Me = Novice

I was all set to post something FABULOUS today. Some mind-blowing I Have Discovered Something About Myself post. Then.......I started fooling around with the new Beta stuff, and changing my blog....then adding another sidebar....and now? Just LOOK at it! The pics aren't centered, and the new right side bar is like sooooooooooo too far to the left, and people? I am a NOVICE at this stuff. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just adding stuff here, changing the numbers there....and praying it will work. Apparently that can only get you so far. So now I'm going to bed, leaving my blog all screwed up and it will eat at me. All.Night.Long.

Maybe in the morning I will be hit with revelation. Or maybe someone will save me. Or maybe it will just fix itself.

Sorta bettin' on none of those right now......

Saturday is a Special Day....

Just ah, squeezin' in an entry........

ATTENTION! ATTENTION EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! I would just like to say that my request from several months ago (way too tired to go find the post and link it here...just know I begged...) has been fulfilled! As Caleb and I were strolling along in the nearby mall (note to self: never go to the mall on a Saturday....ever...) I happened to notice that half of the city was in Bath & Bodyworks. Big sale or something. And I casually mentioned to Cabe that um, maybe just maybe they might have released my favorite lotion of all time out of their slimy little discontinued fingers. And? AND? Yeah. They did. Everywhere I looked, Rice Flower & Shea!!!! My little eyes went all bug-eyed, and quickly grabbed a bunch and scurried the two feet to where the humongous line had snaked itself to the front of the store. Thankfully I recovered and let a few of them go so as not to break the bank, but yeah. I'm stocked up. And ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....................I can still smell it. Sweet Rice Flower & Shea......how I love thee. I pine for thee. I lovingly slather you all over my wanting arms.

Ahem.

But seriously guys, it's back. For now. On sale. Go get some before they snatch it back. Tell all your friends.

And also? While I'm on the topic..........(or not, there's no proper way to introduce this...) "Darkon". That's all I'm going to say. Go google it. Watch it on AOL Video or whatever. It's....breathtaking? Mind-boggling? Absolutely and utterly insane? Maybe all of them. Oh, and pretty freakin' hilarious. That one for sure.

And that would pretty much sum up my Saturday. Exhilarating, right? Yup. That's me.

Things Seen on Craigslist While Job-Hunting....

1. Outie-Bellybutton Models - If you have an outie, please read!

2. Need Young Fit and Energetic Guy to wear a cactus costume at MacWorld

3. 23 Year Old Rap Female Looking for a Producer (and her request, as it's just too good to pass up)
HI IM A 23 YEAR OLD FEMALE LOOKING FOR A PRODUCER WHO IS INTRESTED IN A SERIOUS RAPPER, IM NOT A BAY RAPPER, I RAP FOR EVERYONE NOT JUST MY CITY IM FROM SF, IVE BEEN SLACKING OFF LATELY BUT IM READY TO GET BACK TO BUISSNESS IM LOOKING FOR A SERIOUS PRODUCER TO TRY TO HELP ME GET OUT THERE MORE I HAVE BEATS TO RECORD OFF OF, I HAVE RAPS I HAVE WRITIN, I WRITE MY OWN RAPS IM BAICALLY READY TO GET IN THE STUDIO AND RECORD IM REALLY TRYING TO GET OUT THERE IM PLANING ON GOING SOMEWHERE WITH RAP SO IF YOU CAN HELP ME AND IF YOUR A SERIOUS PRODUCER PLEASE GIVE ME A CALL AT XXXXXXXXX THATS MY CELL PHONE YOU CAN REACH ME ANYTIME GET AT ME,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I DONT HAVE MUSIC ON MY SPACE YOUR BETS BET IS TO CALL ME AND LET ME SPIT OVER THE PHONE OR SEE ME IN PERSON, I CANT GET TO MY EMAIL FAST ENOUGH SO CALL ME THANK YOU

ahem.

4. Need a phpnuke and MySQL Guru
I need a to transfer my data from one hosting to another , plus customize my web and remove all bugs. I did all by myself, but I not have enough knowledge, maybe you can serve that web on permanent bases?

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

5. Indie Zombie Movie Needs Someone with Creature Effects Exper.
We are a group of semi-professionals and university students with a sizeable budget (for indie standards) who are filming a Zombie movie in the Santa Cruz area. We are in need of a professional with creature effects experience, particularly someone with experience in making casts of fake heads, blood effects, makeup, and gun shot wounds. Filming begins in late January and will last for several weeks. This is a paying gig but also a great way to boost your resume.

Oh! Me! Me!

6. Help Me With My Singing
Hey! I would like someone to help me to tune my singing voice enough to do karaoke next month for a party. I think I am OK and I am clearly untrained. I would like someone to help me with a couple private lessons over the next couple weeks. Can also meet people in the city of SF in the mornings.

That must be some SERIOUS karaoke...

7. Take This Mattress To the Dump
I have a queen sized mattress and it needs to go to the dump

Okay. Sounds like a personal problem....

8. DOES YOUR MOTHER PARTY TOO MUCH? WISH SHE WOULD SETTLE DOWN?
Does your mother act more like your sister? Do you wish she would tone it down a bit? Are you fed up lending her you mini skirt? Send us an email with a photo and contact number asap.

9. what city does this carla girl live in
is it for cleaning homes, offices, and sites
Compensation: 2 low to tell

Uh....what? I'm so confused...

10. Cage cleaning, etc.
Help clean cages, litter boxes and floors, and give fresh water and food, at private cat rescue house. Weekends, weekdays, several mornings a week (later on weekends), 2-3 hours at a time, possibly. Must love animals to do this job, because it isn't pretty.

No....no....I suspect it wouldn't be....Does ANYONE love cats that much?!?!


Well......guess I'll keep lookin'........

Cabin Sweet Cabin

While we were enjoying our family in Utah Caleb and I decided to take a trip up to his cabin which is just outside of Evanston, WY. It's a beautiful full-log cabin on a few acres with direct access to...some river. They've got a few ponds, an extra bunkhouse and a large grass area to enjoy picnics, or to play frisbee. It's a special place for Cabe who spent many a summer's weekend up there working on the property and fixing up the house, as well as the frequent family trips. Every once in a while he'll talk about the summers spent fly fishing, four-wheeling, exploring and wading in the river with nothing on but shorts and shoes. Or the many times his older brother shot him with a bb gun or something. I don't quite get that part, but I DO come from an all-girl family. So....that might have something to do with it. I spent several days up there as well while we were dating, though never overnight. :) It also happens to be special to the both of us as well, as it was the location of our first "date" (does the Homecomming dance's day activity count? Sure!) and also the place where he asked me to marry him (on Christmas Eve, because that's the way he rolls). Caleb's parents are selling the place, so we decided we'd better head up there one last time. With the mutt of course. And his mother's dog, who we were watching. Quite a trip in the car, let me tell you.

Here they are, and none too happy. Especially Bear, who didn't enjoy sharing his bed....

On the way to the cabin...

It was a little slow going in Wyoming, they got the snow drifts goin' on ya know. But we did it, and enjoyed a lovely steak and potatoes dinner (cause I guess that's what you eat at the cabin) and then sat by a nice fire and watched the new Superman movie. (Pleasantly surprised, bytheway.) Oh, and I may or may not have enjoyed a lovely bubble bath in the tub.....or a hot shower in the steam shower....

Caleb woke up early to plow all the snow, and I slept in. Until 10. Only getting up after Cabe's SECOND attempt to wake me up. And I may have stayed there if I had known that in no less than 2.5 seconds after rolling out of bed that I'd be sitting on a tractor. In 19 degree weather.

He looks a little more natural on it. His smile wasn't forced. :)

So after the tractor-driving-lessons, I scurried back inside and spent the morning drinking hot chocolate and watching satelite tv with no less than 3,000 channels. Because it is very important to not miss a single episode of 30-Minute Meals or an E-True Hollywood Story.

So long sweet cabin! Ye shall be missed.

Chop Chop!

I did it. I chopped my hair. And while I wasn't able to hit up my good friend Dayvid, I did hit up the same girl who did my hair for my bridal pictures and wedding. And I think if I trusted her to do that, I could definitely trust her for this. :) I finally decided how I wanted my hair done, oh, just a few hours short of the appointment. I printed off some pics from the internet, and promptly left them in my sister's car. Who drove off to run some errands. THANKFULLY she watches "Scrubs", or I definitely would have walked out of there with some crazed mixed-up elf do or something.

But before we get to the results, we must first look at the before's. The hideodorous (hid-E-odorous - my word, thank you) do I was sporting before. I didn't even straighten it, because uh, I was just gonna get it CHOPPED OFF.

That would be the dog in the backround, slunking off because he's positively FREAKED OUT from all the cheesy posing.

And here we see him again, pleading with me to PUH-LEASE stop, someone might actually SEE this!

You can plainly see that this mane of hair has GOT to go. The hours of time I've spent blowing it dry and then straightening it could SO have been better spent watching Ellen or sorting the items in my medicine cabinet into alphabetical order.

Side view of new hair. Sorta in the dreaded in-between stage, not quite sure why I wanted that, but hey. Do you see what can happen when they thin your hair out?!?! I LOVE it. After she chopped off most of it, she started to thin it out. And let me tell you, it was ridiculous. It looked like a Furbie had puked. EVERYWHERE. But it does wonders.

And the back view. Because you all REALLY REALLY care.

For some reason when I style it, it looks different than this. I think I like it better though. And I get all giddy inside when I think of how much money I'll save not having to use a half a cup of shampoo anymore. Maybe we can save all that money and buy a camera that doesn't require duct-tape?

AND? She told me I had enough hair to be able to donate it to Locks of Love. And while I silently questioned why ANYONE would want my hair when I clearly didn't, I kept that inside and said SURE! LOVE TO. Cross it off my Good Deeds list for the day.

Note to the woman who gets my hair: Invest in a gallon size jar of the Frizz-Ease stuff. Trust me girl.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

It's been a while, hasn't it? An entire week! It's been quite a while since I've neglected my little blog for this long. I suppose we've just been so busy enjoying family and friends, that by the time we get settled down and into bed, it's late and we're half-comatose. We've taken some fun pictures, but I'll have to post those when we return home. Which is tomorrow. It always goes so quickly.

We spent the entire week driving from my parents place to his and back, and I think by now we could have driven back to California. Maybe even come half way back. We tried to split it up fairly, and I think we succeeded for the most part. If you count the two hour car ride there and back. :)

Christmas was more than fabulous, we were spoiled again as always. My little sister Emily gave our dog a present and wrapped it. We put it on the floor and Caleb started opening it, and that's all the encouragement Bear needed - he ripped that wrapping paper, using one paw to hold down the box! It was pretty classic. He's been holding them in his mouth ever since....

I swear we spent the majority of our time shopping, which I am still trying to understand. The Saturday before Christmas we spent dodging the crazed pre-holiday shoppers, and the days after were spent returning things, shopping for more, using gift cards, returning, shopping, returning, shopping. Literally. In that order.

Have I mentioned the eating? The massive amount of food at every get together? The leftovers that are now struggling for space in our fridge? My uncle, who spent two years in Italy on a mission for our church, came over one evening and made enough authentic Italian food to feed all of Utah. And that's saying a lot. It was absolutely fabulous though. Enough to make me wish that just for a minute I had the seven stomach's of a cow. And the metabolism of a mongoose. I think that it is absolutely impossible to go home after being here a week and NOT gain like, 10 lbs. It's a good thing that Excel is here (the Most Fabulous Gym in the World), or that literally would be the case.

We've had several get-togethers with our friends, my favorite (so far....) being the one I had with all my girlfriends in my old neighborhood. We've started this little tradition of getting together at Christmas, and it's been a fun way to catch up besides the little group emails we occasionally send each other. We spend hours eating good food and reminiscing. And laughing. A lot. This time, because someone had found an old tape that my friend had compiled of recordings we'd made in like, second grade. Which really should be BURNED. Until it's nothing but ashes. Because really? I could live the rest of my life in peace knowing that no one else would ever have to endure the solo's and burping phrases and giggling like banshees. At least when I was doing it. :) Super hilarious when it was someone else.... This year we added two new little babies, it will be interested to see what else will change. :) Can't wait for next year girls!

And now it's 2007. A new year, new possibilities, room for change. Questions - like, should I make a resolution to work out every day? Do I even need to?! I swear, every time I come home I'm reminded "oh-so-gently" that I've gained some weight since my wedding. Yes, thank you, I AM AWARE. It's always followed by "Yes, but you didn't EAT before..." which totally doesn't count. So thank you.....the paranoia has fully set in.

I always like to think back at what was going on this time last year, and think of all the changes that have happened. Last night at my family party we all listed the things that have changed in our extended family. Babies, marriages, moves, new business etc. A lot happens in a year! Had someone told me last year that by the end of the year we'd be living in California, I would have laughed, silently hoped for it, but shrugged it off. :) This next year is going to be an exciting one, and quite frankly? I'm excited. :)

So Happy New Year everyone! I hope this year brings you health and happiness.

The True Meaning of Christmas?

Ah, Christmas! Yesterday I spent the day scurrying around getting last minute gifts and stocking stuffers. My sister and I went to at least 10 different stores, each buying one or two things at each location. Why? Actually, I have no idea why. We kept saying "Oh, we can get that when we go to Albertsons." or "Oh, Dick's has WAY better produce than Target does....". And for the Saturday before Christmas in Utah, I was expecting Target to be absolutely pure insane madness. But it totally wasn't. In fact, had there not been elevator Christmas music playing, you wouldn't have known it was mere hours away. We were marveling at the low amount of last-minute shoppers (ohmigosh...did they all finally decide to get it done AHEAD of time? Why in the world can't I DO that?!?!) until we headed into the towns favorite grocery store - Dick's. Our first indication that maybe it might be insane inside, was the amount of double parkers. The fact that there were no parking spaces whatsoever. We drove around a bit, snatched up a spot, and headed into the abyss.

Now first let me remind you all that I have at least 40 relatives on ONE side of my family all living in the same town. You're bound to run into each other.

We walked in and were immediately sucked into this throng of moving people. More like cattle really, mooing their hello's and how are you's, excuse me's, can you scoot over three inches so I can reach the Dijon? We saw my Dad, who did NOT come in the car with us, we ran into one of my best friend's Dad and his sister, we saw three people from our church, ran into two of my aunts and my brother and sister in law.

Let me just paint a picture of exactly what it was like, okay? So I'm standing next to the start of an isle, talking over three old ladies to my aunt standing in line at the check out, who could probably have won the prize for The Most Items in Her Shopping Cart. Literally, her cart ranneth over. As my sister and I were half-shouting to her, I was nearly run over by my brother in law giving me a hug, probably because it was the safest way to get out of the main isle. While we were chatting I shifted my weight slightly to the left. If it weren't for my sister's quick action, I would have been run over by a crazed woman scrambling to pick up the last garlic bread or whatever. I was shoved in three different directions by three different people in 2 seconds. It's a wonder I left there will all my limbs in tact. Don't be messin' with mom's and their groceries. They mean business.

We grabbed enough items to qualify us for the "Express Checkout Lane". Except Express meant "Please head to the back of the line, halfway down that isle...yes...thank you." I was standing behind a woman that realized she'd forgotten 3 items on her list, but refused to leave her son in the line for fear he'd be trampled or something. "There's not enough time!! I'm next to check out!" Hopefully she survived without her bread and pineapple. I sent my sister to get one more stocking stuffer we'd forgotten, and nearly had a heart attack fearing that she'd not make it and have to head to the back of the line, now nearing the meat section in the back of the store.

It's all so worth it though, right? Isn't it? I mean....it's Christmas! That's what Christmas is all about!

Now I must nestle all snug in my bed...with visions of Clark Griswold dancing in my head....

Tradition....Tradition! (A La Fiddler on the Roof...)

So.......I've been absent. In the Internet World, that is. In "real" life? I've been quite busy bread baking, cookie making, candy molding, present wrapping, house cleaning, dog shaving, dog bathing, dinner making, laundry folding...and...yeah. That about sums it up. Oh, and thoroughly enjoying my friend's little baby Owen. :) Need to get me one of those sometime...

We've been busily trying to get ready for our trek home, which is tomorrow. As in, mere hours from right now! I'm super excited to get home for all the usual reasons, but also because I want to FEEL Christmas. This is our first Christmas in California and I don't know if it's just California, or where we live or what, but it just hasn't felt like Christmas this year, despite all of our preparations. No snow, we've hardly seen any lights or decorations. We don't know anyone so there have been no parties, no goodies delivered, no caroling.

So for this reason, among others, I am excited to get home to family and friends. And The Traditions!

1. My Grandma & Grandpa have always come up to our house on Christmas morning. We could dive into our stockings, but had to wait until they arrived to open any presents. Which as a child was AGONIZING. Santa had left us PRESENTS. And they were RIGHT THERE. Inches from our tiny little trembling fingers. And you know how it goes when you open your stocking. You pull out every single thing, hardly looking at it, and then reach your little arm all the way to the bottom, JUST to make sure you hadn't missed anything. And by now it's already been one whole minute since you tore down the stairs, and they STILL aren't here! Not that I didn't love them coming up. :) I still do. Can't wait Grandma!

2. Every year since I was born my mother has bought an ornament for me. This year there will be 23 ornaments of mine on the Christmas tree, and every year I love to find them and remember what it was like each time I received them. What I'd asked for, what I was excited for. I've started this with Caleb and myself, and I look forward to continuing it with our future children as well. My mother also always bought an ornament for her tree from the vacations she went on, and now we have several ornaments from around the US and Europe, and I hope to be able to have that tradition as well! And collect LOTS of ornaments.... :)

3. What would Christmas be without all the candies and cookies and other holiday goodies? My Grandma makes English Toffee and Slush, a family favorite, my great Aunt makes FABULOUS homemade caramels, and my mother makes a great ham, egg, & cheese breakfast casserole on Christmas morning.

4. Every year starting...oh....Thanksgiving night...my family pulls out our two favorite Christmas movies. The new "Grinch" movie, and the all time classic, "Christmas Vacation". I just can't make it a year without watching Cousin Eddy emptying his "crapper"into Clarke Griswold's gutter, or watch the Grinch give out jury duty notices. It starts at Thanksgiving, and finishes on Christmas Eve, and no, we don't get sick of it. :)

5. The best part about Christmas is family, of course. And our family knows how to throw a good party. My Dad's side is getting so big, we've had to rent out our local church to hold us all. Which works, because after it's all cleaned up we play a few rowdy rounds of....Dodge ball. Everyone in. But besides just throwing a small hard ball at each other, we love to sit around, talk, eat, and tease each other mercilessly. I love it. And love them. Again, with the family and the food. :) There's something special about it though!

Merry Christmas, and safe travels everyone. I hope to not have any stories about snow drifts and chains on the tires.....

Foul!!

Hello World. It's me. I've decided that something needs to be done about our driving signals. People are cuttin' people off, buttin' in, nearly running others off the road, screeching to a halt...It happens to the best of us, right?

What I don't understand is how we react to them. I mean, we've all been there. You accidentally cut someone off and then they ALWAYS have to drive past you, right? And you always have to kinda look over sheepishly and hope they know that you TOTALLY know how to drive, you're just uh, not "on your game" tonight or something. Right? And you want them to know you're sorry! So what do you do? You kinda wave at 'em...."Hi dude!!! I just cut you off! Have a GREAT day!!!!!!" It's insulting, right?!? We need to come up with some sign that appropriately conveys our depth of sorry-ness. Throwing your hands up in the air like "Eh?", just isn't gonna cut it.

And while we're on the subject, how do you say thank you to people for letting you butt in? You wave. What's up with that?! The Wave can't mean both "Thanks dude!" AND "Sorry I'm an idiot!". How do people know which one you mean?

Something needs to be done World. Our very LIVES are at stake! Road rage is getting out of hand, and I certainly don't want to be on the receiving end of someone who's misinterpreted my "thank you" for an "I so TOTALLY shouldn't have done that!".

So the "thanks" wave can stay, right? It's not so far off. But the "sorry" wave? Gotta go. What about switching it for a thumbs-down sign? Like "BAD FORM!". But maybe that would further tick them off? What about this?

The official signal in football for the "personal foul". A chop to the back of your hand above your head. Not that I knew that, I had to look it up. I might think the person was threatening to chop off my hand though. All Arabia-like.

What about this one for "Illegal Motion"? A sweeping of your arm, like "Get away - I'm dangerous". Mm? Well, okay, maybe not.

Maybe we'll try another sport. Basketball. This one for "Personal Foul" is fairly understood, right?

Hand clenched above your head? Like you can say it with conviction - "I. Am. An. Idiot".

Maybe this one for "technical foul". Hands formed to a "T".

Kinda hard to do when you're driving. Maybe just the good old fashioned "Loser" sign on your own forehead. That's pretty universal, right?

Just tryin' to make the world a better place....one hand signal at a time. Cause that's just who I am.....

Santa Cruz Saturday

Today Caleb and I decided to do a little exploring and ended up in Santa Cruz, which happens to be only a short 30 minutes away, and the drive is spectacular. Super green, it could rival Oregon. We made our way down to the wharf and took a nice little stroll down the pier. And of course, stopped for a few photos. :)

Not the best of days, but it's still gorgeous, isn't it? If you look close you can see dozens of tiny little dots in the water. Those would be the insane surfers who braved the frigid air and water.

This was all his idea......

At the end of the pier you could see tons of sea lions swimming around. There were also several perched on rafters underneath where we stood, but they were at least 4 or 5 feet above the water! We could only figure that they waited until high tide, and then spent the day snoozing!

Couldn't leave without one of the two of us. In the back round you can see one of the last amusement parks left on the California coast. However, it doesn't run during the winter but for a few days during the Christmas weekend. So let it be known, we'll be back!

Next we drove out to the official Surfer's Museum. I swear, it exists. It was small, but quaint. They had the actual surfboard that one man was riding when he was attacked by a great white shark. And let me just say that any desire I once had to learn to surf, is now entirely gone. I think I'll just enjoy the ocean from the nice, warm, not-infested-with-sharks - sand.

See that TEENY TINY little hole in the rocks in the far left? When it's not absolutely freezing, I'm going to go there. Looks much smaller than it actually was, and I believe there are some great tide pools! I love sticking my fingers in the little red and purple anemones - it feels like your finger is made of velcro. Going to the tide pools was my favorite thing to do on the coast in Oregon, and I can only imagine what it would be like here where it's WARM at the beach. :)

Next we went to check out what downtown Santa Cruz had to say for itself. And? It had a lot to say. LOTS of fun little trinket shops, candy shops, book shops, clothing stores etc. etc. etc. My favorite was "Best of Everything". SUCH fun things for your home and lots of little odds and ends. I think my favorites were the fun stationary sets and the gorgeous baby stroller blankets. Oh, and the funky toasters! And the little chocolate sets! Alright, so I'm going to have to go back... It was bustling, and I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer.

We finished off the night by finally biting the bullet (literally...) and trying out a restaurant we've been eyeing since we got here. It's called Zafran's, and it's Pakistani / Indian food. We've been hesitant because it seems like whenever we decide to eat out we're STARVING, and were both worried we wouldn't like what we ordered, and have to go find something else. :) Trying new foods is both exciting and scary for me. I love to be adventurous.....but tend to draw the line at freaky foods. It's like what I always say about "Fear Factor" - I could do ANY of the stunts, no problem. But give me some dead tarantula or 200 year old duck eggs to eat, and I'm out. Screw the $50,000, I'm not TOUCHING the stuff!!! Anyway, we actually both really enjoyed it. I loved the flavor of....whatever it was that I got....but it was pretty spicy. I'm sure not by your typical standards, but for me? Super spicy...made pretty obvious by my constant jabbering about how nice ice cream would be after....mmm....coating the throat with thick ice-creaminess......

Instead I just downed my water. And made a mental note to ask for the MILD curry next time...

Cause when you gotta go.....

Today Caleb and I had to get some tire chains for our imminent drive to Utah for Christmas. We were standing in line and saw the best product in the entire world. Monumental. Best thing I've seen in a long time. For real. Brought tears to my eyes. It's called the "TravelJohn". The disposable urinal for men, women, and children! "A civilized solution!".

I LOVE the picture! How classic! The entire family "holding it in"!!! How precious. With little sweat beads flying everywhere..... Let me just tell you about the product features, shall I?

"TravelJohn disposable urinal is convenient, sanitary, discrete, and compact. The key ingredient is Liqsorb, a combination of an exclusive biodegradable non-woven fabric pouch containing a biodegradable polymer substance that immobilizes bacterial growth quickly - absorbs the liquid waste and turns it into an odorless, spill-proof gel bag that is non toxic and waste disposable safe. The unisex adapter makes it easy for anyone and everyone to use while sitting or standing, and a spill guard prevents back flow (lovely mental picture...) during use."

And guess what else folks?! It's "Reusable until it is full"!!! Holds 28 oz! A little more than two Coke cans. Just in case you were wondering.

What other selling tactics do companies use? Testimonials you say? Well...I've got some right here!

I just wanted to let you know that (TravelJohn!) came in handy in my car last evening when my daughter "really had to go!!!" These are the greatest inventions! Thank you!

and

I just came back from a 2 week adventure in Mongolia. The #1 TravelJohn saved me (+3 friends). Picture, if you will, us in a nomadic tent with 200-300 goats + sheep between us and our "toilet"...Thank you. Thank you. For such an easy to use, clean GREAT product.

Um...no thanks....rather not picture....did he say 3 friends?! With sheep?!

and another classic...

When I found the TravelJohn I was never more excited (never more?) Now at 4 am when I'm all snug in my tent and it's raining hard outside, I'm ready to "go" with my TravelJohn!! Thanks for making a #1 product. I can't camp without it now!

Because nothing says camping like peeing in your very own tent.

And guys, if you're not sold on it yet, check out the website. The pictures speak for themselves. Oh! Oh! And go read the other testimonials! If you only have time for one, check out the airplane one. You won't be sorry.

Because "What's Up My Chica?" Should Not Be Forgotten....

I just spent the last hour and a half riffling through old journals. Ah, the nostalgia! I was all set to write about how nice it would be to head back to the old high school days for a bit, but uh, I think this is MUCH better. I was reading all about the drama when something caught my eye. Or rather, a word caught my eye. Several times. On several pages. I actually used the word "spiffage" in my every day life. Talk about taking you back! If I remember right it was an adaption my friends and I made of the newly-cool word "spiffy". As in, "I got a VCR for Christmas! SPIFFAGE!!!!" or, "Ohmigosh, I got 2 gerbils this weekend, and they are SO spiffage..."

And people? I found a fabulous website with all of our favorite 90's phrases and slang. Some are a little colorful, and others I never heard or used (maybe cause I was living in a predominantly white community in Utah?! Maybe?) but they're all classic. Very very classic.

Some of my personal favorites include yoink, dude (which, to be honest? Is still used with wild abandon....), chica (are your insides cringing?!? Mine are!), the ever-popular "all that and a bag of chips" and "off the heasy".

No spiffage though.........That's like, so totally shady!

Recipe #2 - Mmm....Omega 3's!!

So I didn't USED to love salmon. It used to be on my List of Foods I Hate, along with sauerkraut and beans of any kind. Then one day I decided I needed to like salmon. It's good for you. So I ordered it at a restaurant, and ate it. And liked it. Nay, thoroughly enjoyed it! My stipulations are that it must be fresh, and it can't have that fishy taste. It must be sorta crispy-ish. And it must NEVER be raw. Ever. I will never eat anything raw. Hear me Cabe?!?! No sushi. I will not pay for food that isn't cooked. ANYWAY. Salmon. Back to the salmon. So when we got married I decided that we needed to eat healthy, and the only way to do that, would be to uh, cook healthy food. So here's my secret for good salmon....go to Costco....buy their fillet of salmon for like, $20. When you come home immediately cut it up into as many servings as you can get and put them in the freezer. One fillet usually feeds us....4 or 5 times. CHEAP folks. And another tip for thawing meat? Do it in a Ziploc bag. In your sink. With hot water. But watch it, you don't want to cook it! Not yet at least. :) And now for my made-up SUPER easy healthy recipe......

Kim's Non-Fishy Oh-So-Delicious Salmon

2 salmon fillets (or more....one per person people!!! Share the love!!)

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Lemon Juice

Lime Juice

Garlic Salt

Dried Dill Weed

2 small pats of butter (or, in our case, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)

Thaw salmon, and place it in an oven-safe dish. Pour lemon and lime juice over salmon. Yummy.....sprinkle with seasoning, as much as you prefer. I like to sprinkle it on slowly, cause um, I think it's pretty. Especially the dill weed.....but I'm weird like that. Place pat of butter on fish, and place in a 350 oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy!!!!

I usually serve this with a rice or vegetable....cooked carrots are good, and I've got a few fabulous recipes for those as well. More to come! Enjoy the Omega-3's!!! Cause they enjoy you!!

Celebration

Tonight it's all about my husband. We are celebrating the accomplishment of the goal he and his business partner set one year ago, to increase their franchise by 100%. Today they got the numbers, and they did it! I am so proud of them for their hard work this past year. It hasn't been easy, but they did it. I am so blessed to have a husband who works so hard for us, and blessed that he enjoys it. He loves it, and I love that he does. He does a fabulous job.

He's also incredible to me. It is as they say, I do not deserve such a loving, caring, kind husband. He knows when to work, and when to "come home". He makes me laugh every day. Multiple times. He does this thing....whenever I need to be cheered up....it's called "The Chicken". And if you can ever convince him to do it for you, you won't be let down. :) I can promise you that. He helps out a lot with the laundry, and even cooks dinner for us! A lot! And breakfast! And lunch! And we haven't died yet. :) I love watching him play with his nieces and nephews, he has so much fun. I think sometimes he has more fun than the kids do. :) Last week when we were watching his nieces and nephews, he was playing with these big plastic....things....that you put on your hand and then hit the other person with. SUCH a boy game....I have no idea what I'm going to do if we get boys... Anyway, he was playing with one of the smaller boys, Miles. Miles ran up to Caleb and they hit their little bopper things, but Miles kept going, and sunk his little teeth right into Caleb's forehead. :) He's still got a mark........When he's not rough-housing, he does really well with the girls and babies, and it's so fun to watch him with them as well. It makes me feel SO good about us having kids later. :) I've always worried for some reason that my husband wouldn't like kids...the horror! If the way he loves his dog is any indication of how much he'll love his kids, I think our kids'll be spoiled. :)

Caleb's vast knowledge of trivia is something I'll never understand. I'm constantly asking him "How do you know that?". He either answers that he doesn't know, or that "As a guy, there are just certain things you just know..." or something crazy like that. He loves playing along with Jeopardy, and everyone always wants him on their team during trivia-type games.

He loves beautiful things. He loves photography, and can always makes something beautiful out of nothing. A stick on the ground, a crossing of wires, old rusted machinery. Our home is dotted with his work, and we got hundreds more stowed away. If I suddenly won $1,300 (it can totally happen....) I'd buy him THIS, so that he wouldn't have to deal with our duct-taped monstrosity.

Caleb is much more romantic than I am, and is constantly doing sweet things for me. Throwing me a surprise party for my birthday, buying me gorgeous flowers "just because", writing sweet notes, and is always telling me I'm beautiful and that he loves me.

I could go on and on and on, but um....it's getting late. :) Just rest assured that he is an amazing guy, and I love him so much. :) Cabe? I love you. I am so lucky.

Excuse me, miss? Tina Turner called. She wants her hair back.

I decided today that my hair has to go. I kept it short, sorta funky, all throughout high school, and after THAT was over....I decided to grow it out. A new me. And now? I want the old me. Or the old hairstyle at least. Well, maybe. I can't decide. See, I had so MANY different hairstyles. I had the BEST...hair cutter? Is there a better word? Hair STYLIST. There we go. Anyway. He is the best. For real. Gay guy, working in a funky salon in the avenues of Salt Lake. Anyone living in the area? Want to experience hair bliss? Check out Dayvid Crook. I believe he's still at Imaj Design. AUGH! I'm giving away hair secrets people!!!! My favorite part about Dayvid was that I could totally trust him. The first time he cut my hair it was fairly long, and I said "I want you to do whatever you want." I of course gave him a FEW stipulations....no new color, no shaving or Mohawk or whatever. I did this every time I went in. Sometimes it was a different style, sometimes the same. But it always looked great. So there you go. Dayvid? Are you out there? I'm coming to see you during this Christmas break.........I think. Oh, to spend $40 on a haircut...can I DO that now?!?! Maybe......I've been holding out on cutting my hair. My loving husband has been oh so subtle about his desire for me to cut it again....and I've wanted to....but uh....I've sorta had a reason to keep it long. Wanna know how lame I am? Cause I'm about to tell you. So I had my hair short all through high school. Mentioned that. And next year? Is my supposed 5 year reunion. And I SORTA wanted to have it all long and flowy-like. I don't exactly know why. Just in case they didn't think I could grow hair? I don't know. LAME. That's what it is. Thankfully I'm past that now. Mostly. Enough to start seriously thinking. So I started looking up hairstyles of celebrities that I've liked, and just tonight went through some old pictures. And while I was browsing, found a very priceless one. Not exactly the hairstyle I was going for.....but I think you might enjoy it. Apparently I'd decided to put my shortish hair up in pin curls for dance practice. Probably did it wet and slept with it. And when I took it out? The result...

And then we have the oh-so-popular rocker pose. Cause it's a MUST with this hair.

I decided I better post these now and avoid the possible blackmail charges later. This is me, hear me roar.

...And to All a Good Night!

So...you remember the whole "gonna bake my cookies and watch Bedknobs & Broomsticks" bit from last night? You wanna know what I did INSTEAD?!?!?!? I know you do. But before you do, please pull your feet off the floor NOW. That's right, tuck them in. Trust me.

I mentioned that we'd watched our relatives (niece and nephews actually) kids yesterday. After my brother and sister in law got home, we took the boys to the park with our dog so the boys could play fetch with him. At one point, the ball went into the bushes. He had to retrieve it. Remember that....

So Caleb and I are both sitting on the couch, cuddled up watching...something...with Cabe absentmindedly petting the dog who is, of course, at our side on the floor. Let me point out that this is several HOURS after the park.....anyway. So we're watchin' tv and Cabe says "I think Bear's got something on him. It's like...a hernia or something." So I sigh and get up and we go over to the light and make him roll over so we can check out this "hernia" on his inner leg. What we find is a little piece of what looks to be skin, that's kinda...poking out, all flappy like. I squint and lean a little closer as Cabe's moving around the "skin". And then I see it. 6 tiny little black legs. LEGS PEOPLE. Without taking my eyes off of it, I mutter "Go get the tweezers."

"What?"

"I said...go....get...the tweezers!!"

It was a tick. A TICK. ON MY DOG. A soft-bodied tick actually, which I didn't know existed. After we successfully ripped the little bugger out of the dog (and what a fight it put up!) I immediately went on the Internet and spent the rest of the night absolutely positively freaking myself out. I am now a tick expert, people. Soft ticks latch on for no more than a day, and then fall off. Ours was lovingly engorged with our dog's blood. The hard ticks can stay inside of you for days. Both carry several diseases, including the well known Lyme disease. Of course we inspected every single inch of that dog. Twice (at my request...after I'd done all my research...). What was so scary, was that I only found one picture that looked like the same kind of tick we'd found. And they didn't even really know what kind of tick it was, just that it was a soft one. Great. So not only does my dog have TICKS, but completely UNKNOWN ones. Lovely. Luckily we didn't find any more, but um, yeah. I was officially wigging out. I vacuumed. At midnight. Every square inch of my house. Because um, the dog? He'd been alone, in the house, for several hours. He'd been in my car. He could have been on the couch!!!!!!!!!! When we finally got in bed, I lay awake forever, imagining every itch I had to be a tick. I dreamed about ticks. I woke up at 4 am, and thought ohmigosh, that itch? On my leg? It MUST be a tick!!!! I went into the bathroom, inspected, and finding nothing? Doused the area with hydrogen peroxide, just for good measure. Now that it's a full day after the dreaded event, I'm a little better. I feel okay with my feet on the floor. I haven't pet him much today though.......we can't be too hasty, right? And now you know the depth of my OCD.

On a happier note? We had a great day today, full of hustling and bustling, and Christmas carols and the always popular Christmas food - um..Italian. Right. We witnessed the San Jose Flea Market. As we walked in we saw one of those old photo booths. You know the kind? You take four silly pictures and rush off to buy friendship bracelets and Dippin' Dots? We thought "Hey! This could be fun!" and got in, making the silliest faces we could.When we got out, it asked us to pic ONE pose, and it would print it out as an 8 x 10. Lovely. But the best part? Yet to come. Then we were asked to pick a border...and yeah, you can imagine the fun choices we had. So we picked the cheesiest, and waited for our picture to print. And print it did...on normal paper.

And now we have this lovely memento to always remember our first visit to the San Jose Flea Market.....luckily it only cost $1.

We also went to Target. We went to my new favorite store, the World Market. I could live there. I'd eat Swedish chocolate and shortbread from England. And sleep on beds imported from India, and eat on Asian plates. Read cookbooks about how to cook Thai food. I found some of my favorite cookies that they had in Australia. And a KEG of ROOT BEER. And Japanese candy. How can you not feel at one with the world?! I. Love. It.

Oh. And it's official. After many days of force-feeding the Christmas music, Caleb is officially feeling the holiday spirit. And he showed me by making this for breakfast this morning:

That would be an omelet, with cinnamon, and sleigh and snowman cut out toast. Isn't he cute? Cabe's the official Egg-Maker at our house, but this one...well. It was just plain FESTIVE! And holiday-inspired! And the mood stayed with us the entire day. He cleaned up breakfast while I sent out Christmas cards, he brought the car up to the store when it was pouring rain, he walked around with the umbrella to my side of the car, and even gave me a piggy-back ride into Target. Because flip flops, even if they are cute and woolly, are NOT the best shoes for the rain. Let it be known. I just happen to have an insanely sweet husband. That I love.

And I don't even have to beg for the Christmas music.

Living Life...In the Slow Lane?

So you spend your day watching your relatives children. You slowly crawl along the freeway home, trying to make it to your church's Christmas dinner. You make a late entrance, enjoy the mass cooked ham, funeral potatoes (with real live Cornflakes people!) and store-bought cookies. You chat about the weather, the lovely performance put on by the children, and head home at the oh-so-late hour of 8:30. With nothing else to do but sit and watch old re-runs and game shows.

No, this is not a day in the life of your grandma. This is MY life. This was my day.

And? I'm feeling a little........old.......lame........like we should be taking advantage of this lovely opportunity we have of living in the Bay Area. But we're not. I'm blogging, and Cabe is watching....America's Funniest Home Videos. And yes, we are fully aware of the fact that we should be living up our youth. Enjoying our fun, fancy-free nights as a childless couple. Cause I KNOW all you mothers out there are like "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!??! DON'T THEY KNOW THAT THIS IS IT?! THAT THESE ARE THE LAST FEW YEARS OF ALONENESS FOREVER?!?!" I know. Believe me! I've been told a thousand times.

And yet, here we are. In our pajamas at 8:30 on a Friday night.

So this is going to be a post begging for ideas. We're in the thick of this ginormous area, but we have no idea what to do! Or rather, I should say, no idea what to do ON A BUDGET. I know that there are a zillion malls nearby, and some great restaurants (but see my previous comment about the ham and Cornflaked-potatoes) and even a few good movies playing. And maybe that's all there is to do at night. We certainly can't take advantage of the museums at this hour. I think I just need to do a little research, right? Maybe meet a few people. :) Befriend a local.

But tonight? I'll think I'll bake the cookie dough I made up this morning. Maybe I'll finally be able to get Caleb to watch "Bedknobs & Broomsticks" with me. Ah, childhood....

Because You Need More Proof of My Insanity

So here I am again, posting at the very last second. :) It counts though right! Even though this Holidailies thing isn't as strict or promising-of-rewards, I'm trying to keep this whole blog every day thing up. And also? I just upgraded to the new Blogger. And kinda trying to figure it out. So yeah. Fun stuff.

So I was getting a little...bored of my entries...and decided to spice things up a bit. Used my lovely book from Miss Margaret, and took her suggestion to check out Platial. And set myself up an account. And started a map of all the places I've vacationed. And then? I got retarded. I added like....TONS of other places to my map (alright, not tons...but more than you'll see right now!), but of course Internet Explorer (ugh! Time for a new browser!) decided it needed to put itself to bed. Twice. And I lost several of them. So go check it out, get a feel for it...and I PROMISE I will add more. I think it's kinda fun, and intend to check out the site a little more. Figure it out. Become a Platial Master, if you will.

Right now I'm going to continue to work on my Christmas newsletter. I do these kinds of things to myself all the time. Become obsessed over every little detail of it. Too much? Not enough? Not colorful? Too colorful? Too...cheesy? Not enough feeling? Too wordy? Not wordy enough? More pics? Less? It's enough to make even the craziest OCD go nuts.

Recipe #1 - Indoor Smores

I love to cook. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I do. I enjoy making something out of lots of little things. It's so satisfying, and always amazing to me that all these little ingredients can create something so different, so blended. I especially love when just one ingredient can make such a difference in the final product. Another part of cooking that I love, is eating it. Of course, right? But not just eating it, enjoying it, preferably with family and friends. I truly believe that having a meal together as a family (even a family as little as the two of us!) makes a big difference in the overall happiness of the family. It's time together, where everyone can sit down, enjoy good food, and keep up with each other's busy schedules. It may be just the two of us now, but I think it's important to establish this good habit, so that when our lives DO become crazy with several kids and their own schedules, family dinner will always be a given.

With that said........I thought it might be fun to start posting some recipes. I'll include the recipe itself, instructions, and my thoughts. Or little alterations. Cause sometimes? I don't always follow the recipe. MOST of the time, it turns out fine. Other times? Well...not so much. So here we go!

Indoor Smores

(*I LOVE this dessert, and thought that EVERYONE knew about it until I made it for a little get together and everyone kept asking me for the recipe, and where I'd got it....so here it is!!)

8 cups Golden Grahams
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
5 c. Mini Marshmellows
5 T. margarine
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 t. vanilla

Melt the chocolate chips, 5 cups of marshmellows (keep the rest handy!) and margarine in a pan. Take off the heat and add the vanilla. Then pour the cereal in a bowl and add the chocolate mixture, mixing until well coated. Add a cup or two of marshmellows and mix in. Transfer to a cookie sheet and allow to cool completely. Cut and serve!

(*Instead of a cookie sheet, I usually use a 13 x 9 in. casserole dish. That way they're a little thicker. I also like to throw it in the fridge for a little while to harden it up.*)

Be prepared, this doesn't last long. At least around me.

The Good the Bad,and the Ugly....

My two cents on the uh, current events.........

So I was all pumped up to watch the Billboard Awards last night, excited for the performances, the guest appearances....what a let down. I actually got so bored I didn't even finish it. First off, what happened to Nelly Furtado? You know, the "Torn" girl? So funky, angry, yet sweet and innocent....alright, so the song spoke to me. Now? Now she's totally caved to that whole slutty scene. But it wasn't just the change in genre's that bothered me, it was her acceptance speech! "Oh!! Heheheheh.....um....heheheheh....oh!!!" In the classic high-pitched cheerleader voice. I say, um, next please!

I loved the interchange between all the rap kiddies. So....improvised. Last minute. Forget your lines kinda thing.

Gwen Stefani's performance? Actually okay. I was a little weirded out by the whole yodeling lederhosen sheep thing, but it was fun. Different, for sure.

Let's more on to the next disaster - Fergie. What can you say? Next time you're going to perform for one of the top music award shows? Maybe run through your song lines a bit, hm? You know, I don't even KNOW the song, so if she would have acted NORMAL, I probably would have had no clue that she'd flubbed them, but she was so stiff and noticeably nervous. Total give away. I'm sure it can't be easy to sing in front of a crowd, but it's your JOB. And you've done it plenty of times. I'm sortof off the Fergie train, bytheway. If you can't tell.

And um......around this point I totally gave up. Oh goll, except for that whole lame exchange between Carmen Electra and what'shisface. Lame. So after that? Gave up. Click! Changed the channel. Or went to bed. I don't even remember.

And if you want further proof of how lame I am, I was super excited for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show tonight - and totally was NOT disappointed. Fabulous. How can something make me feel so inadequate, while at the same time give such encouragement?! I think, hey, if I pushed myself just a LITTLE more, I could totally look like that right? I could do that. Walk in 4 inch heels on a runway with glitter. In next to nothing. I love it. It makes me want to pull out my big rollers and shimmer powder.

Now I'm going to go to bed and dream of million dollar bras and crunches.......

Dog's Day

I was going along, minding my own business today (alright....so I was checking Fussy's site to see who won...for the 8th time today...) and holycrapola. Me?! I won something?! I NEVER win anything. I started jumping all over the house, driving Caleb crazy as he was trying to talk to some important colleague. That of course got the dog wound up and he started jumping right along with me. Tender moment!
(Wait - I won something last year. I was driving back to the office after working out for lunch (doesn't that sound dedicated? I was only half dedicated. You can't exactly work up a sweat at lunch! Not when you have to go back to work! People might see that I SWEAT!!!!!) and some radio station asked who People Magazine was saying was the hottest actor from a tv series or something. And me? I knew the answer. Why? Because I'd been uh, taking a break at work...checking up on People. I didn't even know his REAL name, but it was Sawyer, from Lost. I think I only remembered it because I thought that Jack should TOTALLY have won. Sawyer?! Whatever. )
Anyway..............where was I? Oh yes, winning. It's more like a Lose / Win situation. I won because my dog puked on my carpet. Twice. Triple Chocolate Chunk brownie mix from Costco puke. It wasn't pretty. I believe my prize is an entire pound of gourmet doggy treats from Emily. It's only fitting I guess! Thankfully Bear won't realize he's being rewarded for puking on my carpet (that's all I'd need, another excuse for him to make brownies!). She also said she'd throw in some "human" treats. :) So thanks Emily! We are both looking forward to it!! I'm also having alot of fun reading all the winning posts and the other fun doggy posts...instead of diligently looking for a job.........hey! I applied at several places today! I totally deserve a break!

A shot of the REAL winner....for without his weak stomach and mischevious ways, this would not have been possible....doesn't he look ECSTATIC?!?

Note to self: Productivity doesn't include watching "Waterworld" on tv...Or Oprah...or The Food Network....

Golden Gate

We decided to take the picture that we're going to use for our Christmas card (three cheers for Costco - SUCH a great deal...) and so we headed off to the Golden Gate Bridge. Or, to some unknown grassy knoll NEAR the Golden Gate bridge. I'd seen a picture somewhere, and had decided that THAT was where we were going to take our picture. We had no idea what, or where...just that you could see the bridge in the backround. Right..........................So we packed up the dog, and his ball, and some food for him, bowl for water, a water bottle with water in it, a towel in case he got wet or dirty, a large blanket for the back seat...Come on! What are we?! PARENTS?!?!?! We practically packed a diaper bag! Anyway. We got lost in San Francisco, typical right? This kind of lost however, was a GOOD lost. We got lost on Mission Ave. The center of it all! I saw a Red Envelope store! I had NO idea they had a store, and I made a mental note to return. We also saw a GINORMOUS Bloomingdales. A Titanic Artifact exhibit, the Academy of Art, several funky restaurants and shops, and LOTS of cars. I think both Caleb and I felt overwhelmed by it all. SO much to see, even more to do. I absolutely LOVED it, and can't wait to go back. And stop somewhere. I can't imagine living downtown, though we saw several apartment complexes. There were so many shops and restaurants, but uh....where do you park? Anyone? I'd love to know.

We finally made it to the bridge, and wow. What a view! We stopped just across the bridge and took some pictures, and then headed off to find The Place. The one in my head? Well...we didn't exactly find it. BUT. We did find another great place. We just sorta overshot it, and had to walk up the INSANELY STEEP one way road. Now, I'm not by any means marathon ready, but I think I'm pretty physically fit. I exercise, I eat healthy. That hill KILLED me. Next time? We're parking UP, and walking DOWN. It was a crazy view, off the side of the road...down the steep hill...I totally shouldn't have worn my nice boots. Anyway. Here's a few pics that didn't quite make it to the Christmas card. Gorgeous. If I can't live in Utah with my family? I'm okay living here for now.

Incredible, isn't it? Well, of course him, but the view!

How great is 70 degrees in December?! REALLY great. Trust me.

Attack of the Killer Furballs

Ah, Friday. How we love thee. A little bit of sleepy-innie, a little bit of lounging....late showers, late breakfast...late lunch (scrumptious leftovers from last night's African Beef Curry...)....and a GINORMOUS amount of dog fur. COPIOUS amounts. I-don't-know-where-it-all-came-from amounts. So yesterday I decided that our newly washed dog was in dire need of another shave. And remember? I do them myself now. Only.......this time I only got about, oh, 4 good swipes on his back before the thing died on me. Okay....Okay......so it didn't really die. I SORTA dropped it right before we started. And it sorta didn't work very well on the first swipe. Totally beside the point though.......the POINT, is that he had a reverse-mohawk, and the shaver-doobie was all out of juice. And since I'd been to the grocery store like, an hour before that, I was definitely not going to drive ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STREET to the Petco. Where the pets go. But ya know? I think he liked it. I think he felt cool. Hip, like he could TOTALLY walk around this apartment complex with confidence. Sorta like the fauxhawk, right? For real. So.....back to today. We went to Petco (Where the pets go - I can't say that without the tag line...it's catchy, good job Petco....Where the pets go....) and bought ourselves a super expensive shaver. The most expensive one there. Even then? It would still pay for itself after one and a half shaves. Right, I know, on with the story. I begin shaving, and quickly discover that A.) this dog's fur is like....NOT how it's ever been. All piecey, and...individual-like. Not at all like the nice clumps from before, and B.) This dog lost a LOT more weight at the "Pet Retreat" than we'd originally thought. The furr was EVERYWHERE. Stuck to everything. Tiny pieces of hair, all over my arms, hands, fingers, elbows, ALL over my pants, feet, face, IN MY NOSE......I'm not even going to tell you how I knew they were there. Believe me, it wasn't pretty. It looked like I'd shaved a Chow-Chow. And now we have a skeleton-dog.

He wasn't too happy about having it documented for all to see. He's raising his back a bit, but it allows you to see the nice line of pearls he's got.......and the little hip bones jutting out. We're feeding him a bit more than normal to get him back to his ideal weight, but other than being a little bit more excited than normal at mealtime, he's acting....happy. His energy level is at ludicrous-speed, and he's jumping as high as Cabe's HEAD to get his frisbee. So yeah. I think we should plump him up..... :) If only for few seconds of peace before the ball / frisbee / kong is once again shoved in our faces.

On another note, we ate at a FABULOUS restaurant tonight. Fabulous. Authentic, delicious, and not at all expensive. It's called Pasta Pomodoro and yes, you should definitely give it a try, if you haven't already. If you live in Cali or Arizona. If not? Hey! Even more reason to come out here! Delizioso!

Brownies - Doggy Style

Let's discuss our dog's latest fiasco. Shall we? First, before I begin, put away any food you are eating. Away! No, for real, I'm being serious. In fact, if you've had anything to eat in the past half hour, you may want to wait a bit. Sorta like when you have to wait to get in the pool after eating. Okay? Ready?

So, it's a Friday night....a mere two days after moving to the Bay Area. And ya know, we've worked! Hard! So we decided we needed to treat ourselves. We were going to go see the new James Bond movie on it's opening night, at a SWEET theatre. Seats over 1,000. For real. I'll take you there! Anyway. We decided to hit the later showing, so we went to the grocery store to ya know, get some of that FOOD stuff we kept hearing about, and then went to drop it off at our place. I waited in the car, while Cabe and Brian took the groceries upstairs.....I waited for at LEAST 20 minutes. Finally, after I set every single pre-set radio station in our car, they came down and we drove off. After a few minutes, Cabe leans back and CASUALLY mentions, "Bear got into the bag of Costco brownie mix." You know the kind? The Triple Chocolate Chunk?! The ONLY brownie mix out there, as far as I'm concerned. Anyway. I rolled my eyes, sighed and said "Well, I hope you put him on the deck." And you all know his answer, right? I mean, you could see it coming. But the travesty doesn't end there, oh no. Not in OUR house. He goes on to say "Um...no. But I DID give him a lot of water. And he drank it all. He was very thirsty...." So of course I start thinking about our brand new apartment, with it's brand new carpet...and go into convulsions thinking about the mess that will most definitely be waiting for me upon my return.

And it was. It REALLY was. We opened the door to see not one, but two VERY large piles of brownie batter - doggy style. We pretty much could have scooped it up, put it in a 13 x 9 and had nice warm dog brownies in 40 minutes. Which reminds me, I have a beef with these dogs. Why is it that they can never manage to puke on the kitchen floor? A RUG even?! Why is it ALWAYS the carpet?! Ugh......so poor Brian had to sleep in a room that reeked of brownie puke and carpet cleaner. He probably couldn't have left quicker.

I was THIS CLOSE to shipping the mutt to Utah..........where the deer and the antelope play. Yet there he sits....licking the carpet.....

Duct-Tape Camera - On It's Last Leg

This post is going to be all about the pics. I finally uploaded the ones from the trip, and took a few today of the mutt. We picked him up, along with a nasty stench. Like, must keep the windows rolled down the ENTIRE TIME stench. Like, I didn't want to bring him into our new apt. stench. Like, a bath was the FIRST thing that happened to him stench. He's skinny, he's exhausted, and very happy to be at home.

Anyway.

Pics! From the lovely Utah trip! For some odd reason we didn't take very many, or rather, took random ones. However, I DO have lots of Kami pics. Cause she's so dang cute. I even have a video...but was hesitant to post it on here, cause ya know, she's not really my baby (sadly...) and I shouldn't really take that liberty, right? I WOULD like to somehow find a way to send it to her mommy....or...I don't know. We can work that out, right? Not like I know how to do that, but I would SO learn.....

Anyway.

The first in our little slide show, would be this -

Home Sweet Home!!! One day I'm going to learn myself on this whole PhotoShop thing. Or have the hubbie teach me. Again.

Practicing for our little number at Emmy's baptism. Not that it helped, we changed the song we were going to sing, oh... only about 10 times.

And this is what happens when you use a vacuum hose as a means for styling one's hair. Or, in this case, your husband's hair...This is rare, when he lets me play with his hair AND take a picture.

In the car listening to the Utah vs BYU game. Cause apparently we don't have "The Mountain"...

I could probably have done this all day. We took a zillion pics, but most were blurry cause um, babies move a lot, AND......someone kept blinking...I don't know who that was....

Three cheers for the flash! Not blurry! But oh so white!!!

The wing that "Tweety" hit. Post-Windex. Cause we wouldn't want to create an uproar from the bird lovers........

His trusty stuffed ball got him through the worst of times......

Let sleeping dogs lie....that's our motto. Because that is where he's been ever since we got home. Well, after the insane hyperness that lasted for an hour or so. He crashed with his NEW stuffed ball (the other sadly met it's death........). It must be at his side at all times, lest he miss an opportunity to shove it in our faces.

Sidenote: You have may noticed the new tag....I decided I may as well keep this whole thing up. It's kinda fun. Though I will add this disclaimer: posts may be sporadic / insanely random during the holiday season.

Not that it would be so far from the every day post.......

In Which The Early Bird TOTALLY Gets the Worm....

First of all, I'm sitting on the plane waiting (sorta...) patiently, reading up on all the hot celeb gossip. And I run across a title that says something about Matt Lauer and his girl having another boy. Have you SEEN what they named the kid?! Talk about having a complex! Thijs?! And no, that's no spelling error. Yes, there should definitely be another vowel or something. Apparently it's Dutch? He's going to need to come equipped with a phonetic guide for his teachers, because you KNOW that'll never be pronounced right.

And another lovely headline, and I quote: "Friends Say They're Shocked by Pam-Kid Rock Split". SHOCKED?! Don't you think that's a little...um....harsh? Bold? You mean, he finally saw her past her ginormous boobies, and she finally noticed his white-trash mullet? I mean really, if they can't make it work, how can the rest of us have any hope?!?! Right....................

And now let's get back to that whole waiting patiently on the airplane thing. We were SUPPOSED to leave at 3 pm today, and of course, didn't leave for about a half hour. Which was fine, right? We were a bit frustrated, but all in all, we were on our way. So we're up in the air, just about to order our drinks, when the plane suddenly slows WAY down. I looked around and nothing was said, so I just figured maybe I'd just never noticed it before. Planes totally slow down at like, 35,000 ft, right? Sure enough though, the captain gets on the speaker and says "Uh....folks......some of you might have noticed our slowing, we hit a large bird....and....now we're going to have to head back to Salt Lake to have our maintenance crew check on it." Lucky for us, Cabe and I had a window seat and got to enjoy watching the "maintenance crew" play around with the guts. I actually saw one of them thrusting his new found bird gut, into the face of several other workers, with child-like giddiness. My other favorite part, was when one guy hauled a huge ladder up to the wing, whipped out his bottle of WINDEX, and lovingly whiped off all traces of the dead tweety. THIS is the maintenance crew?! The captain had informed us that the reason we had to go back to Salt Lake, rather than our pit stop in Reno, was that they didn't HAVE a maintenance crew in Reno. Because apparently not everyone can Windex a plane. Needless to say, our 2 hour plane ride turned into nearly 3 and a half, and we were not happy campers.

I did some thinking during all of this lovely waiting time I was provided with today. Yesterday I decided on a whim to try out the new paint-your-nails-black thing. I kinda like it. But I wonder if that isn't making all the gothic chicks absolutely itching with anger. Isn't that their whole THING? To be different? To be the complete opposite of trendy? What are they going to do now, I wonder? Maybe they'll start going all pink. Or.....white?!

And as a side note: Bath & Body Works? Would it be a huge imposition to ask that you puh-LEASE bring back the Rice & Shea Flower lotion!? I've got one bottle, and I'm using it in only extreme circumstances. Like one might do with wheat in a famine. I went all out tonight and put it all over my newly-shaved LEGS. BOTH OF THEM. And now I'm all anxious, like maybe I should have rationed it better.............and so I was thinking - if you'd please bring it back, maybe just for a month, I could replenish my stock. Maybe I could even start USING it. Like, twice a week or something..........

Baby Kameryn

SUCH a good day. Shopping, snow falling, and dinner with friends. I FINALLY got to see little baby Kameryn tonight, and I had so much fun! I kept telling Kjersti this, but I swear, I'd never get anything done with her! I'd be having too much fun playing with her. She was so HAPPY, so giggly, so much fun. We got several "Dada"'s, lots of babbling, and I even got the famous Kameryn-wet-kiss!!! Which, bytheway, is fabulous. Kjersti had mentioned that it may take a bit of warming up to get her going, but we must have found the magic button, because she was so fun from the very beginning. It's so fun to see Kjersti and Jay with her, you can totally see how much they love her, and how much fun they have with her. She's certainly a well-adjusted, well-rounded baby, and you can only credit that to the parents. Thanks SO much for bringing her over, and letting us go nuts with her. I think I may have overwhelmed her with all the strange new McDonald's toys. We've got um, quite a lot, and I just kept pulling more out, trying to top the last. She thoroughly enjoyed the pink play cell phone, and the squishy whale. Both were plated meticulously....(only a choice few will get that.....). Such big eyes, big grin, and adorable black peach fuzz. She's perfect Kjersti!!! I can't wait to see her again in just a month! Oh yeah...and bytheway....SO fun to hang out. We had several um, distractions, so we didn't get to talk about all the deep down dirty stuff, but I'm sure that will come out next time. :) P.S. Cute Kameryn pics will soon follow......

Now that I'm done gushing (and um, yeah. I want one!!! :) ) I can say a little something about the weather today. I know, I know. Totally boring right?! WRONG!!!!!!!! We went from just insanely freezing, to rain. Then to little snow pellets. But the bizzare part? Major thunder and lightning. It's certainly not every day that you see snow coupled with thunder and lightning, and it was pretty insane. Perfect night for gettin' cozy with friends. It makes me super excited for Christmas, which is, hello, less than a month away. And all that Christmas shopping I did today? Didn't get a single gift. Should PROBABLY think about starting the shopping. I've been trying to figure out what to give out as little gifts this year, you know, the neighbor ones, your landlord....the people who end up giving you a gift when you've TOTALLY forgotten about them? Those gifts. I would LOVE to make that old fashioned candy - you know? The ribbon one? Hard candy, with different stripes? Old fashioned? I don't know if I could pull it off...but we'll see. Maybe it would be a fun post? Tune in next time, to read all about how she scalded herself making Christmas candy!

We're leaving tomorrow. Back to Cali, back to the real world, where I have to make dinner and feed the mutt. Out of the 20 degree weather, out of the wonderful dryness that my hair so much adores. My lips are certainly excited, that's for sure. They've been sucking up every bit of my Burt's Bee's chapstick, and they're STILL a dead-ringer for the salt flats. Ah well. At least we have Christmas to look forward to, right? Again, I LOVE this time of year.

I wonder if the Free-Cable-Police will be waiting for us.......

I also wonder what sort of vermin will have attached itself to our mutt's fur........

Totally Random Thoughts

I don't know why I feel the need to blog late at night - maybe because I'm waiting for something exciting to happen?! Though this is much earlier than usual (my posts have been using Cali time, instead of Utah time...but oh well...right?) I don't have much to say today, except that it's been a good relaxing day. I absolutely LOVE waking up in my parents house, which I still consider my own even though I've been married for....well, over a year and half. Does that ever go away? Is that just me? I just feel so SAFE and COMFORTABLE. Not that I don't in my own little apartment, but there's just something about the familiarity of waking up and eating breakfast with your parents and sisters. Which we did. I also LOVE going to church with them, and I think it's also for the familiarity. And what's better than sitting around eating a delicious roast with mashed potatoes and hot rolls with your family? I can't think of anything better. I'm sensing a theme here....haven't I said that a billion times? Probably, but I think everyone can agree.
We also watched some old home videos of my little sister, as promised, for her 8th birthday. And despite having to watch myself in my teen years (ugh......total blackmail material there) it was fun to see it, and be reminded of how life used to be. How simple!!!!! Why didn't I realize that?! I had nothing more than a paper and what boy liked me at the time, to worry about. It's nice to see where you were, and remember how you got where you are today. I was thinking, as I watched myself unwrap Christmas presents, what I would have thought back then, if I knew how my life would be in just a few years. What would I do if I knew that I'd been soon living in California with a husband? And that this would only be the SECOND move since we'd been married? I never thought I'd live anywhere outside of Utah that's for sure.
A few of my cousins came over and we had fun playing games and just being together. We used to do that all the time, and so now when I'm home I really cherish that. I'm so lucky to have such good, fun cousins that are so close. It's like another support system, and everyone needs that. I love them all, and am always so excited to spend time with them. I'm SO looking forward to all our fun Christmas traditions. Because "The Grinch" and "Christmas Vacation" never get old.
And let's talk about Christmas shall we? Since I'm hitting on all these completely random topics. I LOVE this time of year. Love it. I love the snow (but only until New Years, and then yeah. It's time for spring, right?!), I love the hot chocolate and cozying up to a warm fire, I love pulling out the Christmas tree and looking at all the old ornaments we made. I love caroling, I love getting people gifts, and am always WAY more excited to have someone open something I've been working on, than getting something myself. I love the second excuse in two months to get together with family. And yeah, you guessed it, all the fun Christmas food. Peanut brittle.....Grandma's English toffee, Aunt Vonda's famous carmels.....I love the sweaters, the mittens, the scarves. I even love all the hustle and bustle. Though I've never experienced that coupled with the typical Cali traffic. I may change my mind on that one..... It's just such a fun time of year, with everyone sharing that wonderful Christmas spirit.
So tomorrow it starts - my first day of Christmas shopping. Let the hustle begin!!!

Emmy-Pooh

Today was a special day for my little sister - she was baptized a member of our church. I can't believe she's already 8!!!! She was sort of an "oops" baby, but she's been a fun addition to the family. Keeps us all young. :) She's a crazy girl, and you can tell she's been raised around older sisters. She learned to talk at a young age, and I remember carrying on a conversation with her at 2. For some odd reason, she's the only one with blonde hair (and straight as an arrow...another oddity), and it seems to suit her personality. Always bright, bubbly, full of energy and always wanting to play and laugh. She seems really interested in art, and is constantly drawing - it's been fun to see her progress with that. I love all the pictures she sends to me! I remember one birthday card, must have been last year, because she was in soccer, and apparently that was all that ran through her mind. Her card consisted of one of her soccer cheers, changed slightly for my birthday. Very classic, I'll have to dig it up and post it one day. One of my favorite stories about her, happened only a year or so ago. Like I said, she's grown up around 3 older sisters, and has always acted her age, going on 23. She had a play cell phone, and would walk around the house pretending to have a very important discussion. One time I was doing something in the kitchen and heard her walk in and say very loudly into her "cell phone", "You're breaking out!!! I can't hear you! You're BREAKING OUT!!!!!!!" We use that phrase quite frequently. She also used to LOVE pepperoni. She'd eat it on her salad, which had to be only the WHITE lettuce. We'd buy one of those pre-made salad bags, and have to pick out each piece of lettuce that was white. Green lettuce was strictly prohibited. We'd put a few pepperoni on it, and some ranch dressing. Only she called it "Peppi-yown-ee". As in, "I want some peppioni!!!" Right now she hardly eats anything, we can't figure it out. When she DOES want to eat, we give her anything she wants. YES! Please! EAT!!!!!! She's 8 years old and weighs exactly 50 lbs. The same as my 3 year old dog. She's all skin and bones, but manages to run around tirelessly through the day. I don't get it. Whatever she's on, I want some. I'm so grateful to have her as a sister, she's so fun, and I'm excited to see what she's going to do with her life. Something good, I know that for sure. I love you Emmy-Pooh!!!

Ah....Thanksgiving....

Today was Thanksgiving Day II, at Caleb's parents house, and wow. Two turkeys? Two days of pie? Two hectic families? Two billion dishes? It's draining for sure, but it's definitely one of the better holidays. I enjoy the excuse to get together with family. As nice as Christmas is, this is a little less stressful I think, because you don't have to worry about all the presents and wrapping, and buying, etc. What more could you ask for than food and family? At the risk of getting too cheesy, I'll just list a few things I'm thankful for.
1. My husband, Cabe. He works SO hard for us, and it means a lot to me. We definitely aren't filthy rich, but we're making it, and we're so blessed. I try and remind myself all the time how so many young couples don't have the wonderful opportunities that we do. I am grateful that he loves his job as much as he does. I feel guilty sometimes, that he's going to have to work for the good part of his life, while I will be at home with our kids, but it would be so much more difficult if he didn't have the passion that he does. He's incredibly good to me, always thinking about ways to make me happy or smile, or laugh. We are certainly never bored, and that's mostly because of him, and I love him so much. We argue, we fight, we're stubborn, but I love him, and don't know where I'd be without him.

2. My wonderful family. And extended family. I pretty much count them as my immediate. We're all so very close (in proximity as well) and it's so fun to be able to get together with everyone and be able to have fun with each other. As most everyone does, I think my family is the BEST, and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I've got 3 great younger sisters (Freak, Special & Princess....) who teach me a lot, far more than I ever do them. My parents are so wonderful, always supportive and loving, and incredibly generous. I love you guys!

3. I'm also really grateful to be living in this country. We enjoy so many freedoms that I don't even think we realize, I certainly don't. Just watching the news every day reminds me of how blessed we are. We've got food at our fingertips, warm secure homes, and the freedom to choose our occupation and our religion. It's certainly not a perfect country, but I love it, and feel incredibly blessed.

4. I am very grateful for my religion. There was a time in my life that I probably wouldn't have mentioned it, but thankfully I've grown up, and have seen the many blessings that come to me from living it. I know where I came from, I know why I'm here, and I know where I'm going, and that's so comforting. Caleb and I have been incredibly blessed since we've been married. I honestly KNOW that the only reason we made it those first few months, was because of our faith in our church, and the tithing we pay. I remember looking at our expenses and the money that was coming in, and we were ALWAYS short. Hundreds of dollars short. But we made it, we never paid our bills late, and here we are today, in a much better situation. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel, and the comfort it brings to me every day.

5. Friends! I have wonderful, wonderful friends. From all walks of my life, and each one means so much to me. Since we've moved away from our family, our friends in Oregon have become like family. We lean on each other, we support each other, we're just THERE for each other, and it makes it so much easier to be away from home. I've known a few of my best friends since I was 5 and 6, and I love how accepting we are of each other. They've been there for me through most of my life, and they KNOW me. They know me, and all my weaknesses, and they're still my best friends. :) How great is that?! It's a wonderful blessing, that I know not everyone has, and for that I am incredibly lucky.

And.........here's where the cheesiness ends. I know, I know, it was rough in there, but it's all true. I am insanely lucky, and I have so many people to thank for it. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was full of good food, and good family.

And for real....the cheesiness? It's truly over. For real. No like, I'm serious. For real.