Backwards tiny pictures

So today is "Black Friday" and Dave finally let me put up the Christmas tree, since Thanksgiving has come and gone. (Why, do you ask, is this post called "Backwards..."? Because I'm posting about Christmas decorating before I post about Thanksgiving, duh.)

We bought a 6.5' pre-lit fake Christmas tree and some tinsel garlands from Wal-Mart and a big box of non-shatter ornaments from Costco. All in all we have a whole Christmas tree and trimmings for about $70. We're missing the star for the top though, any ideas about what to do for a star? Since my usb cord for my camera, I took a couple pictures with my cell phone camera (hence, "...tiny pictures"):

Don't tell, but the top half has gold tinsel garland and the bottom half has red. I also only put the ornaments on the front half that actually shows, so it looks oh so pretty.

I love how christmas trees look at night. So sparkly and pretty.

Yoinked

I saw this on a blog, and so I stole it. I won't tell you whose though, so you won't know I'm creepily reading your blog. Muahahaha!

Fun Facts From High School

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yeah, and I kept it secret from my parents...but apparently they knew the whole time. Weird how that happens.
2. What kind of car did you drive? Big White Oldsmobile Ninetyeight (It was a boat mafia car) - Raoul.
3. Were you a party animal? Nah, I was always too busy. But sometimes I wished I was.
4. Were you considered a flirt? Depends on the year, I think. Mostly my senior year I had enough confidence to be a flirt, but I wasn't a huge one.
5. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Band! Go Clarinets! and Color Guard!
6. What was your most embarrassing moment of high school? I don't think I ever had one huge embarrassing moment, but I had a lot of little ones that I can never think of unless I'm lying asleep at night trying to sleep.
7. Were you a nerd? Yeah in my way. We didn't really have "classifications" in our school.
8. Were you on any varsity teams? No, but I made JV XC! :)
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No way, I was a good girl, and/or never got caught.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Sure, as long as I'm not listening to other music, which I am right now. I even know the hand movement things (not the cheerleader type).
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Herr K., Mrs. Schick, Mr. Reid, Mr. Thurston
12. What was your school's full name? Los Alamos High School
13. School mascot? HILLTOPPERS! GO TOPPERS! Yeah, I don't think anyone was really clear as to what the actual mascot was...some big hairy mountain man?
14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? Freshman year: not old enough to go, Sophmore year: Stephen Dey, who I had a huge crush on, but I got the flu the day before, so I wasn't 100% and he was a quiet guy, so, it was kinda awkward, Junior year: David Parsons, Senior Year: Brett Dahlenburg.
15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Knowing what I know now, sure I would. I'd take more AP classes and do XC all four years. But then again, I like having the freedom of not living at home
16. What do you remember most about graduation? I sat between Isaiah Ciscneros and Jenny Christensen, and that's about all.
17. Where did you go senior skip day? We didn't really have one. We did have a big BBQ party at Ashley Pond though, I went to that
18. Were you in a club? German Club, we went on an exchange to Germany for 3 weeks. :) it was a lot of fun.
19. Have you gained some weight since then? Not really. Maybe like 5 lbs. I'm definitely less in shape though. No sports to keep me tip top condition.
20. Who was your prom date? Junior Year: I asked 6 different guys at least, and finally Alex Perez said yes. I think it was his first date. Senior Year: Will Forsyth, and I was on the Court! First and last time ever!
21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yeah, who plans those anyway? I've still got 5 more years though.
22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Relax, you don't have to do everything.

Goo

A week or two ago, I made pumpkin bars. This was quite an involved process.

First I took a pumpkin from my garden (really the only one that didn't rot and was mostly orange). I cut it into wedges and scraped out the seeds to save for next years' pumpkin patch. Then I cut those wedges into three smaller pieces, and put them in baking pans sealed off w/ aluminum foil and baked them for an hour at 350. Then, when they were cooled a bit, I peeled off the skins (came off as easy as wrapping paper on Christmas morning!). Then, I put the chunks in the blender, but they didn't blend too well, so I got out our food processor and put them in a few pieces at a time from the blender. Once I had a bowl of pumpkin mush, I tried pushing the water out in a strainer, but the pumpkin liked going through the holes too. So I dug around for the cheese cloth and put the goo into the cheese cloth and sqwoze until it was sufficiently water-less. Then I put it in a measuring cup to see how much pumpkin I had (about 1 cup). Note the dishes dirty at this point: Blender, food processor, at least 2 bowls, strainer, a scraper and a few spoons, 2 baking pans, and a measuring cup.

By that time I was kinda sick of dealing with pumpkin, so those dishes stayed dirty for a few days. A few days later, I made delicious pumpkin bars w/ chocolate chips. Then a few days later I made cream cheese frosting to go on top. Then I brought them to Kevin and Chelsea's house and forgot them there for a few days. Today I have some of those delicious bars in my lunch. Who knew pumpkin could go so far? It's been like 2 weeks, and there are still some left.

Food

As some of you are aware, Food = Love. I have also found that food also = energy. And I got the great advice that fruit helps especially. So yesterday after work (did I mention I'm going to work again? I'll tell more in following paragraphs) I went to the sunflower market and bought 6 apples, 6 pears, 5 bananas, and a bag of grapes all for about $7. After that I went to Macey's and bought 2 boxes of Wheat Chex and 1 of Rice Chex, and a big bag of Rice Crispy's knock offs, and lots and lots of marshmallows. The idea was to make rice crispy treats, which I have been really wanting lately, but by the time I got home from work and grocery shopping I was exhausted.

So today for lunch I packed 2 pb&j sandwiches, a bunch of grapes, a banana, and some rosemary bread and olive oil and balsalmic vinegar. I feel fine when I'm eating, so I try to eat almost constantly. It's great fun.

Monday I worked 4 hours, I worked 5 yesterday, and the plan was to work 6 hours today, but I only got 4 in. Maybe by next week or so I'll be back up to full time.

Progress

Today I slept in til 12:30pm. Ok, so I oriiginally woke up around 7:30 or 8 like I usually do, kicked Dave out of bed, then slept on and off until 12:30. Today I also used up my last 4 hours of vacation time...but I made it in to work at 1:30 and stayed until 5:30. That's 4 whole hours at work! Good thing I have a desk job and all I really have to do is sit there. My task list is HUGE which is awesome, because I won't run out of things to do. Turns out though that the network was having problems, so I didn't have access to the drives I needed for a lot of my tasks. Figures. Time passed rather quickly though, and I even had two visitors: Dave brought me taco bell, and Chelsea brought me back my pirate chest and pumpkin bars (which I will post about).

I got home and I feel as though I had a full day at the office rather than a half day. Maybe tomorrow I can last longer with a nap in the middle. Too bad the couches from our previous office didn't make it over to our new place. Oh, and I've also developed a cough, so now I'm sharing my germs with the world. Anyone want some? ;)

Ps: I'm not bitter, I'm actually trying to make jokes...are they funny at all, or do they sound bitter? I'm trying out that philosophy of laughter's the best medicine.

Sarah FORCED me!

8 TV shows I've watched before

We don't have TV, Cable, or Dish, because neither of us are home often enough to make it worth it, and when we are home, we don't want to get distracted by the television, however, I do like several shows that you can watch online the day after it airs, or whenever:

1- Smallville

Sarah did kind of get me addicted to it. I can quit anytime I want to though!

2- Top Gear

Undeniably the BEST car TV show ever to be aired. (See Sarah's post for more details)

3- House

It has some humor mixed in there somewhere...I'm sure of it.

4- CSI

I could do without the potty language. (Do they have clearplay for TV shows?)

5- Law & Order

(See the above comment)

6- S.W.A.T.

1970's TV show about...well the creation and operation of the old school S.W.A.T. team.

That's all I can think of...sorry for yer luck.

8 Favorite Restaurants

Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't make these discisions very well. Hence I have very few favorites.

1- Asian Buffet

I really like eating. They have pretty good food that fills you.

2- Tucanos

Did I mention I really like food in great quanitities? Besides...meat is my all time favorite vegetable.

3- Carl's Jr.

Their Six Dollar burgers taste really good and actually fill me without having to spend a million dollars.

4- Brick Oven

Pasta, soup, salad...yeah...all you can eat baby!

5- Nicholitaia

Have you ever tried their large deepdish challenge? It's pretty gnarly! You have to eat this HUGE 9LB PIZZA in less than an hour. The pizzas cost around $15 but could feed a family of 4 for at least a week. IF you can do it, they'll let you have the pizza for free PLUS they'll give you a $32 gift certificate too.

6- Taco Bell

You know their $10 family meal? The one with any mix of 10 tacos or burritos? Yeah...that what I like...and all for 1 meal too.

7- Papa Murphey's

The Chicago Stuffed pizza goes for $13 in the family size. WOW!

8- Sarah's Kitchen

She doesn't cook for me very often big sob because she claims to be so busy, but when she cooks...OH MAN!!

So by reading this one would think I'm some big fat guy or something. Well...maybe... To all the fat people in the world...know that I could eat you under the table any day or night of the week.

8 Things that Happened Yesterday

1- I went to a training meeting
2- I went to another training meeting (potty training is kicking my butt...still working on it though)
3- Borrowed a friends Palm Pilot
4- Bought a few groceries for my sick wife
5- Took care of my sick wife
6- Cleaned up a bit
7- Had a hot date with my hot wife
8- Watched an episode of Smallville S2

8 Things I’m looking forward to

1- The day my wife can quit her job (June-ish)
2- When I have enough time to get my 1984 Jeep CJ7 street legal again
3- My Regional Vice President promotion (June-ish too)
4- Graduating (2033ish)
5- Buying a house
6- Getting a Husky/Malamute puppy
7- 2003 BMW M5 with the Dinan Signature 3 package (621HP, 502 ftlbs Trq, 0-60 in 3.3 sec etc)
8- Serving a senior couple mission

8 Things on my Wish List

1- 2003 BMW M5 with the Dinan Signature 3 package (See above for more details or visithere)
2- 5.1 Surround Sound Clear Play DVD player
3- Furniture Traditions 13 piece pier group bedroom set
4- Trek Session 10 Mtn Bike
5- Honest, ambitious, self motivated people with leadership skills who want to come work for me


8 Things I Love

1- Sarah
2- BMWs
3- Sarah
4- Old Jeeps
5- Mtn Biking
6- Street...errr....Racing
7- The great outdoors
8- Guns

8 Things I Can’t Stand

1- Know it alls
2- Condescending pieces of poop
3- Negative people
4- Stupid people
5- Dishonesty
6- Control freaks
7- 24hrs that feel more like 14hrs
8- Vegetables

8 People I’m Tagging
You MUST do this!

1- Dawn Freeland
2- Logan Tanner
3- Yeah...I don't really know many people who blog...

Blogging

Since I'm confining myself to bed this weekend in order to hopefully feel well enough for work on Monday, I may be blogging more often than usual. That means you may get to hear random thoughts from me more often.

Today for breakfast I had honey nut cheerios. But for lunch, I've discovered something delicious. Rummaging through the fridge I found string cheese. Then, my all time favorite for sore throats is popsicles. Voila! Cheese and grape popsicles (the real fruit kind) are delicious together!

More thoughts about Mono

I had so many more things to write about mono, but somehow, I got tired or something and forgot. I think it's rather ironic that my freshman year in high school all my friends got mono because we'd buy a 3 liter mountain dew and share it at lunch time or topper time or whatever time it was. Of course freshman year of high school is the optimal time to miss a month of school because at that age THAT'S AWESOME! However, now, I'm done with school, and I have to work to pay bills, and this week I used up all my sick hours, so if I am to miss any more work, it'll cut into my vacation hours, and after that, they go to unpaid hours. Now that would not be "AWESOME". See the irony?

Anyway, I think it's also making me loopy. Or that could be the anti-inflamitories and extra strength tylenol I'm taking. Either way, here's Dave's philosophy on the disease: "If two people have mono, do they call it stereo?"

Sickness

Wednesday I got a sore throat at night, and it worsened Thursday, so I stayed home from work Thursday and Friday (today). I went to the doctor today because usually when a sore throat doesn't get better after a day or so, it usually turns into tonsilitis or something. So I went and told them my sypmtoms.

First they tested for strep. Negative, then they tested for mono...guess what. I have mono. Joy of all joys. So I can't do anything strenuous for the next 8 weeks.

Recipe

Ranch Dressing
Goldfish crackers
Chicken (strips, fingers, nugget size, or cut into strips or nuggets)

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking pan (size depends on amount cooked) w/ aluminum foil and spray with no-stick cooking spray.
Put Ranch Dressing and crushed Goldfish crackers into two seperate bowls. Coat pieces of chicken in ranch, then goldfish crumbs.
Bake at 425 for 10-15 min or until cooked through.

Chelsea Made Me Do It...

1. 8 TV shows I watch

We don't have TV, Cable, or Dish, because neither of us are home often enough to make it worth it, and when we are home, we don't want to get distracted by the television, however, I do like several shows that you can watch online the day after it airs, or whenever:

1. Chuck
• About a nerd that has all the government secrets in his head, and so has two agents in his life to protect him, and go after any bad guys he sees. Quite hillarious
2. Pushing Daisies
• About a guy who can raise the dead for a minute, and does so to solve murders. Very artistic cinemetography and is narrated by the guy who reads Harry Potter for Book on Tape.
3. Life on Mars
• About a police detective that gets hit by a car and gets sent back to 1973. Just started watching it, but so far so good. Some liberal hippy stuff in it.
4. The Office
• Classic funny awesome
5. House
• I love the mystery of each disease, but they lose me when they use medical terms.
6. Smallville
• I got Dave addicted to it, so we're watching Season 1, which I have on DVD, and then Netflix will be our best friend for the following Seasons.
7. Friends
• Have you seen the one where...
8. Top Gear
• Funny British car show. Don't have to know anything about cars for it to still be funny, especially when they have special challenges. Seeing how I have Erik for a brother and Dave for a husband, I know a bit about cars. Top gear just enhances that
9. Scrubs
• Oh whoops, I was supposed to just do 8.


2. 8 Favorite Restaurants

My favorites are fad-like in nature, as are my food choices for home eating.

1. Cafe Rio - Pork burrito, black beans, hot sauce, enchilada style
2. Taco Bell - nachos, steak gordita supreme, tostada, carmel apple empenada, steak quesadilla
3. Carl's Jr. - Fish Sandwich w/ Mayo instead of Tartar Sauce
4. Olive Garden - Their salad is amazing, as well as their breadsticks, not economically worth it w/o an entree though
5. Asian Buffet - cheap sushi and a selection of ok chinese dishes
6. Applebees - their appetizers are half off after 9
7. Tucanos - The garlic steak or whatever is delicious, as well as those little cheese bread dots
8. Chili Works - does that count as a restaurant? Sausage red cheese


3. 8 Things that Happened Yesterday

Happened implies that they autonomously did it on their own, but not much of that nature occured yesterday; most of it I facilitated.

1. I went to work, almost on time yay for DST
2. Staff Meeting at 11, gets me through my Monday
3. I drove home after work, and it was dark! darn DST and rain clouds
4. I cooked dinner!!!, not an regular occurance (see next post for easy recipe)
5. I did two loads of laundry, lights and darks
6. I did a load of dishes, loaded and pushed the start button, I heart dishwashers
7. We watched an episode of Smallville
8. We went to bed early, but kept awake late by the upstairs dog jumping on and off their bed: "squeek, thump thump thump, squeek, etc."


4. 8 Things I’m looking forward to

Some near future, some more distant

1. Finding out who is president
2. Thanksgiving - esp. food (only 23 more days!)
3. YW tonight, we're having an ettiquete night, I get to show off my awesome dishes
4. Living somewhere cheaper and closer
5. Not having to work all day every day
6. Taking clogging again next semester
7. Living outside of Utah
8. 2 words: Pink Cadillac


5. 8 Things on my Wish List

n.b: My birthday is in September, and Christmas is approaching quickly ;)

• A dog
• More cute shoes: Black boots, Galoshes, brown church shoes, more pumas, etc.
• More Time/Day
• Klimt paintings (prints would do, I'm not sure the actual paintings are for sale, preferably sans nudity)
• Next year's wall calendar
• Books: The next Fabelhaven book (#3, paperback), the Eragon trilogy box set (hard cover), Harry Potter Box set (hard cover)
• Tongs
• A 3 week trip to Vienna


6. 8 Things I Love
1. Dave
2. Summer
3. Vienna
4. German
5. Blue
6. My Cinnamint lip gloss from B&BWorks
7. Shoes
8. Down comforters


7. 8 Things I Can’t Stand
1. Clutter/Junk
2. SPIDERS
3. un glazed ceramic (must be glossy or hibijibis ensue)
4. A dirty kitchen
5. Hardwood floors upstairs
6. Licorice
7. Slow people in the fast lane, esp if I'm in the BMW. In the honda I don't notice that much, cuz I stay in the slow lane because I'm slow, imagine that!
8. Slow days at work


8. 8 People I’m Tagging

You MUST do this!

• Dave (yes you, Dave, you never post anything!)
• Tess
• Melisa (when you get time, no pressure)
• Danielle
• Candace
• Lisa (maybe you'll actually post something for a change) ;)
• Carrie
• Brianne
• Anyone else who made it to the bottom of this long list of 8's

Update

We withdrew our offer on the house. Although it was a cute little house with an amazing yard, we changed our minds. Dave knows more of the specifics, but the inspector we had look at it told us that it would be a lot more work than we had originally thought. We also found out that the basement wouldn't ever be able to be legally rented out. The ceilings were too short.

Our ward is really happy that we're not leaving yet, though. Everyone was much more excited when we told them we weren't moving than when we told them that we were moving. Imagine that?! They actually like us! My beehives were all really excited. They're so cute. Honestly, I was really not looking forward to leaving them. They're my little buddies in the ward.

Our rental contract is up at the end of the year, so we will be moving then, if we can't sell our contract earlier. Two months is a lot more doable than two days when it comes to packing. We've started packing things we don't use very often, like books, and random stuff.

One of these days I hope to find the cord to my camera. I have so many fun pictures to share! Until then, I suppose I will just have to describe all the cool things that happen.

In October we found two huge black widows in our house. I think they were just trying to celebrate Halloween, so we threw a stompin' party for them! Actually, one of them Dave tried to kill with a stick of some sort, but it didn't die, so he picked it up w/ pliars, and dunked it in the toilet. It curled up like it was dead, but I knew better, so we poured some bleach in the water, and then it really was dead. Dave's mom is collecting bugs for a bug collection at her elementary school, so we put it in an empty prescription bottle to take to her. I looked at it a few days later and noticed that the bleach was kinda dissolving it, so I told Dave. A few days later, I was packing up the books in the bookshelf that the pill bottle was stored in. I happened to knock the bottle over, and to my surprise, the bottle was inverted and cap-less, so I was staring nose to nose with a giant black widow! I may or may not have jumped a tiny bit.

For Halloween I dressed up as a lady bug and Dave dressed up as the 7 dwarves' long lost brother "Boring". Aka: he didn't have a costume, but claimed he did. It was a fun weekend. We watched Hokus Pokus on Halloween at Nate and Jodee's house, and I got to hold little baby savage. Chelsea made delicious carrot cookies, for which I think she should make the recipe public knowledge. On Saturday I read Fabelhaven basically the whole day (the second half of the first book and the whole second book). It's a cute fantasy book, definitely a good easy read. I would have read the second book faster, but I was listening to the game while reading, so I got a little distracted every once in a while.