to work without getting stuck in traffic for an hour. We're still adjusting, but I must say I think we're doing quite well.
Last week we tried and tried to get everything done, but it just wasn't possible. Finally at the end of the week we cornered the people as USPS and they told us how to get our mail. The nice people from whom we purchased this house were kind enough to leave a mail key, but we had no idea which box was ours. We have those big community boxes at the entrance to our neighborhood and in our neighborhood there are like 9 or 10 stacks of boxes.
I called the post office and they said we have to ask the North Salt Lake post office. That made sense, so I called them. They told me I have to physically walk my butt into the post office and they'll give me a new key because they have to rekey it when somebody moves. So, when Josh and I were picking up our car last week, we stopped at the post office to get a key. We waited in line at the TINIEST post office I've ever seen (1 counter, 1 VERY OLD VERY slow man) for like 10 minutes and then got to the front and he told us that the Bountiful post office would handle it because they do all of the big stuff. Growing up in Lindon, I'm well aware that often government agencies share small towns - so I was good with that. I sent Josh to Bountiful where he was told to please fill out this form and we'll get you a key in the next couple of days (not counting weekends of course). So, we figured we'd have our key by Tuesday at the latest. Well, on Wednesday I figured we'd give them the benefit of the doubt, and if it wasn't under our mat (as the sheet he filled out instructed) I'd call them. I called them first thing Thursday morning and they said it was on their schedule to do tomorrow (being yesterday) wow! A whole week to give us a key to a mailbox. I love the government! You think it's boring READING about no mail key? It's worse to experience. Plus, I don't really like the post office's hold music, not my style.
FINALLY after a week of waiting, last night we got our mail key.
Only problem was that it didn't come with anything saying which box was ours. Spot the irony? Yes, we are back where we started, with keys, without direction. So, Josh and I decide to walk over to the boxes and see if we could find any kind of labeling on the locks that would correspond with the key number. We walked over and saw 10 sets of boxes. The number on our key (2999c1) didn't make any sense of course. So, Josh decided to just start trying the key and figure out which one it opened. I laughed because he literally started in the middle of one of the boxes - I figured that I may as well start helping out, and logically started with an end box and went through them systematically starting with the first box. Meanwhile I'm laughing at Josh because he's randomly putting his key in some random boxes in no logical order at all. I hadn't put my key in 2 boxes when he shouted out "got it!"
"Are you serious?" I laughed
"Sure, why not?" He's confused as to why I'm asking.
"You just randomly picked some and HAPPENED to put your key in the one out of 180 boxes that it could have been?" I'm seriously laughing out loud now.
We pulled out a LOT of mail. Not checking your mail for 2 weeks really makes a difference! It was like winning the lottery, we just kept pulling stuff out of the box! It was great. Since it was Josh's birthday he had 2 birthday cards (1 from grandma and one from the Fugals in Washington) and I got some shirts I ordered, a kraft foods magazine, a bunch of bills, the bill of sale to our house, some insurance cards, and the checks that have our real live address on them. Quite the haul! :) While mail may be ordinary and unexciting to some people, this week it was quite the adventure for us. I think it's the last thing we needed to feel like we really really live here. :) It's official that we live here and we own a home. It's a fantastic feeling.
We moved into our home exactly 2 weeks ago today. And I still love it, a good sign right? It's take more than that to get everything taken care of - change our address with everybody who cares, and learn how to drive to work without getting stuck in traffic for an hour. We're still adjusting, but I must say I think we're doing quite well.
Last week we tried and tried to get everything done, but it just wasn't possible. Finally at the end of the week we cornered the people as USPS and they told us how to get our mail. The nice people from whom we purchased this house were kind enough to leave a mail key, but we had no idea which box was ours. We have those big community boxes at the entrance to our neighborhood and in our neighborhood there are like 9 or 10 stacks of boxes.
I called the post office and they said we have to ask the North Salt Lake post office. That made sense, so I called them. They told me I have to physically walk my butt into the post office and they'll give me a new key because they have to rekey it when somebody moves. So, when Josh and I were picking up our car last week, we stopped at the post office to get a key. We waited in line at the TINIEST post office I've ever seen (1 counter, 1 VERY OLD VERY slow man) for like 10 minutes and then got to the front and he told us that the Bountiful post office would handle it because they do all of the big stuff. Growing up in Lindon, I'm well aware that often government agencies share small towns - so I was good with that. I sent Josh to Bountiful where he was told to please fill out this form and we'll get you a key in the next couple of days (not counting weekends of course). So, we figured we'd have our key by Tuesday at the latest. Well, on Wednesday I figured we'd give them the benefit of the doubt, and if it wasn't under our mat (as the sheet he filled out instructed) I'd call them. I called them first thing Thursday morning and they said it was on their schedule to do tomorrow (being yesterday) wow! A whole week to give us a key to a mailbox. I love the government! You think it's boring READING about no mail key? It's worse to experience. Plus, I don't really like the post office's hold music, not my style.
FINALLY after a week of waiting, last night we got our mail key.
Only problem was that it didn't come with anything saying which box was ours. Spot the irony? Yes, we are back where we started, with keys, without direction. So, Josh and I decide to walk over to the boxes and see if we could find any kind of labeling on the locks that would correspond with the key number. We walked over and saw 10 sets of boxes. The number on our key (2999c1) didn't make any sense of course. So, Josh decided to just start trying the key and figure out which one it opened. I laughed because he literally started in the middle of one of the boxes - I figured that I may as well start helping out, and logically started with an end box and went through them systematically starting with the first box. Meanwhile I'm laughing at Josh because he's randomly putting his key in some random boxes in no logical order at all. I hadn't put my key in 2 boxes when he shouted out "got it!""Are you serious?" I laughed
"Sure, why not?" He's confused as to why I'm asking.
"You just randomly picked some and HAPPENED to put your key in the one out of 180 boxes that it could have been?" I'm seriously laughing out loud now.
We pulled out a LOT of mail. Not checking your mail for 2 weeks really makes a difference! It was like winning the lottery, we just kept pulling stuff out of the box! It was great. Since it was Josh's birthday he had 2 birthday cards (1 from grandma and one from the Fugals in Washington) and I got some shirts I ordered, a kraft foods magazine, a bunch of bills, the bill of sale to our house, some insurance cards, and the checks that have our real live address on them. Quite the haul! :) While mail may be ordinary and unexciting to some people, this week it was quite the adventure for us. I think it's the last thing we needed to feel like we really really live here. :) It's official that we live here and we own a home. It's a fantastic feeling.
Friday, January 11, 2008
5 simple words
Yesterday I woke up feeling icky. Physically icky. I got ready and came to work and started doing my normal stuff. When I went upstairs to scan some stuff and try to fix Gabe's books, Neil looked at me and said "I like your hair today. It's cute." I was kinda caught off guard, my hair was in a braided pony tail. And parted on the wrong side. But it seriously made my day!
Neil is about my age, he has a wife and a very cute little boy. He is funny, and sometimes he drives me nuts. A lot of times I don't think he's the greatest person on the planet, but that seriously made my day. I was in a great mood the rest of the day and physically felt better. For a while anyway. It's amazing me to me what 5 little words from someone who's opinion I don't particularly care out did to my day. I guess you just never know.
Yesterday Josh and I headed down to the hospital during lunch to see the beautiful new baby. We had a great time, AND Josh was kind enough to take me to subway on our way back. That was the first fresh real food I'd had for lunch in weeks, so it kinda made my day.
When I went back to visit Jamie and Cameron later, Chuls was on the phone - what a crazy flashback that was! Jamie and Chelsea and I all lived together, until I graduated and had to move, Chelsea decided to go back home, and Jamie got married. But, oh man we had fun together. Our conversation are probably like any other set of old roommates:
"Oh man, remember that time when we....."
"Remember the slurpee phase?"
"What are you up to now?"
"I can't believe it's been so long!"
"I talked to _______ the other day and she has a kid already? Crazy huh?!"
I realize that all of that stuff is probably normal, but it was WEIRD for me to have a conversation like that. I reminisce with Jamie all the time, but it was weird to hear those words coming out of my mouth, and actually caring about ________ having a kid. That's something old people do. It's weird to think that I miss my "old college roommates" and remember the good times. It's surreal.
My mom is still friends with some of her college roommates, in fact my dad's sister was one of them. I remember her hanging out with old roommates all the time, but she's like OLD and I'm not! I guess at some point I'll have to accept the fact that I'm an old grownup, but those little moments still throw me off which proves I'm not there yet.
Neil is about my age, he has a wife and a very cute little boy. He is funny, and sometimes he drives me nuts. A lot of times I don't think he's the greatest person on the planet, but that seriously made my day. I was in a great mood the rest of the day and physically felt better. For a while anyway. It's amazing me to me what 5 little words from someone who's opinion I don't particularly care out did to my day. I guess you just never know.
Yesterday Josh and I headed down to the hospital during lunch to see the beautiful new baby. We had a great time, AND Josh was kind enough to take me to subway on our way back. That was the first fresh real food I'd had for lunch in weeks, so it kinda made my day.
When I went back to visit Jamie and Cameron later, Chuls was on the phone - what a crazy flashback that was! Jamie and Chelsea and I all lived together, until I graduated and had to move, Chelsea decided to go back home, and Jamie got married. But, oh man we had fun together. Our conversation are probably like any other set of old roommates:
"Oh man, remember that time when we....."
"Remember the slurpee phase?"
"What are you up to now?"
"I can't believe it's been so long!"
"I talked to _______ the other day and she has a kid already? Crazy huh?!"
I realize that all of that stuff is probably normal, but it was WEIRD for me to have a conversation like that. I reminisce with Jamie all the time, but it was weird to hear those words coming out of my mouth, and actually caring about ________ having a kid. That's something old people do. It's weird to think that I miss my "old college roommates" and remember the good times. It's surreal.
My mom is still friends with some of her college roommates, in fact my dad's sister was one of them. I remember her hanging out with old roommates all the time, but she's like OLD and I'm not! I guess at some point I'll have to accept the fact that I'm an old grownup, but those little moments still throw me off which proves I'm not there yet.
Evelyn Mae Burch
Click here for pictures of the brand new baby. I'll post more later, but if you're dying to see them, there they are.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
I'm an aunt!
OK I've been an aunt for like 7 years, and it was exciting then too, but now it's REALLY exciting. I think that Jamie having a baby is the closest possible thing to me having a baby. In the beginning I think I had sympathy morning sickness, and I've definitely gained as much weight as she has (not that it's a lot....she's still little) I even had sympathy cravings. :) Anyway, last night she delivered her beautiful 6 lb baby!
I can't even tell you how excited I am for her! I can't believe she's really a mom, it's weird to think about because now everything we (Jamie and I) do will be different, and I'm SO excited about it! They are an awesome couple and will be amazing parents. I'm going to go visit later today and will be sure to put up some pictures of their beautiful new baby.
When I was talking to my mom about the whole thing last night before they delivered, my mom made the comment that she was happy for me and excited that I get to be an aunt! I thought it was kinda funny because I've been an aunt, 3 of my sisters have babies, and it seems like there's always a new one being born (right now it's Sarah's) but for some reason this is closer. I talk to Jamie every day, I will see her baby more often, and I will hear more about everything than I have any for my actual nieces and nephews.
What an incredible time! As a side note, watching Jamie and Cameron prepare to be parents has made Josh really baby hungry, it's kinda funny. We will welcome the opportunity to be parents as soon as it happens for us. We're excited to see other people go through it first and to be part of their miracle while we wait for our own.
I can't even tell you how excited I am for her! I can't believe she's really a mom, it's weird to think about because now everything we (Jamie and I) do will be different, and I'm SO excited about it! They are an awesome couple and will be amazing parents. I'm going to go visit later today and will be sure to put up some pictures of their beautiful new baby.
When I was talking to my mom about the whole thing last night before they delivered, my mom made the comment that she was happy for me and excited that I get to be an aunt! I thought it was kinda funny because I've been an aunt, 3 of my sisters have babies, and it seems like there's always a new one being born (right now it's Sarah's) but for some reason this is closer. I talk to Jamie every day, I will see her baby more often, and I will hear more about everything than I have any for my actual nieces and nephews.
What an incredible time! As a side note, watching Jamie and Cameron prepare to be parents has made Josh really baby hungry, it's kinda funny. We will welcome the opportunity to be parents as soon as it happens for us. We're excited to see other people go through it first and to be part of their miracle while we wait for our own.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Sugar rush!!!
For Christmas we went to about 10 gajillion family parties. Surprisingly only 2 of them had white elephant/yankee swap gift exchanges. One of those was beautiful. We got a massaging ladybug thing. The other one was less fruitful. Josh got a pretty pretty princess hot chocolate set and I got a shoebox full of candybars. The funny thing is that the pretty princess thing is something his mom brought, and the candybars were Misty's gift. I did not want ANY more sugar as long as I lived because my counter was COVERED in treats from neighbors, family, and strangers. (Really, some random person knocked on my door to delivery me a loaf of weird bread and I was too embarrassed to tell him that I had no clue who he was and just thanked him and wished him a Merry Christmas.) So the thought of adding a shoebox full of candybars made me want to vomit.
Since I have such a great ability to see the big picture and not always limit my vision to the current moment, I realized that in about 3 months I would be craving sugar and DESPERATELY need (yes I know the difference between a 'want' and a 'need' but sometimes chocolate is a need.) a candybar while I was stranded at work (sharing a car is hard sometimes) so I had the foresight to graciously accept the gift and put it in my drawer at work for just such an occasion.
For the few days I lacked the foresight required to pack myself a lunch. I'm not hungry now (when I leave my house at 8:30 am) and don't plan to be hungry until tonight (when I get home at 6:00 pm) so I don't need to spend my precious few moments with my husband packing a lunch. Somehow that never seems to work out. By about 1:00 I am STARVING and willing to eat anything I can find. I dig through my desk drawers and guess what I find? An eternal supply of candy bars!
At the beginning of the week I was doing an excellent job of eating only the gross candybars (as if somehow my not enjoying it makes it healthier.....) but now it's an all out food fest at my desk! I have a bite of candybar because it's the closest thing to lunch I can find, then to get the taste out of my mouth, I have a mint (in the form of a small candycane). Then the mint leaves an icky taste in my mouth (it's not toothpaste, it's just candy) and I have a bite of candybar. So far today I think I've eaten like 12 tiny candy canes and 1 candybar. I skipped breakfast because I was in a hurry and my tummy hurt (probably from the same practice yesterday) so I've had no good healthy food, and don't see any end in sight. Tonight I can't wait to go home and have a baked potato - or a big fat salad! Yum, I'm ready for real food!
*I just spell checked this blog and it turns out that "candybar" and "candycane" are actually 2 words each. Rather than fixing the whole thing I'm leaving it as is. Also it should be noted that "gajillion" is not a word. However, I'm choosing to use it anyway.
Since I have such a great ability to see the big picture and not always limit my vision to the current moment, I realized that in about 3 months I would be craving sugar and DESPERATELY need (yes I know the difference between a 'want' and a 'need' but sometimes chocolate is a need.) a candybar while I was stranded at work (sharing a car is hard sometimes) so I had the foresight to graciously accept the gift and put it in my drawer at work for just such an occasion.
For the few days I lacked the foresight required to pack myself a lunch. I'm not hungry now (when I leave my house at 8:30 am) and don't plan to be hungry until tonight (when I get home at 6:00 pm) so I don't need to spend my precious few moments with my husband packing a lunch. Somehow that never seems to work out. By about 1:00 I am STARVING and willing to eat anything I can find. I dig through my desk drawers and guess what I find? An eternal supply of candy bars!
At the beginning of the week I was doing an excellent job of eating only the gross candybars (as if somehow my not enjoying it makes it healthier.....) but now it's an all out food fest at my desk! I have a bite of candybar because it's the closest thing to lunch I can find, then to get the taste out of my mouth, I have a mint (in the form of a small candycane). Then the mint leaves an icky taste in my mouth (it's not toothpaste, it's just candy) and I have a bite of candybar. So far today I think I've eaten like 12 tiny candy canes and 1 candybar. I skipped breakfast because I was in a hurry and my tummy hurt (probably from the same practice yesterday) so I've had no good healthy food, and don't see any end in sight. Tonight I can't wait to go home and have a baked potato - or a big fat salad! Yum, I'm ready for real food!
*I just spell checked this blog and it turns out that "candybar" and "candycane" are actually 2 words each. Rather than fixing the whole thing I'm leaving it as is. Also it should be noted that "gajillion" is not a word. However, I'm choosing to use it anyway.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Lonely again....
It's official, I'm bored and lonely again. I miss my husband. His dad called me tonight and we chatted for a little while, but that's like the only interaction I've had since I left work. I'm lonely and craving hanging out with someone. I cleaned the kitchen and the bedroom, and I posted a bunch of pictures and now I'm bored. I guess it's time to break out the coloring, and get back to normal life. Maybe some more online shopping, cooking, laundry, and organizing. In theory I'm working all night long, but my brain is fried and I can't focus anymore - so instead I'm checking facebook and blogs regularly. That's kindof like being social right?
The new house
Here are pictures of the new house. The walls are not decorated yet, but here is what we have so far.
This is our beautiful bathroom. Eventually when I find the perfect dark purple shower curtain and bath mats, it will match and be very cute, or elegant, or pretty or something. :) I'm working on it.
Our bedroom - HUGE compared to what we had!
The other part of our bedroom - see 2 pictures means it's HUGE!
The living room with the hand me down couch, and incredibly nice and comfy love sac.
That's the TV - yes I was watching The Office when I took this picture.
The second bathroom, completely undecorated - I need a shower curtain and all kinds of things for it - but since we never shower there, I'm not in a big hurry.
The office - a piano, a desk, a beautiful office with no office chair - but someday it will work.
My bookshelf, with my stereo on top - Josh thinks that's where the fancy clock goes, clearly this is not where it goes, but it's higher than I can reach, and I'm scared of my step stool - SO until I find out where it goes and I corner Josh and make him get it down for me, it will stay where it doesn't belong.
My beautiful game closet. :) And blankets, but let's face it, we based our decision to buy a house solely on how many games we could fit in it comfortably. :)
The dining area - our beautiful table will arrive in approximately 6 weeks - yes, that's correct, 6 whole weeks. LONG time!
This is my new kitchen 5 times the cupboard space, 3 times the counter space, a bigger fridge (with fancy ice maker and water thing in the door), AND a dishwasher. I couldn't be happier.
I love my house, I really do love it. It has it's weird quirks I'm not used to, and it's not my ultimate dream home for the rest of time, but for now it truly is perfect for us! Thank you for taking the grand tour of my new house.
Our bedroom - HUGE compared to what we had!
The other part of our bedroom - see 2 pictures means it's HUGE!
The living room with the hand me down couch, and incredibly nice and comfy love sac.
That's the TV - yes I was watching The Office when I took this picture.
The second bathroom, completely undecorated - I need a shower curtain and all kinds of things for it - but since we never shower there, I'm not in a big hurry.
The office - a piano, a desk, a beautiful office with no office chair - but someday it will work.
My bookshelf, with my stereo on top - Josh thinks that's where the fancy clock goes, clearly this is not where it goes, but it's higher than I can reach, and I'm scared of my step stool - SO until I find out where it goes and I corner Josh and make him get it down for me, it will stay where it doesn't belong.
My beautiful game closet. :) And blankets, but let's face it, we based our decision to buy a house solely on how many games we could fit in it comfortably. :)
The dining area - our beautiful table will arrive in approximately 6 weeks - yes, that's correct, 6 whole weeks. LONG time!
This is my new kitchen 5 times the cupboard space, 3 times the counter space, a bigger fridge (with fancy ice maker and water thing in the door), AND a dishwasher. I couldn't be happier.
I love my house, I really do love it. It has it's weird quirks I'm not used to, and it's not my ultimate dream home for the rest of time, but for now it truly is perfect for us! Thank you for taking the grand tour of my new house.Monday, January 7, 2008
Fugal party
We had all of my family up last night for Josh's birthday dinner again. We had quite the party. Here are all of the pictures if you'd like to see them all. We played Cahoots which was hilarious. There is a category called "sound off" where it lists something and you have to make the sound, no words, no actions, just make the sound until your team guesses what it is. I got a fishing reel, Katy got a hair dryer - I wish I knew how to spell the sounds we were making, but I don't. It was great. We had a fantastic time.
We ate, remembered best, and played games. It was fantastic. I love my family, and I was really glad they could all come.
It's also amazing to me how much I love my house! Having people over makes me love it even more. My kitchen is big enough to cook in, and clean up is easy because I have a dishwasher. I also have a big fat room for people to sit and play in, I'm excited about it. I love my house! I love being here, and I love everything about it! As soon as all of my pictures are hung, I'll post some pictures, but for now, just know that it has 3 times the cupboard space, twice the counter space, a dishwasher, and a big fat fridge! It's beautiful.
We ate, remembered best, and played games. It was fantastic. I love my family, and I was really glad they could all come.
It's also amazing to me how much I love my house! Having people over makes me love it even more. My kitchen is big enough to cook in, and clean up is easy because I have a dishwasher. I also have a big fat room for people to sit and play in, I'm excited about it. I love my house! I love being here, and I love everything about it! As soon as all of my pictures are hung, I'll post some pictures, but for now, just know that it has 3 times the cupboard space, twice the counter space, a dishwasher, and a big fat fridge! It's beautiful.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The last free weekend
Josh starts school on Monday, and that means that this weekend was the last weekend of freedom before real life starts again. In some ways I'm really sad, and in some ways I'm really excited to be back in a normal schedule.
I love being home with Josh, I love having time to play with him and we've had tons of fun with each other, and played with the Burches a lot and I'm going to miss all of that.
But at the same time I am very excited to have normal life back. I can't wait for nights again and the time to work, and to color, and to read and to be alone once a week. I'm behind on my house, my bills, my laundry, my nighttime jobs, my everything, and I'm excited to have that back. I know that by the time it actually happens I'll be lonely and wish I could just see my husband for more than an hour a day, but for today I'm excited to get back to a regular schedule with parties only on the weekends instead of every weeknight. I can't wait to eat real food instead of crackers and dip, I'm happy that the holidays are officially over. I like schedules and regularity and living by ourselves. I like not having an event every single night I just want to have a normal life now.
I love being home with Josh, I love having time to play with him and we've had tons of fun with each other, and played with the Burches a lot and I'm going to miss all of that.
But at the same time I am very excited to have normal life back. I can't wait for nights again and the time to work, and to color, and to read and to be alone once a week. I'm behind on my house, my bills, my laundry, my nighttime jobs, my everything, and I'm excited to have that back. I know that by the time it actually happens I'll be lonely and wish I could just see my husband for more than an hour a day, but for today I'm excited to get back to a regular schedule with parties only on the weekends instead of every weeknight. I can't wait to eat real food instead of crackers and dip, I'm happy that the holidays are officially over. I like schedules and regularity and living by ourselves. I like not having an event every single night I just want to have a normal life now.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy Birthday Josh!
Today after running errands all day long and turning in our keys to the old house, we decided that we should have Josh's family over for his birthday dinner today. So, we rushed through things and decided to have navajo tacos for dinner. I've never made scones before, but I thought I'd just buy a scone mix and it would be no big deal. It turns out that everybody I know (Josh's mom and Jamie) have scone mix in their cupboards - but nobody sells the stuff! I went to Albertson's and they didn't have it, so I called Jamie to see where she got it. Smith's. So we went to Smith's and they didn't have any. Then we were late, so I decided I would just have to look up a recipe online and try to make them from scratch. While we were at each store, Josh made sure that I had all of the other ingredients to make scones.
"Do you know what else it will need?"
"Umm...most stuff like that (bread) takes flour, sugar, salt, yeast, eggs, and butter. Not a whole lot else. We have plenty of all of those things."
"You're sure? We have enough of all of those things?"
"Yes dear. I'm sure" I'm starting to feel superior. And this statement somehow came out with a 'duh' tone. As if I don't know what's in my own kitchen! Insulting.
At the next store we repeated the same conversation - only I got the duh tone in my voice a lot earlier - like starting with "umm".
We got home and I found a recipe while Josh cleaned the rest of the house. I found a recipe and got started - guess what, it called for 4 cups of flour, turns out I needed to at least double the recipe and I have a grand total for 7 1/2 cups of flour in my house.
I have to say that had our roles been reversed I probably would have gloated and/or told Josh that it's amazing to me that he can be asked the same question over and over again and not even think the through what we really have. Unlike me, Josh was patient and kind and made his little sister go in search of the grocery store, because the last time I did that I was gone for an hour. :)
It was a good thing too, because the recipe only called for 4 cups, but really needed like 5 1/2. Anyway, after Josh's mom helped me add the right amount of flour they turned out really good. The navajo tacos were a big success, and then we played apples to apples. This is the Reilley clan.
Hope his birthday tomorrow is good, even though we have to go back to work. Boring - but I guess that's part of being a grown up. Happy birthday anyway.
Happy New Year!!!
This year Josh and I decided to have a New Years party at our new house. Only we don't really have any friends other than Cameron and Jamie, so pretty much it was just a Monday night hanging out WAY past Jamie's bedtime. :)
They were kind enough to take me shopping for Josh's birthday present (a big fat TV) and then help me set it up so when he got home it would be ready to go. Then we figured that for our party the boys could set up surround sound, watch a good action movie, and the girls could color and paint. Jamie had some stuff to paint for the baby's room, so we did just that.
The stuff we painted turned out REALLY cute. And the surround sound works for a DVD, but not for the TV. So, Josh is still trouble-shooting that. But someday it will work beautifully. After playing with it for a long time, we got out some games and played. It was fantastic. I love mellow nights like that.
Jamie and Cameron found this EXCELLENT Asian restaurant and brought food, I didn't have to cook or clean. We just ate, and played. At new years we paused in our various activities to have a New Years kiss (who invented that tradition anyway?) and continued in the games. We played spades a lot, and Josh and Jamie won, both rounds, by a lot. Unbelievablely (I just decided it's a word) a lot. But Cameron and I are good sports, so we let them win and enjoy it. :) It was a great way to start the new year.
I'm excited to see the things that happen this year. There is potential for a lot of change, and it's exciting and scary all at the same time. I can't wait to get it started!
They were kind enough to take me shopping for Josh's birthday present (a big fat TV) and then help me set it up so when he got home it would be ready to go. Then we figured that for our party the boys could set up surround sound, watch a good action movie, and the girls could color and paint. Jamie had some stuff to paint for the baby's room, so we did just that.
The stuff we painted turned out REALLY cute. And the surround sound works for a DVD, but not for the TV. So, Josh is still trouble-shooting that. But someday it will work beautifully. After playing with it for a long time, we got out some games and played. It was fantastic. I love mellow nights like that.
Jamie and Cameron found this EXCELLENT Asian restaurant and brought food, I didn't have to cook or clean. We just ate, and played. At new years we paused in our various activities to have a New Years kiss (who invented that tradition anyway?) and continued in the games. We played spades a lot, and Josh and Jamie won, both rounds, by a lot. Unbelievablely (I just decided it's a word) a lot. But Cameron and I are good sports, so we let them win and enjoy it. :) It was a great way to start the new year.
I'm excited to see the things that happen this year. There is potential for a lot of change, and it's exciting and scary all at the same time. I can't wait to get it started!
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