Tomatoes and a Bit More

Time to do a tomato update!!! Woohoo! The first picture is from about 4 days ago. The other two I just took tonight. They have been growing for 31 days now. I learned a very important lesson yesterday when I came home from work and saw about 4 or 5 of the taller plants laying down. Poor babies. Turns out you have to increase how much water you give the tomato plants as they get bigger ;). Which yes, is probably very obvious. But still, I'm just learning... So I watered them as my mom suggested, and within an hour, they were all standing up and healthy again! And so now I will be watering them daily instead of every other day. I am very excited to see them continue to grow. It is amazing to think back to the first sprout and see how much they have grown since then. It's practically imperceptable from day to day, but over 4 1/2 weeks, it's just amazing how they have grown!

With the weather we had Monday, the cold settled back in. We even had icy windshields today. But today was clear and pretty, so that was nice. Though by the time Wendy and I walked, it was starting to get overcast again and the wind was really blowing! But we still got in about 6 or 7 laps and some fun conversation :).

My dad just got back from Panama, and he bought me platanitos while he was there, so I'm pretty excited about getting those! Woohoo!

I have a pretty dull life other than those things, though. I'm currently watching episodes of the 10th season of Frasier so I can turn this season in tomorrow. It was technically due today, but they will back-date it tomorrow when they check it in. This way I get to watch the whole season :). And then I have seasons 3 and 4 checked out too, so I will have to start on those, since they are due next week! And then I won't be borrowing anymore for a while. It's simply taking up too much of my time ;).

Rainy Days and Mondays

Ah yes, a song title post. A depressing one. Blah. Today was a Monday. And it was horribly rainy, even by Washington standards. So that's a double whammy according to this song! Yes, it was a Monday today. Mondays have a reputation, and today did not disappoint (well, it disappointed me, but not its reputation...)

It hailed in Washington. I don't think this is a frequent event here. I happened to be out eating lunch during this part of the storm. The temperature dropped considerably over night, and it was very windy all day. For the first time in a long time, I really wished I could've just stayed home in bed.

Several things rubbed me the wrong way at work today. But part of life is just letting go and moving on. So I put in my headphones for most of the day and attempted to do just that.

I was supposed to hang out with my sister and the girls tonight. It's been a few weeks since I've seen them, so we had planned to do this. Well, instead we got into an argument about an hour and a half before I was supposed to go over, so that whole plan got nixed.

I realized about halfway through the day that today would have been my 7th anniversary. It seems no matter how much you move on, sometimes things do still bring you back. And a realization such as that is one of them. That just seemed like the cherry on top of a rather cruddy day.

I realize that these short snippets don't seem all that bad. And it certainly wasn't the worst day I've ever had. But it wasn't one I'd put on my list to re-visit, if you know what I mean. And I'm sure I can attribute at least some of my mood to hormones. Darn hormones.

And because today wasn't a total bust, and I feel the need to find the blessings in the dark moments...

I walked with Sue today. Bob brought me those chocolate peanut butter bars from Little Debbie for dessert, just to be nice. Bob and I finished both cross-word puzzles in the paper! I've lost some weight. Nothing phenomenal, but my clothes are fitting nicer. My tomato plants are still growing nicely. And the day's almost over, and tomorrow is a new day. :). It will be better. Can't know the sweet without knowing the bitter, right?

A Life So Ordinary

So I have now completed the transplanting of my tomato plants. Actually I finished that project up on Friday evening with the help of my wonderful mom who is always willing to help me :). Turns out, in the end, I have 63 plants! Phew! So I've been telling all sorts of people about them and telling them if they want a couple to let me know, because I'm just giving them away :)! I figure I can keep and plant 10 of them and that will be plenty sufficient. If we have a huge surplus of tomatoes, we are going to make and can our own spaghetti sauce. It might be fun to do salsa too, since then we can have salsa for various recipes we use every so often. So that's my tomato news for you.

For the most part I have pretty much just been working. Sameold sameold :). However, there has been room for fun! I walked with Wendy a couple of times last week. We have very enjoyable conversations that really help the walks to go by quickly. Then Friday night I went to Heidi's and we enjoyed pizza and sodas while watching the very cute chick flick The Proposal. I'd been wanting to see that one, and she had it, so we watched that. Then we proceeded to gab for two hours until 11:30 when I finally said I had to leave, because I had to work the next morning.

Oh yeah, and now I'm a Sunday School teacher for 12 and 13 year olds. I haven't taught yet, my first lesson will be next week. I have never pictured myself as a teacher. I admire teachers who are able to grasp a class's attention and really teach. I hope I can do at least a little bit of that.

And I finally finished While My Pretty One Sleeps. And then I forgot the next book I was going to read at home, so I didn't have it with me to read on my break (and I hadn't started it yet), so I ended up checking out a different book I'd been wanting to try out. It's a re-telling of the Cinderella story. There is a YA author who has written several books all based on the the fairy tales, and I thought they looked neat. Plus if they are clean (and it seems they are) and a good read, it gives me another set of books to recommend to Alysha when she's looking for stuff to read. Of course, this doesn't bode well for whittling down my "to read" list ;). Hahahaha... The plight of the public librarian!

And so I shall close for now. I am tired. So I will work on reading a bit of Before Midnight and then get some sleep so I can start again tomorrow :).

A Partial Transplant

I have plenty to say. But in the interest of finishing that book I'm still reading sometime in this century, I am just going to post a couple of pictures and be on my merry little way. The story is that my tomato plants are growing like weeds. Well, most of them are. The ones that I transplanted don't seem to be doing the very best, but they aren't dead, so I guess that's good. The other ones, though. Man they were taking off! So, it was really time to transplant them all. They need more room to grow. So I went and did some shopping yesterday. I got soil and I got pots. I was going to original get plastic pots that I could re-use. Then I saw these biodegradable ones for cheap at Wal-Mart that you just plant with the plant in it when you go to put it in the garden. So, I'm going to try that route. If this works, I will just start with those next year, and then there will be no transplanting at all! I'm really concerned the transplants will not go well...

So tonight I transplanted about 1/3 of my plants. It ended up getting dark. I had run several errands after work, so I didn't have a lot of daylight left. I should be happy with what I did accomplish :). So here are a couple of pictures. And here's to hoping the other 2/3 will forgive my slacking and survive in their crowded space for one more day!

Transcontinental Prayers

I have about a kajillion things to blog about. Which is nice, since usually I am drawing a blank and just end up rambling on and on and on... My original intention was to blog much earlier in the evening. But then things changed. Like they always do. I did not accomplish most of what I had to accomplish tonight. And not that it was ultra-stellar or responsible things. I was going to hunker down and read While My Pretty One Sleeps so I could finish it in this lifetime and move on to another book. But then Em from church called. She had invited a bunch of gals over to her house for the release of Twilight's 2nd movie New Moon. Well, we were going to watch it. So there I was, in my comfy pajamas and taking pictures of my tomato plants (which will be included here) when I got a phone call on the house phone. Which never happens, by the way. I usually only get calls to my cell phone. And Em says, when I get on the phone, "What are you doing at home?" I did tell her I was taking pictures of my tomato plants. Which makes me sound ultra hip and cool and stuff. Like I have a life. But after a few minutes of deciding not to go, I felt kinda guilty about bailing on the party, and so I called her back, changed clothes, and headed over. And we had fun. We were a small group - only 5 of us. But we enjoyed good food and lots of laughter. And plenty of discussion over why in the world Robert Pattinson didn't either buff up for the movie (since he takes his shirt off in it) or just leave his shirt on. Because it ain't pretty. Now the actor who plays Jacob... That's another story. And other discussions took place too. Hilarious ones. That kept us there until after 11.

Of course, this isn't the only New Moon fun I had today. Because, you see, I have a group of very dear friends in the great state of Alabama who were also having a New Moon party. A party I was very sad to miss. So imagine my surprise when Kira called me at about 5:10 my time and asked me to be a part of the party by saying the blessing on the food via cell phone speakerphone. And okay, so it's a little unorthodox and different. But what a wonderful group of friends who think of me and want to include me in any way possible (and also because they were already totally giggling and couldn't get serious enough to say the prayer -- trust me, I remember last year's experience quite clearly: And please bless the food that it will be yummy; because let's get real. Like oreo truffles are going to nourish and strengthen our bodies ;)...). I know this party was a blast -- and I haven't even seen pictures yet. But I partied with these gals last year, so I know it was fun. And I really am sad I wasn't able to manage to show up. So, to Stacy, Kira, Kristy, and Tammy -- I miss you and love you all! I hope to make the next party and can't wait to see the pictures and read the stories :)! And thanks for including me today :).

I have to say I've been relishing my "me" time of late. I feel like there simply is not enough time in the day. So I enjoy being cuddled up in the warm bed, watching episodes of Frasier or reading or blogging. Oh, and I love my wireless mouse. It is far to complicated and takes forever to have to drag pictures around without one. I'm just saying...

I also have to say that my life is really changing. A lot. Tonight, while at the New Moon thing, I got called at Em's by the bishop. I'm being released from my calling. The whole Relief Society Presidency is going to be released tomorrow. I did not see this coming. I find it interesting that it coincides with so many other changes in my life. New thoughts, new situations. I wonder if, just as things all worked together for me to come here, that things are now going to work together to move me onto the next part of my life. And I don't know where that will take me, literally or figuratively. Perhaps nothing much will change. Perhaps everything will. Or maybe it will just be somewhere in the middle, with some changes, but not everything different. Some days I wish I could see the future. But then some days I see the wisdom in not being able to. Wendy, the girl I walk with, and I were talking about this concept. She told me about a tv show called Flash Foward that is along these lines -- of seeing one day of the future. And how when everyone woke up in real time, they started acting differently based on what they saw. I thought it sounds interesting. I saw the season of it for sale at Best Buy the other day. I didn't buy it. Turns out the show is based on a Science Fiction book by the same title. Know how I know that? I shelved it today at the library. I think I will add it to my ever expanding "to read" list. Which, by the way, is not getting any shorter, since I didn't read any of While My Pretty One Sleeps ;). So yeah... That's the Nilla Life for you at the moment.

And finally, my new favorite topic: my tomato plants! They are growing wonderfully! In fact, I had to transplant a few because they were getting crowded in their cubicles. And let me tell you... It was heart-wrenching to transplant, because you feel the roots tearing while you pull the plant out of the dirt. But amazingly, my little seedlings bucked up and took to their new homes. I have now transplanted a total of 4: 3 today and 1 a couple of days ago. I was explaining to my seedlings the lesson of life: that sometimes we have to endure pain so that we can be moved to where we can grow better. I'm telling you... there are lessons for life throughout nature. I'm amazed at the parallels I've gained in the last couple of months when I've really started to ponder it. And no, I'm not crazy for talking to my plants. :). I'm probably crazy, just for other reasons :). So, here are a couple of plant pictures. The picture of the 4 in the windowsill are the 4 I transplanted.

So, for general knowledge purposes... These are at 3 weeks. I can't transplant to outside for at least 3 more weeks, but I might wait 4 to be on the safe side.

[Life] is Like a Roller Coaster, Baby Baby

It's been a while since I have done a song title post. At least I think it has been.

Life really is like a roller coaster. Ups and downs. And ups and downs. Things haven't been bad. Mostly normal. But sometimes things are tougher than others. Sometimes we have to do things that are hard, because they are the right thing to do. Sometimes we have to accept that things happen that are beyond our control, and we just have to be thankful for what we have. For example, the economy is bad. I know this is no big surprise. It's been bad for about a year and a half now. But lately we've been feeling the pinch at the funeral home. And yesterday several people, including myself, got sent home without pay, because the power went out, and they can't justify paying everyone for sitting in the dark. There was talk of hours being cut for admin staff and a few others. As of today, we hear that, at least for now, that isn't going to happen. But it started me thinking... I have so very much to be grateful for. Even if my hours do eventually get cut, I now have a second job that will help make up the difference. And I also am in a situation where I won't find myself defaulting on a loan or not being able to afford rent or what have you. Is it what I dreamed of for my life? No, not really. But I know I will be okay. Worst case scenario, I have to wait a little longer to pay off my student loan -- but not much longer. But for now, everything is still on track, since our hours aren't getting cut as of right now. But the other thing I keep hearing as I work at the library is all these people coming in weekly to get online and search for jobs. I don't know these people. But I can honestly say my heart aches for them. And I realize how little I have to complain about. Because I have had the means to pay my bills and meet my obligations. And I have an even stronger testimony of tithing. I have had one since I decided to be a full tithe payer about 6 years ago. I have seen the blessings come. I realize it doesn't make logical sense to the world at large to say that, in "giving away" part of my income, I am actually surviving better. But I know that is the case. I have literally seen miracles. Even if they don't seem like miracles. I have seen my money stretch further, because the things I need have been on sale. Or because the amount I had budgeted for a bill was sufficient, even though I was sure I would probably go over that budgeted amount because of circumstance (like my heating bill in Tuscaloosa when I lived alone). Or because my car keeps running. Or because I don't get sick. These may not seem miraculous, but they are my miracles, and they have allowed me to have what I have and to make do with what I earn. I have no doubt that these instances -- and so many more -- are a direct fulfillment of the Lord's promise: that He will pour out the blessings of heaven when we pay our tithes and offerings.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get on a soapbox. I really just recognize that my success has not come through my efforts alone. I have blessings being poured out upon me. And I am so grateful for what I have. I need to remember that more often, especially as I see how hard it really is "out there" economically speaking. In my county alone over 10,000 people are without work. Times are so hard. It is heart-breaking.

But that's depressing. And I didn't mean to be depressing. So here's another miracle -- at least in my book ;)

These are my tomato plants! And they are even taller today! I showed these pictures to people at work and they were like, "Whoa!" It's looking like I will have to transplant into bigger pots before I transplant into the garden -- if that's what I choose to do. Who knew? Of 48 little cubicles, I only had 1 that didn't produce a plant. And some of them have more than one plant. This was partially because I couldn't believe that one tiny little tomato seed would produce a plant that would grow to produce a bunch. Turns out I was wrong. But, you live and learn. Now I know for next year! Anyway, I'm going to probably give a few seedlings to people at work. Goodness knows we can't eat that many tomatoes! I am just hopeful they will produce :). Both Mary and Buck suggested I sell the seedlings for a couple bucks each. But I'd rather give them away. Especially because I don't know if they will produce. I am, after all, a novice ;). But I am very excited with the progress of my little plants. I seriously never knew I could be that excited about a plant growing. So I am sorry to those of you who are tired of hearing about my plants. I fear you have a long way to go before you don't hear my blathering on about them anymore ;).

Oh, and other fun news... I'm posting this from the comfort of my bed. Wireless is working wonderfully. I'm loving my laptop. I'm loving laying in bed and blogging or emailing or -- like what I'm about to do, watching an episode of Frasier ;).

Some Days I Hate Technology

We are trying to go wireless at our house. It will be wonderfully convenient for me to be able to connect to the internet wirelessly with my laptop. Right now, for some reason, I can't even connect to the internet with the wire plugged in. Anyway, a friend gave us a router. We figured this was great, because then we wouldn't have to buy one. Yeah, that's not looking promising. We can't get it to install correctly or something. It's still "remembering" the old information, and so we have to have the old key to log-in to it. And though we have that key, it still isn't working. So I'm annoyed. And there are about a million wires involved in computers. And they all get tangled up. So my patience has pretty much worn out. I'm going to ask the person who gave us the router if we are keying in the key correctly (because we see that we have a signal and that the computers (both mine and my mom's) are recognizing the router), and if we are, then I guess the next step is to give up and buy one from scratch. Grrr. These things are supposed to be idiot-proof, so I'm thinking this must make me below the rank of idiot ;). So maybe dummer than dirt? Hahahaha... Okay, I'm done with that rant. I am seriously technologically challenged.

For the sake of laughter and irony, I'm not going to fix the spelling of "dummer". Yes, I seriously wrote it that way on accident. I was proof-reading it after I posted it and found that lovely mistake. But since I was describing myself as dumber than dirt, I think I'll leave it and bask in its irony.

Update: I continued working on it and finally read something that said I could re-set the factory settings on the router. And it told me how to do it. So I did. And voila! We had success! And so now, I am sitting upstairs at the dinner table, eating dinner, watching Frasier on DVD with my mom and Grandma, and updating my blog! Woohoo! I am way excited. I remain technologically stunted, but maybe I'm not quite "dummer" than dirt ;). Oh, and a huge thanks to Kira and Ben who always volunteer to help with computer questions and issues! You guys are awesome!

For Blogging's Sake

Tonight I went to a play at the high school. They put on Little Shop of Horrors, and now this song is stuck in my head! It was fun to go with Wendy, a gal from church with whom I walk during the week. We actually knew a couple of the kids in the play from church. And I found myself wondering if I looked like I was in high school when I was in high school, because I don't feel any different now than I did then, and I'm 29.

Last night I bought a new pair of black flats. They are cute. I pretty much wore the other ones out. I wore them nearly every day, thanks to funeral home dress code ;). I'm hoping these will last me a bit longer, but the reality is that I walk a lot, especially with the library job.

I don't really care for the "Spring Forward" part of Daylight Savings. And that's all I have to say about that.

I added a poll on the right. I would love your feedback as to whether or not you would like me to include my opinion about the books I book talk at the end of the book talk. And even if you don't go to that blog and read those, I added an option just for you to be able to vote ;).

I had a fun and long overdue (shame on us, we're librarians!) conversation with April today. We discussed the quirks of our respective libraries and the fun planning of our sometime-future Scrubs party. We also discussed our plot to create the super-coolest library on the face of the earth -- the one where we both work there and have book-themed food parties a lot. Plus it's going to be located at the center of all our cool friends, whom we will collect into one area. Hahahaha...

Well, I'm off to catch up on the latest episode of Lost (thank goodness for hulu, or I'd be way behind), and then maybe some Frasier or Scrubs. Plus I want to fit in some reading time. And I have to make sure I leave enough time to sleep, since we all know I'm losing an hour. You can refer to the above statement about daylight savings time for my feelings, in case you forgot them ;).

Disappointment and Growth

It is hard to be disappointed. It changes things. Disappointment can come from so many sources. Situations. Circumstances. People. I think the most intense disappointment can come from other people. It is hard to think something and have that perception changed by another's actions. And it is hard to realize that it is very likely that there have been times in my life where I have been a disappointment to someone else. I know I have. I know I've even been disappointed in myself at times. And I know I will continue to be at various points in the future. Not because my goal is to be a huge disappointment, but because I am imperfect. And I know that with that imperfection comes many opportunities to disappoint someone else. It also comes with opportunities for growth, though. I can always try to do better and to be better. I'm learning that. And I'm learning that sometimes the only thing we can do is just start where we are.

And I find that sometimes these feelings solicit thoughts. And I wonder if we aren't sometimes given disappointments so that we will be a bit more thoughtful and ponderous (is that even a word?). I find that my new job provides me with a lot of quiet time to think. And I've had some interesting thoughts pop into my head as of late. Thoughts that I never ever thought I'd have. Now, these may be just idle thoughts that will go nowhere and mean nothing. But maybe they are more significant than that. The only way to know for sure is through sincere prayer and patience. But I can see several things changing as far as how I feel about things.

So yeah. Maybe disappointment is just another thing that creates growth. Because maybe it makes us move in another direction.

Speaking of growth... Check out my baby seedlings :)

And check out these other babies that are all growing entirely too fast. Saria is beautiful. When did she grow up this much?

We took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese earlier this week. You know you are getting old when following a kid around Chuck-E-Cheese is your definition of exhaustion ;).

Here's Benjamin with his 4 year birthday cake. It's hard to believe he's 4. And here's one of me and Emily. I think she looks so funny in this picture. In her defense, it was way past her bedtime, and she was trying to figure out what I was doing with the camera when I was taking a picture of the two of us.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Don't let my title fool you. I'm not getting married. Maybe someday. But this particular post is not announcing an engagement ;).

It is, however, announcing:

[Something Old and Something Blue]

This is that station wagon I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Turns out the model is a Chevy. Or is that the make? Eh. Either way, you get the drift. It might have been an Impala station wagon. Ain't she a beaut? Kristin calls her the pimp-mobile. So thanks Kristin, for sending this to me!

And while we are on the subject of Big Blue... While pondering memories of this station wagon, I remembered another one. One day (I think it was a Friday, and it would have been either a week 2 or 4 as far as schedules go, because both Anita and Sheila were there), the whole Technical Services team (consisting of me, Nancy, Anita, and Sheila -- back in 2001ish) went out to the Columbia Branch to do some weeding. We had made our first trip out there that morning and we had updated computers and pulled a lot of old books. We had piled them all up in the station wagon -- loaded her up completely -- and returned to the main library. We unloaded and prepared to head back for our 2nd trip. Well, we made it to right behind Dothan High School. Sheila was driving. And the wagon just quit. I think we even had to push it out of the road. I don't remember how we got it back to the library. I don't remember how we got back to the library. We probably called the boss and got a ride back. But I do remember that Nancy took us all to lunch after that. I want to say we ate Mexican somewhere, but I can't remember where, so this might not be factual. And then Nancy and I returned to Columbia in Nancy's car to finish the weeding project. Ah. Good times.

[Something Borrowed]

So I have been relishing the life of a library worker once again. I find that I borrow so much more from the library when I actually work in one. Mostly because you see so much you want to read or watch. And since you are there all the time anyway, it's so easy to check stuff out and make sure you turn it in on time!! So, in addition to Angels & Demons (which I actually borrowed from the library that serves the area where I live and not the one where I work -- they are two different library systems); I have also borrowed (from work library) 2 seasons of Frasier and I put a book on hold by Jane Green that, I assume, will be coming in Tuesday's courier. Libraries are magnificent things. With my grandmother in California visiting one of my aunts this week (well, she'll be back on Tuesday), my mom and I have had several nights where we've hung out watching Frasier and enjoying root beer floats. Good times :).

[Something New]

Tah-Dah!!! This is my new working area at the funeral home! With the acquisition of my laptop (which you can see in the picture) and it being networked to get online and print to all the printers in the building, I can now work from anywhere! I didn't move far from where I was, it's true. But this is much more conducive to my sanity. Now I sit behind Mary. And I'm sure this will provide hours of laughter -- even more so than before. As you can see in the pictures, I have my "wall of shame" with all of my pictures from my birthday surprise. Also on board are some of the Dilbert cartoons from Mary's calendar (flexitate, anyone?). And even a couple of Dilbert's clipped from the daily paper. We swear there is a camera somewhere in our work area that has it's information piped directly to the Dilbert creator. ANd of course, I have my nifty signs about stinking after midnight and the price to pay for the presence of fabulousness (complete with plastic flies taped to them). You can also see my "necesseties" which include my I Love Jim mug for daily cocoa; my Zune; and my cell phone. Oh, and hanging next to all my pictures is Mary's candy poster. We wonder if we should take this stuff down when our new regional manager comes to visit this week... Good times :).

[Something Else New]

Hideous picture of me aside, these are my little seedling plants!!! For my tomatoes! This is probably going to sound like the dorkiest thing on the planet, but I was sooooo excited when I checked my cubicles today and found growth! I just watered them last night and there was nothing! And today... BOOM! Plants! So far, out of 48 possible squares of plants, I have 15 that have at least one plant coming up. I was having my doubts, because I checked every day. And here's the thing... They keep sprouting up! When I first looked this morning, I think I counted 4, and only one of them (the one above) had it's leaves standing all tall and proud. Now there are 2 others doing the same thing, which all those others just breaking the surface of dirt, and I expect to see more leaves by tomorrow!! Who knew I could get excited about my little tomato plants! I don't even really adore tomatoes! But this is way exciting for me :). Now, in about 7 weeks or so, I will have to transplant and learn that step. And then we see if they will produce. I hear that that is the hardest part. Sometimes the plant grows, but doesn't produce. So, I'm going to keep hoping :).

[Something Cool]

These are chocolates from Paris. Seriously. I've never been to Paris, though I would love to go one day. Also to Venice, but that's in Italy. And I digress. But anyhow... My very pregnant Relief Society President went to Paris with her mom for a week and she brought us back a little treat of Paris chocolates. Which I thought was really sweet of her. I really do want to see Paris one day. See the Eiffel Tower. Go up in it, if that's a possibility. Who knows? Maybe one day :).

New Stuff and Me Stuff

Well I did finally do it. I bought my laptop. I ended up going with a Toshiba laptop that Best Buy was selling for $350. So far, I'm very happy with it. Thank you to everyone who offered advice and everything. I had so much to consider and lots of options, and I really didn't want to make a bad decision. And so I pondered and even prayed about the decision. Which to some may sound hokey. But I believe that our prayers are answered, and I believe that what is important to us is important to our Heavenly Father. I do not pray over every DVD I purchase or every tank of gas I put in my car. But this was a big deal to me. I have certain financial goals, and part of meeting those goals is making wise purchases, especially when they are large ones. So, I prayed about it and weighed the pros and cons. And while this laptop did get a few unfavorable reviews, I was careful to read what they were. And basically, the majority of the people said it was a good laptop for the price and for people who want it for basic internet usage, word processing needs, and watching DVDs. And that pretty much sums up why I want it right there :). I am not a gamer, so I don't care that my laptop is not conducive to the high-processing-speed requiring internet games. I am loving the big screen when I watch episodes of Scrubs and Frasier. And it responds well and quickly with all that I ask of it. Today I even found out that I have a 60 day trial for the Microsoft Office suite. It runs Windows 7, which a lot of people say is nice, since a few months ago, the laptops were coming with Vista. And because of my funeral home job, and there is some agreement between our corporation and Microsoft, I'm going to be able to buy the MS Office Professional Suite for $24.00 (which is basically the shipping and handling on the CDs). I know it works, because my mom already did it. Hey... I believe in getting your perks where you can get them. And a software package that normally runs $800 for $24.00 is well worth it :). My only frustration with it right now is that I can't get it to hook up to the internet at home. We have "wired" internet, and it keeps asking me for a password, which my mom says she doesn't know why, because her computer doesn't ask for that. So I am using my mom's computer for internet usage at home. But I'm connecting fine with my laptop to the internet (wireless) at work. So we are going to look into going wireless at home also and that way we have mobility, etc. So anyway, I'm happy with my purchase :).

And here are a few Nilla facts to store away.

I don't really like sponges for dishes. I prefer dish cloths. It's weird, really, because I grew up using sponges my whole life until I was married and we got dish cloths for a wedding gift. But I so prefer the dish clothes. You can just throw them in the washer with a load of towels, and they wash up nicely. Not so with sponges. Plus, with sponges, people have a tendency to use the same sponge they use for dishes for cleaning stovetops and countertops, and even worse things. And that totally grosses me out. I'm neurotic with my sponges. We have sponges at work. The nice bright yellow ones (well, when they are new they are nice and bright yellow). As soon as that sponge starts looking dull and dirty, I stop using it on my I Love Jim mug (thanks Elka! I use this almost daily!), and I start using paper towel to wash my mug. Grody looking sponges usually are grody smelling (and can leave your hand smelling grody if you use them) and grody period. And they give me the heebie jeebies. Ick.

I don't really care for coconut. If I ever have a box of chocolates that is unlabeled, I try to guess my way around the box and eat the "yucky" ones first. Coconut would be in that group. I'm always disappointed when I save one for close to the end because it looks yummy from the outside, but then it turns out to be coconut. Blech. I should probably make a reference to Forrest Gump here and agree that life is like a box of chocolates... You never know what you're going to get, even when you try really hard to figure out ;).

I do not drink milk with dinner. Actually, the fact is that I probably don't drink enough milk. Because I only drink milk in my cereal (always the really bad for you sugar cereal like Cap'n Crunch or Fruity Pebbles, because they are my favorites ;)) or in chocolate milk, or with oreo cookies, which I rarely have anyway (the cookies).

Speaking of Cap'n Crunch... Did you know they used to make a Cap'n Crunch "All Crunchberries" cereal? They really did! It wasn't all that long ago either. 6 or 7 years. Downfall of this: if you really like it and eat it a lot (like daily), it will turn your poop weird colors. Please note that I do not know this from my own personal experience!!! (I know it from someone else's own personal experience ;)).

And the only reason that thought popped into my head recently is because I took Ben-a Booder (Benjamin, Brad's youngest) to Coldstone for his 4th birthday. And I was shown, once again, that most kids will always select the blue ice cream (cotton candy) and the sprinkles as their mix in, even though they have much better things from which to choose (like cake batter ice cream with cookie dough mix-in). And so, while telling Brad about Benjamin picking the blue ice cream, we remembered a summer we visited Dothan and went to the mall and there was an ice cream shop (I think where the Pretzel Maker shop is now) and they had an ice cream flavor called Superman, and it was vivid blue, vivid red, and vivid yellow. And we didn't get to have that kind, even though we wanted it (though for the life of me I can't fathom why), because my mom didn't believe in the food coloring (though for some strange reason she never took issue with the green-colored mint chocolate chip, which, in my opinion, is the only real mint chocolate chip), which is why we never got to have Fruity Pebbles as children, and to which I attribute my obsession with Fruity Pebbles in adulthood. And anyway, so that conversation led to Brad telling me about a co-worker who ate so many Fruit Loops one time that he had those same issues as the Crunchberries. I don't really know why one would share that information with a co-worker, but whatever. Now I know the story, though. And that led me to the Crunchberries thought.

And I say that most kids will choose the blue ice cream with sprinkles for this reason. I know that there is at least one kid who won't. And that kid is Samuel. See, for their birthdays last year, I took Saria (in April) and Samuel (in June) to Coldstone to do the same thing. Saria got the exact same thing that Benjamin got. Blue cotton candy flavor with sprinkles. Which is atrocious to me (cotton candy ice cream!?! Blech!). But I know it's the excitement of it, and kids are just drawn to the blue ice cream and the sprinkles. Even the girl behind the counter told me when Saria ordered it that it is a very popular one among kids. Funny. But Samuel. Well, Samuel is a child after my own heart. He is too serious to get the blue and sprinkles. He got mint (green) with oreo cookies. Which is so befitting his personality. He is the serious one. The one who is way too literal. He doesn't have time for nonsense like cotton candy-flavored ice cream and jimmies (sprinkles). It's adorable. One time, I was trying to get Samuel to eat something and I was playing a game with him that we had started playing with Desiree (this was about a year and half ago or so). I would scoop up a bite of whatever it was and say, "Take a bite of Spongebob" or whatever character. Well, Desiree thought that was a fun game, and it worked for her. When I tried it on Samuel, his response was, "Spongebob isn't in there." Hahahaha... Gotta love that kid. Brad has a million other stories like that one involving Samuel.

And on the note of taking Benjamin for ice cream... He wasn't too sure about that experience. He's never been away from both Brad and Tarylyn for any length of time. He did fine, but you could tell he wasn't really too keen on it. He was quiet almost the whole time until we got back to his house. And then he was normal Benjamin again. Kids are funny.

And lastly... I am not a fan of Coke products. Sorry Coca-Cola people. I'm a Pepsi girl all the way. In almost every flavor, I prefer the Pepsi product to Coke's version. And yes, I realize Coke was first. I don't really care. I prefer Pepsi to Coke; Mt. Dew to Mello Yello; Dr. Pepper to Mr. Pibb; Seven-Up to Sprite; Sunkist to whatever Coke's orange equivalent is. Though I don't really care for Sierra Mist, which is Pespi. Although I'm getting back into my old habit of not drinking soda all the time. I'd gotten really bad since I moved here about drinking a lot of canned soda again. When I was in Tuscaloosa, I almost never had it. It became a treat for me. So, I'm back to having just one soda a week. It's definitely healthier. Oh, and for the record... I don't like diet anything, as far as sodas. I hate the taste... That aspartame-y taste. Ew. So what about you? Are you a Pepsi fan or a Coke fan? I'm just curious to see what my reader's prefer, so you should leave me a comment with the answer ;).

And I updated my "Glimpses" section. This month, it's all about some Nilla trips. It was hard to select only 4. But those 4 were some major trips, and they give a good amount of laughter to the reader ;). I re-read my Panama trip blog post last night, and I laughed! I had forgotten some of the details, like the dude "serenading" us with Dust in the Wind (not really... we don't know who it was, just that he kept singing the chorus over and over and over again and we could hear it through the window, and my dad and I would look at each other and laugh ;)).