Don't Cry for Me [Tuscaloosa]

I do love to come up with clever song-title posts. Even if they make me seem conceited. It makes me smile when I come up with them. And then I realize how dorky I really am :). But here it is... another song-title post :).

Today is it. Can you believe it? I really can't. Seriously. It's bittersweet.

Yesterday, my day started out normally. I arrived at work 15 minutes late (okay, so that's a little less than normal... usually I'm only 5 or 8 minutes late). I did my usual work for the morning. Then, at 11, we headed out to catch the bus to Swen's for my good-bye luncheon. See, the Crimson Ride goes right by the shopping center where the restaurant is, so we figured it'd be easier to ride the bus than to drive and lose our parking places. So that's what we did. And it was very quick. So we all got into Swen's and got our seat. There were only 6 of us who went, but it was very fun. With smaller groups, we all get to be part of the same conversation! Not so with large groups. So, the people who went were me, Annie, Patricia, Le, Suhua, and Mattie. We got several pictures. And the department all chipped in to get me a nice sweater from the University and a key chain with the well-known A for Alabama. And after talking to Christina on Tuesday, who informed me that it was "chilly" in Washington on Tuesday (yeah, as in two days ago!), I'm thinking I'll get lots of use out of that sweater! And it's a fluffy soft sweater! The card was also very nice. Everyone in the department signed it. It was hilarious! William wrote, "No more naked trolls!" because I used to "moon" him with a blue-haired troll (that is now packed and ready to move to Washington). I blogged about this back in October. And Michael wrote, "No more mice!" And you should all remember that story, since it was recent :). Oh, and since we went to eat Chinese food, we had a great (and hilarious) discussion about the fortunes. Patricia's husband said that you can always append the words "in bed" to the end of your fortune and it makes it totally hilarious. And, he's right. So, we all read ours out loud and we appended "in bed" and we just laughed and laughed and laughed. Try it next time. It's funny. Want to know my fortune? "The only way to have a friend is to be one." I'll let you add the two words mentally :). Oh, and then afterwards, we went into the boutique next door and looked around. And that's where we got someone to take the group shot, since it got pretty busy in the restaurant and there was no one available to take our picture.

I left work after lunch, because I had a dentist appointment. I went by the apartment and helped Stefanie do a few things there before it was time for me to go to my appointment. And good news all around! No cavities, and both the dental hygienist and the dentist said I have great teeth! Woohoo! So then it was back to the apartment to help Stefanie some more. You should know I am an awesome packer. She was sure she wouldn't be able to fit everything into her car. I got it all in there and there was even extra room! And it was quite a feat, let me tell you. But, I've done enough packing for a lifetime... I've learned. By 6:00, Stefanie was gone. But not before pictures! And please excuse our black feet in the one picture... We were doing a lot of walking around outside barefoot... And by the time it was time for pictures, we didn't have anything to set the camera on!!! So, we used a granola bar box for the second picture. Aren't we cute!?!



Once Stefanie was gone, it was really weird. I mean, it didn't feel real that I'm probably never going to see Stefanie again. I even told her that. It's just strange! Virginia came by at about 6:30. Originally she was just going to come to get some of the perishable foodstuff that I was giving her. But she had made me an offer on Sunday that I could stay at her place my last night in Tuscaloosa if I wanted. I decided to take her up on the offer. Because the apartment was so empty. And I also didn't even have a sheet to sleep under that night. So, I got a shower while Virginia was awesome and took all the trash out. Then I finished cleaning the bathroom, did one last sweep of the apartment, packed up my car, and I left. That was it. That simple. And thank you so much, Virginia, for giving me a place to stay on my last night! Not only was it 100% more comfy than sleeping on the floor with no blanket, it was also nice to spend my last night here with a friend! I will miss you and all the hanging out we did! I know I'll see you in 3 weeks to pick up my stuff. But even so, I want you to know that I'm glad I know you! And Virginia and I ate cake and ice cream (because we can, and because I am bound and determined not to fit into the skinny pants I packed for Panama... Guess I'll have to run around pant-less...hahaha). We did that while we watched an episode of Frasier on youtube and two episodes of Wings. And we laughed :).

Today is my last day at work. And Le has already started crying. It's so sad! So, we took several pictures of the four of us in our little corner of the world on the 4th floor of Gorgas. So, enjoy :).

Oh, and I keep forgetting to add this picture! This is what my stuff looks like at Virginia's! Thanks Virginia for the picture!

A Post too Random to Name

How's that for a title?

I will get to my leave of absence in a minute... First, let me begin with a story... A story that explains why the Nilla Life is never as vanilla as one would think, given the name ;).

First let me say that photobucket let me back in and so now all these pictures, when clicked, will take you to my album (which I just added these to the one with my passport and solo-girlie night pics).

So, Monday morning, I'm getting ready to leave for work. Stefanie, who is definitely my opposite in this issue (I mean, who wakes up at 7 in the morning when it is unnecessary? -- Stefanie ;)) was already awake and had eaten breakfast. She walked past me in the hall and said something like, "Hey girl." I replied in kind and went into the kitchen to get my stuff while she went into her bedroom. Suddenly I hear her yelling, "Hila! Come here, quick! I don't know what to do!" Oh my gosh... I'm thinking it's going to be a roach. I get in there... There's a little baby mouse coming out of her closet. Coming out slowly, I might add. It doesn't look like a healthy mouse to me... It looks like it's dying. I mean, we're talking about baby baby mouse. She's like, "What do I do?" I, of course, have no idea. She goes, "Okay, you just go to work, I'll call the apartment people." Which is what she is doing when I leave for work. Of course, I got off work on Monday at 11:15. I get home and walk in the door. I'm met by Stefanie who stands there and looks at me with a sheepish smile on her face. Somehow I'm reminded of a little girl. I say, "What?" And she says, in a sheepish voice to match her sheepish smile, "Can we keep them?" Mind you, by this time I've all but forgotten about the mouse (which is why I forgot to mention it in my last blog post). I'm like, "Keep what?" I turn around and she points at a little shoe box with a washcloth draped over it and little eyedroppers inside. This is what I find:

And what am I supposed to say? No? So then I get the whole story... Apparently there was a nest under her dresser. I asked what the nest was made of, and she said insulation. I said, "I wonder how it got under the dresser?" And she said, "Yeah, I know... You'd think we'd have noticed a big ball of insulation walking down the hallway." I so totally laughed. Because it is, after all, what I was thinking. As she pulled more stuff out of her closet, she found two more baby mice. One, though, was already dead. Stefanie said, "It was in rigor mortis." So, she introduced me to Sandy and Eggo (think San Diego, since Stefanie loves that place). I asked her what maintenance said. She said he showed up with gloves and a bucket, because he thought she wanted them caught and killed. When he saw the little home she'd made for them, he was like, "Okay, I guess I'll go now." Hahaha... Oh, and it turns out they were coming in through a hole in the wall behind the stove. Which is funny, because Stefanie told me a few weeks back that she thought we had mice. I said, "mice? What makes you say that?" She said, "Because I got munchie at 2:00 one morning and came in here and flipped on the lights and saw something scurry across the kitchen under the stove. I figure it was either a mouse or a really weird frog that doesn't hop." And statements like that are exactly why I adore Stefanie. I laugh every time I think about it. Anyway, I went to Wal-Mart after being introduced to our new pets. By the time I came back from Wal-Mart, Sandy had died. I asked Stefanie, "You didn't throw him in the trash can, did you?" She said no. I'm thinking she threw him outside in the bushes. Turns out she flushed him. Burial at sea. Actually, that was the rigor mortis one she flushed. She left Sandy in the shoebox for the majority of the afternoon because "Eggo would snuggle up to Sandy." She admitted that it was morbid, but she didn't have the heart to separate them right away. Stefanie was a good mouse-mommy. She fed Eggo milk with an eye-dropper and that little piggy had a huge tummy. Sadly, Eggo didn't make it through yesterday. He died sometime after 5:00. So, these happenings make me think of some more stories to tell you... But as this post will be long enough (trust me), I will keep them in my mind for another day. Trust me, they are stories you won't want to miss.

Oh, also on Monday afternoon, I was putting away papers I'd written for school. Okay, I'm a bit neurotic. I've kept all of my major papers. So, I found one of the many spots I keep them... In this big manilla envelope. And I figured I should look through some old papers from my undergraduate degree. Let me tell you... I had one teacher that would slay us. She was great. I respected her, I learned a lot from her. She forced me to think outside the box (a feat at which I do not thrive). I got so far outside the box once that I wrote a paper about how a stool empowered one of the characters in a play. Go figure. She liked that paper too. I got an A-/B+ -- no easy thing. It was the last paper I ever wrote for her, and the topic came to me like a revelation while I was in the shower. Anyway, she would grade our papers in like 3 or 4 different colors of ink/highlighter/pencil. This paper was not one of the two that I got an A-/B+ (and no, I'm not sure why she graded like that). But just so I can give you all an example...

It's a beaut, huh? That one merited me a B-/C+. Ouch. I still got A's in all her classes, though. She just demanded a lot of us. She taught me what passive voice is. So, I just thought I'd share.

But, on to some fun news! So, Monday night, Stefanie and I decided, since she wasn't working, to do Family Home Evening at home! We ended up inviting Virginia to join us. Stefanie planned the lesson, and I was in charge of treats and the activity. The activity was watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Stefanie had never seen the whole thing, and she'd made the comment on day that all the Indiana Jones movies are based around religious stuff. Our treat was Coldstone ice cream, because I had a coupon to buy one, get one free. Ah, sweet indulgence. I got "all lovin' no oven." And I was so busy driving and taking pictures that I was the last one to finish! woohoo! And it was soooooooo good.

Gotta love Coldstone.

Oh, I do want to say that, in preparation for the fat-filled indulgence we knew we were going to consume, we ate a healthy dinner of salad:


And finally, my leave of absence. So, yesterday I had a dermatologist appointment to determine why my hair is falling out. It was everything I wanted to hear (well, except for the fact that I had to get another blood test so they can test my iron levels). My hair loss is not related to my hormone imbalance. He said the type of hair loss I am experiencing comes from other types of hormone issues or from stress. And, if my iron levels aren't up to par, my hair won't be able to grow back in correctly. Or also if my life doesn't become less stressful. Maybe I internalize all my stress. Who knows? I really don't. The point is, I took in pictures from when I had lovely hair and said, "I just want to know that my hair can be like this again." And he said, "I think it will be." He said it will take time. I swear, I think my life is one big exercise in patience. And we all know how good I am at that. Sigh. In fact, I find myself wanting to doubt his diagnosis because I'm still losing hair (as though his diagnosis would be the magical switch that would stop my hair from falling out). I'm soooo impatient. So, I need to figure out how to stop thinking about my hair (since that's obviously not helping me to de-stress). I need to figure out how to stop worrying about everything. I think a Panama vacation is just what I need. And also the end of schooling. How fortunate that I shall have both in about 2 months. Yee-haw!

Also, I have added a new category to my blog... It consists of my blogosphere buddies -- defined as people I blog-stalk that I have not formally met and who do not mind me putting their blog there. The first person I asked is my friend Kira's sister Anna. We've left comments on each other's blogs before, so I figured I'd ask her :). She was kind enough to say yes :).

*Julie has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Montgomery Missives

It is officially getting hot in Alabama. I was okay with it holding off longer than usual. I'd be even more okay with it holding off another two months or so. The weather didn't ask me, though. Stefanie and I noticed yesterday that the air conditioner has been running... a lot. We bumped it up a little so it wouldn't be as cool. We have both been loving the comfort of a cool apartment... Not sure how much we'll love it when the electric bill arrives.

On Saturday I got up and headed for Montgomery. I would like to reiterate that gas prices are hideous and, in Julie's words, obscene. In 6 months they have climbed $1.00 per gallon. That's just FYI. But, Montgomery was so fun, it was worth it. I'm just incensed about the gas prices. Thought I would rant a bit more about them (as I'm sure everyone reading this will agree with me 100%). Anyway, so I guess I mis-judged the timing for reaching Montgomery. I thought it would take me about 1.5 hours. I guess not. It was about 2 hours. I obviously don't keep good track of time when I'm making the drive all the way to Dothan. I always thought Montgomery was my half-way point. Not so much. But, this means that next time I drive to Dothan, I'll realize that Montgomery is over halfway, and that will make me happy. Except not for the drive home. Because then it's less than halfway. Of course, there's a good chance that the next time I drive to Dothan, I won't be making the drive back here anyway... But, I digress.

So, Tammy and I met up in the parking lot in front of Bed, Bath, & Beyond in Montgomery. I will just say that I love that store. If someone gave me a million bucks, I could successfully spend a lot of it there. I almost bought a little set of four mini trifle bowls -- individual trifle bowls! They were adorable! Okay, so maybe I got the froo-froo kitchen gene. I love kitchen gadgets. I have decided (as I told Tammy) that I intend to have a professional-like kitchen one day with a Subzero refrigerator. Anyway, I did manage to overcome the temptation of the trifle bowls, because they will be one more thing I have to pack. I will buy them in Washington -- surely they have a BB&B there. After Bed, Bath, & Beyond, we walked down to Barnes & Noble. Such a hazardous place to go when you are a book-lover. I'm proud to say I was able to resist temptation there, as well. But I love books. I love to walk around and browse and see what's out. I love to see what's being recommended for summer reading. I love to add to my list of books to read (the one in which I never seem to even make the slightest of dents). I am a librarian to the core. Because I also don't like the way they have things set up in bookstores. It drives me insane. It is not librarian-friendly. But, I love books. A lot. By the time we finished in B&N, we decided we were hungry. So we got into my car and I drove us over to Olive Garden for the soup, salad, and breadstick lunch.
It was fabulous, of course. And the conversation was tons of fun! Following our very filling lunch, we went across the highway to the Fresh Market. Okay, go ahead and laugh at me... (Elka will, because I did this to her in NJ when I saw the ACME grocery stores and oohed and aahhed over them). The Fresh Market is a grocery store, but it is the coolest grocery store I've ever seen! The ambiance is great. I really can't explain it's greatness. But everyone to whom I've shown it (like Julie and now Tammy) has commented that "it is a nice grocery store!" Julie thought it was as cool as I did :). Heath and I found it one time when we went to Montgomery for the day. He and I just loved it. Anyway, so they have a little bakery section -- with the yummies under the glass showcase. And so I treated us to some cheesecake. Which we took to Panera Bread, bought drinks, and sat and ate our cheesecake in there.
I think we sat in there over an hour just chatting away. When we got tired of sitting in there, we walked up to T.J. Maxx and just "window-shopped." Except I did buy something for Julie. And I saw a skirt I'd really liked to have gotten, but I was staying to my strict budget of the cash I'd brought with me, so I didn't. Then we decided to go to Best Buy and browse the movies. Again, didn't buy anything. But I like to browse and add things to my mental "to buy one day" list. Yes, I have a million lists -- not all are written down. We headed back to Tammy's car and decided we still had lots to discuss, so we went back into Barnes & Noble and went to the Starbucks. I tried the strawberries and cream frappucino. It was good. But it was no vanilla bean frappucino. I think I'll go back to the vanilla bean one. Sorry Julie... I did at least try to go with strawberries and cream (even if I don't when it is a scented candle :)). I'm just so vanilla. After about another hour or so of conversation, we decided we'd better hit the road. By this time, it was about 6:45 and we both had quite a ways to go. (You can just call me Vann-Nilla White) (Okay, I'm laughing... If you didn't get this, let me know and I'll explain ;)).
Okay, you know I have pictures. And I'm about to post them. But, first I need to tell this story. Because otherwise you might think I was vain. So, we're standing by Tammy's car talking some more. I see myself in the reflection of her car windows and I think, "huh... I don't look half bad." So, I decide to have a picture of myself taken looking "not half bad." Only the picture looks horrible (it's the one of my being "Vann-Nilla White" above). And I really can't understand how my reflection can be so deceiving! So, after Tammy and I get into our respective cars, I sit in the parking lot and take multiple pictures of myself to try to capture whatever it was I thought I saw in the reflection. Some of them look hideous, by the way. Which makes me laugh. So then I think, "Huh... I wonder what I look like when I laugh?" So I snap a picture. And it's horrible! So then I laugh even harder and snap another one. And, you get the picture (no pun intended). Thank goodness for digital cameras that allow you to "waste" space... And get immediate results. Anyway, I deleted most of them, because they were AWFUL. But there was the one that wasn't too bad, so I kept it. I was chewing gum, by the way. And since I have no shame... I am sharing it with you! Hahaha.... And I know you can all laugh at that story. That's part of why I'm sharing the picture. (Well, I ended up having to load them up individually into blogger instead of using photobucket, because I couldn't remember my password, so now it won't let me log-in... I'm annoyed).So, on the ride home, I think, "I should call Julie." So I do. And I end up leaving a message. Within 10 minutes, she calls me back. We talk for a long while. Then she says, "I'm so glad I thought to call you when I saw on your blog that you were going to be driving from Montgomery! I read that and thought, 'Oh! I hope she calls me!' But then I remembered Alysha has my cell phone, so she can't call me! So I called you on Jon's and I'm so glad you were still driving!" It was so wild to me that Julie hadn't even gotten my message... She was thinking of me when I was thinking of her! Too funny! So she pretty much talked me all the way home, which was so fun! She's still fired for not leaving a comment on my blog when she read it, though ;).

Sunday was church, and after church, I took a nice long nap. Very long. I dreamed. And I read in my dream. It's funny, because in my dream, I was reading all these words and they actually meant something cohesive to me. But in real life, as I think back over what the words were, they didn't make sense, and some of them weren't even real words. There was one that said "cqal." But, there was "Mom" (she was who wrote what I was reading -- oh, and I should admit that I was reading blog comments on someone else's blog in my dream... dream blog-stalking). Yes, random tidbit, but weird about me nonetheless. Stefanie cooked hamburgers and sweet potato fries for us to eat for dinner. Then we went for a walk.

And, today, even though it's Memorial Day, I'm sitting at work. Blah.

Oh, and by the way... I'm watching you ;)!At least my eyes are still pretty ;).

I [Am Now Debt] Free!

Well, almost... And it's only temporary :). But, I'm going to celebrate anyway!!! Oh, this is a song-title post, but just be warned... This video features the members of Queen dressed up like women. It's kinda scary.

So, do you know the exhilaration that comes when you log into your online banking and see this under the credit card account: Balance (8.87)!?! That means they owe me money! Actually, that probably won't be true once the finance charge comes through. I called to get the payoff amount, so I payed more than it was showing I owed. Hopefully that 8.87 will cover the finance charge like the guy said it would. The sad part is that it won't remain at zero for long, since it will cost a pretty penny to move across the U.S. But, I will be building up funds in the meantime to help cover those expenses, so hopefully I will not owe much once I make it to Washington. Anyway, I think it's an awesome thing... I am credit card debt-free! I met my goal!!! Yay!!! Now the only thing I have to pay off is the small amount of money I owe in student loans for my undergraduate degree!

I have to say, I have been blessed. I have seen that, as my goals have been righteous desires, the way has been paved that I might accomplish them. Because I worked at both Troy University (during my undergrad years) and now here, I have gotten huge huge huge tuition breaks! I know these were blessings. I just feel so completely overwhelmed at the hugeness of the blessings I have witnessed in my life. I would even classify some as miracles. I will honestly say that there is no rhyme or reason to how I could live very comfortably (having everything I need and most everything I want), travel as I have, go to school, and still manage to pay off my credit card debt on the salary I make. It was not logical for me to think I could do all I have done in the 1.5 years I've been here. I know this absolutely. And so I know that the fact that I have been able to accomplish this is evidence to me (even though I don't need evidence to know it), that Heavenly Father always keeps His end of the bargain. When we do as He has asked, He will bless us. There is no sacrifice too great, and He will compensate that sacrifice beyond our hugest imaginations. I know it is a true principle. I have seen it in my life. Anyway, I just thought I would share those feelings. Because I truly am amazed.

So, Stefanie and I went for a 30-minute walk yesterday. It would have been longer, but she had already scheduled for her Home Teacher to come by at 6. So, we just took a short one. I guess Stef and I are doomed to smelly walks. It doesn't seem to matter which part of the trail we walk, it's stinky. This time I think it was animal poop we kept smelling. From the kind of animal that eats a lot of insects, from the looks of the piles on the trail. Ew. Next time we walk by the river, though, I plan to take pictures. That walk we took on Saturday (by the river) reminds me a lot of Panama for some reason. However, next time we walk by the river, I don't plan to be a genius and recommend walking up to the water/sewage treatment plant. I think it horrified Stefanie when I told her that's what it was -- that they recycle the water. Poor Stefanie... I think by living with me, she has lost some of her sweet innocence.

So yesterday, Elka and I had a fun blog-comment conversation on her blog about blog-stalking. She's trying to decide whether or not to announce her stalking tendencies to those whom she stalks. Her reason for this is that one of the people she would regularly stalk went private, and I think she was highly offended! (Hahaha). Anyway, so someone else (other than she and I) finally chimed in on her blog, and so when I was reading that comment, I thought, "Hmm... who is this person?" So then I blog-stalked them. And she was talking about how she always leaves a comment when she is "blurking" so the blog-owner knows she was there. And there were 3 comments on hers, so I clicked to see the comments. One comment was her own and she was telling Elka that "Nilla sounds funny." (How hilarious to read about yourself on a stranger's blog). And then Elka replied, "She's a riot. And she loves stalkers!" I asked Elka why she couldn't be more specific and say I love blog-stalkers. Saying I love stalkers is kind of creepy. I'm so blaming her if I get mugged ;)! I'm starting to think I should make a category on my blog called "My blogosphere acquaintances." Then I can just add the blogs of people I have "met" through the blog world, but only if they say it's okay. Which would mean I'd have to admit it. So far I'd have like 2 (because those are the only two to whom I have confessed). Because if I add people I blog-stalk but that I know/have met (like Nicole), then I should put them under my friends/family blogs, because I actually know them. So, Nicole, if you're reading this, you'll have to let me know if it's cool that I add yours :). Oh, so though I'm not sure why I should expect my blog-stalkers to leave me comments when my blog-invitees don't, I will invite them to do so anyway ;). (And totally kidding about the blog-invitees. I'm not dissin' them (how's that for some 90's terminology?)).

And, as a side-note... Is the English language not so totally radically awesome and versatile? Okay, so I know it's a difficult language to learn for non-English speakers. We have some pretty wacky rules, it's true. But in the last 8 years (at some point in there), we have added new terms like "blurking" "blogosphere" and "blog" to our vocabulary! It will not be long before they show up in a dictionary. I think that is awesome. (In case you didn't know :)). Good grief -- am I really that old? 2000 was 8 years ago? What has happened?

I had more weird dreams last night. I dreamed several different ones. All very vivid. I wonder why I dream more sometimes than others... Or rather why I remember them better. In one, I was somewhere where some guy robbed a place. He might have shot someone, I don't remember. But when he left the building, he had set off a trap where bullets or something were going off everywhere. I saw several people get shot by those bullets. It was kind of gruesome. Probably the goriest dream I've ever had. I don't really think I'll describe it here, because it was very gory. And the really weird part is that I don't remember feeling scared in the dream. I do remember that I saw my reflection, though, and I was super-skinny. Obviously I was dreaming.

Well, I'm gearing up for a fun weekend, but it's also depressing to see the gas prices. Ugh. I'm working at the Temple tonight and then tomorrow I'm driving to Montgomery to meet up with my friend Tammy and just hang out. Woohoo! It'll be fun. And, as usual, the weekend will go by far faster than it ever should be allowed to do. So, I hope you guys have a great one!

*And Julie guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Water, Water Everywhere...

But none running in my sinks!

So, I got home from work yesterday and noticed a huge truck parked out by one of the other apartment buildings in my complex... The truck said "So-and-so's sewage and drain service." I thought to myself, "Man, I'm glad it wasn't our building!" And then I thought, "I hope it doesn't affect us!" "'[Twas] a dream devoutly to be wished," because when I turned on the sink, all that came out was a slow stream. And that was on full blast. But, there was still some water, so that was good news. I was able to get a shower (okay, so it was really more of a bath). But by 9:30, there was no water at all! Stefanie ended up having to drive across the street to Amber's to shower, so Amber was kind enough to send her home with a pitcher of water so we could do necessary stuff like brush our teeth and wash our hands. Oh yeah, and (okay, this kinda gross, but it was funny), so I told Stefanie, "Well, the new rule for the night is 'if it's yellow, let it mellow.'" She turned to me and laughed and said, "I'm thinking, even if it's brown, we don't have a choice." The girl cracks me up. So, since we were catapulted back to days of yore involuntarily, Stefanie and I decided to chronicle this little adventure where the washing of hands took two people. (And witness my lovely glasses... Like I said, they were super-cheap).
And may I just make one small observation? You really don't know what you have until you lose it. You just don't realize how much you depend on running water until it's gone. Seriously don't think I could function without indoor plumbing. So, while I was setting up my camera for that staged shot (I'd already washed my hands when it occurred to me that this was a photo opportunity), I somehow had the thought come into my head, "I'm no Helen Keller." I told Stefanie that and she laughed, but didn't get it. And after I explained it to her, she was like, "I was so hoping you'd explain it, beause I didn't get why it was funny." And for those of you who don't get it, it's because the famous scene from the play is when Annie Sullivan is pouring water onto Helen's hands at the water pump and that's when Helen first starts to learn to sign. And I'm hoping that doesn't sound like I'm being mean, either. My mind makes weird connections, and so posing for the picture of Stefanie pouring water on my hands made me think that. I'm not being mean to Helen Keller! So, the good news is that we had running water again this morning. I'm telling you, there is never a dull moment in the Nilla life! (Or maybe I just perceive it that way? Stefanie told me that maybe the reason I can make things sound interesting is because I view life more interestingly than others -- like the writers of Seinfeld). Oh yeah, and the other funny thing in connection with this picture: So, the idea to take a picture of this came from Stefanie asking me to take a picture of her brushing her teeth using this pitcher of water. And when she said that, she was like, "Hila, we are such losers!" And I said, "No! We just like to find the fun in life!" So, I took a picture (it's on her camera) of her, and then told her to bring the pitcher to the kitchen when she was done so we could stage the picture of me washing my hands. So, we got to talking about other stuff and she came out to the kitchen. I was setting up the camera, and when it was about time to take the picture, I said to Stefanie, "Did you bring the pitcher?" She laughed and said, "no" as she turned back to get it. I jokingly said, "Stefanie! It was the one thing you were in charge of!" She laughed so hard and told me I'd better put that on my blog. So I did :).

So, I have had the weirdest dreams lately. Tuesday night I dreamed the following:
So, I'm driving and I turn onto this road. Only the road stops, kind of like a cliff, and I'm looking down into a huge canal or something. There is a woman there trying to figure out what to do. And I just drive right off and explain to her that the cars will float in the water (where this logic comes from, I don't know). So she follows suit. And sure enough, our cars float to some little building where our cars end up on a conveyor belt out of the water and we are then in this big meeting room (not in our cars). Somehow my friend Emily from Panama is there and she's setting up all sorts of treats and stuff in a new room. And before long, many of the people I knew from Panama are in there too. It's like a mini-reunion. Jose and Steven Bowman are the other two people I remember being present. I end up taking a picture with Stevie, even though, in real life, we were never friends of any sort. Anyway... it was weird.

Oh, and Virginia came over to the apartment last night and brought the fixings for a delicious salad. I cut up the rotisserie chicken breast she brought while she sliced the colorful peppers. The salad was lovely and we put the chicken in the salad. It was a very healthy meal. And then we watched Juno. After the movie, I talked to April. It's so weird that April and I never see each other in class anymore! So, we caught up on the thrills of life. Not that mine is particularly thrilling ;). But she had airport stories to tell, and you know if you have an airport story, it's always a good one.

P.S. I just realized I have my shirt on backwards... Apparently obtaining a 4.0 GPA in library school doesn't require you to know how to dress yourself properly, and it doesn't mean you're the brightest crayon in the box, either ;)...

Heifering Up...

Let's face it... You all know how I love food. So, it really shouldn't be a surprise to you, or to me, that I stood on the scale yesterday evening and saw that I had gained 5 pounds since the last time I weighed. It was one of those, "Oh shoot" moments when I realized I would have to scale back a little on my eating (no pun intended ;)). Actually, I shouldn't have weighed myself when I did for an accurate weight. Hahaha... I am currently wearing and fitting into a pair of my skinny pants, so it's not like I'm really a heifer. But when I stepped on the scale and saw that, I literally laughed. So, let me give you the rundown of my food consumption this weekend and you see if you can determine where I went wrong ;).

Well, you saw my splurge for my solo girlie night. Enough said about that in my last post, I do believe.

Friday I worked until 11:30 -- my last opportunity to do that. On the up-side, today I get off at 11:15. So yippee!!! I'm all about early afternoons off. But I see I'm already getting off-topic, so I'd better right myself :). So, if you keep up with my blog comments, you will see that Stefanie invited me to eat lunch with her on Friday. See, she has these meal plan things here at the University, and it's a use-it-or-lose-it kind of deal. And since Stefanie is going to BYU next year, she would be losing hers. So, she invited to treat me to lunch at Lakeside Dining. Man, it reminded me of an airport terminal in some ways, at least the airport in Tocumen (Panama), because you had to go down into the food area and you could look up and there were all glass walls where people could sit and eat and look down on you. Anyway, it was a buffet and it was awesome. I didn't even know places like that existed on campus. I think they try to hide them from me :). Okay, in spite of the fact that I said I really heifered up this weekend, I want you to know I did not make a pig of myself at this place. I didn't go back for seconds. But I did get dessert. They had delicious soft chocolate chip cookies. I mean, they were good. You can see them in the picture. (Again, I will embed multiple pictures and clicking on any one of them will take you to where you can view them all).



So, after leaving lunch (oh yeah, Stefanie also used up two more meals for us to get to-go plates. Probably we should have done this at the time we were getting our first plate, because by this time, I was packed and nothing looked good. But, in the interest of kind-of-free food, we both loaded up so we'd have extra food stocked. I admit it... I took home more cookies :). And a huge 20 oz. cup of chocolate milk. After dozing in my room and trying to sleep off my very full tummy (yeah, probably should have been out running or something), I went to Wal-Mart. But you know they say it's good to shop on a full stomach, because then you don't impulse-buy. I can attest to that. Nothing looked appetizing at Wal-Mart. However, as I cannot pass up a good deal, when I saw 2 different Ben & Jerry's flavors in the little pint containers at $1.00 each, I had to get them. And in my defense... one of them was strawberry banana frozen yogurt. (And so it really doesn't matter that the other one was peanut butter cup, because they cancel each other out :)). Just FYI -- I have not eaten any of either of them yet. No need to, as I am still working on the mint cookie frozen yogurt ;).

So, after Wal-Mart (by the way, I was highly annoyed that Wal-Mart did not have any black slip-on sandal-y type heels), I tried to find a shoe-store in my vicinity. Alas, it was not to be had. So I ran home and showered, did my hair and make-up. This is why you don't take naps when you have stuff to do... Luckily, I had 15 minutes before I needed to be at the reception thing. Yeah, I'm neurotic. I have a thing with being on time, and it usually leaves me feeling awkward. But I can't seem to help myself. But anyway, since I didn't want to be early to the thing, I ran over to Target (pronounced tar-jay) and they did have some shoes for me! Yippee! And then I was only like 5 minutes late to the reception thing. But I was still one of the first to arrive. And it was awkward. April, Courtney, and April's boyfriend Mark got there about 5:30. And finally I was able to feel more normal. So, we decided to get some food and then we wandered off by ourselves to visit. Okay, so I don't know who planned that menu. I'm sorry, but yikes. There were a few things I could/would eat, like cheese cubes. And some things I thought I would eat and then later regretted. That happened with most of the food (and there wasn't much, trust me). Okay, so the mini sandwiches were pimento cheese (very Southern for those of you who don't know). These would have been fine with me. Except that they ended up being on rye bread! Ugh! Ick! Blech! I only found that out after I took a bite!!! Ick. Yuck! I hate rye bread. It tastes like licorice! And don't argue with me. It does. And then I moved on to eat whatever spread that was with the crackers. Oh my gosh... One smell of that stuff made me think twice. I let everyone smell it. I'm not even sure what it was. I tasted it a little. And yuck! I don't know what it was. Mark ended up eating it (I'm not sure how he could) and he decided it was hummus mixed with some herb of some sort. Whatever herb it was, it was potent. And so I ate the other cracker plain, and it was stale. And then, because the woman hosting this said that someone told her you couldn't not have something sweet... She pointed th way to the cookies and candy. Gingersnaps and a small bowl of jolly ranchers. I kid you not. Ugh. You know how I love a good spread. This was definitely disappointing. What can I say? I'm a food snob. Good thing I ate such a huge lunch. So, April, Mark, Courtney and I sat around laughing and talking. Courtney was bored stiff and ready to go. April looked over at me at one point and said, "Why did only the nerdy people from the program show up?" I looked at her and said, "Do you know what this says about us?" How depressing! Anyway, be glad you weren't there. So, we managed to sneak away by about 6 and decided we needed real food. And after much deliberation, we decided on IHOP (which Courtney finally realized stands for International House of Pancakes). The IHOP part was the best part... Real food, lots of laughs.



Friday night I talked to my dad and Brad, and then I went to sleep.

On Saturday, I got up early and headed to the Temple in Birmingham. Karen met me there and afterwards, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Delicious. I must recommend the Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple. It is divine. I should probably branch out again and try something new... BUt the last 3 or 4 times I've been, I think I've gotten this one. It is soooo good. It's very rich though. I was sorry I ate the whole piece in one sitting after I was done. I rarely do that. But I didn't eat as much of the lunch as I normally do, so I thought I had room for the whole piece of cheesecake. Apparently I had room, but it wasn't a nice fit or anything. Karen and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. It's so nice to see friends I don't get to see very often.



I drove home, got a shower. Decided I needed to come up with something cute for the nusery kids to do for their moms for Mother's Day. It also needed to be inexpensive. I mean, I can get reimbursed for anything I purchase for nursery. But that's a hassle, and it's not really about the money. I know I can find cute crafty things to do and not spend a ton of money doing it. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and looked around. I found stuff to do home-made cards and came up with a simple idea that would be different. In years past, the kids have put their hand print on a paper with the poem about handprints on the wall, etc. I wanted to do something different. So, this is what I did:



That was my example one. And you know what? I'm sending that one to my mommy. It'll be late, of course. But it's hers just the same. I started thinking yesterday as I decided to write in that card and get it ready to send to my mom about why it is we now just purchase our cards as adults. I'm not saying bought cards aren't nice. But who said that just because you could afford a bought card, that you should? I may be 27, and my thumprint might not be as cute and adorable as that of the little 2 year olds... But something tells me my mom will love this card. It has something no store-bought card has... It has a part of me in it. Again, I'm not knocking store-bought cards. I just thought about how, when we couldn't afford to buy the cards, we made do with what we had... And somehow those probably were more of us.

Anyway, I watched two movies on Saturday night. I watched The Thin Man, which was a recommendation from Tammy. I liked it. It is older and about a detective and his wife. But they are a funny couple. Very cute. Will probably borrow the others from the public library also. The other movie is from where the quote of the week comes, so I won't tell you what it was. But it was a present to myself, since it was on sale :).

And, in conclusion, I called my mom and wished her Happy Mother's Day yesterday. I also called Christina and Tarylyn and talked to my grandmother and aunt a bit. And I hope all of you mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day!

And, oh yeah... So I got a most unexpected compliment on Sunday. A girl that helps out in nursery (Celeste - she played 80s games with me once) is moving this week. Before she left at the end of the day yesterday, she said to me, "I just wanted to tell you that I think you are one of the prettiest girls in the Ward. You have a classic beauty." I thought it was a very nice thing to say. She will be greatly missed in nursery. She was such a huge help.

My Weekend

So Stefanie treated me to lunch on Friday at the Crimson Cafe. I'd never been there before. It was good. I got a Club Grinder, which is basically just a toasted sub sandwich. They put oil on the sandwich (and I mean it was dripping with oil), so that was annoying. And they didn't give me or Stefanie our pickle spears. A true tragedy. So I'll never know if their pickles were of the "not a good pickle" variety :). Haha... Okay, so it really wasn't that tragic. I just thought I'd mention it. But aside from the oil that was dripping off my sandwich, the taste was good and Stefanie and I had a good time visiting. Although I looked really rough. I'll tell you what... I don't understand how you can take pictures that look decent one day and then the next day you can look really really bad. Or even later on the same day that you took the decent picture, you can look bad in a picture. Of course, I've also had it happen where I've taken an ugly picture earlier in the day and then later on I like the way I look in the pictures I take later... What did we ever do without digital cameras that allow you to preview the pictures??? Not to mention the ease of being able to show pictures immediately to everyone else. So anyway, I look pretty bad in these pictures. The badness is ony magnified because Stefanie always looks sweet and cute. And so I look like an ogre. Stefanie, I'm never taking a picture with you again! (Okay, I'm kidding :)).And yeah, I said I was going to use photobucket if I had more than one picture to post. But that's kind of ridiculoous for this type of thing... Maybe when I'm posting a mass picture post where all the pictures are from the same thing...

Friday was payday, so I went to Wal-Mart. It really wasn't too bad. Sometimes Wal-Mart is a nightmare place to be... Especially on Fridays. Then I filled up my tank with gas (at $3.15... and I was proud to get that... What is wrong with the gas prices!!??!!). Then I got home, took a shower, and then went to Virginia's to pick her up, and we went to the Temple. I didn't get home until 11:20ish.

I had to come to school on Saturday to meet with my group for the Wednesday morning class. We met at 10:30. So, I got to sleep in. And sleep in is exactly what I did. I woke up around 9:30. The group meeting went well, and we seem to be well on our way to getting stuff accomplished. We only have about 4 more weeks of class, and I am so ready to be done! It seems that the closer to the end I get, the more I'm itchin' to be finished!!! I spent the rest of Saturday going to the public library and working on school stuff (which included reading more of the book, but I didn't get as far as I'd hoped I would). We had quite a good rain on Saturday evening, which was nice, since it washed away all the pollen on my car. Of course, that will just come back... I also talked to my mom for a long time, as well as Aunt Sue.

On Sunday I went to church, then Jill (my visiting teacher) came over after church. Then David and Ethan (my home teacher and his son) came by. Then I helped Stefanie deliver dinner to the missionaries. Then I made cupcakes for a YSA fireside (and luckily Stefanie was willing to make the frosting and frost them so I could get a shower). The fireside was good. It was about enduring to the end. Yep, sometimes that is the hardest part. After we got home, I talked to Christina briefly, talked to my dad for an hour, and talked to Brad for quite a while (some of it was in the afternoon, though).

So, here's a couple of funnies for you... Brad apparently bought the movie Follow that Bird from the $5 bin in Wal-Mart for his kids. It's about the Sesame Street characters. So he called and told me on Saturday about the very beginning of the movie where the Grouch Anthem is played. He told me to look it up on youtube. So I did. And so here it is for your enjoyment (because it really is funny):


My brother cracks me up!!! Brad tells me that the song has stuff about me. What!? So he clarifies for me... Apparently, because according to Brad, I'm so conceited, the part where Oscar says "something's wrong with everything except the way I sing," is like me because "Oscar thinks a lot of himself too." Okay, so Brad lost some coolness points with that one... Good thing I have to love him, since he's my brother ;).

And finally... This one is for Kristin... Although wikipedia (and, let's face it, are they not the authority on everything ;) -- spoken like a person who would give a librarian a heart-attack) explains quite clearly and concisely that dinner is "the main meal of the day, normally eaten in the evening, but occasionally at lunchtime," Kristin felt the need to prover her point by sending me this:
But I want you to notice, Kristin, that it's only occasionally a lunchtime meal. And the real irony is that it's still called lunchtime :). Not dinnertime :). Dinnertime is usually in the evening :).

I do believe I have some of the greatest people ever in my life!!!

6:00 Already?

I was just in the middle of a dream! Ugh. But it really is another Manic Monday. And I totally blamed it on the dude hauling some kind of tractor on a 2-lane, NO PASS AT ALL road that I was 10 minutes late to work. Ugh. Oh, I didn't get out of bed at 6, but my alarm started going off at that time. So, the title fits :). And I can guarantee that the thought (in some muddled form or fashion) did cross my mind that I couldn't believe it was 6:00 already. Probably mostly because, due to the time change, it was once again dark outside at that time. This time last year I was in Seattle. Here's to hoping that this time next year will find me there again, only this time indefinitely :).

So Friday after the Institute Friday Forum, Tom invited me to join he and a couple of other guys from church to see the movie 10,000 B.C. I'd never even heard of it. Tom told me what it was about, and I figured I had nothing better to do, so I went and saw my first movie in the movie theatre here. I've lived here a year and a half now, and this is the first time I've been to the real theatre here. Haha... Anyway, in case you don't know what the movie is, here's a link to a trailer (or preview) for it. I've found that if you see a movie and have little to no expectations about it, you really can't be disappointed. And since I'd never even heard of this movie (and I only realized while watching that trailer for it just now that Friday was it's opening day), I had absolutely no expectations. And I actually thought it was quite decent. The graphics and effects were awesome, at least in my opinion. After the movie, I went home and got a shower. Then Stefanie and I went to Hobby Lobby to find stuff for baby shower favors for Julie's baby shower (which is in less than a week, Juliebean!!!). After we got home, Pace came over and brought a movie for the 3 of us to watch: The Prestige. Probably some of you have heard of it. I never had. But it was good. I mean, it's got some serious twists in it through the whole movie. I liked it. And hey, David Bowie was in it (he plays Nicolai Tesla), and you know how much I adore David Bowie.... Haha :). Ironically, it turns out Brad and Tarylyn rented this movie and watched it this past weekend also.

On Saturday, I woke up early to go to a Relief Society thing. We were having breakfast at the chapel here and then carpooling to the Temple. Well, I went outside and saw this:

That's right... More snow in Alabama! It's just crazy! Of course, it had quit snowing by this point (and it was still early... about 7:25 a.m.). So, I de-snowed my car and headed to the chapel. We ate breakfast, but also got the news that, due to many accidents on the Interstate overpasses, the Interstates had been closed in many areas. So, that pretty much nixed the Temple trip. So, we ate breakfast and had a lesson by Pres. Archibald that was great. And then we went home. So I took care of a few tasks at home I'd let pile up (namely hanging up all my clean clothes...), and then I called Viriginia to see if she wanted to hang out and go to FedEx/Kinko's with me to make a transparency. Virginia had a better idea... She had transparency sheets and an inkjet printer that would print them! So she offered up these materials, and I was able to make my transparency at her house instead! And so I took over some Publix brand Black Jack Cherry frozen yogurt (this stuff is so good, you wouldn't even realize it wasn't ice cream if you didn't know it). And since we were watching comedic movies while I was burning more of my family DVDs (and since it was yogurt, not ice cream, and was therefore healthy for you ;), Virginia and I took the liberty of eating heaping huge bowls-full... And we (or at least I wasn't) weren't the least bit sorry :).

So I was very tired Saturday night and didn't feel like doing much after I got home from Virginia's. So I didn't. I did a little bit of reading. And really, if it hadn't been the night to "spring forward," it would have been an early night. However, since I had to "spring forward" it didn't seem like such an early night. I think we should never lose an hour. That's just hideous. I think we should always gain it. Just so you know. Church was good. My friend Jeni and her husband David spoke, and they did an excellent job. I also found people to teach the nursery lesson for the next 2 weeks for me, since I'm headed to Dothan for my Spring Break (and none too soon!!). After church I took a lovely little nap (on purpose... I was seriously tired) and then got up to finish making the crock pot chicken taco soup. Yum. Which Stefanie and I ate later. Yum. And a little later, I had some more Black Jack Cherry frozen yogurt while watching some of the family videos. I laugh every time. I also talked to my mom, Brad, and Christina and Desiree. Desiree told me all about her ponies. (She's majorly into My Little Pony. Such a smart girl to adore the 80s toys ;)).

My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready to Go

Although entirely unrelated to this post, that is totally a song title post :). Isn't that a great song? I actually own a CD with Peter, Paul, and Mary's greatest hits. I like the CD. I was raised on a lot of folk music from the 60s. Let's face it, I was raised on a lot of music. It's why my playlist is such a plethora of genres and decades :). Plethora... Julie used that word on Saturday, and I like it :). Although I generally include this CD in the group of gifts from G&G that came during senior moments... Also in this grouping: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (we'd never seen it, much less asked for it, and somehow it ended up being my birthday present when I was really hoping for The Three Musketeers -- because I thought Charlie Sheen was HOT in that movie.... hey, there's another "famous crush" of mine from back in the day!); Frank Sinatra's Duets on CD; and the cream of the crop (which I've mentioned before), a VHS tape of Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii. It's not that these are bad gifts by any means. They are just rather odd choices for a 14 or 15 year old, unless said teenager has requested those gifts. And I can vouch for the fact that that particular teenager (i.e. me) did not :). But, I love telling the story. So, I say it was a good trade :).

Wow, I had a super-busy weekend! On Friday I ran out to Wal-Mart and transferred all my pictures on my camera to CD (finally). There were 400 of them! Wow, I've been taking some pictures lately! They spanned November through February. Apparently I was living it up :)! Which would be accurate, seeing as my fun trip to the Northeast, my trip to Julie's, and my trip to Atlanta, along with 3 other girlie nights were included in this 400 pictures! And I said I was vaNILLA... I'm such a liar ;).

Oh yeah, so... My weekend. Okay, so after that, I ran home with all the good intentions of doing school work. However, life usually has other plans for me, so I never got around to doing much schoolwork. Okay, I'm not going to lie. It wasn't life's fault... it was mine. I decided to eat my $1.00 jalapeno poppers for lunch, and figured I didn't really need to do schoolwork at that time. It was much better to savor each popper by watching the rest of Dirty Dancing. So, I took my own advice, and that's what I did :). Well, you know what they say about good intentions ;).... Toad the Wet Sprocket says it's hard to rely on them... I'll have to concur. So, by the time I was actually free to do some schoolwork, it was time to start getting ready for the Temple trip. Several of us from church went to do baptisms, and I rode up there with Stefanie. That was fun. Then she and I came home, stopping through Wendy's on the way home. The prices have gone up! I ended up just getting a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, because I am too cheap to pay $1.19 or $1.29 for fries or a frosty to accompany it... What happened to all of these items being $.99? Anyway, Stefanie and I had a good ride home, just chatting away. I'm such a talker.

Saturday I woke up early, because there was a Stake Relief Society Enrichment Meeting to go to. I could not believe how cold it had gotten over-night! I rode with Virginia, Joan, and Pearl. The meeting was awesome. It was all about preparing ourselves, and becoming self-reliant so that we can lift others and help them become self-reliant and prepared as well. There were several different 30-minute classes we could attend. I opted for the ones on bargain buying, food storage, provident living, and then looked at all the other displays for the other 30 minutes of my time. They were great. And there was some great granola snacks (I mean, this was delicious, and I wish I knew who made it), along with a great lunch served at the end. That ended around 1:30, and I got home sometime after 2:00. I talked to Juliebean and got my Juliebean fix for the month (that's what it seems like these days, since we don't seem to talk on the phone as much anymore... But when we do... It's a blast! We talked for probably a total of 2.5 hours! We killed the battery on her cell, so she had to call me back on Jon's, if that tells you anything about the length of our conversation :)). I finished my second article review for the crazy class, and got another article read and annotated for that same class's big project, which is due March 6th. Sigh... I washed 2 loads of clothes, talked to Christina, and watched half of a movie. Oh, and I took a nap, because I only meant to close my eyes, and that was an hour-long blink. Oops. At least I got done with everything I HAD to get done with by today :). And a little extra...

On Sunday I got up and went to church. One of the mothers of one of the nursery children told me the neatest story. She said, "You guys must do a great job teaching the children. Joshua came home last week and told me all about the Holy Ghost. He told me the Holy Ghost doesn't have a real body, but He has a spirit body. And then he said that the Holy Ghost goes, 'Woooo.'" She laughed, and I laughed, and I said, "Well, I didn't teach him that last part! She laughed and said, "Yeah, I know that was his invention... He's been watching a lot of Scooby Doo." It just feels good to know that the children do listen, even at age 2. Sometimes I'm not sure if they are getting anything out of the lessons, because they are all moving around and getting out of their seats. So it is neat to learn that they do learn stuff, and that they are paying attention, even if they don't seem to be. I do love the nursery kids. In fact, this same little boy came over to me while I was cleaning up the toys yesterday to prepare for lesson time, and he grabbed my arm (I was bent over, picking up the toys), and hugged my arm. I thought it was just so sweet. The kids are just so neat, and this calling has been so rewarding and I have really enjoyed it. After church, I worked on reading some more, but dozed off again... for another hour. Virginia called and woke me up, so I ended up going to her apartment to watch a movie, burn more family DVDs and eat popcorn. Yum! So, I have 2 of the 6 DVDs burned for each of us now (that is a total of 5 each). Yay! I didn't end up leaving until about 10:00, and I still had to get a shower... Not to mention the other stuff I needed to do! Of course, I was so wide awake, I didn't fall asleep until after 12:30... I'm tired! But, I'm wired! So, I'm good :).

*And Mrs. S has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Total Eclipse of the [Moon]

Yep, you 80s folks know that this is totally a song-title post :). So, here it is!

I'll get to it... But first...

So, the rest of work yesterday was essentially uneventful. I got to leave at 3:30 for the day, so I headed home to pick up my library books, which were due. Of the 3 I had, I only got around to reading one. Yes, I only JUST finished Crisis by Robin Cook on Tuesday night. Yikes! Actually, I don't think it was me so much as it was the book. It just wasn't my writing-style. Robin Cook is incredibly wordy. He describes every minute detail. It occurs to me that I probably do the same thing to all of you. Hmmm.... I guess I can dish it out, but I can't take it :). Turns out that rule can apply to lots of things! But I started on the new Tess Gerritsen book last night, and I am already almost 70 pages into it, and I would've kept reading, except that I knew I needed to go to bed. I love Tess Gerritsen's books. They always suck me right in.

I also decided to make a new recipe last night. They are called Pizza Meatloaf Cups or something like that. You cook them in muffin tins. Eh. I wasn't all that impressed. So I didn't take a picture. Stefanie liked them, but I thought they were rather bland. They're edible, just nothing stellar. I guess it's good to know. I'll just know not to make them again. I have this cookbook through which I went and marked all the recipes I wanted to try. So, I'm making an effort to try some of them. So, now I've tried the sunset cooler (from the pink party) and these pizza meatloaf cups. I have gotten some very awesome recipes from this cookbook in the past, and I'm sure there are some other great ones for me to discover some day. I just need to get cooking! So, while I was finishing up the preparations on dinner, Stefanie was working on some whole wheat bread (she likes to bake bread a lot). I'm cutting up an orange to go with the dinner (in my attempt to not just have meatloaf cups...) and there's a knock on our door. I look at Stefanie, who's looking at me, and I say, "Are you expecting anyone?" She says, "No." So I start walking to the door to look out the peep-hole, and Stefanie says, "Maybe it's hot shirtless guy." I laughed. Then I looked out the peep-hole and said, "You know what, you might be right." And it was shirtless guy (with a shirt on). I told her to answer the door, since I was in my pajamas. He wanted to know if we had a garlic press, which we do not. Anyway, it was just funny that Stefanie said that, and then it was him. Then, after dinner, I went to my room and started reading.

Elka called me last night, so that was cool :). It's nice to get an unexpected phone call! So she and I gabbed for about half an hour, and then Pace called to say that the eclipse was happening. So, Stefanie and I went outside to watch it. I took my camera out, but I didn't get anything good, sadly. It was very cloudy here. We waited until the moon was totally eclipsed, and then we gave up and went inside, because the clouds just got worse. So, this experience brings me to a memory lane story. Not a funny one, but a story nonetheless :).

I watched the last lunar eclipse of the 20th century about 10 years ago when I lived in Panama. I can remember sitting out on our carport. That's about all I remember though. It's entirely possible (and highly probable) that I have it written in one of my journals, since I was much better at journaling way back then. (I need to get better at it now). Also, I got to "witness" a solar eclipse about 10 years ago as well, while I lived in Panama. I don't remember the date of it (it's possibly in my yearbook, since they did a whole page spread of it), but I remember it was during my Junior year, which was precisely 10 years ago. I was sitting in Ms. Brannick's U.S. History class, and it was right after lunch. Of course, with solar eclipses, you don't want to be looking at them with your bare eye, since they say it can burn your retina. Anyway, we didn't go outside for it. But I remember it getting darker outside. It was a clear, beautiful day, so the difference was noticeable. It looked like it was evening-time when the eclipse took place. Emily and I were actually talking about this when I was in Atlanta. She remembered sitting in Mr. Brown's Analysis class, and she was thinking, at first, that it was 10th grade and that I was in there with her. But I was in Algebra II with her in 10th grade, and that was 1st period (I'm such a memory nerd :)). In 11th grade, I had Mrs. Peterson for Analysis. So anyway, I just remember that I was in Ms. Brannick's class at the time of the eclipse. "Next." (To quote Mrs. Brannick.... it's so much funnier to hear how she'd say it.)

And oh yeah, I seriously didn't want to get up this morning. And when I finally did, it did not help to find out it was raining outside and perfect weather for snuggling up and reading... I really wouldn't mind being asleep right now :).

*And Julie guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Happy Heart Day!

Well, I decided I should mark the occasion by breaking the Nilla mold and posting in red. I always notice how colorful Elka's posts are, but it never occurs to me to try to do that with my blog :). It is the VaNILLA in me coming out. And I posted the Google picture because I thought it was sooo cute. Isn't that so sweet?

Yesterday after work, Jeni and I went and visited with Jackie and Nancy. As always, Jeni and I had a great time visiting. I guess that straightener really works, because I walked into Jeni's house, she took one look at me and said, "You got a straightener!" I didn't know it was that obvious! What amazed me even more is that most of my hair was in a ponytail and just the bangs were noticeable. Mostly because yesterday was a blah day, so I didn't even do anything with my hair. I had straightened it Tuesday night after I blow-dryed it, but it was still looking straightened yesterday afternoon. So that's cool. After Visiting Teaching, I found the back-road way from Jeni's house to the Piggly Wiggly that has 35-cent Pepsi products in the vending machines. I told Jeni about it and she said that, up until 3 or 5 months ago, they had been 25 cents. Still a bargain at 35 cents though. So I bought myself a soda and headed home. Oh, I got the cutest Valentine card from my friend Becky and her son Brian. She had Brian in cupid wings and a diaper. It was just too cute. Thanks Becky! Here's a picture of Little B and myself back in November:
So after I got home and took a shower, I forced myself to read and take notes on another article for my 18-page paper. Yeah, I should have spent the rest of the night doing things of this nature. But I have a hard time forcing myself to do so. So, I settled on having read one article, cooked myself some Velveeta Shells and Cheese, emailed April to solidify our red/pink menu for tomorrow's Valentine's Girls' Night, and then hunkered down with Edy's Thin Mint ice cream to watch Dirty Dancing. I forget just how much I love that movie until I start watching it again. It should be noted that I was productive a little bit during the movie: I folded clothes. I didn't make it through the whole movie (just until the part where Penny tells Johnny, "Johnny what are you doing? You told me never to get mixed up with them." And Johnny replies, "I know what I'm doing." Then April called, so I paused it. Well, our conversation ended up lasting 2 hours, so I never did get back to the movie. I will save the remainder of it for another time. After all, I can't not watch the classic line: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Please note that you will never find this quote in my "guess the quote" box. It's too well-known and therefore not a challenge :). April totally cracks me up. It really is great to have a friend in the program, particularly one in several of my classes of the program. It's more fun to gripe with a friend than alone :). Oh yeah, and Stefanie also cracks me up. She left another sticky note with a code on it. She had the picture of a dollar and next to it wrote "value of" and then drew a down arrow. And then she had that multiplied by negative one. So, basically I was supposed to figure out "depreciate" (when the value of the dollar goes down) and then, when multiplied by a negative one, it's supposed to be positive, so she wanted me to end up with "appreciate" and then the rest of it I figured out... And it said, "I appreciate Hila." I have to give her props for her creativeness. I wouldn't have ever figured out a way to codify appreciate :). Stefanie is a neat roommate.

I woke up totally late this morning, and I knew it was supposed to be very cold outside. So, I went out and cranked up my car so it would warm up while I was getting ready. And it was very iced over, so pre-heating it was a good thing :). I noticed, though, that it didn't seem all that cold. Turns out that was a mixture of 2 things: 1...I was wearing my new pajama pants (hmmm... I find myself in a predicament... My RED pajamas with the hearts, with which you are all very familiar, are ideal for the festive girlie night, but I sure am tired of seeing them in pictures.... and I sure would like to introduce you to my new cute pajama pants that are pastel green with cupcakes on them and they are polyester...hmmm...) and those polyester pants are quite good at blocking the cold. And 2...the wind wasn't blowing. Anyway, on the way to work, I suddenly remember that I have a back window defroster. I've had this car for going on 4 years now. And I will have you know that today is the first day it occurred to me to use the back window defroster lines... Yeah, you can call me genius.

And finally, allow me to tell you my strange dream. So, I'm at work in the dream, only it's night-time. And it's obviously a Thursday night, because I am in class. And for some reason, I decided to stay at my work desk and have class here. Which, in real life (and I think even in my dream life, because rules of which I am conscious usually carry over into my subconscious :)), is not allowed. This floor closes at 5:30 and it is completely locked up. The public elevators won't even come to this floor (unless they are called from this floor) after 4:45. So in the dream, I knew I wasn't supposed to be using my computer for my online class. But I figured it wouldn't matter. So the floor is completely dark, except for the light around my area (which didn't look exactly the same... For one thing the cube walls were lower). So, I would alternate between sitting on the floor (? possibly because this is how I use my computer at home a lot?), and standing at my desk. So at one point, I'm standing at my desk on the phone, looking toward the little hallway that is on the other side of my cube (in real life, only I can't see it, because the cube is tall). And all of a sudden, this Asian guy walks in front of my desk. Now, this immediately freaks me out, because I'm under the impression that I'm alone here. I mean, it seems that the library building is still open (although it also seems it's around midnight, which makes it weird that I was supposedly in class...) I'm also under the impression that the floor is locked down and that nobody can get onto the floor. So this guy walks around my desk and tries talking to me. Only he doesn't speak much English. I also get the impression that he works on campus as a professor, but even so... I'm freaked out that he has gotten on the floor and shouldn't have been able to. He picks up the phone and dials the police (which, according to my dream, if you press 44 at any point, it will automatically call the police). So I'm talking to the dispatcher who wants to know if it's an emergency, etc. Eventually my supervisor shows up, my old department head shows up, campus SWAT guys show up to find the "breach" that allowed this guy on the floor. And I'm afraid I'm going to get into trouble for using my work computer for class. But I don't get in trouble. Oh yeah, and they did a print out of the phone numbers dialed (I don't know why this was important) and I could see where, twice, the 44 sequence was dialed. I have a strange little subconscious.

Okay, so I said finally before, so I lied. So sue me. You're the one still reading :). I thought I would do a mini-memory, seeing as it's Valentine's Day and all that :). This isn't really much of one. Just something I remember. I remember they used to send out candy-grams in junior high school. You could pay a dollar and send a candy-gram to someone else. I used to yearn for Cody (in 7th grade) to send me one. For the record, I never got one. I was a loser... (Just kidding). Of course, I also never sent one either. I was not that brave ;).

*Christina has also guessed the movie quote correctly!*

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...

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 :)...