Food, Glorious Food!

Elka, I just want you to know that I decided on this post title solely for your benefit :). And Julie, Elka said that makes her sing a song in her head, so I went to youtube to see if I could find it, and turns out... Here it is. So I guess I do rock... I made a song title for my post without even intending to!

So yesterday I got off work at 3:30 and headed to the public library to re-check Crisis and also to get a few other suggestions about medical horror books from the librarian. For one of my assignments in the Adult Services class, we have to read 5 books from a specific genre (mine is medical horror) and we are supposed to use "tools" to find these books. A librarian counts as a tool. I had already selected books on my own (Crisis and a Michael Palmer book), but figured I'd better use a tool to find the other three. The librarian with whom I ended up talking was very helpful. Somehow she started giving me authors for crime fiction (which was a tad off-topic), but I did get her to give me a book called Genreflecting, which suggests books in various genres, so that was helpful. And at the end, she wanted me to note that we did NOT use the Internet, but rather that we used the library catalog, print books, and good old-fashioned librarian know-how. A little extreme of her to be so adamant about it, I think. But she wanted me to note it, so I'm noting it here :). For your benefit. So, I have 2 new authors to read: John Saul (an author I'd always intended to try out, just for my own information), and Patricia Cornwell. I've actually read a lot of Cornwell's earlier books. So I couldn't remember the last one I read, and I was trying to guess. Well, the one I picked out I have already read (back in 2003), so I will have to swap that out later. But the important thing is that I have her as an author to read. Oh, and although adding stuff like this is what makes my posts notoriously never-ending, I will add this: While I was the Ashford Branch Librarian, I was doing a lot of reading. This was helpful, because I was able to recommend books to patrons, etc. So, my goal was to read at least one book from each of the incredibly popular authors, just so I'd have a feel for their writing-style, etc. That's why I say John Saul was an author I always intended to try. I even tried Danielle Steele, although I wasn't very impressed with her writing. But hey, she (or her 'team of writers' - we librarians are sure she has a team of writers) cranks out about 4 to 5 books a year and they are always on the best-seller lists. So, I felt it would behoove me to be at least vaguely familiar with her books.

But, as usual, I digress... So I did do some more note-taking last night. I don't know, I'm disillusioned with my topic so far. I thought I was going to be researching the service of things like bibliographic instruction and offering free computer classes at the public library. But the topic my professor says that all falls under is information literacy, which, from what I've read so far, is something akin to "learning how to learn." Not exactly what I was anticipating. So, I have emailed the instructor to see if I'm even on the right track. But I need to get on the right track soon if I'm not, because I have to present my findings to the class next Thursday. Yikes! I also read more of Crisis. I also talked to Elka. It was nice to get a phone call out of the blue. And Elka cracks me up anyway. So she was driving around and is about to go on base, so she has to show her ID. So she tells me she's about to put the phone down and go through the gate. So I'm like, "Okay." So then I hear about a minute of silence. And then I hear Elka again, "Hi!" And so I say back, "Hi!" Because I'm thinking she's playing around. And then I hear her say, "How are you doing?" And I still think she's playing, so I playfully say back, "Well, I'm just dandy." And then I hear her say something else unrelated to my response and it suddenly occurs to me that she is not even talking to me; that she can't hear any of my responses; and that she is talking to the guard at the gate. I'm such a dork. So I told her about this when she got back on the phone and she laughed. So then a few minutes later, she goes, "Oh, hold on. I have to go through another guard gate." So I'm like, "Okay." Now, you would think I'd have it together this time. But you'd be wrong. I hear some silence. Then I heard, "Hi!" And I say, "Hi!" Luckily, this time, I figured it out faster... But seriously. What is my problem? I guess I just expected her to simply show her ID without talking ;). Which would mean that, if she was talking again, she was talking to me :).

While talking to Elka, I went and made dinner. I decided I wanted to use up more of my red bell pepper that I had bought for the pinwheels I made the night April was over. Because seriously, what is the deal with red bell pepper costing so much more than green bell pepper? And the taste is not the same, so I don't really think you can always just interchange them. Like I don't think the green bell pepper would taste as good on those pinwheels. But I never use the whole pepper, and the one I bought in December, I only used about 1/3 of it and ended up having to throw the rest away. I didn't want to do that this time. So, I decided I'd make chicken quesadillas. So I used canned chicken, green onions, red bell pepper, tortillas, and cheese (of course, this is a given if you know anything about Mexican food or me). Now, it was an experiment, since I'd never done it before. And I wasn't following a recipe. But this is how it looked when it was all said and done. Oh, and I made a total of 4 of them, because we ran out of cheese...Not too bad if I do say so myself. I probably should have cut it in half again to make the triangle wedges, but it was just me, so this was good enough. And actually, it's quite healthy, all things considered. The cheese probably puts it a little closer to unhealthy, but you have to have dairy, right? And I have to have cheese. And then I finally got around to eating this chocolate creme thing that April brought me when she came for girls' night.
Sorry for the blurriness of it, but I was trying to zoom in. But you get the drift. Like how I took a picture after I took my first bite? And I bet you also like how I made a visual contrast by propping the package up against and placing the pie in front of the two vitamin bottles behind it. I think I will name this particular piece "Naughty and nice." Okay, not for nothing, but I crack myself up. Oh yeah, and so, between the yummy chocolate creme pie thing last night and this delicious Publix bakery cheese Danish that Virginia just dropped off at my cube, I would have to say that I feel I'm well on my weigh to recovering from that 1.8 pounds gained last week... And no, that was not a misspelling.

And finally... Well, let me first interject this statment: I was going to put a remember-when story in this post, because I've been jotting them down whenever I think of them. And I have some doozies. But, as you can see, I have gone on and on long enough. So I will leave you with one final thought. My co-worker William informed me that NKOTB (and if you do not know what this stands for, you have not been reading my blog sufficiently, because I have educated you on this before...) has announced a reunion tour. I know, I know!! Several of you are probably fighting fainting right now at the thought of this! At first I did not believe him, because I couldn't find evidence of its truth. But now I know it is true. They have not, however, announced a date. Which is tragic. I bet there's a good chance they might have gone to B'ham. Of course, there's probably an even better chance they'll hit Seattle. And yes, I am seriously considering this. So, their website is here. Okay, I just spoke with William and he said the official announcement (which will have the dates, I assume) is not supposed to come until February. Which is tomorrow, but I'm sure it's not the 1st of February. Anyway, I went to that website last night, and it's totally useless. You can sign up to receive exclusive information (but I'm not giving them my mobile #, so forget that) and you can watch 2 videos. One of which is Hangin' Tough. So "listen up everybody if you wanna take a chance"...I don't know about you, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! And don't forget to wave your hands like they do :).

Brutal Teeth-Cleaning, etc.

Well, yesterday was my 6-month dental visit. I must say, that was the most brutal teeth cleaning of my life! I'm pretty sure she scraped away quite a bit of my flesh, and then she goes, "just brush your gums a little more and floss daily and that bleeding should go away." Either that or just don't let your dental hygienist scrape away actual flesh. I think that would cause bleeding in even the healthiest gums. Anyway, she complemented my teeth and just told me to floss daily (which I will admit, I am lousy at flossing... I just get lazy). Then the actual dentist came in and looked at my teeth. He was like, "Your teeth look good. The tissues look good" (talking about my gums). So then she inserts her comments about the bleeding gums. Yeah, I'm thinking she just did a cleaning that was a little on the brutal side. Haha. She was super-nice though. And I will also say that I think I've never had my teeth feel cleaner than when she was done with them. Oh yeah, she was particularly rough around one of my crowns, which is when I usually freak out. I have this major fear of having my crowns fall out again. Every so often, I actually have dreams about my teeth. Usually they are not good dreams. Usually all of my teeth start getting loose and start falling out and I can literally feel the spot where my tooth used to be and it feels very real. Yuck. And I'm always freaking out in the dream. Of course, at least I'm not alone in this. That was one of the things April and I discussed at our girls' night last week. She has dreams like that too. How weird.

Anyway, I was also able to go to Tuesday's Institute day class. That was cool. I had to leave early, though, to head to the dentist. Oh, and one of the girls in the class brough German chocolate cupcakes, and, of course, I couldn't resist. Even though I was about to go to the dentist. After the dentist, I went home and pretended to be a student by taking notes on one of my books for my 18 page paper. That book was not very helpful to me. Oh well. And then I worked on reading more of Robin Cook's Crisis. I'll tell you what... I used to whip through fiction books. I don't know what the deal is lately. I just have been taking a long time to read books! For example, I'm going to have to go renew this book, because it's due Friday and I'm nowhere near done! How pitiful! I made some hamburgers for dinner and then went to Institute night class.

So after Institute, after I was home and after Stefanie got home, Stefanie decided she wanted to deliver some banana bread to our neighbor next door. Yeah, shirtless guy. Since she used the sugar she borrowed from him to make the banana bread, she wanted to share some. So she wanted me to go with her. I was like, "No! I don't want to go!" She kept insisting and I kept declining. Meanwhile, she's trying to find a ribbon to put around it to make it pretty and so we are standing in the kitchen talking and laughing about this, because I told her she's going to give this guy the wrong impression that she's hitting on him (I mean, she already made him aware of the fact that she noticed him without his shirt...). So we are just cracking up and then she goes, "I wonder if he can hear us!" And I said, "Nah. We can't hear him." So I finally conceded to walk out there with her (it was freezing outside by this point and I was in short sleeves) and she knocked on the door and it was opened immediately. And he had meat in his hands, so maybe he had been in the kitchen and heard us talking after all! Too funny. Anyway, I just hung back, barely in view, since I guess I was just there for "moral support." I pointed out to Stef that she hadn't needed company while going over to borrow the sugar. She wasn't buying it. Anyway, so Stefanie goes, "Hi! We just wanted to say thanks for the sugar by bringing you over some of the banana bread we baked with it!" And he takes the bread (wrapped in saran and decorated with a pretty purple lace bow) and says, "Oh awesome! Thanks!" And then we leave. So then, once inside our apartment, I made the observation that he sure did open the door quickly and that he might very well have heard our whole conversation in the kitchen. Stefanie was mortified. And then she goes, "I need to learn social skills! I sounded like such a dork! I think I am socially inadequate!" Oh we could not stop laughing. Probably it was funnier in person, and not nearly as funny while I'm telling it. But it was hilarious. Oh, and Stefanie has told me she owes me her participation in an embarassing event, since I went with her to deliver the banana bread to shirtless guy. Who was wearing a shirt, by the way.

So, we had an unseasonably warm day yesterday, coupled with rain. I think it was a high around 70 degrees. But the rain, of course, brought in the cold again. And last night, when I left Institute, the wind was blowing so hard! It sounded like more rain, but it was just the wind. And I have heard this morning that a lot of people lost power due to the wind. Luckily we did not. And so, here we are, back at work. And, I forgot my watch this morning. This is truly a tragedy, as I tend to be governed by time. I am sure I will look at my wrist about 50 times today and discover I do not have my watch...

Deep Thoughts on Family

Well, I was sitting at work yesterday and my dad called to tell me that my brother-in-law's mother had been found dead. My brother-in-law, Nick, is only 23. How do you deal with such news at that age? Well, really, how do you ever deal with that news? I cannot fathom it, nor do I want to. I realize that, in the natural course of things, I will likely one day receive such a phone call, if I'm not the one making it. But I do not anticipate that day. Although Nick and I have never had any "heart-to-hearts," he is my brother-in-law. He is a part of our family, and I love him, and I ache for him.

I know I have put a couple of quotes up from the "Sunscreen Song" in the past. In fact, one of them was yesterday. But he gives two very wonderful pieces of advice about family:
1. Get to know your parents; you never know when they will be gone for good.
2. Be nice to your siblings. They're the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

I have realized that the opportunity I am having to be the one of his four children that is closest to my dad is giving me the chance to get to know my father in a really unique way. I know that there will be a day when I will cherish this opportunity. Not that I don't cherish it now.... But there will be a day when I really understand just how much of a blessing it is to have had this time with him when it has just been the two of us. Similarly, it was a wonderful opportunity to be with just my mom and my cousin and aunt (another mom-and-daughter team) just a couple of months ago. I got to see my mom interact with her own sister and I got to know a side of her that existed long before I was born - that of "sister". As for sibling relationships... I have come to truly cherish those in the past few years. I have come to recognize the wisdom in my dad's desire that we be close to each other as brothers and sisters; that we not allow petty things to drive us apart and not have a relationship with each other. And I am happy to be able to say that we have been successful in that. Yes, even now we still have our disagreements and tiffs. But they are easily mended. And in times like this, when a tragedy occurs, we rally around each other and support the one in need. That is family.

While I have focused on immediate family and how we support each other, the reality is that it isn't just immediate family. Because the pattern is set. It is a chain. A chain that brings in everyone: cousins, aunts, uncles, fifth cousins twice-removed :). Although I now perceive my immediate family to be my parents and my siblings, the truth is that one day I will (I hope) have a family of my own. And then perhaps they would be defined as my "immediate" family. But does that negate my other "immediate" family? I wouldn't think so. So then I would have 2 "immediate" families. Only, really, it's not "families"; it's family. We are all one big immediate family. Because we are connected. The family is the basic unit of society. All of humanity can be broken down into families who are all connected to each other. Which means, in order to fix our societal problems, we need to start in our families... But that is another topic altogether.

I don't know... I guess I have done a lot of rambling. Maybe family has just been on my mind a lot lately, what with the family reunion planning, with my anticipation for getting to WA to be close to my mom and siblings (have to convince my dad to go there too, but again, another topic entirely), and maybe it is the passing of Nick's mother that makes me realize how none of us is promised tomorrow, and that NOW is the time to cherish our families and loved ones. Now is the time to tell them we love them, to mend broken relationships. Now is the time to remember good times with each other and to form new memories. How thankful I am to belong to my family. Not just my mom and dad and Ben, Brad, and Christina. But also to Michelle, Sean, Tony, Royce, Tarylyn, Saria, Samuel, Benjamin, Nick, Desiree. And also Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Sue and Uncle Ernie, Aunt Hila and Uncle Harrell, El and Ka and and their two boys, the Little E Family, Aunt Nene, Uncle Mark, Jimmy Carl, Ian, and Arthur. And also to Cuchi and Grandpa, Aunt Susie, Tatiana and her family, Gregory, Jenny and Jaina... And the list goes on and gets larger the farther I go back. As we grow and get married, we bring more into the family. They become just as much a part of us (and we of them) as we already were to each other. It is amazing to me. I am in awe of the genius of the family. How grateful I am for my family. For all of them. And how grateful I am to know that we can be a family forever.

Hot [Me] in the City...

...and suburbia.

First off, let me say that, beyond having this song pop into my head as a post title, and beyond the connection that I just survived driving in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the Southeast, this song (which you can listen to here) does not have anything to do with me or my life. Also, I should add that I really am not conceited. I told Brad (who called me while I was hauling booty back home yesterday) I was going to make this my blog post title and, once again, he laughed and said, "You sure are conceited." I'm really not. But it fit, and it made me smile, so I thought I'd do it ;).

It was a cold and overcast morning when I awoke from my slumber and... Haha, totally kidding. It was cold Saturday morning. It was overcast as well. But really, who says slumber? (Other than in connection with "slumber party.") Okay, so I got on the road around 8:15 Saturday morning. I had to stop for gas, but other than that, I was just cruisin'. You know you're getting close to Atlanta when you start seeing a bunch of lanes on the Interstate. Once I hit 4 lanes, I knew I was getting close. I was nervous, I must admit. I've been to Atlanta before, but have never driven in Atlanta. I was always a passenger. I really like driving into downtown Atlanta and seeing the huge buildings. It's just so cool to me. So, I attempted to take pictures while driving, but it turns out I only got one (yeah, probably steer clear of me, since I am clearly pre-occupied with picture-taking while driving in an unfamiliar city in the middle of lots of traffic!). But here it is:
And that wasn't even the really crazy part! This picture actually makes it look tame. And, since it was a Saturday, it was probably much more tame than during the week. But shortly after I took this picture, this Interstate (which was already two: I-20 and I-85), merged with another major Interstate in the South: I-75. Man that was stressful. You're in the middle of 8 or so lanes just praying you don't miss your sign, and that, when you see it, you are able to get over to where you need to be to exit! At least that's what I was doing :). Man, there was some TRAFFIC. I was tense. But, I have to say I think I did well. I mean, I didn't get honked at, didn't hit anyone, didn't get hit by anyone, and I arrived at my destination in one piece. I think that spells success all the way around. So, I am woman, hear me roar! I've conquered Atlanta. And, I only missed one turn, but was able to figure it all out with the help of Emily's directions and Google maps.

So, I find Emily's apartment complex. It is nice. It is a gated community and she has given me directions for how to get into her complex. Well, turns out the directions are slightly different than she thought, so I ended up calling her and she came out and met me. Her first statement: "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here!" It was great. Ten years have not changed Emily much (I wonder how much they have changed me!). She still looks like Emily. I will say this (and sorry Emily, you will have to forgive me, but this was too funny)... I said to Emily, "Well, not to point out something sad, but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with a bunch of gray streaking through my hair!" And she laughed and said, "I know, right?" So, then we got in front of the mirror and started comparing gray streaks. Great stuff. And Emily cooked brunch (notice: a combo of breakfast and lunch, which means it's lunch, not dinner, and it also means it gives more credence to dinner, not supper, which means it's linner) and we sat down to scrambled eggs with cheese, orange juice, and pancakes. So, here's a then-and-now:
We look the same, just older :(. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and laughing and looking through pictures. It was great! Ten years (oh, have I mentioned that I had not seen Emily in almost 10 years!) is a long time on which to catch up!

So, Emily's roommate (Brittany) was house/pet-sitting for someone with whom they both (Em and Brittany) work. And Brittany had asked the homeowners if it was okay for her to have several of the teachers from the school (they all work at a private school in Atlanta) over for dinner, and the homeowners said it was no problem. So Emily and I went. Oh my goodness. Talk about gorgeous houses! Three-stories, lake out back, two-story windows in the living room that overlook the lake. Just beautiful. Emily says, "Welcome to suburbia." Sounds like a movie line (and I'm almost positive it is one). So these are just a few pictures of Emily and me in this house. In some of them, we are on the third story looking down into the living room where one of Emily's friends is taking our pictures.
And here's another picture of Emily and me up-close. I think this is a great picture of us!
So after dinner, the whole group of us went downstairs to play games. Before getting started, and while waiting on some who played the piano before going downstairs, though, we sat around and watched Brittany's new little puppy play. So here are a few of us sitting around.So from L to R is James, Kaden (the puppy), Brittany, Megan, and me. There were 6 others there who weren't in this picture: Greg, Lacy, Emily, Kendra Sue, Damon, and Joseph. They area all teachers at the school and they do a lot of hanging out together. We ended up playing Tabboo. Okay, usually I play Tabboo Jr. with Julie and Alysha. Regular Tabboo is HARD! Very hard! After this game, Emily and I left and headed home. Good-bye suburbia.

Oh oh! Side note: did you know they don't have Dunkin' Donuts in Alabama? So, I was excited about the Dunkin Donuts. So Emily and I did get some. We got the midgets :):Yes, I know they are actually called Munchkins. I did that for Julie's benefit. The first DD we went to was sold out of munchkins. How do you sell out? Just make some more! Haha. So says me :). Although, I do hae to make a confession. That box above is the 2nd box. I bought that one to bring home with me. The first box? Well, Emily and I hammered that sucker. Within 5 minutes, it looked like this (and this picture is authentic):
Worth it? Oh yes. Every single calorie.

So, back at Emily's, we got into our jammies and hunkered down on the couches in preparation for a very exciting event.The event? Kristin, you're going to love this one... Because no Nilla day is complete without something 80s. And because Emily is totally cool and actually owns these:

That's right. Jem. We watched 3 episodes of Jem. Because Jem is truly outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous. Plus, her music is contagious :). And because "me and my friends are Jem girls!" I do believe these will be future acquistions of mine. Just so you know :).

I was so sad to have to leave on Sunday. 24 hours is not sufficient time to catch up on 10 years. But it was so great. I had a Primary inservice meeting to get back to (for church), and I thought it was at 4:30. So I was doing good (hauling booty home). I had called my roomie to get her to take my black heels and a black skirt to the church for me, since I was cutting it close and knew I would need to go straight to the church. So Stefanie calls to tell me she got my message and I told her I'd be there right on time, maybe 5 minutes late, and I told her where I was. She was like, "Um, Hila. I think it starts at 4." Shoot! I had it in my mind the whole time that it started at 4:30! Well, so I was about 30 minutes late, but they ended up starting 20 minutes late, so I didn't miss much. So that was good. And we had a delicious dinner afterwards. Oh, and I bribed Stefanie with Dunkin' Donuts midgets (munchkins) for bringing me church clothes ;). Oh, and on the way home, I had to stop for gas. And when I was leaving the shopping center with the Wal-Mart and everything else, I had to stop at a 3-way Stop. Had the 3-way Stop sign and everything. Would have taken a picture if my camera hadn't been in my backpack. Haha. So funny. Ever seen one of those?

So, it was a wonderful weekend. Lots of fun, lots of laughs, lots of memories. Fears conquered, experience gained, calories galore consumed (but they didn't count, since they were all shared with friends :)), and lots of new memories created. The quote of the day is so true. There is just something wonderful about connecting with old friends and bridging those gaps. Although for some of us, there might not be a present connection, there is something wonderful about meeting up with people who share a common past and reminiscing. That said, I am seriously considering going to the Panama reunion this upcoming summer. I've never been to one, but think I should go. Something to ponder... So, hope you have enjoyed this! And don't lie. You know you were singing along to the Jem song if you are between the ages of 25 and 32.

*Update: Elka has guessed the movie quote correctly.*

Sad and Shocking News

President Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, passed away tonight.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/beloved-church-president-gordon-b-hinckley-dies-at-97

Fire at the Table

So Friday afternoon was a blast. I got off work at 11:45 and met up with my friend Virginia. She treated me to lunch at Pepito's, which is this Mexican place here. Then I took her back to the Engineering building so she could work on grading papers while I went to the post office to pick up my package. It was my semi-new coat! Yay! For picture references, you can re-visit my Tri-City Blitz posts and look at Elka's lovely gray coat. It is awesome. Very warm and snug and looks great! My first real coat :). I was so excited. Brad called me while I was doing all this. He is hilarious. And I have to add this: he's a dork :). Not for any particular reason. He just is ;). And maybe he's reading this... After that, I went and helped Virginia organize some of her papers she has to grade and then headed home to get a quick shower and get ready to go to the Temple. So Virginia and I headed over the Birmingham Temple and got there around 5:45. It was a very cold evening. So I wore my coat :). And it kept me toasty warm. After the Temple, we decided we were hungry enough to eat again (lunch was very filling), so we pulled off the Interstate and ate at a place called Jade Garden. I've really eaten a lot of Chinese and Chinese-type food recently, which is suprising :). Actually, this restaurant was very good. We got the Pu Pu Platter and some Vegetarian Chow Mein, and we split all of that. I have to say, I was impressed with the presentation of the Pu Pu Platter. It came out in the bowl in the picture and in the middle was fire! So I had to go grab my camera and take a picture! And I was able to coerce my camera into taking one more picture on dying batteries. So yay :). Oh, and according to my fortune cookie, "An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting." Hmmm... How exciting does it have to be to make a vaNILLA life more exciting? Are we talking finding a shiny new penny on the ground-exciting or finding the man of my dreams-exciting :)? Yeah, probably the penny. Because that's about all it takes to make my life exciting ;).

I will, of course, be posting numerous pictures in my next post about Atlanta. But suffice it to say, for the moment, that I survived :). When I got my shower tonight (can you tell this is totally unrelated to anything? Isn't that just so Nilla of me?), I used this conditioner that Jeni gave me a while back. She gave me several different ones and I've been making my way through them. So I finally got to this one called "Trader Joe's". Oh my gosh! You know that smell that the Jergen's lotion used to smell like? It smells like that. I LOVE that smell! It smells so good! Well, except when, in attempting to smell it some more, you squeeze the bottle to get a whiff of it and some of the conditioner comes out and goes up your nose. Then it's a bit too strong. But other than that, I LOVE the smell :). Oh, and other random story: So Stefanie comes to my room after my shower and goes, "I need some help." She was trying to put a barrette-looking clip back onto a bag of sugar. She had to borrow the sugar from the guy next door. Now, this is the guy who I think secretly wants to be an exhibitionist. He lives on the ground floor, with his huge sliding glass doors facing the parking lot, and he keeps his blinds open all the time. And, although I've never witnessed this, Stefanie says he likes to walk around without a shirt on. So we always refer to him as "shirtless guy." So Stefanie said we should invite him over for dinner some time and I was like, "Yeah, only if we post a sign that says, "No shirt, no shoes, no service." Haha. I'm so corny :). Anyway, so she borrowed this sugar from him and was like, "I don't know how to put this clip back on, it's funky! I don't want to look like an idiot when I return it!" Well, I couldn't figure it out either (turns out it's a Pampered Chef thing) (Also turns out you have to be a rocket scientist to be pampered, because neither of us could figure that barrette-looking thing out ;)). So Stefanie just returned it to him with the clip left off. Then, when she came back, she told me about having gone over to ask him if she could borrow it. Now, this is hilarious to me. She said he invited her in when he went to ge the sugar. So she went in. And she said to him, "Don't you usually not wear a shirt?" Oh Stefanie... I was like, "You asked him that!?!?" She was like, "Yeah. He laughed. Then he said, 'yeah, but it's cold now.'" Oh Stefanie... She cracks me up. What can I say?

And Tarylyn (my sis in law) created a blog! Yay! I am a good recruiter. I deserve a cookie :). Well, for now, that's all I have to say. Tomorrow, however, I will have a post replete with pictures. So, check back soon :)! I feel like I'm trying to sell something :)...

Ben-Jammin'

Okay, I do have other stories to tell, but I have been promising a post about my older brother Ben for a long time. So, I will just accumulate the stories (since most of them are "remember whens" anyway) and save them for a "rainy" day of no interesting stories.

Ben is the oldest of us four siblings. He was 9 years old when I came along, so that was quite the gap. Which is why I do not have the amount of memories shared with him as I do of Brad and me or Christina and me. By the time I was 10 or 11 and remembering stuff really well, Ben was moving to WA to go to college. But here are some stories I do remember :).Back in 1989 (December of 1989 to be more precise :)), Noriega, the Panamanian dictator, had risen to power full-force in Panama. With vested interest in Panama at the time (namely their control of the Panama Canal), the U.S. sent in troops to oust Noriega. Although this was technically not a war (it was called an operation), for all intents and purposes, it was like a war to a bunch of kids. Many people did die, including some teenagers who were out partying and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the elementary school teachers lost her husband and her son in this. And to see some of the buildings afterwards in some areas (including Ft.. Amador)... they were riddled with bullet holes. Things got so bad that toward the end of it all, right in the middle of Christmas-time, the warning level was at PML-Echo, and we were not even supposed to leave our homes. Not even in my safe little neighborhood of Cardenas, which was nestled snuggly between an Army base and an Air Force base. Now, one of the great thing about Cardenas was that it had a back road into Ft. Clayton (the Army base). Yes, there was a gate up, so no cars could go through. But there was a trail around the gate that allowed walking traffic and bicycles to go through. As kids, we took advantage of this many times. And there were no guards on the other side of this gate (Elka and Mrs. S may remember us all walking onto Ft. Clayton this way when they were down for a visit in 1996). So, pretty much any Tom, Dick, or Harry could walk right onto the Army base without having to show identification, even if they weren't allowed to be there. Now, my dad was a civilian working for the U.S. Government, so we were allowed to be there and we had the proper ID, should anyone have stopped us to ask. That's just FYI :). (Of course, Elka and Mrs. S did not have the proper ID, since they didn't actually live in Panama and were just visiting. Good thing nobody stopped us then!). It occurs to me at this point that I have not even begun to tell you how Ben fits into all of this. I know, I know... I get way off topic. But I'm trying to help you get the whole picture! Okay, so back to December 1989. Well, this little access road I've just described was not a huge secret. So one night, right in the middle of this "Operation Just Cause," it's around dinner time and my parents are watching the news (which is now on almost non-stop). Suddenly we hear tanks coming down the road into our little neighborhood. My parents freaked out. They ran us all up the stairs and went back downstairs themselves to see what was going on. It was dark outside, so the four of us sat in one of the bedrooms with the big ceiling light on. Ben was charged with entertaining us. Eventually, my dad had us move into the hallway and close all the bedroom doors and turn off all the big lights in the bedrooms so that we did not attract the attention of any helicopters flying over. Anyway, Ben entertained us quite well. He was very good at drawing. And so he drew up these little "paper dolls," if you will. They were a little family of four: a mother, a father, a son, and a daughter. However, this had to have been the dopiest family ever! The father was a huge fat guy sitting in a recliner with a bag of potato chips at his feet, the mom was on a stool that was about to fall over, screaming because there was a mouse at the foot of the stool (and I believe the mouse might have been taunting her by sticking its tongue out at her), the daughter was walking along, listening to her walkman, but she had her eyes closed and wasn't watching where she was going, so she was about to trip over a rock. And the son... The son was a moron. He was holding a lit bomb (one of those little black round bombs you always see depicted in cartoons) and he was totally cool about it. However, the Daffy-Duck looking character on his t-shirt was not so calm about it. The t-shirt duck had his eyes bugging out of his head and was grabbing his neck like, "Oh my gosh! I'm gonna die!" I must applaud Ben's attention to detail. He really did a great job that night of entertaining us (and calming me down) in a scary situation. I was a high-strung kid. Perhaps I am still slightly high-strung. When my parents freaked out, I lost it and started crying hysterically. Oh, the reason the tanks came into Cardenas that night is because snipers were trying to get onto Ft. Clayton by using that little access road about which I told you. See? I can make it all come together... :). It only seems like incessant rambling at first. But that is one of the greatest memories I have of Ben and how he was a great "big brother."This memory just displays our childish craziness... Okay, Ben, of course, was much older than the rest of us. So, while we were supposed to go to bed early, he was allowed to stay up later. Well, most nights he would still be up even after my parents went to bed. We could always see the glow of the kitchen light from upstairs, so we would know he was in the kitchen. So, being the nosy children that we were (and that I probably still am..., just not the child part :)), we had to "spy" on him. I don't know what we thought we were spying on, but I think it was just the adventure of it all. So, we would sneak downstairs (this one day led to the memory of the 'fart step', but that is a tale for another time) and crawl quietly on the floor until we could see into the kitchen. We thought we were truly sneaky, but we had to get pretty far into view of Ben in order to see him. So he always "caught" us (likely we were always giggling too) and sent us back upstairs. And all he was ever doing was sitting at the kitchen table, eating cereal, and reading a book. Like I said, I'm not entirely sure why we were "spying" on him. He wasn't even doing anything interesting. I think it was just the prospect of trying to get away with something...And although these are not a part of my memory, I recently watched them on the family videos, and so I must share. Several things were brought to my realization as I watched the videos from an adult perspective. #1: Ben was a good kid. He was responsible. And he was good with us kids. He was always very gentle with and attentive of Christina. She was 1 and a half when he was 15, and he was often left in charge of her. He never seemed to mind. He'd help her put on shorts that were made for a 15 year old boy so that she could be filmed walking around in them. He chased after her when she tried to escape and my mom was busy filming. #2: Ben had an appreciation for life. He would not let Brad smoosh the ants, just because Brad wanted to smoosh them with the big round cement block. This was much to Brad's chagrin and frustration (because Ben was much bigger and much stronger, and so Brad couldn't pull the cement block from under Ben when Ben was sitting on it). Hilarious to watch on video. #3: Ben had a twisted older-brother mean-streak in him. And I have proof that I got the brunt of it at least once. Of course, this was probably because I was being a brat. Story: So, it's summer vacation (possibly 1987, don't remember) and we kids are playing in the pools in the back yard and my mom is filming on the Betamax recorder so that we can send these videos to our grandparents who were stateside. So my mom pulled Ben away from his new Atari computer system (yeah, can you tell how long ago this story was??) and forced him to come outside so he could be in the films. He was hanging out on the patio, though, because I was in charge of the hose and I was just dying to wet him. Which he did not want to have done. And he knew that I wouldn't spray him on the patio because my mom had the Betamax up there and that would spell certain doom (delivered by Dad) if any of us were to have wet the thing. So my mom says, "Ben, go get in the picture!" And Ben says, "No! She's gonna wet me!" And so my mom says, "Hila, don't wet him." At which point I start whining saying, "But I want to!" (Okay for the full affect, it really is better to see this... I really was a brat!). So, Ben solves the problem. He kinks the hose way up and stops up the water. This, of course, does not sit well with me, so I start whining again. But eventually I get distracted by something else, so I stop whining. Ben does go out and get filmed and I at one point am staring intently into the hose, where water should be coming out, but isn't, thanks to Ben. So, Ben watches as I put the hose close to my eye and look inside. And then he lets go of the kink. And, yeah, you're all laughing. The water shoots out of the hose with amazing force and blasts me in the eye. Well, my mom also has a slight twisted streak too (this is the woman who thought it was hilarious to put peanut butter on the roofs of our cats' mouths and watch them try to lick it off; or who would put rolled-up tape on their paws and watch them try to shake it off), so after this happened, she was chuckling (which I probably didn't hear at the time, but the video camera tells all) and Ben was really cracking up. So, after my mom finally stops laughing, she says, "Are you okay Hila?" Now, up to this point, I had been in shock that it had all happened. But right when my mom asks if I'm okay, I start wailing, "My eye!" Man, I'm laughing now. Yes, yes, we can watch this at the family reunion if you guys want a great laugh at my expense.So, there are some Ben memories in a nutshell. And some pictures to boot.

Oh, and just because this happened while I was in class last night and it was funny: Okay, so my Thursday night class is online. Sometimes we have to talk (so we have to have a headphones/microphone combo). So this one girl is representing our group while she talks about whatever we discussed in our little groups. She just kept going on and on and on. So April and I do a private chat while we're in class (let's just pray they are as private as they are supposed to be :)) and she and I are saying to each other, "Okay, she can stop now! We didn't even talk about that in our group!" Well, then this chat comes out over the whole classroom from someone else in our group who says, "Blah... She just needs to stop." Oh my gosh! I started laughing so hard! Because you know she didn't intend for the girl who was talking to SEE that! Obviously she was trying to do a private chat also, but accidentally sent the comment to the whole classroom. Ooops! Then she goes puts in another chat, "Oops, sorry! That was about someone else." Then she goes, "We were talking about Hilary Clinton." Okay, yeah. Likely story. Man, April and I had a field day with that one (only we made sure we were having our field day in the private chat). Ah, the wonders of technology :).

PS. That picture of me and Ben when we're adults was taken in 2005. I was much fatter then. Also, I think I need to get some new pajamas. Either that or stop wearing them in pictures :).

Squeaky Bed = Hilarious Roommate

Well, my evening was rather benign last night. I went home and decided I wanted a real meal. So I went by WinnDixie and got a Stouffer's skillet meal for Chicken Teriyaki. I don't know why, I've just had a huge craving for stir fry lately. Anyway, this was actually quite good. So I ate dinner and actually did some school work! As some of you may remember from last semester, I am not a big fan of doing school work at home. So this was quite impressive for me, if I do say so myself. Of course, I lose interest in it very fast, but at least I have a list of books I need to go locate today about information literacy in public libraries. I also started reading one of my medical horror books for my Adult Services class. That is the genre I picked from which to read and booktalk five different books from five different authors. So, I have started on Robin Cook's Crisis. I've never before read anything by him, but he tends to be popular, so now's a good time to give it a try :).

Well, around 10:00, I went out to lay out my lunch stuff for today. This is mostly because I don't have time to think in the mornings. And this way I just grab my stuff and go. So, I left my room and walked down the hall toward the kitchen. I passed by Stefanie's room and heard her laugh. And after I'd gone by her door, I heard her open her door and say, while laughing, "Give me something to hit the ceiling with." She thought I was in my room, so she had gone that way, so I had stopped and turned and said, "Stef, I'm over here. Why?" And she turns back toward her room and she's like, "Because that's disgusting." So I walk toward her room, expecting to find a bug on the ceiling. As I get closer, I see nothing. But then I see Stefanie pull a hangar out of her closet (she's still laughing), stand on her bed, and start banging on the ceiling. And then it hits me: apparently our upstairs neighbors have, not one, but 2 squeaky beds. So I start laughing. Then Stefanie drops the hangar and just starts banging on the ceiling, and then she goes, "STOP IT!" I laughed so hard. Then she goes, "Well, I think I killed their mood." This was so hilarious to me. Stefanie then says, "If you have a squeaky bed, then you should have to live on the ground floor!" (Well, I second that opinion :)). And then she goes, "I mean, if they knew their bed was squeaky, they could have asked and I would trade with them." And then she stops and goes, "...well, not now, but before." Anyway, I laughed so hard. It was just too funny....

...until I got woken up at 2:35 this morning. Then it wasn't so funny anymore. And not even my trusty ear-plugs could suppress the sound. So now bolth Stefanie and I have been graced with this experience. Poor Stefanie. Poor me.

So, public service announcement: If you know your bed is squeaky and you feel amorous, how about just using the couch or the floor? And if you can't do that... do everyone within earshot of your bed a favor: ABSTAIN.

Oh yeah, so remember that picture of good ole Lonnie on the sit-n-spin? Well, here's a couple more to prove that librarians just have more fun than most people ;).

Yep, that's Kristin up top and then me. I cannot believe that was over seven years ago. Anyway, the picture of Lonnie doing this was taken the same night. Librarians are ultra-hip and cool ;).

Oh yeah, and so I have the weirdest dreams. The night before last night I dreamed I was back in Cardenas (the little "town" in which I grew up in Panama) and I saw Mr. Herring over near the playground. Yeah, this is not helping any of you, but it's for personal memory reasons that I wrote it. And also, if my family reads this, they will be able to picture it mentally. And then last night I dreamed I was at Julie's house, only she was getting ready to move. And I was marvelling over some change they had made and how I couldn't believe there used to be a little bar (like a counter-top area) in this particular spot and how I could remember when it had been there before Jon took it out. Then I was somehow at Bruno's in Dothan and I decided I needed to stop being a wimp and go donate blood. So, I parked my car and went over to the booth to sign in. And it was like everyone was Hispanic, and so when I started talking to the guy in Spanish, he was very impressed. And then all of a sudden, a bunch of people I knew from high school (Jose, Maritzel, the girl whose last name was AveLellamant (Amber?), and a few others I don't right now remember) came into the bloodmobile. I was like, "What are you guys doing here?" And they were like, "Giving blood, what do you think?" And I said, "I mean in Alabama!" I told them that I had my camera in the car (which I clearly remember in the dream that I felt like I should have brought the camera into the blood donation place with me, but decided that was silly) and that I wanted to take pictures. And Maritzel was like, "No! I look terrible!" And I was like, "You? Well, look at me!" Anyway, I don't think I ever got around to giving blood, but we all got called back at the same time and they had us draw numbers or something and I got an 8 and that meant something significant that the nurse girl told me and it didn't sound good. It sounded like it was the most painful and longest of all of the processes they have at the blood donation place. Haha... What can I say? I have a super-active subconscious :).

Whiny and Complainy and Cool!

I told you that complaining was one of my bad habits. I know I shouldn't be complaining. I do know this. I'm almost done with school. But my goodness. Why oh why did I have to take this class? Why oh why is it required? I think the teacher hates me already. Seriously. The girl next to me leaned over to ask me a question (she asked me how many articles I've already read for the class, since last semester I was studious and worked on getting stuff done fast... NOT SO with this semester...). So I answered her that I have not done any so far. And the teacher goes, "Do you have a question?" And I look up and she's looking at me. I just shook my head and went back to writing on my syllabus. Add that to the fact that last week, I was the one looking at the clock when it was time to go, which made her comment that "some people are looking at the clock" and I am pretty sure I can expect a bad grade in that class. Oh well. Oh, and shocker of all shockers... we didn't get out on time today either. This is going to be a LONG semester. She even made the comment at one point that she can't see the clock from where she stands. Okay, so doesn't that beg a solution? And isn't the solution simple? Don't stand there. Find a new place to stand. Duh. And don't read the book to us. I've had almost 20 years of schooling, so I promise I can read. ARGGGG. Oh yeah, and she gives us the schedule for when we have to present our article reviews to the class. I go next week. Yeah, I think she hates me already... Oh and also... (sorry, there was a lot to say about this class). She is totally against technology (ironic in a program that includes a technology class as a required course) and refuses to post the syllabus online like the other professors do. She keeps saying, "We'll just kill a lot of trees." As though that is funny or something. And then... And this is the cherry on top... She literally takes notes on who speaks in class. Literally. Okay, I'm just not one of those people who likes to pontificate for the sake of hearing myself talk. At least not in a class. If I have something to say, fine, I say it. But I'm not going to create something to say every class just to get a participation grade. That's just ridiculous. I do my pontificating on my blog :). Believe me, I've been in classes that have people who always have a comment. And, I'm not a fan. I'm not going to be one of those students. I seriously can't get over how she pulled out her notepad and started writing down the people who actually talked. Well, let me stop pontificating on this matter ;).

And on a cool and up-note: I think I should make a new diet plan. It shall be called the "Eat donuts, drink soda, and abstain from meat diet." Haha!!! Because I weighed-in and lost 1.2 pounds. I'm pretty sure that this won't continue, but it'll be fun while it lasts ;).

Bad Eating Habits

So, somewhere along the way on Saturday, it occurred to me that I had not actually eaten any meat that day. And I'm not entirely sure I ate any meat on Friday either. And I know I didn't eat any meat on Sunday. And I was heating up my lunch yesterday (leftover olive pizza from Sunday night) and was not shocked to realize I still had not eaten any meat. I do not have an aversion to meat or anything. Believe me, I do eat meat. I just do not crave it, and I can go several meals (and apparently several days) without eating it and not missing it. (I probably need to figure out how to feel this way about carbs...). Anyway, this has nothing to do with anything. I just thought I would share. It's not intentional that I don't eat meat all the time. It just somehow happens. I look back over my day and what I ate, and at least 60% of the time, I have not consumed any actual meat. Probably I should do better about cooking real meals more and then I would probably eat more meat. Maybe. But I consider Velveeta Shells & Cheese a meal in itself, and I cook that, so, maybe my theory is flawed... :o). Oh, and no lectures about my meatless meals ;). I know it's probably not healthy. And again, it's not intentional. It just happens.

I have to say I was bummed when I got to work and didn't have any emails :(. I'd had a weekend full of great emails, and then I had none this morning. It was so sad. (Haha, I got over it :)).

Oh, so want to hear something absolutely terrible? Okay, not terrible like a real tragedy. Just a small one in my life... I found out I have to present my findings for my 20 page paper on the first night we do that, which is February 7. Since I am on campus and have easier access to the materials... I suppose it will make me get my rear in gear (hey, I'm a poet and didn't know it ;)) and do the research. Which I have been successful at avoiding all weekend. Goodness, I'm such a horrible slacker! They should make school as fun as, say, blogging! Then perhaps I would be interested ;).

Oh yeah! So, while eating my olive pizza at lunch yesterday, I was reminded of family pizza nights in Panama. So I will share that memory. Ben had already moved to WA, so he wasn't usually with us. But the other 5 of us (Mom, Dad, me, Brad, and Christina) would go out to a pizza place in Panama City. Well, even though we loved Sorrentos and went there every so often, it was a lot further into Panama City than Pizza Italia. So, we usually went to Pizza Italia. I don't think I'm wrong when I say our entire family of 5 could each get about a 10-inch pizza (one for each of us) and pay $20. It was pretty awesome. And they had the old brick ovens and so we could watch them make the pizzas and throw the dough, etc. Dinner and a show! Oh, Sorrentos had this aspect too. Anyway, this was what we always ordered: Mom and Dad: vegetarian (vegetariano) (they love vegetables), me: mushroom pizza (hongos), Brad: green olives (aceitunas), and Christina: shrimp and pepperoni (don't remember the Spanish for this). And to top it all off, my dad would complete the order by saying: todos con doble queso! (Translation: all with extra (double) cheese!). And you wonder why I have a love affair with cheese... It's in the genes people. Anyway, I know those all seem like strange pizza toppings. Green olive pizza? Shrimp on pizza? Yep, I know. But, that is really what we got every time we went! And it was good. Well, maybe not the shrimp. I don't particularly like seafood too much.

Well, while I'm sure that I will have plenty to say after this morning's class (cringe), I don't have all that much to say right now. Today is also Strive for Five weigh-in. I'll either be accountable this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on whether or not I feel like writing another blog post. But for now, for your viewing pleasures... check out these bathing beauties:
Those are the four girl cousins that will be present at Lyman Family Reunion 2008! Can you spot me? Oh, and the one in the orange "towel"... That's Mrs. S. Great story: There were no more towels, so she used the floor mat. And it's entirely possible - and from the looks of it, highly probable - that Christina (the youngest one) had a hand towel wrapped around her. Ah, sweet childhood... Maybe we should do this again as adults... What says you, Elka? Haha!! I'm totally kidding.

Yummy Food, 80s Trivia, and Girlie Gossip

Well, good morning everyone! It's rainy and ugly outside where I am, and I should be in bed. But, since I'm not, I'll fill you in on the fun stuff of the rest of my 3-day weekend :)!

Church: Had the most awesome analogy given to us by a 16-year old on Sunday. He was talking about raising the bar and how all of us can strive to be better, but that often we don't because we are afraid of failing. We continue doing what we are doing (which is good), but we don't strive to do more because we know we can achieve what we are already doing and we fear that we cannot succeed if we try to do more, to improve. We have a fear of falling. The analogy he spoke of was that of a father who helps his young baby to learn to walk. The father holds the baby's hands and gets him on his way a few steps, then lets go. And at first, the baby will fall after a couple of steps or so. But there is no punishment. The father simply picks the baby back up, holds its hands again and gets it going again. And then this teenager said, "And that's an earthly father. How much more does our Heavenly Father help us?" As we strive to do better, as we strive to become what our Heavenly Father wants us to become, what He sees we can become, He will help us. Yes, we will fall at times. But that is where our Savior's atonement comes in. When we fall, we can get back up. And we will not be alone. We will have help. Anyway, I was very impressed with this young man's insightfulness. I was touched by this lesson. His talk was based on a talk given in General Conference in October. If you're interested in reading it, you can find it here: "Raising the Bar." This talk was actually directed at future missionaries, but as this young man said, it has applications to everyone.

I took a nap after church. Man I was tired. I was laying down, studying scriptures, and then it was an hour later and I was waking up. And since I knew April was supposed to be on her way over, I decided to get a quick shower. After my shower, I started cooking dinner, which consisted of Mexican Confetti Pinwheels (what can I say? this seems to be a hit at every party :)) and black olive pizza. Yum :). April got there around 6:00, so we talked while I finished up dinner (with April's help on the pizza so that we were sure to get lots of olive-y goodness in every bite :)). Oh yeah, and when I got into the Great Value of crescent rolls for the pinwheels... I have never seen such dried-out crescent dough in my life! It was so dry it was breaking apart! The up-side, however, is that they came out just fine, at least taste-wise. And really, that's all that matters ;). Oh, and April was in charge of the chocolate. She brought oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and double chocolate muffins. More on that shortly. But here are the obligatory food pictures :):
So, let's go clockwise from the top: double chocolate muffins, black olive pizza, oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies, and Mexican confetti pinwheels. With Mountain Dew and Diet Dr. Pepper to wash it down (okay, I admit it... I have done horribly at not drinking soda the past 3 weekends!). And here we are, all ready to eat:
We sat out in the dining area and ate and told stories for a very long time. I think we covered everything from dentists to school to doctor appointments, and I'm sure a lot of things in-between. I just can't remember them all. I just know that I was laughing very hard! For example, did you know that I did not swallow pills until I was like 18 years old? I couldn't do it! I had a mental block! I would dissolve them in water (which tastes nasty, just FYI). Either that or I would take liquid Tylenol. But they don't really give a dosage for a 17 year old. So, it was always a guess about how much I would have to take. But I finally learned to swall half of a pill when I started getting a toothache (which turned out to be a tooth in need of a root canal). And now I take Lysine pills that look like horse pills (not to mention my multi-vitamin, which is no small cookie), so I guess I got over that mental block... Anyway, all of this came out in our conversation at the dinner table.

So after I cleaned up the kitchen and washed all the dishes, April and I headed to my room to play some 80s trivia games. We actually played the one with both the 80s and 90s. And we ended up playing best 2 out of 3 (April won!). We made up new rules: If we rolled the sports category, we could roll again (because who knows the sports trivia questions?). But, if we rolled it 3 times in a row, we had to take the sports question. And you'd be amazed how often this happened. It was as though the sports trivia questions were determined to be asked. Oh, for the third round, we also made up the rule that you had to actually guess the correct year in which the event occurred. This made it harder (and totally does away with that so-called 'one-in-ten chance' that I've seen blow up in someone's face before :) (which also happened to me one time in this game... The answer was not Batman, however. Hey, coincidentally, does anyone know which year Batman came out? :))) . Oh, and those oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? Divine. Oh my gosh! I think I ate about 7 of them on Sunday night!
But it was a lot of fun. And it turns out we asked a lot of questions from the 90s as well as the 80s. Oh, and April, don't forget that, when you want to be asked a question from the 90s, if you get it right and have to guess the year, don't guess 1986. It's just not possible... :). Now that was hilarious :).

After watching a movie, we went to bed. And I have to say I slept quite soundly. I felt all young and stuff again, since this was the second night in the weekend that I stayed up until after 1 a.m. Go me! And it's so incredibly wonderful to just allow your body to wake up on its own in the morning. For me and April, that meant right about 9:30 yesterday morning. Really, who really needs to be functioning before that time? I can seriously tell you (from the experience of being expected to function before then most days of the week -- days like today) that it's seriously unnecessary to function before 9:30 a.m. :). Anyway... So we got dressed and headed to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Why? Well, because I had a coupon to buy 3 doughnuts and get 3 free. Yum! And so we did. We also got chocolate milk and regular milk (I got the chocolate). No, we did not eat all 3 doughnuts in one sitting. Even though, in this picture (although you can clearly see we hadn't eaten any of the doughnuts yet) it looks like I've eaten 10 doughnuts... And sorry it's so dark. The flash didn't go off, I guess because it was bright outside...
We actually only each ate one doughnut. Then we left and went to America's Thrift Store. I have found a lot of clothes there that I love! And for cheap! That shirt in the picture above... I got that at the thrift store. Oh, I also got those jeans I'm wearing at the thrift store too, but that was one in WA. And April loves thrift stores. So... Off we went to the thrift store :). And, though I went with no intention of spending any money, I did leave with $20.02 worth of clothes. And I'll include a small sampling... April found a sweater-dress, reminiscent of the 80s. We laughed so hard. And then she tried it on and it really didn't look so bad. Okay, so here's selection 1:
I bought a lot of sweaters. I will need them next year, but I will also enjoy them this year. Turns out I don't have a lot of sweaters... Well, I do now :). Oh yeah, and April found this dress and she likes kind of vintage-looking stuff. She liked the bow part at the top of the dress. She said, "You know, there's a fine line between cool vintage-looking and ugly. But it's only a buck fifty, so I'll get it..." She cracks me up. And below is the other picture we took (thanks Stefanie, by the way, for taking our pictures!).
So, there's the sweater dress on April. It would look great with leggings... 80's style. Oh, and allow me to be conceited for a few short moments... I don't think I look like I ate 10 doughnuts in this picture. In fact, those are my new favorite pair of jeans (once I wash them). And, to quote my best Julie-friend, I look "skinny." Woohoo! I'll take that compliment and pass it around ;).

In other grand news: plans move forward on Lyman Family Reunion 2008. And I must say again: I LOVE my family! Our latest endeavor? To come up with t-shirt slogans. Let me just say that I have a slightly twisted, and yet oh-so-hilarious family. And, for those of you who are family members that read this blog, I shared the shirt slogans with my roommie and explained the reasons for them and she was like, "you have the coolest family! I want to meet them! Bring them here!" And she laughed almost as hard as I did.

Oh, and I have had a correct guess on the movie quote. I do not know who guessed it, as it was an anonymous comment. However, the guesser did inform me that this quote cannot be googled. I will post the comment next week, as usual. I do want to say that I don't actually try to get one that can't be googled (although I'm totally proud that it worked out this way on this one). The way I get my movie quotes: I watch my movies and write them down... Old fashioned-like :). But it's fun this way for me ;). So good luck and best guessing to all of you! I'm off to eat my lemon-filled doughnut :). (Oh, so I'm not expecting good results from tomorrow's Strive for Five weigh-in, by the way).

*Along with the anonymous person who guessed it at 12:57 a.m. CST this morning Kristin has also correctly guessed the movie quote correctly at 10:00 a.m. CST. Okay, and Elka guessed it at 10:11 a.m. CST, but I think she cheated :) because she said she did.*

The Nilla Goes Fru-Fru (or at least tries)

Okay, so after leaving the library when I did my Saturday post, I saw this and thought it was beautiful. And since I had my camera with me, I took a picture to share :). I must admit it was much more beautiful in real-life. The camera just does not do the actual colors justice. But, as this is the best I could get, this is what I have. Still very pretty, but again, lacking in some of the beauty I saw.

Yeah, and I'm going to toot my own horn here for a second and say that I do actually rock :). I totally just modified that code to make that picture centered. I'm loading these pictures through Picasa, which is not how I normally do it when I'm at work. But since I don't have Firefox here and I want to make sure you can enlarge the photos, I decided to go through Picasa. Well, when I moved my picture to where I wanted it, it went and was "left aligned" even though I pulled it into blogger to be centered. Okay, I know that makes no sense to most of you. But I'm pretty proud that I just modified the code to be what I wanted :). Woohoo! I think I like doing these blogs without the help of Picasa. But IE doesn't make the pictures clickable for some inexplicable reason. So... Anyway... Correction: the whole picasa thing didn't even load my pictures once I finally found my blog post. Arg. So, I had to do it the other way, and so, chances are, these pics aren't clickable. Sorry!

Well, after the snow and all that on Saturday, it got very cold here. So it was cold when I went to the campus to blog. So, I decided to utilize my bubble bath when I got home. I decided to be (or at least TRY to be) fru-fru. Aren't you proud, Julie and Jeni?? And just to prove it, I took a picture!
So, I got a bubble bath going, made up some Caramel hot chocolate (Land o' Lakes brand), got a couple of the Andes mints Jeni gave me, and got my book. Then I proceeded to take about a 20 minute bubble bath.

After doing this, I watched the movie I bought myself on Friday at Wal-Mart from the $5 bin (because that is usually the only way I'll actually buy a movie...). Well, this will probably seem like blasphemy to some of you. And really, I know I should like this movie, because it was so huge in the 80s. But I do not like The Neverending Story. I'm sorry. I bought it in the hopes that maybe my memories of it were just skewed (I never really liked it). See, I was always horrified by the scene in which the horse dies in the Swamps of Depression. So I figured that I might feel differently while watching it as an adult. Yeah, not so much. That part wasn't nearly as horrific as I remember it being, but even so.... The movie was awful. I just wasted $5. I could have bought Hope Floats instead! The movie was just so silly! At least, to me. So, I'm still totally not a fan of The Neverending Story. I do, however, like the song (and it is on my playlist). Oh, and this is not the movie from which I got this week's quote. Just so you know ;).

Let It Snow!

I must confess: I drove to campus (the place I hate to be Monday through Friday) solely to write a new post. Yes, so sad to admit it. But I have already had enough eventful stuff happen since yesterday morning that I need to go ahead and post! Because, since April is going to be spending tomorrow night at my apartment for a girlie night, there will be plenty more to share Tuesday. And besides, the University is closed on Monday, so I can't post then, so we'll count this post as a "make-up" post :).

So, I went to Wal-Mart yesterday after work. Yesterday was payday, so this was my usual payday routine. However, there was a ton of people in Wal-Mart yesterday. Why? Well, because 3-4 inches of snow had been forecast, and people were stocking up for just in case they got snowed-in. (Yes, insert your laughs here, any of you who live anywhere where it does snow every year). My first question is this: do people just not have food in their house anymore to make it through one or two days of not being able to leave the house? I mean, even if I hadn't gone to the grocery store, Stefanie and I would have been fine, because we have chicken and meat and all sorts of other food. It's just strange to me that most people don't have enough food to even last one day. Kind of scary too. I guess you would have to eat out for literally every meal of the day. And that seems strange to me... Not to mention expensive.

Anyway, while at Wal-Mart, I printed a whole bunch of pictures I've been needing to print (65 of them). This did not include the Northeast trip, as I had already printed those previously. And since I had forgotten one CD, which had pictures from March 2007 until November 2007, I still have not gotten all of the pictures printed, and so my photo albums are still not updated. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I did get all the pictures I did print labeled and into my photo album in chronological order. I'm obsessive about that... the chronology. Maybe it helps me remember dates...

So, after doing that for a while, Pace and his younger sister Talli came over and they and Stefanie invited me to play some games. So, I made some homemade hot chocolate while Stefanie popped some popcorn, and then we played "Hand and Foot" (which is like Canasta) and two dice games (one is called "Greed). And now I have 3 new games to add to my repertoire. And don't I just look lovely? (Thanks Stefanie...)I went to sleep around 1 this morning and slept quite soundly again (with toilet paper in my ears and all...). I woke up for some reason around 8:00. I thought, "Is it snowing?" I looked outside, and No. No snow. Looked very overcast though. So I crawled back into my warm bed. Oh yeah, Stefanie had gotten up some time before that to put her bread in the oven and start the dishwasher, but I guess she went back to sleep. Anyway, my dad called me at about 8:19 to tell me to be careful driving because it was supposed to snow up here. I told him that I'd already looked outside and that it had not snowed. I went back to sleep. I woke up around 9:30. Then went back to sleep. Then Stefanie burst into my room at about 10:00 and exclaimed, "Hila! It's snowing!" So, we got up and went outside to witness the snow fall. And I must say... It was SNOWING! Harder than it snowed when I was in NYC! So, enjoy these winter wonderland pictures from Alabama! (This took 10 years for me to see!) (Oh, and please forgive how awful I look first thing in the morning :)).Oh, and it stopped snowing after about an hour, and by noon, any snow that had stuck to the grass and trees was gone. But, it was fun while it lasted!