Books! Me too!!

So Melanie posted about authors she likes, and Chelsea posted about Newbery books she likes. Me too!

Sadly, I haven't read many Newbery books. Here are the ones I did read:

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman - 1996 Medal
A fun book about a girl that could do magic of some sort, if I remember correctly. I think there was a cat in the story too, but it might have just been in the picture on the front.(even though I had to find where it had been hidden throughout the house several times so I could finish it.)
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy - 1996 Honor
At least I think I've read it. I've read one like it, from the description
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech - 1995 Medal
We had this read to us in Library, but I can't remember what it was about...at all.
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman - 1995 Honor
I started this one. It was written in a weird journal entry format, if I remember correctly, and I couldn't really get into it.
Holes by Louis Sachar - 1999 Medal
Ok, I just saw the movie...
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine - 1998 Honor
Yet again, just the movie, but I'd like to read it, I've heard it's nothing like the movie.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham:1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis - 1996 Honor
One of my elementary teachers started reading this to us, but never finished. I thought it was funny when the one brother gets his lips stuck to the car mirror. That's the only part I remember.
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman - 1992 Honor
I had a Wright Brothers phase in my life. I've read several books about how they got their ideas and such.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - 1990 Medal
Didn't know I'd read it until I read the description. I have all these stories in my head with no titles.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen - 1988 Honor
I always thought the description of the pilot having a heart attack was interesting, yet disgusting.
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan - 1986 Medal
Actually, I've never read this, and feel a little bitter toward it because it calls me plain. Maybe one of these days I'll read it and find out what it's actually about.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - 1978 Medal
Saw the movie, but I guess that doesn't count.
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George - 1973 Medal
I liked this one. It was about a girl that learned to communicate with wolves in a way.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell - 1961 Medal
I've read this one several times. Which says something, because I don't usually read a book more than once, it's difficult to get through it if I already know what's going to happen.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George - 1960 Honor
We had to read this for school. I liked how he lived in a tree.

Internet Beans

You know how we're supposed to have food storage? I was considering what to make for dinner tonight from our pantry so we don't have to spend any money on groceries. We also have a plethora of stuff in the fridge. (Some of which needs to be thrown out before it walks out on its own.) I decided I'm going to make a salad w/ the lettuce and spinach in the fridge before it goes bad. I'm going to also add some red beans and rice mixes that we have in the pantry, corn, and some sort of dressing--haven't gotten that far yet. I started thinking about beans. We have a huge bag of Anasazi beans sitting on the floor of the pantry and I don't really know many recipes to make with beans besides bean soup.

I found THIS wonderful site about beans. Who ever knew there was so much to know about cooking beans. There are even tips on how to make them less gassy! I think the best way for this altitude is sprout them, rinse them, get rid of the crappy ones, boil them for 5 min, soak them over-night, switch water, then cook them for several hours. And I'm only about half-way through reading the article about it.

I hope that with whatever causes us to use our 1 year food storage we still have the internet. I think that a lot of people (me included) will have difficulty cooking their food storage without help from sites like that one. Sometimes I wonder if this recession is one of the reasons for food storage.

Weekend Update

Sorry, this won't be as witty as SNL Weekend Update.

I was slash am indeed sore from walking. Not as bad as I thought though. Mostly just my shins and calves. Not enough to cause persistent whining. (Key word: persistent)

I'm beginning to appreciate 1 o'clock church even though it makes the day so much shorter because for some reason we always sleep in until 11. I get to make delicious stuff for breakfast on Sundays, because there is actually time. Yesterday I made french toast using our remaining eggs and stale bread that's been in the fridge for weeks. Delicious. I ate it this morning too. So we walked to church on Sunday in the rain slush stuff. It was lots of fun and it reminded me of when I was little because I wore my boots to church, and changed into my heels when I got there. Then when we got home from eating dinner at Dave's parents' house I borrowed the neighbors snow shovel and shoveled our walkways, the basement tenants' driveway, and part of the neighbor's driveway for my daily exercise. It was a lot of fun but my fingers hurt when I got back inside. I'm considering investing in a snow shovel so we don't have to keep borrowing the neighbors'.

I don't know what I'll do today for exercise. I could go on a walk again, and I guess it's supposed to keep snowing, But I'm open to other productive exercise ideas.

Exercise

I have a desk job. Therefore, I get no exercise. Literally I walk out to the car, and walk in from the car, and that's the extent of what I do every day.

Now that I'm pretty sure I'm 100% over mono, I've decided to get back into shape. Today, Dave and I walked to the grocery store (one block away). I didn't feel like I had accomplished anything, so we walked across town to his parents house and back. It took about 35 minutes each way to go the 1.8 miles. Pathetically, I'm definitely going to be sore. I stretched after to try to prevent it, but I can just feel it. My core is going to hurt for sure. Got to have to pain in order to get anywhere in the exercise department though. I'll try to refrain from whining too much to Dave, but let's be honest, I'm a whiner.

New Car Anyone?

We need to sell our car. Pass on the info to anyone you know who may be interested:

Condition: used
Asking price: $12,000
2000 BMW 540i M-Sport 6-Speed manual transmission. Power windows, seats, etc. Leather heated Seats! 4000 miles on new tires. Clean interior, few dents and scratches. Pictures to follow soon.
Please call or email with any questions:

***Ask me for phone number and email address***

SPECS:
Body: Sedan
Make: BMW
Model: 540i
Year: 2000
Mileage: 130500
Number of doors: 4
Exterior condition: Good
Exterior color: Silver
Interior condition: Good
Interior color: Black
Type of engine: 4.4L V8
Type of fuel: Gasoline
Type of transmission: Manual
Drive Train: Rear Wheel Drive

Wet + Cold = Frozen

(See to-do list in previous post.) Last Friday (1/16/09) I brought home a mug from work to clean it. Unbeknownst to me, I hadn't finished the milk that was originally in it on Wednesday. I put it in the cup-holder on the side of my bag (my awesome new free Mary Kay bag), and toted it with me to the car. In the car, I threw my bag into the passenger side seat, as always. When I got out at the grocery store on my way home, I noticed the brownish-white goo streaming down the seat. Yes, I had spilled rotten chocolate milk on my passenger seat. Because I had had the fortunate experience to have been on a car trip with milk spilled in the back of one borrowed van when I was little, I knew I was in trouble.

Monday I got around to delivering the packing boxes to Chelsea and Kevin's house, cleaning out the rest of the accumulated junk into our house, and taking the car to Super Sonic. There I had the seats shampooed (they even vacuumed the floors, even though they said they wouldn't!). I drove home sitting on the little plastic covers they give you for the seats, with the heater blazing as instructed, but I don't think it was even a mile away. Hoping to avoid a catastrophe I rolled each window down an inch as I got out.

Alas! Catastrophe not avoided! This morning, I was running late for work, as usual, and I went out to start the car. Yes, all of the windows had frost all over them, inside and out. So I started the car, turned on both defrosts, ran back in to cream-cheese my bagel, and bundled up in winter gear. Then I went to town on the windows. The outside was easy to scrape because it's dry Utah and not much accumulated from the air. The inside, however, was a different story. The scrapers for windows are meant to scrape convex windows, not concave, so little by little I scraped the thick soapy smelling frost off the inside.

What I also forgot to think about was that the 32 degree or lower frozen seats were definitely colder than my 98.5-something degree posterior. By the time I got to work, the whole backside of me was damp and cold, despite the thick wool coat I had on.

I realize that sometime it seems I only write about horrid situations, but honestly, I try to write so that everyone will see the humor in them that I see. Is that not just a funny catastrophe?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I love holidays, especially ones where I get to stay home from work, yet still get paid. It's the best of two worlds!

However this morning was one of those where I woke up way early naturally, even though I had the liberty to sleep in as late as I wanted. Oh well, the morning will be spent relaxing: catching up on tv shows online, maybe reading some of my book (Farworld), eating halfway decent cinnamon pull-aparts for breakfast, etc.

This afternoon/evening, I plan on doing laundry, finishing unpacking the kitchen, taking my car to get the carpets/seats cleaned (I may or may not have spilled some rotten milk on the passenger seat), and cleaning our room.

Hopefully there's room for some more relaxing after dinner.

New PET!

We got a new pet!

He is the cutest little puppy ever. He's a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier. They're hypoallergenic, and they don't shed, and they're very smart. It took Dave a little convincing because it has to be a mostly indoor dog, especially during the winter, and he wanted to get a Husky Malamute mix.

Here's a picture of him in our bathroom. Isn't he so cute!?

JUST KIDDING!

I've decided when we do get a dog, though, I want to get one like this one. They're apparently very expensive though. Here's to dreaming.

Things that go "Bump" or "Honk" or "Rumble" in the Night

Confession: I am a very light sleeper, and it is very annoying.

At our old house, the only thing that would keep me awake were the upstairs neighbors clomping around. At our new place, there have been very odd sounds.

Granted, it is an old house, so it creaks and snaps even when no one is there. The other night as I was trying to fall asleep there were suddenly geese outside our window. The kind of geese that fly over in fall and spring. It was the strangest thing. It had to be geese, but it could have been someone's car with a weird engine problem. Then, this morning very very early the garbage truck came and idled outside our window for about 30 minutes. I think they were testing their brakes because it sounded like, "brubblbublbullbubbblbublbbbbbubbbbubbbbb stsssssst! Brublblelbbbblelblllublbbbbbbbbb Sssssttttsssssss clank brubbbllellbbbbubbbrubbblbbbb."

Then yesterday there was a firetruck and an ambulance right in front of our house. Of course, it was late evening, but I'll still consider it as a night sound. And then there's always Dave's sleep talking, stealing my covers and laughing, and shaking me awake (yes, still in his sleep).

Shoes and Cars, AGAIN!

So my boots came in the mail yesterday, and I got to try them on after work (Black and Pink, Green should be here next week). The black fit marvelously, and are very comfortable and warm. I'm wearing them right now! I may or may not have planned my whole outfit around them... :-D The pink ones are too small, alas. The left foot fits perfectly, but my toes meet the end on the right foot. Silly two sized feet. So I'm going to send them back and get the next size up. Maybe I throw the left shoe in the dryer briefly to shrink it.

As for car news, the Honda is running fine and dandy, and I've even been able to get the key out most of the time! Today at lunch I was running errands, and my car BIT ME! Ok, so I was rolling the window up, and the webbing between my thumb and forefinger got pinched and started bleeding. So watch out, Hondas bite.

Christmas Presents in January!

Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE shoes!

With my Christmas money this year, I decided to buy myself a pair of really good winter boots, since I do live in a state where it snows.

So I've been shopping around online and in stores. I don't really like the "Ugg" boots because they're just really plain and look like the inserts that are supposed to come out of boots. One day I get this advertisement email from amazon.com that mentions shoes, so I clicked on the link. Instead of getting one pair of nice boots, I'm getting 3!

Steve Madden Bonanza Green Suede. These are about half as much online as in the stores, plus they didn't have this beautiful green color in the stores either. But I did go into Nordstrom and try them on, just to make sure they felt good :) These should arrive early next week. Downside: probably not very warm, not waterproof, and slippery.

These, ok, I'll admit, look kinda like "Ugg" boots, but, I like them because they have the fluffy white trim. We'll see if I keep them. I'm kinda on the fence, but optimistic that I'll like them when they arrive...They should be waiting for me when I get home. And oh look! They have traction!

Now these...oh man...are my favorite of the three, I hope. There is a better picture on the site I ordered from (www.endless.com), but it's in a flash object, and I can't figure out how to save just the image to my computer in order to post it here. They've got the croc shoe with their patented rubber type material, and then a warm upper part. I don't like crocs by themselves, but with the boot, they are really appealing. I just got a text from Alex saying that the boots have arrived, so I'm going home to get them! :D

Oh, and the best part: free shipping! and free return shipping!

Catch up

So, this is why journals never last for me, I miss a few days, maybe even important days, like Christmas and new years, and before I feel like I can write about today, I want to make sure to cover what I did back on those other days, so i never get around to catching up and it becomes abandoned.

News flash, this is not a journal, so I'm not going back and catching up. Tough luck!

So it snowed all day Monday AND Tuesday. Not thick heavy packable snow. More like the kind of snow where if there's a gust of wind, all 2 feet of it will be gone into the air. It is a very dry snow, where even if there's just a slight dusting on the roads, cars slip and slide every which way, especially if they have bald tires.

My car, a 1991 Honda Civic, hates the cold. On Monday it wouldn't start until we hooked it up to the BMW via jumper cables and stomped on the gas quite a few times. Then, I got to work in the dark hours in the morning, and the darn key wouldn't come out of the ignition. So I left it in, and don't tell, but I left a door unlocked too. When the key is stuck, the car is also stuck in park, fyi. So it wasn't going anywhere. Then I went home for my lunch break, and the skies started dusting the roads with that horrible slippery stuff. I almost slid into about 3 people on my way back to work. But I did some hand-wash dishes while on my lunch break! :) (our dishwasher leaks and doesn't clean very well...we're working on getting it replaced) After work, the slippery white stuff was everywhere, coming down thick, but still dry and fluffy. So all the way home I didn't push the accelerator, just let the car drive its own speed, and I wasn't the slowest one out. I got stuck in traffic on 7th and all of a sudden, my car turns off! It didn't even have enough juice to turn on the flashers. Luckily, someone jumped the battery and I made it the 2 blocks home. Synopsis: The Reverse/Park Switch is going out, so it doesn't recognize it's in park, thus not allowing the key to come out or for one to shift out of park. The battery is on it's last life and thus hates the alternator, or maybe the alternator hates the battery. Either way.

We just replaced the alternator on the BMW. Why is it that cars don't just keep working?