Decorated Door

So we had a door decorating contest at work this last week. Of course poor Tyler got recruited into helping me. Above you see the completed work. Too bad I didn't win... although I was runner up and was awarded "best special effects."

The 12 Days...

Click to enjoy a little slice of Christmas, muppet-style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDBMzGq1vhs

(Can't remember again how to embed YouTube videos.... help, anyone?)

And when she was good, she was very, very good

... and when she was bad she was horrid!


So, I TOTALLY junked it this weekend, like to ridiculous levels. I have thus decided to do a 24-days until Christmas goal. I am going to DRASTICALLY LIMIT (as in going for none here) the random sugar and carb intake, although I will allow myself "formal" dessert occasions, i.e. dessert night, Nan's going away party. So, if you all really are my friends, help me out here: No. Junk. Food. (Kristen...brownies... ahem). Anyone want to join me in my insanity? It ends Christmas Eve evening, because must have Christmas cookies and milk on Christmas Eve.

Girliness

So, on Saturday I went with about a dozen girls and saw this. Afterwards, a few of us went to eat here. Unfortunately didn't get any pics of the big group at the movie, but caught a few at the restaurant afterward. Thanks all for a fun time (even if the movie was corny!)

My Trip Home

Just a few pics from the Veteran's day trip I took home. It was a quick (flew out Friday / back on Monday) trip, but nice all the same.

Maren and the kids came down. Mariah waited up until almost midnight to see me. She was so tired she was falling asleep on her feet!


We took them to the Bean museum at BYU.


They put on a "show" for us later in the evening, which mostly consisted of them doing headstands off the bed.


Corban, being the mature man he is, got in on the action (with encouragement from Maren - they used to do stuff like this all the time as kids).

I'm still here....

..just give me time :)

Disneyland

A fun day...

Apparently I am married to Joe the Plumber:

Living Room Part 2

So, as promised, here is my living room in all it's painted glory.

Random Tags

Nanette decided it would be fun to have a random picture moment. The photo tag is post your forth picture in your fourth file. Well, my fourth file only has one picture:



And no, I have no idea why Tyler took a picture of himself in our office in his gym clothes. So then I went to the next file where I could get a fourth picture, resulting in this:



My brother-in-law Zach (hanging off the truck), his wife Alyse, and my youngest BIL Rhett (who is now on a mission).

Marissa, apparently tagged me in September, but I just noticed last night. So, here you have it.

The rules of the tag are as follows:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let the person know you tagged them on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when you've posted.

Random Thing #1: I love feeling like I have got a bargain. Even if I still pay a lot of money for it. For example, I didn't buy my video Ipod until the next gens came out so I could buy the old model on sale. I still spent a couple hundred on it, but you know, I felt good that I paid less than Ty did for his. I also love going into "store closing" sales. I usually don't buy anything because by the time I walk in all the good stuff is gone and they are down to leopard print pants in a size 22, but you know, its the chance that I may come upon something I can't live without.

Random Thing #2: I don't like trying to make small talk with people I don't know. Ironic, considering what I do for a living. However, I prefer hanging out with people I already know, preferably in small enough groups I can talk to everyone. I have never been a big, go mingle with a huge crowd of people at a party kinda gal. I usually make 3-5 close friends at any regular gathering point (school, work, church, etc.) and then hold on to them forever.

Random Thing #3: When I was a kid, I was Hanna-Barbera. Now I am Hannah Montana. Hannah Banana, with all its variations (bananas in pajamas, banana queen, etc.) is also still an all time favorite. Oh, and Tyler periodically calls me Lisa Simpson, for reasons that are fairly obvious.

Random Thing #4: I don't like the number 4. Especially when I am eating something - like crackers. I will eat 3 or 5. This isn't some kind of obsessive-compulsive thing; I CAN stop at 4. Although, if I think about it, my mom always used to give us snacks, like crackers in groups of four at a time, so maybe there is some unresolved childhood issues there...

Random Thing #5: I have never been stung by a bee / or wasp. As a result I am terrified of being stung. Making it worse, one sibling is allergic while the other is perfectly fine.

Random Thing #6: I love to read - okay that part isn't random. However, what I want to read (or watch for that matter) is usually based on how stressed out I am. For example, when I was in graduate school I read pretty much exclusively young adult chic-lit and fantasy. I also watched the entire 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in between my first and second years. Oh, and somewhat connected, I have all three seasons of Fraggle Rock that are now out on DVD. "Dance your cares away..."

Okay. Tagging: Kristen, Nanette, Karelenn, Robin, McKenna, Erin

Adventures in LA

I made plans to go with a friend to dinner on Thursday night. Since she is much more politically minded than I she suggested we find somewhere we could watch the V.P. debate. Sounded like fun. So, she looked on LA City Guide and we found a place downtown that was showing the debate. I can't remember the name, but it was near 2nd and Figeroa, for the locals. ANYWAY. We get there and it is a DIVE! but has an A rating, so we figure we are at least not going to get food poisoning. Our waiter asks if we called about watching the debate, and we said yes. He led us to a table. He was all bitter that we the manager had approved the debate rather than the Dodger playoff game. This makes us somewhat uncomfortable, since we think we are the only two there to watch the debate and don't want to alienate the entire restaurant. So, when he comes back we ask him about this and he gets a confused look and asks if we are with the party of 25. When we say no, he tries to get us to move tables (ours was prime seating in front of a big TV). We say No Way, and he gets all whiney about how hard we are making his life (NOT the greatest service). Then a guy at the next table over shouts out that we can join his party, since he made the reservations. Introductions all around. So, then the debate starts and we have to move anyway to be closer to the TV to actually hear it. Luckily the manager was cool and brought out a little table for us. The debate itself was great. Lots of cheering and clapping for Biden (yes, room full of bleeding heart liberals) and mockery of Palin's "shout-out" to her local Alaska third graders.

And the night gets better...


Dropping said friend off at her car, when my car starts to smoke. Open up the hood and the radiator is spewing liquid. Tyler is working and I can't reach him, so I call the towing company that is part of our travel club membership. (It's now 10 o'clock at night, and I am downtown, not in the best part of LA, and certainly not the kinda place to want to have your car die in.) My friend waited around while I worked out details, and we walked together into the lobby of the building where she works that has 24-hour security guard service so I could wait for the tow truck. She left. Luckily, Tyler called 10 minutes later and I decided to try to baby my car home. I make it. Take the day off work, take the car to the mechanic. He keeps it overnight. Get a call this morning - He Can't Find ANYTHING wrong with it... Maybe its a sign.

LA can be fascinating. Today is Rosh Hashanah , or, the Jewish New Year. Today as I drove to work and again as I came home I saw a bunch of people in traditional dress (prayer shawls, kippahs/yarmulkes , etc.) walking to I assume temple services. I know next to nothing about Jewish holidays, but I appreciate the effort it takes to follow observances. After all, Mormons have a pretty good handle on certain practices that others find strange. :) I appreciate the moments that remind me what a diverse city I live in.

Retail Therapy

So, Tyler is working at least 6 days a week for about 15 hours a day. ICK! Which means I have a lot of alone time on my hands. Probably too much alone time. So, what did I do this weekend? I did something very patriotic and helped the economy.
I purchasing some of these (well, something like these):



and some of these (nothing Argyle tho'):



and some of these (except mine are cuter):



I really wanted to get something like these, and even found a pair at DSW, but I walked away for 20 minutes and by the time I walked back my size was gone. sad!:

Remember me?

Yes. I am still alive. No. I am no longer in school and should, theoretically, have more free time. Yes. I do still plan on blogging regularly and still blog stalk friends. No. I still have no access to blogs, facebook, and email at work. AUGH! So, dear readers (especially Heather - I miss you too :)), bear with me if posts seem slow in coming. I will make more faithful efforts to present the details of my life in all its minute and boring detail.

New Project

Before:




Mock-Ups (thanks photoshop):




Will post after-pics as soon as I finish painting. Yay!

Ya Know Ya're in Alabama when...

You see a giant peach lit up in the middle of nowhere.



You see glow in the dark tombstones.




You see grasshoppers the size of frogs.



You see spiders that should be part of the zoo display hanging above them.

I feel like my right arm has been cut off. I just found out that I am not supposed to check email, surf blogs, and other such things while working. All while I am sitting in front of the computer half the day writing case notes. Some nonsense about security. How I will master this challenge, I don't know. I'll let you know, or not ...

What can I say? Sometimes you just gotta snuggle up with Shakespeare. He has after all written some of the most memorable love stories ever written...



Although Tyler thought it was better to get to know him a bit first.

So, we had another discussion last night about leaving the toilet seat up. This is the argument that trumps all others in terms of men being required to put it down:



I don't care what other argument there is. Nothing is worse than falling into toilet water in the middle of the night!

A Happy Song

seriously, how can you not love the 60's when you hear this :)

Welcome to my job:

In case you didn't already know: We have had a new addition to our family:

The Joy

The Love

So, I'm down to the odds and ends of my school life, cleaning out PILES of papersthis is about HALF of what I threw away (actually, I recycled)

IMAGINE PICTURE OF STIPENDCHECK HERE:
ACTUAL PICTURE DELETED (SEE REASON IN COMMENTS,
Thanks Kristen :)

I got a stipend this second year to help pay for school. The check was supposed to be disbursed throughout the year, but due to numerous issues I didn't get it until April. However, since it did actually come through I am now committed to working for one year for a community mental health agency. I start a week from tomorrow (Monday). I am a therapist and intake coordinator.


I am also working on applying for licensing. See my lovely "passport" quality photo to go with my application. I also had to get fingerprinted with the DOJ AND the FBI, and pass a physical which included peeing in a cup and watching as the guy tested me for drug abuse. Good times.
I also drove to the school to pick up my transcripts so they could see that I passed my classes. And, I know this is totally bragging, but I worked very hard for my perfect GPA:
4.0

Breaking into Breaking Dawn

Wednesday, Kristen decided she needed to get out of the house so that her children would live to see another day. And since the first chapter of this book is now inside a special edition of this book, we decided to use our superpowers of stealth and sneakiness to hide inside of Barnes and Noble and read it.Fortunately for us nobody seemed to notice that Kristen's sneakiness looked a bit too much like shoplifting...
Much concentration and intense reading.
And posing for pictures of course.
Missing from the photo op: neon pink shoe guy and icky butt-crack guy (due to batteries dying).

Food Storage Dilemmas

This week's project has been cleaning out my kitchen. After going through our food storage and having to throw half of it away because everything was WAY past the expiration dates, I am determined to follow the whole "eat what your store, store what you eat rule." However, this creates a big dilemma for me. I WILL NOT eat canned veggies and fruits if fresh are available. We are trying to eat more healthy, so that eliminates lots of pasta storage (and besides, Ramen is icky). I also don't want to have to rotate sugary things, so that takes out some of the stuff I have to "flavor" water and powdered milk, i.e. Nestle Quick, hot chocolate, etc. And then, of course, there is the never ending issue of space. I really hate to waste food by having to go through and throw it away every 5-8 years, but I don't know how else to store food that will actually work in an emergency. Anyone out there have any suggestions or ideas?

BEFORE
H: "So, let's spend a day or two clearing out all the extra stuff in the office."
T: "Okay. Just don't get carried away."

H: "Who me? Get carried away? Never."Probably would be easiest if I just pull everything out of the closet
and take it to the living room to go through it.

After all, two messy rooms are always better than one.And while we are at it, may as well change the entire layout of the office.

Which of course will require that we entirely gut the office...
because there certainly isn't enough stuff in the living room already.

AFTER

H: It was worth it, right?
T: Yes, yes it was.

H: Now we just need to paint...