Computer Troubles and The Food Network

My computer has been down for the last few days. It suddenly froze, and then after I turned it off, it wouldn't turn back on. So I had a friend walk me through a few things, and let it rest, and it seems to work just fine now.

Meanwhile, Danny was sick yesterday. It is odd, I have gotten used to his independence, but yesterday all he wanted to do was be held and cuddled with while we sat on the couch. Needless to say, I didn't get much done yesterday. I couldn't wait for Scott to get home, cause then he could hold him while I moved around. My body doesn't like sitting all day long.

When there isn't alot of things on during the day, you find some interesting shows. I watched the Food Network most of the day, and gained a new zest for cooking. My favorite shows were Paula Dean and Rachel Ray. Rachel's was very fun, and what I like - 30 minute meals! Meanwhile, I find Paula Dean absolutely adorable. She loves food, and doesn't hold back on the butter, it is beautiful!

As soon as the computer started working last night, I got online and started looking up cookbooks. I haven't actually purchased any yet, but I have a few in my shopping cart that I am considering. If there are any cookbooks that you have found amazingly useful, please let me know.

Danny's Easter Egg Hunt!

Finally! This evening we hid the eggs, and got to enjoy helping our boy find his candy.

Oops! An Egg Burst open, and the Jelly Beans

went Everywhere!

Easter, and how I almost forgot this year. . .

So this weekend was a little crazier than normal. Scott had Friday and Saturday off, so we decided to make a big weekend out of it. Our Anniversary is tomorrow (the 25th) so we thought we would celebrate it during his days off. The original plan was to drop Danny off at Scott's Brother's house and go to the temple in the morning, with a nice lunch at Olive Garden. Then have our monthly appointment with the Midwife (we were already in St. George and wanted to take advantage of the trip.) Then we were going to stay with Bill and Amber (Scott's Brother's Family) that night. In the morning we were going to take it easy and then go to the Hurricane Car Show around noon, and then go home after that. Not the most romantic, but we were both super excited. After spending more than we thought we would on getting into our house, we decided to be more economical this year.

Needless to say, I didn't really give Easter a second thought. Sure, I went to the store and saw the candy. I even bought a basket for Danny and some goodies to put into it. It just never really dawned on me that Easter was this weekend too. After all, our anniversary was always BEFORE Easter! isn't it? Apparently there is more to timing and Easter than I thought. It is like: the first Sunday after some Equinox followed by the full moon. . . yada yada.

Friday dawned beautifully, and we prepared for a weekend of fun. Just as we were gathering our belongings, Scott got a call. A customer absolutely HAD to buy a car today. This is the flexibility required in his profession, and thinking that it would be a fast deal, Scott went into the dealership while I rearranged our schedule. We put our appointment back to 4:30pm, and hoped to leave by 11am instead. Meanwhile, I cleaned the house up a little more and played with Danny.

At 11:30, Scott called me. His customer had to talk to his wife, and would call him within the hour. Meanwhile, should we meet him in town so we could just take off, and we might as well have lunch with him too. We met at the local Walmart (I realized that our air mattress had disappeared in the move, and we needed a new one) and went to eat lunch at the McDonalds there. Then we drove in separate cars to the dealership, where we put everything into the little Pontiac we would be taking on the trip. Finally, after 3pm, the customer calls and said that he didn't want the vehicle after all, and much frustrated that he wasted our time, we left.

We didn't have the time to drop Daniel off in Hurricane or it would have made us really late, we went to the Midwifes and made it just in time. Amber needed us at her house by 6pm, because she was singing for her ward's Relief Society Birthday Party, and Scott had agreed to babysit while she and I went to it. So we didn't have time for the temple that day either. The Birthday Party was lovely, the most decorated I have ever seen. The ladies put so much work into it, I am glad I went, mostly because there where only a handful of women who showed up. It was really sad. That much work obviously took the women in charge all day to put together.

Saturday dawned, warm, beautiful, and WINDY! I hadn't brought jackets because it didn't even cross my mind that we would need them in the Warm Southern Utah region. While the temperature gage told us it was a balmy 73 degrees, the wind chill factor required an additional layer. So we went to Old Navy to get some sweatshirts. We ate with the Overson family at Golden Corral and enjoyed each others company. Daniel loved being with his cousins. (unfortunately I don't have any pictures, because I forgot our camera.)

The car show was awesome, there where some beautiful cars there. Daniel loved it! He has been extremely into cars lately, watches Disney's Cars everyday, and gets so excited whenever he sees one. Driving with him is alot of fun. The only thing he didn't like was that he couldn't touch any of the cars. After being outside in the glorious sun and the horrible wind for over 3 hours, we called it a day and went back to my in-laws house. As soon as we got inside, we felt an instant release. It is amazing how much your muscles have to stiffen to keep you stable in the wind, especially your neck. We were all sunburned, tired, and ready to relax. Scott and Bill watched I Am Legend, while Amber and I talked about all sorts of fun things. We really enjoy being over there.

Sunday found us at home and sleeping in, until Danny woke us up. Scott had an early meeting, so we weren't able to do our hunting for eggs then. It was my sister's birthday on Saturday, so the whole family was gathering on Sunday to celebrate. I figured we would bring the candy filled eggs and let Danny hunt for them in the grass after church.

We were all ready to leave when my Mother-In-Law called. She wanted to know if we were coming for Easter Dinner. To be honest, I was completely thrown. I probably babbled like an idiot who was caught completely off guard. This was the first I had heard anything about an Easter Dinner. In fact, I had heard that my Father-In-Law was sick, so I hadn't really planned much more than stopping in and saying "Hi!" and "We Love You!" All I said was that we had church till 4, and she said "Okay, we will see you then!" and that was it. I must have had this completely stunned look, cause Scott asked what was wrong. I started panicking and planning at the same time. How to juggle the two hours of daylight after church to make things work. Scott helped me calm down, and we decided to go to his parent's house first, cause my family would be able to wait to eat ice cream and cake until we got there. Meanwhile, we would probably have to postpone the egg hunt till Family Home Evening.

After that, my stress was over. We went to church, where I taught some extremely sugar hyper 6 year olds, and then went to my In-Laws. I really enjoy going over there, especially when Scott's brother and his family are there also. We chatted, and had a nice time. Then we went on to my family's where we sang Happy Birthday to Chalae (who is now 13) and crashed into bed at the late hour of 9:30pm.

Mom has Joined Us!

My mother has joined the blogging world! I have been trying to help her do it for awhile, and she has finally made her first post. Enjoy!

http://cherielogan.blogspot.com/

Writers, Readers, and Critics

I have read a great deal in my mere 27 years. I consider myself a lover of books, and I feel lost without a book close to me. My husband can tell if I haven't picked a book up for awhile, apparently I start speaking less educated or something. I have read Great Books, Good Books, Okay Books, and Lousy Books. I have been surprised by the beauty of a story, and I have wondered how an author ever got published.

I have noticed that most of the Prize Winning Authors are depressing, inappropriate, and not worth the paper they are written on. Best Sellers are a different matter entirely. I think that this clearly shows the difference between whether a writer is considered a good writer, and whether they what they write touches people. Many of the Prize Winning Authors are considered (by some unknown writing judges) to be excellent writers, they are applauded by the uniqueness of their stories and get little awards they can print on their books. I never read them unless a dear friend tells me they are good. I have a friend who used to think that the only books worth reading HAD to be in this category, and she tried over and over to find one. She would buy the book only to find she couldn't handle more than the first chapter. (I might be exaggerating, but it sure seemed that way to me.) She finally gave up, and began reading what really interested her instead, and I think she found a lot more value in those books.

I have a friend who is a writer. I love everything she produces, but most of the things she does she feels is crap. I have learned something interesting in my years of reading, that there are critics and there are lovers. The critics of writing will pick a piece apart: it is cliche, overdone, everyone writes like this, the grammar was horrible, etc. Then there are the lovers, they take a piece of writing as it was intended. They know good writing when they see it, and allow it to touch their hearts. There is no such thing as a topic that has been explored too much, a plot that has been overused, or a feeling that has been pursued too deeply. Great writers evoke emotion in their audience. They bring you into their stories and you embrace their characters like old friends.

I think it is silly that there might be too much written about a topic. There is nothing new under the sun. In our hundreds of years of writing every human (and some non-human) emotion has been explored. Does that mean that we should stop? Can no one tell us more about love, or share a plot that hasn't been done by someone else? I hear all the time, "That story was just like the Lord of the Rings. Same plot, what is the point?" If by same plot they mean that Evil is rampant and a group of people set out to fight it, then most Fantasy is old and boring. Most Westerns have a bad guy, a good guy, and a gun fight. Yet I watched my Grandfather Logan passionately read everything by Louis L'Amour. I have read dozens of financial books, and many of them repeat the same principles over and over, but I find each one brings a new perspective that helps me. Every Romance involves a couple who discover through the story that they care for each other. (And while that particular branch of writing is filled with things I would never read, there are some wonderfully clean and enjoyable ones that I love.) Every poet discusses love, pain from rejection, and the emotions of life. Even my Grandmother Brown's favorite, Edgar A. Guest whose poetry embraced the beauty of a good life, had some like that.

The biggest point I want to make in this blog is to never take critics too seriously. If your passion is writing, then write. Improve yourself, definitely. If you listen to a critic with only half an ear, you might learn something useful, such as "the word you should use in that instance is borrow and not barrow." Do not be afraid to explore the depth and breadth of human feeling, and never be worried about writing an overdone plot. Anything written well will be re-exploring an overwritten emotion and an overdone plot.

Book Tag

I was tagged by my good friend Rinda, but I didn't notice it until today.

The Book MeMe--Directions: pick up the nearest book. Open to page 123. Type the fifth sentence on the page.

"Thomas has seen Miranda use that spell before," James said.

-Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

Not a very impressive sentence for this book, I was slightly tempted to cheat and type one a few sentences later.

For those of you who don't know, I adore reading. I especially enjoy Fantasy and the wonderful, clean, Regency Romances. My good friend calls them Candy Books, and I couldn't agree more, except that I think there is more value in them than a chunk of sugar. Patricia C. Wrede is one of my favorite Fantasy authors. I grew up on her books Dealing with Dragons, and reccomend them to anyone, especially mothers trying to encourage their girls to read. So it was only natural that when I saw she had a new book (it had been awhile since the last one) I automatically purchased it.

Sorcery and Cecelia has a different format. It started as Patricia C. Wrede and her friend, Caroline Stervermer, began a writing game. The person who starts the game chooses the setting, as well as the names of the two corresponders. The only rule is that they are not allowed to reveal the plot beyond what is said in the letter. After there correspondence reached an enjoyable conclusion, these two Authors realized they had a book on thier hands. So they published it (I am sure, after a little editing.)

So anyways, My turn to do some tagging:

Michelle
Chamrie
Susan
Jenny
Marilyn

The Joys of Having a Table

Today, as I was pondering upon my many blessings, I thought with gratitude about the table I have in my dining room.

When Scott and I were first married, our little one bedroom apartment was pretty small, and we didn't have a table. We ate on the couch, and enjoyed cuddling while we consumed. My father took pity on us poor folk, and bought us a table. The table cost him $5, he bought it from the Young Women's Auction his ward holds every year. With the middle leaf taken out, it fit snugly into our apartment, and allowed us to entertain our friends. It came without chairs, but we borrowed some from my mother.

When we started managing Academy Square, we moved into a partially furnished apartment. It came with a little table and four chairs. So we stored our table at my parent's house, in their basement. For a year and a half, the table was used for family parties, crafts, and school.

Then we moved into Chamrie's house, expecting to only stay with her for a few weeks. We thought it was silly to drag the house from Enoch, only to bring it back again, so we decided we could go without a table for a little bit. Those weeks turned into months. I realized how important a kitchen table really is.

Scott and I fared okay without it, but Danny didn't have a place to sit and eat his food. He isn't coordinated enough to hold a plate in one hand and eat with the other. So we ended up just feeding him off of our plates. This style of eating, while great when they are just tasters, doesn't really make a two year old eat his food. He would grab a bite, then play, then grab another one and play some more.

What a blessing it is to have a table that I can place him, and he can focus completely on eating. He actually eats real meals now! When he is done feeding himself, we clean him up, and he runs off to play! It is so nice, I was worried that he wasn't getting enough food before, but now. . . no problemo.

Two Week Update!

We have been in our home nearly two weeks now! We love it here. Daniel is sleeping in his own room, and didn't have any trouble with the transition. Buster has become the gaurd dog I didn't think he was. He barks when the repair guys come over, and if we are not home, is very loud and even growls! How different from his laid back personality. I never saw him do that when we were at my sister's house. Apparently he knows the difference, and feels that this is HIS domain.

We are finally hooked up with internet, all the utilities are in our name, and we have a key to the mailbox. We are finding little things that need to be fixed, and keeping an ongoing list that we submit to our builder. All sorts of little things can get overlooked in a large project. . . like a house. For example: We moved in and discovered that the dishwasher didn't work. The appliance guys installed it, but apparently the electrician has to plug it in. Then we got our DSL all set up this monday, only to find that the electrician hadn't plugged the outside line into the inside line, so we weren't up and running for internet until today.

Since being in Enoch, Scott and I have gotten several callings. We are Primary Teachers for the 6-7 year olds. We are the Youth Conference Coordinators. Scott is the Secretary for the Missionary Committee in the Elders Quorum, and we are both Home and Visiting Teachers. Add to that the meeting the Bishop called us into tonight at 8:30pm and we are going to be very busy folks.

Scott wants to start putting pictures up and decorating, but I want to wait and focus on one room at a time. I have a blank canvas, and I want to paint it fresh!