Footloose and Fancy....

Free.

Hilarious story: someone actually called himself "footloose and fancy." And stopped right there. And he is of the male persuasion. I always thought that was funny.

So, I am officially done with having to attend classes, at least until June. We did our poster session thing today. I also turned in my re-done literature review (hallelujah!) and also got my take-home test back from a few weeks ago. And the amazing Nilla got a 15+ out of 15. Woohoo! I think I impressed her, because she made a point to come to me and say, "You did really well on the test." At the end of it, she said, "Excellent work Hila!" in big letters. And it was peppered with positive remarks throughout the test. I'm feeling all warm inside ;). So, perhaps after all the sweat and tears, I will come out okay in there...

So, you know how in literature, there are usually motifs or themes? I wonder if our lives are sometimes like that, when there is a recurring theme or something we are supposed to learn, so it keeps popping up. If that is the case, the current theme for my life is "Learn to live in the NOW." Not only was this mentioned in General Conference a few weeks back by Elder Ballard who suggested that we should enjoy the now when he quoted author Anna Quindlen who said, "...I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” But it is also part of the First Presidency message for the month of April, where Pres. Monson counseled us to learn from the past, prepare for the future, and live in the present. And if that weren't enough, I also read it in this wonderful book titled Daddy-Long-Legs. Who knew there would be such wisdom couched in a cute juvenile book? Here is what "Jerusha" tells Daddy-Long-Legs in a letter: "It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones -- I've discovered the true secret to happiness, Daddy, and that is to live in the now. Not to be forever regretting the past, or anticipating the future; but to get the most that you can out of this very instant." And do you know I fear I am terribly guilty of anticipating the future to the point where I play out multiple scenarios in my mind daily? Do you know that I have described my time here (this past year and a half) as "limbo-like;" a time where I was just "passing through" and waiting for my life to begin again? I will say I have become better at just going and doing and living in the moment a little bit more, and without guilt (like taking spontaneous trips to Seattle, for example). But I remain fraught with concern over the future and what it holds. I must learn to let go. To do the things I know are right and allow myself to be led and trust that it will be all that my heart desires. And in the mean-time, live in the now. And perhaps I needed to see that motif, or theme, pop up multiple times in the last month in order to "get it." Hopefully now that I've recognized it, I can learn to implement it. Not a thing of ease for a person such as the Nilla who clings desperately to some false sense of control over issues she cannot control at all... Seems silly, doesn't it? And yet, that is me :). So, in my attempts at living in the NOW, my new adventure is almost sure...

I am nearly 100% positive I am going to Panama. My dad called today to inform me that he spoke with the family friends that still live in Panama. The wife said she was sure we'd be able to stay with them. Now all I have to do is buy the tickets... with my dad's credit card. Haha ;). Oh yeah, and the other way I'm going to live in the NOW? Why, I think I will purchase Trivial Pursuit 80s edition, because I found it for $10 through Amazon.com. Brand-spankin' new, at that. So, get ready to get whooped... (unless there is a ridiculous sports category).

And, because I feel I should leave you with some more great thoughts from Daddy-Long-Legs that made me laugh:
"And as for Florence, she is hopeless -- but, oh! such a little beauty. I don't suppose it matters in the least whether they are stupid or not so long as they are pretty. One can't help thinking though how their conversation will bore their husbands, unless they are fortunate enough to obtain stupid husbands. I suppose that's quite possible; the world seems to be filled with stupid men; I've met a number this summer."

It made me laugh... Probably because it's something I would at least think, even if I didn't say it out loud (but I probably would say it out loud to someone I knew would agree with me!).

*Oh yeah, and Elka also guessed the movie quote!*

My Saria is 7!

Okay, so to make up for being a totally loser-ish aunt who remembered on the 26th that the next day was Saria's birthday, but forgot on the actual day of her birthday...

Enjoy some pictures of my sweet Saria growing up (and if you have info on how to make her stop doing that, let me know!)





Happy Belated Birthday my sweet Saria! I love you very much and am very excited to see you soon!

Living La Vida [Nilla]

You know, I've had that song title post in my mind for a while. I was just waiting for the opportunity to use it. And, it seems the opportunity has arisen. I find it ironic that I ended up having two Spanish blog post titles back to back mere months before I (most likely) will find myself jetting off to a Spanish-speaking country. Life is interesante, no? And my apologies for the fact that that song will remain in your head now. But hey, since it's going to remain in mine for the day, I thought I would share the experience with you.

So, since I remembered to bring my camera with me, I figured I'd upload my photos from the weekend and give you a play-by-play of the Nilla life when it's not so vanilla :).



Doesn't that look yummy? I'll just go ahead and tell you that it is. The recipe actually calls for toffee bits instead of butterfingers, but as I couldn't find ANY toffee bits or any toffee-like candy in either Wal-Mart or WinnDixie, I consulted with April over the phone and we decided Butterfingers would be delicious. And they were.

Okay, so on Friday, I got off work at 11:30 (and let's just say I am basking in my last few weeks of having this opportunity), and I ran by the passport office, as I indicated yesterday. So that's in the works and I'm glad. Oh, and it only cost me $100. (Only?!?). Just FYI -- if you go through like a travel agent to get your passport, they will charge you a significantly higher price. It's much more worth your while financially to find the nearest not-for-profit place (in my case it was the county courthouse) and you can do so by looking at the immigration website for the government. Just wanted to help you out with that info :). I went to Institute after that and we ate pizza. We had a lively conversation about books. Right up my alley. I left there at 3:00 and got a shower and got ready to head to the Temple. I picked up Virginia and we stopped to get gas on the way. Good grief... $3.45 a gallon, and that's the cheapest I have found lately. On an up-note, since I was very thirsty, Virginia and I went into the gas station and bought some drinks (I never buy convenience store food anymore -- it's expensive) and they had mint M&Ms! They are special for the upcoming Indiana Jones movie. And they are very minty. So obviously you see that we bought some. I worked at the office until 10 and then we drove home. However, I was sooo hungry. And so was Virginia. So, we pulled off the interstate in Bessemer and got some Sonic. I have to say those were the best pieces of popcorn chicken ever (due to my hunger). And I also have to say that that was the crappiest Butterfinger Sonic blast ever. We got totally jipped on the butterfinger.

Saturday, I woke up and started cleaning and de-cluttering my room. Okay, so I'm going to make a confession... I only sleep on one half of my queen-sized bed (although I could use the whole thing, I just don't -- I'm imaginarily confined to "my side" of the bed. One must not pass the 5th parallel, or whatever marks the mid-point of your bed). So, I use the other side for storage... You know, it stores my scriptures and any other book I happen to be reading. So anyway, I had a lot of junk mail to shred and all that. I think it should be illegal to get junk mail. It really irritates me to have to go through it all and shred 50 million credit card offers. Anyway, I talked to my mom that morning, got my sheets in the washer, ate the last of my Fruity Pebbles... Then I went to Wal-Mart and got groceries. And since they didn't have toffee bits, I went to WinnDixie in hopes of finding some there. And then I decided to get butterfingers instead. So I was headed home and starting to put the white bean chili into the crock pot. Well, it calls for vegetable broth. I had very carefully scanned the Wal-Mart shelves for veggie broth. The ONLY veggie broth at Wal-Mart was a box of organic veggie broth by Swanson. $2.72. Sigh... Ordinarily, I would have just substituted chicken broth (which is 50 cents for the Wal-Mart brand), but April is a vegetarian... So, I bought the organic stuff. Or at least I thought I did. Sitting on the shelf next to the organic veggie broth was the "Free range" chicken broth. Turns out I grabbed that in lieu of the veggie broth. And I didn't notice it until after I got home and was about to put the requisite 1 cup of broth into the crock pot. Arg. So, back into the car and back to WinnDixie. Who, I might add, had a significantly cheaper can of Swanson veggie broth... If only I'd have realized I'd be going to WinnDixie, I wouldn't have even bothered with the broth at Wal-Mart... What an adventure. Once that was going, Stefanie helped me bake the cake for the trifle. I also had to cook the pudding for the trifle. I'm not sure why I couldn't use instant, but the recipe said "NOT INSTANT," so I obeyed. I don't know if I will obey in the future, though... I spent the rest of the afternoon continuing my cleaning spree by cleaning my car (and breaking a nail in the process) and raking up a lot of hair from my rug in my bedroom. Ick. I could have made my own hair doll. I have lost a lot of hair. Meanwhile, April was on her way from Jacksonville (where she had been baby-sitting her nephew for the day), and when she was about 30 miles away, her check engine light came on. So, she pulled off to find out what was wrong. Turns out it was the O2 sensor. Why do they even put these in cars? Everyone's seems to go out, but the car still runs. What is its purpose? So, I got a shower and April got there a little after 6:00. We headed over to take pictures with Bear Bryant before it got too dark. It's just something you have to do... take pictures with the statue. It's a landmark. (And I shared that with my class last night during my power point presentation). April wasn't sure where graduation was to take place, so I drove her over to where that will be so she'd know. And on the way, we stopped by where I used to live. It certainly looks different... It's been leveled! My apartment no longer even exists. It's kind of sad, really. Then we traipsed to the library to take pictures on the big steps, because we figure we should have pictures in front of the library, seeing as we ARE future librarians and all that. I'm thinkig the future of libraries is scary... (Just kidding). We started to leave, and I made a comment about how some of these trees on campus are "tree-climbing trees." Well, that resulted in us having to climb the trees. And Elka -- flip flops get all wonky when you're trying to climb a tree. They are a hazard and can fall off at any second. Might as well just go barefoot and lose the possible distraction :). But, then it's painful on my poor tootsies. Lesson learned. I will likely try to climb a tree again in the future though. Monkeys climb trees, you know... So I'd better do that. We stopped by Publix (after a seriously huge let-down that I couldn't climb the second even cooler "tree-climbing tree") because, surprise surprise, I forgot to buy yeast for the cinnamon rolls. Look, if it's not on my list, it's not going to be remembered. Not even if I mentioned it out loud to Stefanie that morning that I needed to get some. Arg. Then it was on to the house... Where we satiated our now monumental hunger with white bean chili and corn muffins and Dr Pepper (I learned last night that there isn't supposed to be a period after Dr). Honestly, wasn't that impressed with the white bean chili. It was too sweet -- probably due to the sweet corn. But, it was food. Then it was time for me to wash the dishes and prepare the dough for cinnamon rolls. Which I did. And while it was rising in the oven, we broke out Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture edition. We soon discovered that using the accompanying DVD was lame. So, we stopped that. I was the Atari joystick, Courtney was the lava lamp, and April was the cool mix tape that had "makeout tunes" on one side (you can see it in the picture of her holding up her winning piece). The makers of Trivial Pursuit think of all the small details... We made the cinnamon rolls (well, except for the baking part) and then returned to our stimulating activity of learning trivia. I still can't believe I didn't win! I was the first one with all my pies, and I made it into the hub on the first try. But, as I can't answer a sports question to save my life... Finally, we decided that there would be no sports questions in the middle. Nobody would have won if we had... So, since you have to leave the hub and re-enter it exactly each time you miss the question, April ended up getting back in there and knowing the answer to the yellow question for the win. Darn! But it was close. Oh yeah, and we did stop at one point to dish up some delicious heaps of trifle. And it was soooo good. By this time, it was 1 in the morning and it was past time to go to bed. So, we retired to our beds and slept the night away.

On Sunday, I woke up at 7:30 to set the cinnamon rolls out to warm up, plus I pre-heated the oven. Then at 8, I popped them in and they were ready by 8:30, which is when I went and woke up April and Courtney. So, the rolls were fabulously delicious and warm and gooey. And yum. At 9:30, I headed to church and April and Courtney left. Turned out April was going to meet with her group mates our crazy class at 11:00, so it was a good thing she was here, since she's the only one who doesn't live locally. After church, I headed home and got a shower and got ready to go to a wedding with Heath, who was a groomsman in the wedding. It was outside of Birmingham, so I got there in good time and the wedding was nice. It threatened to rain, but it didn't end up raining, which was probably good, since it was an outside wedding. The rain waited until it was time to drive home, and then it fell torrentially. So lovely. But, the rain did bring the cooler weather again, which is good, since Stefanie and I finally caved and turned o the a/c on Saturday. It's the humidity, I'm telling you. That's what makes it feel so hot and icky! I got home and talked to my mom on the phone and talked to Stefanie as well, and so I ended up not going to sleep until after 1 in the morning.

So there you have it... That's what it sometimes looks like to "Live la vida Nilla."

*And Julie has guessed the movie quote!*

La Vieja

That's me... It's official. I'm OLD. (Oh, and so "La vieja" means "the old woman" in Spanish).

On Saturday, April, Courtney, and I came to campus and part of what we decided to do was to climb some of the tree-climing trees (that's my term for them) on campus. They really are the kind of trees you just look at and picture climbing. Okay, so we didn't set out with these intentions, so April and I were totally unprepared and wearing flip flops. At least Courtney was wearing tennis shoes. So, you can't really climb a tree in flip flops. So I figure, "no big deal. I can do it bare foot." Oh my goodness! When did my feet become so delicate and tender?!? It hurt! I scraped skin off my foot! And I didn't make it very far up the tree either. It's kind of depressing. Then, on the second tree, I couldn't even get up in it! I had to hoist Courtney up into it. April offered to hoist me, but I declined. I'm a heifer. It wouldn't have been a fun experience for April. I remember a time when I could hoist Brad and Christina up an incredibly long-trunked Roseapple tree. I wonder if either of them scan still climb like in the old days... Man, when oh when did I get old? Also, I have noticed that I have lines at my eyes and around my mouth from smiling. I take great comfort in the Mark Twain quote, "Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles used to be." I guess the fact that I have so many wrinkles should make me feel good, since it means I have smiled a lot ;).

Oh, also. I turned in my application for my passport. Yay! And yes, it was verified by the woman at the passport office. She said they say that showing your teeth alters your facial features. Well, okay. All I know is that I look like a much dorkier version of me without showing my teeth than with showing them. So I'm thinking my picture is not accurate to me. So, if they want to come searching for me or something, they'll be looking for a total dweeb (based on my picture) and they'll totally overlook the hottie that is me. (I say this with all the sarcasm in the world! -- otherwise my brother might say I'm conceited).

So it turns out kids can get really attached to you. There is this cute-as-a-button little girl in nursery. She is almost 2. Yesterday I was the only "regular" person there -- as in, all my regular helpers weren't there. So we had fill-ins. Well, we have a set of twins, and they always have to use the bathroom during nursery. And since they are newly potty-trained, we make sure to rush them to the bathroom (and they always have to go within 5 minutes of each other, so when one says she has to go, we just take them both). Well, the little 2 year old girl likes to sit in laps. So when she came in yesterday, she came and sat in my lap. Well, when I had to take these twins to the bathroom, I picked the little girl up and said, "I'll be right back. I have to go take them to the potty." And I figured she'd go to the other person who was sitting on the floor and sit in her lap. But she didn't. She raced after me, crying and wanting me to pick her up. She wouldn't go to the other person. She refused. So, I ended up taking her with me too.

Anyway, I did have a good, fun-filled, fast-paced, exciting weekend. I didn't accomplish a lick of schoolwork. Sigh. But I did: work at the Temple, go to Wal-Mart, clean my room, cook food, lose at Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture :(, go to church, go to a wedding, and stay up until 1 a.m. two nights in a row (and one of them was last night).

Daddy-Long-Legs

Okay, so I'm still reading this book. I love it. I would be done already, except that I somehow feel the need to do my class assignments, although that is much less entertaining. But I was just reading on break and came across a hilarious statement. I think I will share. But first, let me give you the run-down of the book.

So, Jerusha is an orphan and one of the trustees of the orphanage has decided to pay for her to go to college. His stipulation is that she not know his name or who he is, but she has to write him letters at least once a month and tell him about college life, even though he won't read them. Only, of course, you find out soon enough that he does, in fact, read them. So, because she saw his back on the day she was informed of this beneficent offer, and she knows he is very tall, she has endearingly labled him "Daddy-Long-Legs" because she felt John Smith (the name she was told to use for him) was too generic and ridiculous and bland (kind of like vanilla). So, anyway, she mentions to him in the letters the exciting things that happen, including invitations for summer vacations with her friends. Well, when he decides he doesn't want her to do whatever it was she was excited about, he has his secretary tell her to decline the invitation or offer, etc. She usually complies, because she recognizes that he is basically her guardian. Well, so she gets a scholarship for tuition for her 3rd year in college. She informs him that she won't have to rely on him anymore, except for the $35 monthly allowance he sends. His secretary brings her word that he wants her to turn down the scholarship. She responds that she really wants to take the scholarship, and tries to get him to understand. He sends word again that he wants her to turn down the scholarship. And this is what she replies (and this really made me laugh):

"And besides, this isn't a favor; it's like a prize -- I earned it by hard work. If nobody had been good enough in English, the committee wouldn't have awarded the scholarship; some years they don't. Also -- but what's the use of arguing with a man? You belong, Mr. Smith, to a sex devoid of a sense of logic. To bring a man into line there are just two methods: one must either coax or be disagreeable. I scorn to coax men for what I wish. Therefore, I must be disagreeable."

Is that not hilarious? I'm telling you, I like this character. She's smart and witty.

Also, so I had this dream last night that my wallet was stolen out of my purse (right from under my nose, practically) while I was on a ferry by crazy Bobby from HLML. How crazy is that???

*Oh, and Stacy knows the movie quote too!*

No Teeth Allowed

Well I am successfully on my way to renewing my pasaporte (that's espanol, by the way). I have the application. I even have the photos. Now there's a story. So I go to the courthouse here, go through the metal detector thing -- kind of reminiscent of the airport, but it has less people. Oh, and I don't get frisked for being a "secondary female". Anyway, they look at my passport upstairs. Did you know I have an official passport? Mine is burgundy. How cool is that? I will be trading burgundy for blue, though, as I am no longer travelling on "official business" as I once was when my dad was civil service. Darn. I wonder if it's more of a hassle to get through customs with a blue one? I guess I'll find out. Anyway, so they told me to come back with the things I need. The only thing I didn't have at the time was my photo. So I went straight over to FedEx/Kinko's (they recommended this because they said sometimes CVS and Walgreens don't take them well enough and they are therefore unusable). I got my pictures in mere minutes. But check this out. The dude tells me I'm not allowed to show my teeth in my smile! Is this a lie? It doesn't matter now, as I have already complied with the ridiculous maybe-rule (it has yet to be verified, so he might have just been handing me a line). Let me just say that, compared with my new picture, Stefanie is right -- I do look like a model in the old picture. But only in comparison to the new one. It is horrible! I couldn't show my teeth in my smile! I look like a total dork! And that will plague me for the whole 10 years I have my passport! Oh well. As long as I get one, and as long as they let me into the countries into which I wish to go, I don't care. Trust me, I don't look like a threat in my photo. I look like a dweeb. So, once I had my pictures, my next step was to fill out the application. I totally could have had it done in time. But there were two things I didn't remember, and if I don't find out soon where my mom was born (what city), I won't be able to turn it in on Friday. But they told me it should take about 4 weeks. So yay. And I'm seriously hoping it only costs $100 since that's what I've been planning on. Amber said hers cost her over $200. And since she needed to get hers expedited at the end, which cost her an extra $100, she says hers cost her a total of over $300. I really don't want to pay that much.

Oh, in other trip news... I informed my dad that I have already started making a list of where I want to go. He told me, "Well, you make your list. But I have to go to Boquete to check on that land for a couple of days." So, I'm thinking I have a driver's license now. And I'm old enough to drive the rental car (ah..... the perks of being old are few and far between. And they aren't even very exciting perks. But hey -- you take what you can get.), so I'm thinking I could just drop him off and leave :). (Okay, totally kidding here -- where would I go? We'd be about 6 hours away from anything I know, since we only went to Boquete and Volcan once when I lived there, and I was all of 12 -- around the time of my last passport, in fact). So anyway, perhaps my dad will humor me and let me accomplish at least the majority of the many items on my list. Good grief, I hope this all works out. Because I am totally psyched about it now.

I went and walked again at Shelby Park with some other Strive for Fivers. Annie was there this time. There were still only 5 of us, but we enjoyed it. Fact: Women in groups of 2 or more, even if they are strangers, can always have fabulous conversation. Translation: women can talk... a lot. Fact: I am a woman. Conclusion: I can talk... a lot. I spent the evening working on shool stuff (believe it or not). I didn't get very far on the literature review re-do, but I have found a few things. Yay. Of course, I will have to pay my $6.00 library fine in order to check out anything. Yes, you read that right. The librarian has a $6.00 library fine. And here's the kicker, it was so unintentional. Okay, I checked out 5 bound periodicals in an honest attempt to find material for that lit review. I found nothing in the 2 I looked in. Oh, and the bound periodicals can only be checked out by graduate students. And then, only for 5 days apparently. I thought I had a week. So, I had looked in 2 of them, found nothing, and returned them quickly. The other 3 really enjoyed the excitement of riding around in my back seat, so I figured I'd let them have their cheap thrills. Until last Wednesday when I thought they were due. So I dropped them in the box on the way in that morning. I got to my desk and had an over-due notice in my email! They were 2 days overdue!! What?!? I hadn't even had them a week by that point! But whatever. And why don't they send an overdue notice (if it's electronic) the DAY they are due, rather than wait? I mean, I've gotten reminder emails before for books. Why not these? Anyway, so I was like, "Well, it's okay. They are already in there and I'll just owe a little bit." Well, so I get to my desk Thursday and find an email announcing my fine. $6.00. Can you believe that? Bound periodicals are $1.00 per day per periodical??? Good grief. What a rip-off. I still haven't paid it. Perhaps I will be forced to. Or perhaps I can just use the book I need to use and skim it and annotate it while in class tonight... Hmmm... Beats paying the $6.00 at the moment. I will have to eventually, of course. They won't let me graduate otherwise. I still can't believe that though. $6.00. Yeesh. Such drama. Anyway, I did finish my abstract last night for our poster session. So all my group work is now pretty much done. Yippee!

And finally... I don't really know how my mind works. It's a mystery even to me. But I was on my way to work, and I hit a red light. I was in the left-turn lane. I hoped to get a green arrow. I did not. So I said to myself, "I wonder why I never get the green arrow at this light?" And then the phrase "Follow the yellow brick road!" popped into my head. Not from The Wizard of Oz. Although I know that is where it originated. This was from this old cartoon called "The Mad Scientist." Brad used to laugh at that part. I tried to find a sample of the cartoon on youtube, but was not successful. Anyway, I'm not sure why a green arrow led to a yellow brick road in my mind. But it did. I'm so random.

I Heart Books

So I just got back from class and Annie surprised me with one of the ultimate Nilla-surprises... mac and cheese! Woohoo! So, if you are keeping score, awesome Nilla surprises include:
1. fruity pebbles
2. mint chocolate anything
3. macaroni and cheese

Isn't it interesting that they are all food?

So, I heart books. So I totally agree with my quote for the day. Currently I am reading Daddy Long Legs. I am halfway through it. I am enjoying it immensely. I like the main character's wit and her personality. The character, Jerusha, likes to read also. She talks about how she becomes the character in the book until she is finished with the book. How true! A good book sucks you in and you become that character. Those things are happening to you! I love books. I love to read. It's a good thing I'm a librarian :).

Except for the fact that I have to be in that crazy class. Ugh. One more time, one more time. That's my mantra. Our group worked together so well, which was a blessing. We are pretty much done, but I have to write up an abstract. Still haven't gotten anywhere on that lit review. And believe me, I have tried. Ugh. I just want to pass this class!

Oh, and I am going this afternoon to the courthouse to start the passport process. I seriously need to scan that passport picture from 1993. I showed Stefanie last night, and she said, "You look like a model!" I was like, "What?!?" She said, "Well, maybe I've been looking at too much Vogue." That made me laugh even harder. I guess in Vogue, the way the models look is that they have the expression that says, "This is so uncomfortable. Please hurry and take this picture." Hey Tarylyn, ask Brad if he thinks I have reached the age of reason yet :). (Renewing our passports in 1993 is when we were told that we had not yet reached the age of reason -- which is 16, by the way).

*No Drama Mama and Elka have guessed the movie quote correctly!*

For Love of the Game

So my first instinct was to not blog today, since I really didn't have much to say. Imagine that! But then I remembered that I did that on Friday. Didn't want to do that to everyone twice! Haha... Other than irritation at no longer getting to leave early from work on Fridays after May 10 (that's a rant I could certainly tell, but it isn't worth it...), I don't have anything witty. So, I thought I would write this one, because one of my goals is to buy a certain game shortly. A lofty and oh-so-worthwhile "goal", no? At least I didn't add it to my list of things I want to do in my life ;).

Okay, the game I want to buy is Trivial Pursuit 80s Edition. Are you really surprised? I love the 80s! And I love trivia! So, why not smash the two together... And luckily for me, the makers of Trivial Pursuit have done just that! Too bad that's like a $40 game. Hmmm... Economic stimulus check... Hmmm... Responsible spending vs. purchasing a non-necessity... Hmmm... So many desicions. (Speaking of Trivial Pursuit... April and I are going to play TP Pop Culture this weekend. So that should be fun).

So, in addition to my love for the Trivial Pursuit games (a love that was cultivated before I was even 10 when we played with my parents and older brother, even though we (me, Brad, and Christina) really didn't contribute much to the team effort), these are some of the games I have loved to play over the years.


Candy Land -- Okay, who hasn't played this game? It's a classic! I've played it numerous times. Fun and educational! What better way to learn numbers and colors than to learn them while traipsing through candy land? Oh if only that was the way we learned them in school... I always wanted to "be" the pretty queen lady in the upper-right. I never wanted to "be" Grandma Nut. Funny the things you remember. Oh, and please note that Lord Licorice looks evil. That's because he's licorice. Yuck.



Battleship -- old school style. This was the exact version of the game we had growing up. Truthfully, my dad probably still has these in a closet somewhere. I know at least one of them, the top was broken off. But we played with it anyway :). I should play this again sometime soon.



Mall Madness -- Okay, if you were a girl in the 80s, you probably played this game. And you probably thought it was so awesome. I know I did. I loved when the voice called out, "Clearance at such-and-such a store." And we even got credit cards. Yep, it was a lesson for life. See, they prepare women early and teach them in the spring of youth how to shop properly :). Great stuff. I didn't own this game. My friend Cathleen did.



The Game of Life -- Get lucky in it. So, speaking of great lessons in life (like shopping). Was there ever anything better?!? I remember getting all excited about landing on lots of baby spaces. I think I often had two car-loads of people. And I remember that, when I would get "married," I would let the husband drive. Hahaha... I wonder why that is. It just seemed natural to put the pink peg in the passenger seat and put the newly added blue peg into the driver's seat. Oh, and we had this version of the game with the salaries on the cards. $100,000 was the most you could get. Christina didn't like it when she didn't get that salary. I liked getting the Victorian house with the wrap-around porch. I never wanted to get the split-level house that was literally split in half, like on an earthquake fault-line.



Scrabble -- only my family had a really fancy one. It was mounted on a turning thing and the top was plastic and held the tiles in place. Sweet. I need to play this one again too. I bet I could whoop some tail now. I bet I even have the capacity to make up some words and some pretty awesome definitions so that I would be believed... But that's cheating, so I wouldn't do that :). Right?!

So, there were tons of other games I played while growing up. My family had A LOT of board games. Among those that were not listed above were Sorry, Pictionary, Chess/Checkers, Monopoly (don't you love the quote of the day?). I'm sure there were others, but I can't think of them right now. But those are the ones we played the most, and those that have had the most lasting memories for me :).

So what games did you play growing up?

An Interesting Proposal

Well, my weekend was essentially the sameold sameold (no surprise there). On Friday I watched Cool Runnings with Virginia. I hadn't seen that movie in years and I really like it. I also watched a movie that night with Stefanie and her mom. I was woken up early by my annoying upstairs neighbor. I will have to tell you that in a moment. I talked to my dad on the way to the Temple (more about that shortly), then went to WinnDixie. I made hamburgers for dinner, and they were good. I had corn on the cob to go with my hamburger. I talked to my mom. Later on in the evening, I ended up introducing Stefanie and Pace to the wonderfulness that is "A B.C. Thanksgiving" and "A B.C. Christmas." And the cheesy 80s USPS commercial that I opted to not edit out when I was transferring. So, "don't miss the joy, don't miss the joy!" And then we ended up watching Hook. I hadn't seen that movie in years (probably around 10 years), and I own it! Sunday was good. I took an accidental nap after church. How do you do that? Easy. You tell yourself you are just going to close your eyes and doze for about 15 minutes. And then you wake up and it's 4:00 (and you don't even know when you closed your eyes), and you realize you are coming out of a really deep sleep. And then your next thought is, "Well, I'm going to pay for that tonight..." And I did. But I also made chicken teriyaki stir fry. So that was good. Stefanie and I ate that. And so I didn't fall asleep until after 2 this morning (I turned out the lights at 11:30), and I am indeed paying the price. I totally turned off my alarm after it went off the second time, convinced myself (once again) that I'd only close my eyes for a little bit, and then woke up and it was right at 7:00. Have I mentioned I'm supposed to be at my desk at 7:00? And, it's a refrigerator in here! Literally 60 degrees! And, we had a fire drill test, so I basically got to my desk and got my computer logged in, and "BUZZZZZ." So, down four flights of stairs (in heels, I might add) I went. Only to be told it was just a system test, so we could go back up. I took the elevator on the return trip. Yep, it's a Monday morning.

Okay, so my neighbor waking me up on Saturday morning at 7:30ish. No, not the usual thing that wakes me up (squeaky springs). This time, it was a vibrating cell phone. Yes, I can hear it. And this is how it went... So, I'm sleeping nice and deep (I know this, because I was dreaming). In my dream, I am at a movie theatre. There aren't many people in there, but there is me, and there is a couple sitting in front of me. I hear my phone vibrating. So I take it out of my purse, flip it open. I see a picture of Becky's family (the one she has on her blog), which indicates to me that I have a text message from her (no, my phone does not actually do this). The message says "Congratulations!" I'm not entirely sure my subconsious dream-self knew the reason for the congratulations. My consious self is sure I don't know why I was being congratulated. Just FYI. But anyway, so I close the phone, put it back in my purse. And then I hear a phone vibrate again. I'm thinking, "Really? Another message?" Because I'm not that popular! I mean, I am the Nilla (even in my dreams :)). But I'm still not that popular! But, I hear it vibrating, so I open it up. Nothing. So I'm baffled. Until I realize it's the phone of the couple in front of me. And they just keep letting it vibrate. And it's getting on my nerves. And finally, my consious self comes to and I wake up in my warm snuggly bed. And I hear the annoying vibrating phone coming through the ceiling. I mean, dude. Either answer the phone or power it off completely. Arg. Oh, coincidentally, I was woken up again at 5 a.m. on Sunday by him fighting with someone else up there. They swear a lot. Sigh... Anyway, I think it's hilarious that I at least tried to incorporate my surroundings into my dream so that I could keep on sleeping :). I do love my sleep....

Okay, and the interesting proposal. It came from my dad... So, he says, "When are you leaving for Washington?" I said, "My last day of work will be August 1." He said, "Are you in a rush to get there?" I'm wondering what kind of a question this is... I said, "Well, I need to be out of my apartment on August 8. That's when the lease is up." He says, "But you could come here." And I said, "Why would I do that?" And he said, "Well, I need to go to Panama Hila. I need to check on my land." I stated the obvious: "Well, you don't need me to be in Dothan for you to go to Panama." And he said, "Well, what would you think about going with me?" And I said, "well, I think I can't afford that kind of a ticket." And he said, "Well, what if I paid for the ticket." Well, here's a development... So, I'm really actually getting excited about it! But, I have to work out the logistics. And first things first, I need to get a new passport. Good thing I found my old passport (circa 1993 -- I should scan that picture, it's a goodie) when I was going through my clear scrapbook box last week. Coincidence? Perhaps :). Anyway, so I will be looking into this. Two weeks in Panama? I already have a list forming of everything I want to see and do. Then I'll have to force my dad to abide by it ;). I wonder how successful I'd be :).

Light My Fire

Okay, don't light a fire. But you can listen to the song here. We had an unexpected fire drill this morning. The buzzer is right across from my cube, so it scared the mess out of me. And it's been so long since I've heard it go off, that at first I didn't even know what it was! So I walked around to Annie's cube and said, "What is that for?" She said, "It's the fire alarm!" So, I gathered up my stuff and we headed down the many flights of stairs. On the way out, we heard that it was a drill and not real. Anyway, we headed out to our meeting spot and spent between 5 and 10 minutes out there. It was rather chilly, and I wore short sleeves today and forgot my jacket at my desk. So, I stood in the sun :). The good news is that there wasn't a fire. At least I think that's the good news :). I was going to use the Roof is on Fire song, but it turns out that's a really bad bad song. So don't listen to it.

So, yesterday I went and walked with a few people for the Strive for Five type thing... There were only 5 of us who showed up. Amber who led the walking, myself from the library, a woman from the career center, and two women from the facilities department. So, I met people I'd never otherwise meet, even though we all work on the same campus. This is a huge campus. And I am pretty much self-contained in the library... I don't even know a fraction of the other buildings on campus. Anyway, after walking, I went over to the library. I love the library. I checked out a book called Daddy-Long-Legs, which is a book my friend Tammy said she loves. I'd never even heard of it, so I looked it up. It sounds cute. So, I'm going to give it a whirl. It's in the juvenile section, so I am sure I should be able to whip through it pretty quickly. Although, at the rate I've been reading, maybe not... I did do a little bit of reading for the literature review re-do. Ugh. I don't know if I'll ever get that thing done. And then Stefanie and Pace invited me to watch Phenomenon with them. Okay, I'd never seen that movie before, so don't be shocked when I say that I did not see that coming... I so prefer when movies end the way I think they should. If they don't end the way I think they should, then I say they did not end well. So, just FYI -- the movie A Beautiful Mind did not end well. So says the Nilla. (You got that Juliebean :)?)

Oh, and you know, the weeks really are flying by. I can't believe it's Thursday already!

So, I'm thinking I haven't done a memory lane post in a while. So, Elka, this one is especially for you, since I'm sure you will see why (and I'll tell you why at the end in case you don't get it :)). So, back when I was about 13 or so, I went to church girls' camp. We were actually camping (ick...) (oh, so it turns out, Elka, that there are more than one reason for this story to be especially for you :)). I don't like camping. Well, we had porta-potties there at Gatun Lake in Gamboa, which is where we were camping. In this huge grassy field. Full of mosquitos. Seriously. I counted something like 36 bites after that week was over, and I'm not kidding. Anyway, I had invited my twin friends to go to camp with me. Their names were Chantal and Nicole. Well, porta-potties are not exciting for me. They are nasty. So, we made it a point to only use them twice a day. No, this did not mean we used the grass or trees the rest of the time. This just means we learned how to hold it. So we went once in the morning and once at night. And since the porta-potties were a ways away from the campsite, we had to use the buddy system. Well, so 4 of us would go together: Chantal, Nicole, Rebecca, and myself. At night-time, it was dark, so we took flashlights. Three of us would shine our lights into the openings at the top of the porta-potty while the 4th person went in... that way they had light without having to juggle holding their flashlight inside... And goodness knows there was nowhere safe to set down a flashlight inside. I'm telling you, we women really got a rotten deal when it comes to porta-potties. We need both hands free, thank you very much. Not to mention we have to do all this while holding our breath, trying to avoid touching anything with as much of our bodies as possible, and struggling to hover... So, we'd been doing this for several days. Suddenly one night, Chantal is the one on the inside, and for some reason she had taken her light in with her... Maybe she thought she could hold it under her chin??? (I know all you women out there are actually nodding your heads, because you've probably tried this in one scenario or another). Or maybe she didn't take it in and just noticed something and demonstrated for us when she was done... It's a little fuzzy. And after a couple of seconds, Chantal says, "Hey guys! It's cool! I found a flashlight holder in here! It holds your flashlight so it shines up!" So we are beyond baffled. I mean, we've been using these things for several days and none of us ever saw a flashlight holder... So, when she comes out, she either shows us where she has her flashlight in the "flashlight holder" or she takes her flashlight from whomever was holding it for her on the outside, and plunks it down in the "holder" for us to see. Either way, I know that at some point, her flashlight was put into the "flashlight holder." Which is also known as the men's urinal that was built into the wall of the porta-potty. So gross. Needless to say, she carried her flashlight back to camp by the very top of it... Not at the handle part, since that had been in the oh-so-convenient "flashlight holder." Seriously cracked up just sitting here remembering this... So, this was also the camp when my monthly friend decided to make its appearance, and I had to go to one of my leaders to ask for a pad.... That was back in the day when it was still a mortifying thing to admit. You know, the days when I would make my mother walk to the necessary aisle with the cart so I could quickly throw my needed products in the cart so no one would see. As though anyone really cared.... But in my mind, it was a spectacle. Obviously it's not anymore, since I've shared that story with the blogosphere :). And Elka, my original reason for thinking you'd love this is your attachment to port-o-pots (the 3-day and your picture for your profile...). But the camping thing seems to fit well too :).

Reasons to Smile

I recently told my friend Tammy that I think I got a good mix of my mom and dad. My mother is an eternal optimist. She can find the silver lining in any cloud. My father tends to be the opposite and is quite pessimistic. I find that I can be both. But it is so much easier to be pessisimistic in this fallen world. It takes EFFORT to be an optimist, unless it just comes naturally. So, just because I mostly don't have a lot of time to write a way long post today on the mullings of my mind, I will keep this one short and just list some reasons for me to smile today :).

1. I have less than 114 days until I hope to be on the road and on my way to Washington. That translates into about 3 1/2 months.
2. I have only 2 more times I have to attend my crazy Wednesday class.
3. I get off work at 3:30 today.
4. My job is saving me $1668 in tuition this summer (that means I don't have to pay a dime, other than for books)
5. I have a job that pays all my bills and allows me to live quite comfortably.
6. I have amazing friends, both old and new. What's the song? Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.
7. Free pizza! A faculty candidate interviewed with the library school this morning, and they always have a pizza lunch for the interviewee and the students who are on the floor. (That's one good thing about having class this morning).
8. I have a wonderful family.
9. Hilarious family reunion t-shirt slogans that make me smile every time I read them.
10. Blog comments -- I'm such a loser, these really make my day :).
11. Technology -- I was born in the right time period. I don't think I'd have done well without indoor plumbing. I like my flushing toilets, and I love my daily showers.
12. Hope. And knowing that the blessings to come will be far greater than I could have ever imagined.
13. I'm finished with one presentation in the crazy class.
14. Uncooked cookies (or no-bake cookies, if that's what you call them). These were my favorite cookie growing up, and they remain among my favorites now. I think I will eat one right now :).
15. The public library -- I will be going there this evening. Does it make me a nerd that libraries make me smile :)?

Actually, you know what? It turns out that, if I just think about it, there are so many things that make me smile. I should probably stop now. Because otherwise, this could go on and on for hours!

Julie and Stacy have guessed the movie quote correctly!

Happy National Library Workers Day!

Today we celebrate me! And all the other librarians in the United States :). Or even library workers :). We celebrate us, because we are awesome. We are the defenders of democracy. Did you know that? That's what I learned in library school. So now you know :). My supervisor gave each of us a champagne glass (which will never be used for champagne by me, but there's always sparkling grape juice :)) filled with Hershey's Kisses. I thought that was really nice. So I even got some kisses. You should definitely love your librarian today. And every other day, for that matter. You should love this librarian by leaving me comments :). It makes me feel loved :).

So, I have to wonder why it is that I was such an embarassment to my mother about getting my blood drawn all those years ago. I had mine drawn yesterday at my doctor's appointment and it was a piece of cake. I guess our minds really can make things worse than they really are. Anyway, my thyroid is being tested. If my thyroid is fine, I will be referred to a dermatologist about my hair loss. And the doctor agreed that it could be stress that is causing me to lose my hair. But, as there is no way to put me into a stress-free box, we have to start with the clinical side of things. And honestly, even if there was a way to put me into a stress-free box, I would be in it, so it wouldn't be stress-free. Have I mentioned that I worry about everything??? So there would be the Nilla... in the "stress-free" box, worrying and stressing over the outcome of the stress-free box test. Hmmm... Sounds like an oxymoron to me!

You ever have a dream that makes you feel just plain icky when you wake up? I have. I had one last night. Just seems to set the tone for the whole day...

Oh, and check this out... So, last Friday it was icky muggy here. And hit somewhere around 81 degrees outside. After the bad weather came the cold front. This morning my car was iced over. So it had to at least gotten down to freezing! Actually, this is good for me and Stefanie. It means we won't have to run the a/c yet. Keeps the electric bill low :). Because we just endure the cold, since we know it'll warm up again soon.

Okay, that's it. Just remember to Love Your Librarian!

Fantastic Friends, Famous Fun, Flighty (and Fruitless) Flirting, Fabulous Food, and a Farcical Ferrous (Fe) Fanny

Okay, if you are already laughing and think my title is cutely clever, then that means you are at least as big a nerd as I am, if not more so.

If you aren't laughing at all and are trying to figure out what "ferrous (Fe)" is, then you are probably normal. I'll explain it so that you can join the ranks of the depraved and demented dorks (I'm not only the president, but I'm also a member!). Oh, and my apologies for those of you who did laugh at it, because I just called you depraved and demented ;). And a dork.

I love it when the things I know come together... See, originally I was trying to just do a lot of "Fs" because I'd already started on that route. And, conveniently, the word fanny exists and refers to a person's backside. Woohoo! Score for the English language! And so, as I was thinking and pondering over my clever (or not-so-clever, as the case may be) title, it popped into my mind that there was an atomic symbol that was Fe. I knew it was one of the weird ones... Not like oxygen, which has the atomic symbol O, or aluminum, whose symbol is Al... I was almost positive that Fe was the symbol for iron, but I wanted to make sure... So, I looked it up. And sure enough... Of course, Fe is not actually ferrous. Fe actually stands for ferrum (which is iron, but in another language). Ferrous has to do with iron, though. But it all works together well enough that I was laughing about it. What can I say? I'm a nerdy dork. And so are you, if you smiled about it ;).


Consider yourself mooned by a ferrous fanny :).

So, follow that lovely picture link and view my fun weekend!

So, on Friday, I went to Friday Forum and we ate Jimmy Johns sandwiches for lunch. Afterward, I went to WinnDixie and bought a bunch of goodies that were on sale. I went home, packed up my backpack, and headed to April's. I talked to Christina on the way there. I left with perfect timing, because I was able to stay ahead of the storm. In fact, when I got off the interstate in Birmingham, I heard the tornado siren going off. It took me a second to figure out what the sound was. And when I did, I was not taking leisure-time to mosey on to April's. The sky was black, and ugly. I literally got in the door at April's, and 2 minutes later, the wind was howling, the rain was pouring, and hail was pinging off the door and windows. There are several pictures of the hail that came into the house when we opened the door to take pictures of the rain. There was a lot of hail. Hail, for those of you who don't know (and I didn't until I moved to Alabama) is not generally a good sign when there's a tornado watch in effect. The storm moved quickly, so that was good. And we didn't get the worst of the hail. I'd say the hail that was falling at April's was maybe quarter-sized. Some places on the news were reporting golf-ball sized hail. So, anyway, it's a good thing I left home when I did. Otherwise I'd have been driving in that mess.

After a good shower, April, Courtney, and I settled in to a delicious dinner of black olive pizza and salad as we watched a wonderful little chick-flick movie. The quote for this week is from that movie, so I won't say what the movie was :). Before the movie ended, I had to have one of April's delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Yumm-o. After the movie, we decided to eat the birthday brownies. Well, it was only April's birthday brownie. But Court and I couldn't not have a gourmet brownie too, so I got one for all three of us. They were very chocolatey. We decided to indulge in lots of sugar, so we ate our brownies while watching 2 episodes of "My So-Called Life." Sugar, indeed. (If you've already seen the pictures, you know where this is going). April and I puckered up to Jordan Catalano. What can we say? We heart Jordan Catalano... Except when he opens his mouth. He's dumb as dirt (and yes, I know he's just a character). What can I say? I am attracted to a man's mind as much as anything... So anyway, Courtney wanted a picture of her hugging the screen. She isn't as crazy as her mother and her mother's friend (ie me). I still can't believe we did that. And Courtney took forever to take the pictures, so April and I were trying so hard not to laugh. And our faces were hurting. That Jordan Catalano is one lucky guy... Haha!

After watching an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Scrubs," it was time for me to turn in. I was exhausted. I fell right to sleep. Oh yeah, Friday was hot in Alabama. Ick. But, due to the weather we'd had, the weekend was predicted to be chilly.

Saturday started out very lazy. I had taken cinnamon rolls, so we baked those up and ate them for breakfast. While watching another episode of "My So-Called Life." Let's just say we didn't actually eat breakfast until about 11. But that's because April and I were discussing school stuff. We headed to Vulcan around 12:30ish. It was a beautiful day. There was a bit of chill in the air, but nothing too bad. I think the pictures of Vulcan mostly speak for themselves. He really does have big iron buns. And they have a postcard at the gift shop (and I now have one at my house) of just his buns... It was very windy, and we really felt the wind when we went up to the observation tower. Oh, and, once again, AAA came in handy, since we got a discount on our tickets since I'm a member of AAA. Yay! Oh, and we each got a free water bottle, because some guy was doing a book expo and they just handed out the water bottle to us as we were walking up, even though we didn't go to the expo. I swear I have about 50 water bottles... After we left Vulcan, we went back to April's and ate sandwiches for lunch. While watching another episode of "My So-Called Life." You know what occurred to me? For as awful as that show probably was in the minds of some parents (including my own), there is not any cussing. You can't even say that about shows that aren't on MTV now... That's kind of sad. Anyway, I left April's around 3:30 and headed home. I had to go to Wal-Mart to finish the rest of my grocery shopping, so I did that on Saturday evening. Then I treated myself to some Popeye's for dinner, finished up my state taxes, and then watched The Terminal with Stefanie and Pace. I went to bed at about 1, and got up for church.

We only had four children in nursery on Sunday. So, it was a very quiet day. In fact, for the second hour of nursery, the adults out-numbered the kids! But it was nice. The kids are so sweet. After church I ate lunch and then got ready to head over to Jeni's to do some visiting teaching. We only ended up getting to visit one sister, but it was a good afternoon. And then Jeni had invited me to stay for dinner, which was a chicken broccoli casserole. It was very good. And then we had Edy's loaded chocolate brownie ice cream (which I had brought). I hung out at Jeni's until about 7:45, then headed home and got a shower. I talked to Julie for a few minutes. I had to make sure she hadn't gone into labor ;). I told her I had had a dream about her the previous night that she'd had the baby, and I was one of the last people to know! In the dream, they'd still named the baby Shayla, but instead of spelling the middle name Kathryn (which is what they are planning), they spelled it "Katherine." I could see it written out in the dream, and I noticed it in the dream, because I knew they were going to spell it different. I have a weird dreaming mind. Anyway, later I found myself digging through my box with my scrapbook stuff in it, as well as a bunch of memorablia (I should probably just label the thing memorabilia, but since it's clear plastic, I can see what's in it), and I came across a bunch of stuff. A bunch. Funny the things you forget you have. I found a letter my AP English teacher from 12th grade wrote to my mom about me. It was such a nice letter! Anyway, then it was off to bed for the Nilla Wafer. And today, we wake up to do it all again.

Blog-Stalkers Not-So-Anonymous

Okay, so yesterday I decided while reading a blog by one of the people I blog-stalk, to make myself known to her. She was writing about blog etiquette as well as whether or not blogging is helping to make us colder relationship-wise. Anyway, I like her blog a lot, and it's one of the blogs I frequently view of people who I do not know in "real life." (Because I guess this is not real life?? I don't know -- that just fits). Anyway, so I left her a comment confessing to my blog-stalking and also offering my opinions on the blogging stuff. I checked back later and saw that Elka had also confessed to blog-stalking this same girl. This girl's blog is on my other cousin's blog roll. Anyway, so in the comment, Elka asks me a question. And when I saw that, I almost busted out laughing thinking, "Okay, so now Elka and I are having a conversation on someone else's blog!" So then I start thinking maybe I should write on the blog and apologize to my other cousin (the one who actually knows this girl) and tell her that I'm sure she's hanging her head in embarassment that she's the one who has brought the whackos out of the woodwork that are blog-stalking this poor girl. Because both Elka and I admitted that we were related to Mrs S. Poor Mrs. S... We are such an embarassment! So then Elka called me at lunchtime yesterday, and since I could see it was her number, I answered by saying, "Hello stalker." To which she promptly busted out laughing. When I told her that I thought about writing that apology to Mrs S, she laughed and said, "Yeah, Mrs S is the normal one who hides the rest of us weirdos." Anyway, that was so funny to me. I so wish I had the clip -- oh man, you can find everything on youtube... Go here. And play it to about 7 minutes and 40 seconds into the clip to the end (sorry, embedding is turned off). Anyway, so just do that mental voice in your head when I say that this is the "Blog-stalker speaking." Okay, that's only funny in my mind I guess. But still, watch the clip. That has to be the BEST thing ever... Coincidentally, I have a copy of it on DVD (only I transferred it from Betamax, so it has tracking lines and is not as high quality as the one on youtube). But, if any of you want a copy of that one and the Christmas one, let me know. Brad and Christina and Ben: you guys are already getting one :).

I gave my 3 booktalks in class last night. It went really well. I have a busy day ahead of me... Work until 11:30, then go by the bank, pay the electric bill, then go to Friday Forum. Then run to the grocery store since WinnDixie is having some good sales! Then drive to B'ham while stopping along the way to pick up a birthday surprise! And then it's off to tons of fun at a girlie night with April and Courtney -- not to mention some indecent exposure (not by us, I assure you) tomorrow :). I have a jam-packed weekend! I swear, sometimes in my life it's like feast or famine! This weekend is full feast of friendship and fun! I think I like the letter "f." I think you will find that to be the case on Monday as well :). You know, SCN (the Southern Command Network, which was the only English channel we got in Panama until we got cable tv) used to have a thing on every Friday afternoon where they would film all these people on the military bases and such, and everyone would call out, "Have a nice weekend!" Unfortunately I can't find that on youtube. Makes me want to screen all of my family's betamax tapes to see if we somehow might have taped it once... Goodness knows we have a lot of them, and we have a lot of stuff on them! But regardless, you can just picture me saying, "HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!"

Oh, P.S... I have to add this little addendum... I was blog-stalking the girl I mentioned above again. And Mrs S had left a comment in which she claimed me as her cousin. Then she left another comment referring to what I wrote. And then she left this comment:

"Holy cow. I didn't realize my sister commented too... This is kind of embarassing..."

And I literally laughed... The kind of laugh that would have resulted in juice coming out of my nose if I'd have been drinking any. I'll say it again... Sorry Mrs. S for being such an embarassment! We really do love you!

More Pictures!

So, I finally caught my sister online yesterday afternoon. And I finally twisted her arm to get her to send me the pictures she had on her camera from when I was up there visiting. I can't believe that was already a month and a half ago just about... Time sure does go by fast. Anyway, if you click the picture, you can go see all the pictures Christina sent, and those include some birthday pictures from Benjamin and Desiree's party, as well as a few other pictures of Desiree.

I have to say that I have really been living a boring life lately! I have no news to report! I checked out a few periodicals to attempt to do my literature review... I'm having little to no success with that thing. I'm half tempted to just take the zero and be content with it. Other than that, I went home and spent the afternoon and evening reading for my Adult Services class. I'm really enjoying the book I am reading right now (The Patient by Michael Palmer, in case you forgot). I plan to have it finished by this weekend, and then I'll have all of those books read! Yay! I was successful in washing all of my clothes, as well as the shower curtain. And, I'm just going to tell you: the supposed 37 minutes that exist between 6:20 a.m. and 6:57 a.m. is not really 37 minutes. At most, it's about 10. Just thought you would like to know that. I've discovered the conspiracy :).

Oh, coincidentally, how about if I tell you another "How to be a Nilla" lesson? I guess this would be something like 105, maybe? So, I have found the perfect way to regulate temperature at night. Have you ever noticed that you can be too hot if you're all covered up, but then you throw off the cover and, after a couple of minutes, you're too cold?!? What's the solution? Well, I'll tell you. Stick one foot out of the cover. (I want you to know that, if I hadn't re-read this after posting it, you would be reading "stick food out of the cover" right now... I don't really know too many people who take food to bed with them on a regular basis. Although, perhaps if you stuck the food out of the cover that you are taking to bed, you wouldn't eat it, you would get thinner, and then you wouldn't be hot... Hmmm...). If you are still a little on the toasty side, extend your leg further until more of it is out of the cover. Eventually you will find the perfect amount of leg outside the cover to regulate your temperature and make you comfortable. And you have a 100% Nilla satisfaction guarantee on that one. I should patent that idea ;). (I'm so kidding... But in a world where certain phrases can be patented -- why not this? :)). --Okay, actually the proper word is copyrighted.

*And Virginia has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Oh, and one more thing -- I remembered, because my tongue hurts on the side. I think I try to talk in my sleep. And by that, I mean that I think I move my jaw as though I am talking (rumor has it that I open my mouth and make like "chewing" sounds in my sleep too -- I think perhaps it was this talking thing). Anyway, apparently I was "talking" along with my dream last night -- something to do with Japan and an airplane -- and I bit my tongue -- HARD. It woke me up. I had forgotten until just now.

A Friendly Surprise!

So I have decided that I have some of the greatest friends and that I have been blessed with some of the greatest people in my life. Have I said that before? Yes. Because it is true. And I always stand in awe of that blessing in my life.

So yesterday, I got home from work -- and there was a ton of traffic for some reason, and I was rather annoyed by the time I got to the apartment. I got to my bedroom and there was a grocery bag hanging on my doorknob. I thought, "What did Stefanie do?" So I grab the bag, and the first thing I see is this huge box -- a box of Fruity Pebbles. So by this point I'm smiling, because we all know that my favorite cereal of all time is Fruity Pebbles (and I don't buy them for myself right now because they are expensive). Also in the bag were 2 smaller boxes of mint chocolate pudding. And I know we all know how I love mint and chocolate together :). And then I found the little note from Jeni. Oh how sweet and thoughtful Jeni is. Thank you Jeni for being such an amazing friend. Just getting them were little pick-me-ups, and I'm sure eating them will produce the same result. (We don't have much milk, so I didn't end up eating any of either last night. But be assured they will be enjoyed in the near future :)).And oh how I love Institute. I look forward to Tuesdays, because I know Tuesday night will be Institute. Last night we discussed some of Conference. We discussed some things way back in Deuteronomy and Leviticus about rules (if you will) of promised lands -- namely that if you don't worship God, you will be wiped off of it. We discussed Joel, Amos, and Hosea. Who knew there would be such a huge insight awaiting me and my life in Hosea? Hmm... The scriptures really do hold all the answers -- we just have to be able to see them. And I don't know about you, but that makes me want to read them and ponder them and study them even more.

After Institute, April and I gabbed for a long time about school and, more specifically, the hideousness that is our take-home test (which I will be completing within the next 4 hours). Good thing April was on the phone with me when she checked her email so that I knew last night instead of this morning -- class today was cancelled. So that means I get to use all of the 3 hour class block of time to finish up the test. Yeah, I got a book last time, but I don't know what to expect this time. She will probably grade harder on these, since we had a week to do them. My life doens't tend to be particularly conducive to school work at home (Is that called homework???). It seems I'm never home to do it... But anyway... eventually April and I directed our topic into much more interesting subjects. Like our girlie night on Friday. Woohoo! I have convinced her to make those oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that were soooo delicious that she made in January. Yay!

So, that's it for me... Signing off.

*Tarylyn and Brad have guessed the movie quote correctly. And Brad's a dork :). *

If My Life Was a Soundtrack

So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool!

Opening credits: Somewhere Over the Rainbow -- Iz
Waking Up: Have a Little Faith in Me -- John Hiatt
First Day At School: You're My Soul and Inspiration -- The Righteous Brothers
Falling In Love: Tonight, Tonight -- Smashing Pumpkins
Fight Song: The Mary Tyler Moore Theme
Breaking Up: The World I Know -- Collective Soul
Prom: Jessie's Girl -- Rick Springfield
Life’s OK: Take on Me -- A-ha!

Mental Breakdown: Everybody Hurts -- REM
Driving: U Can't Touch This -- MC Hammer (I can totally sing to this while driving ;))
Flashback: Sweet Caroline -- Neil Diamond
Getting Back Together: Don't Stop Believin' -- Journey
Wedding: I'm Henry VIII -- Herman's Hermits (okay, this is hilarious! -- I need 8 Henrys to start lining up and I'll marry you in quick succession)
Birth of Child: Hey Jude -- the Beattles
Final Battle: Better Man -- Pearl Jam
Death Scene: The Sound of Silence -- Simon and Garfunkel
Funeral Song: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds -- the Beattles
End Credits: Secret Garden -- Rick Springsteen

I Tag: Anyone who wants to do this!

Okay, I saw this while blog-stalking one day. And then a few days later, Elka emailed it to me. Hers was much funnier than mine. Except the Henry VIII thing. That's just hilarious. Hila and Henry -- awww. How sweet. Hila and Henry the 8th... Not so sweet anymore ;). Hahahaha...

Okay, so my life has not been exciting lately. I had class last night (we got to watch a 5 year old video on how computers are made at the Gateway plant). Then I went home and took a shower and enjoyed reading The Patient by Michael Palmer. That is book 5 of the medical horror genre! Woohoo! There is an end in sight! I think I have only about 3 or so weeks left of the semester! Time really does start to fly!

Oh, and please allow me to point out that I do believe the dinner-people are going to win!! Woohoo! Although, I have to agree with Elka when she said that, if we call them breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper (since some places call a snack supper), then we have a good excuse to eat more food. Because saying "Oh, I'm eating supper" sound a whole lot better than saying, "Oh, I'm eating my 3rd snack of the day..." Hahaha!!! Rationalization is a great thing :). So, everybody dish up and let's eat!

Man! I forgot to mention that both the Little E Family and Stacy have guessed the movie quote!

Storms, School, and Insight

So, do any of you know the heart-wrenching feeling of opening the file called "My resume 2008" only to find that it is the cover letter you wrote the night before??? YIKES. So, I had to re-do my resume on Friday. Luckily I already had printed out the first page of the resume. Technically I'd already printed out the 2nd page (twice), but it had a typo the second time and the first time, the bullets were different. And I had run out of resume paper on Thursday night. Anyway, so the crisis was fixed. And, amidst a lot of stormy (possible tornado producing) weather, I made it to the post office and mailed off my first application for a job in Washington. Woohoo! I spent Friday and Saturday nights forcing myself to do schoolwork. I was pretty successful. I got an amazing amount of sleep this past weekend (which didn't bode well when I needed to go to sleep last night -- I literally tossed and turned for over an hour before finally going to sleep... I guess that's what I get for not waking up until 10:20!!!). We had General Conference at church this past weekend. What an uplifting and edifying weekend. I was given an interesting perspective as I sat listening to the talk by Elder Robert D. Hales on Saturday.

Elder Hales spoke largely on the Savior's prayers to His Father. He spoke of the plea of the Savior as He requested that the cup pass from Him, but nevertheless, that the Father's will be done. He spoke of the angel sent to comfort and strengthen the Savior in His darkest hour. The thoughts of my mind were drawn to the knowledge that I am a child of Heavenly Father. That, when I pray to Him, He is there. When I call out to Him, He answers. He comforts when I am in despair. As I pondered these things, and the reality of them, a specific memory came into my mind. I was ten years old. I had gotten sick, and I had been taken to the doctor. They had prescribed me antibiotics that I was to take for 10 days. Well, those antibiotics were gross. And I felt better after 7 days of taking them. So I asked my mom if I could stop taking them, because I felt better. She allowed me to stop taking them (which she has never done since, since she learned a lesson). I got sick again. This time, my dad took me to the emergency room, because it was after hours. The doctors saw where I had been sick and had been prescribed medication. They asked if I had taken in the prescribed length of time. My dad, not knowing I had not, told them I had. This naturally threw up red flags for the doctor, because they had to know why my body hadn't responded to the treatment. This caused me to have my blood drawn twice. This was very traumatic for me (as I have stated before, I was terrified of needles). I got through the first time. And when they called me back to have my blood drawn again, I was crying a lot. They were holding me down on the bed and I cried out, "Daddy!" And immediately he was there. He leaned over me so I could not see the needle. He held me and whispered lovingly in my ear, "I'm right here, hon. It's okay." Now, he did not stop them from taking my blood. Not because he didn't love me. But because he did (and still does). He knew they had to take my blood to find out what was wrong with me, so that I could get better. But he came to me. He comforted me. He never left my side. And as these thoughts came into my mind during Conference, a new connection was made. These were the actions of my earthly father. He loves me. He would and will do anything for me that he can do. But he will do whatever he has to do so that I can be better; he will do what is best for me, even if I have to endure some pain in the meantime. My Heavenly Father does the same, only to a greater degree. He loves me. He loves me so much that He wants the best for me, even if I have to endure some pain and struggles in order to be better. For that reason, He will not always remove my afflictions or trials, much like my dad did not stop them from taking my blood. But my Heavenly Father will not leave me alone. He did not leave the Savior alone. He sent an angel to the Savior. He will send the Comforter to me. He will tell me it is okay. He will say, "I'm right here, hon." He will see me through all of my trials. And on the other side of the experience, I will be stronger and made better. How grateful I am to have an earthly father who makes comprehending a loving Heavenly Father so easy. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, just as I know my earthly father does. My Heavenly Father loves me even more than my earthly father, not because my earthly father is lacking in love for me, but because he does not have the capacity to love as much as my Heavenly Father. Just like I have access to my dad by calling him on the phone, I have access to Heavenly Father by getting on my knees to pray. And I know He is there. He stands ready to answer us; He stands ready to bless us. All we have to do is ask.

I have been richly blessed in my life. I know that one of my many blessings is an earthly father who loves me. A father whose love I've never had to question. Unlike Heavenly Father, my dad is not perfect. But I know he loves me and would do anything in his power to make me happy, and somehow, that makes all the difference.
I hope you don't mind I shared these insights. They just really touched me. I am thankful to have patterns and examples in mortality that help me understand the things of eternity. "I am a child of God. And He has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear..."

And so you know how the hospital story ended... My dad was very upset and worried about me. He called my mom who came to the emergency room with the other 3 kids in tow. She explained that I had not taken the medicine the prescribed number of days, and the "mystery" was solved. Like I said, my mom never again allowed any of us to take the medicine for any lenth of time other than that prescribed. I guess even moms have to learn by experience sometimes ;).

Love in an Elevator

So, I've been tagged. Twice. Once by Kira and once by Stacy. So I guess I owe them this :). Problem is, I so willingly share all my quirky weirdo-ness that I have very little left to impart... So I'm not sure what kind of 7 random things I can share. So, let's see what I can conjure up :).

1. I couldn't get the picture to post on my blog of the "I've been tagged" thing. -- Okay, I thought of a better one, but I'll leave that up. I once wanted to have 12 kids. Beause I loved babies. Then I found out how much pain it is, and I learned what an episiotomy is. So, that cut my number back to 3. And then I really started to hear the horror stories about the pain. So I went to zero. And then I decided I wanted to have at least one kid. And then I settled on 3. And now I'm around 4 or 5. But I better get crackin' because I'm no spring chicken, and I sure ain't gettin' any younger ;).

2. I do not like licorice. And rye bread tastes like licorice to me, so I do not like it.

3. I held a baby snake once. It wasn't teeny tiny and was a little over a foot long. I think it was a boa constrictor. Trampas brought it to church with him (I have no idea why), and so we passed it around. It was a class full of guys and I was maybe one of 2 or 3 girls. The other girls wouldn't touch it, so I decided I would. It looked like it would feel wet and slimy. It didn't. It was surprisingly dry feeling.

4. I have had dreams in which I am speaking in Spanish. The one I remember best took place in our house in Cardenas (I think I had this dream after we moved away from Panama). In the dream I was calling my dad at work because Christina was being a pain, and I guess I was at home and the one in charge. So, I was upstairs walking back and forth between my parents' bedroom and the hallway above the stairs. The only thing I can remember telling my dad over the phone was "Estoy harta con ella!" Which means, "I'm fed up with her!" Actually sounds like something I would say in real-life.

5. I could probably eat my weight in O'Charly's potato soup. Which would probably double my weight... And then I could eat more :). It's cheesy. MMM-mmm good.

6. I don't really like the beach. The salt water burns and sand gets EVERYWHERE. I prefer lakes and rivers. They are prettier to me.

7. And this is the one I've been planning on telling. This is the one that ties the title of this post into this post. This is the one that has been cracking me up all week (I really do crack myself up...). Okay, so you know -- this is a song title post. The song is by Aerosmith. I won't link it. It's a rather bad song. It's one of those songs that I found out what it means after I already liked it and had been listening to it for years... Kinda like Prince's Little Red Corvette. So, do you remember my post about Swan Lake Hotel? Remember how I told you we made the closet be the elevator for the hotel? Well, years prior to that, I had my first kiss in one of those "elevators" (hence the title "love in an elevator"). I can't even begin to tell you how much I laughed when I came up with that connection on Monday. Hey -- at least I make myself laugh :). So, my 7th random thing about me is that my first kiss was in a closet when I was about 5. And I still remember the whole thing. And if you think that was the funny part... Just wait. So, I was in pre-school. Yep. And a little girl named Krista (the one who used to tell me I could be Stef from Goonies and I could have Jonathan from NKOTB as my guy while she got Jordan) who was one of my childhood friends and I went to pre-school together. A little boy named Rod (good grief, what a name) was also in pre-school with us. And we just loved Rod. So, one day, the three of us were over at my house and we were upstairs playing in my room (keep in mind we were all of about 5). My mom came in and told us it was time to clean up. Well, Krista and I had a genius plan. We would take turns cleaning up while Rod sat in the closet (the future elevator) and we would take turns going in to kiss him. All I remember is that, when it was my turn to kiss him, I suggested that we kiss like the grown-ups. This meant that we would pucker up and turn our heads while we were kissing. So, there you have it... my first kiss. I'm thinking Rod got the best end of that deal. Because not only did he get to kiss two girls in one day, he also didn't have to help clean up the toys... Oh, and by the way... I used to change the lyrics to the song "I Will Follow Him" (my mom listened to this stuff in the car, so I know all these songs by heart). My lyrics were "I Will Follow Rod." Of course, years later, the movie Sister Act completely changed the song for me... But anyway....

I'm not going to tag anyone per se, but anyone in need of a blogging idea can consider themselves tagged :).

Blog-Stalking Idea #4

Two Names You Go By: Hila, Nilla
Things You Are Wearing Right Now: black tank top and an orange-long sleeve pull-over type thing over that
Two Things You Want (or have) in a Relationship: honesty, love
Two of Your Favorite Things to Do: laugh, be with the people I love
Two Things You Did Last Night: went to the library at 8:15 p.m. (after realizing my book was due) and wrote one of my book-talks
Two People You Talked to Last Night: April (phone), Stefanie
Two Things You're Doing Tomorrow: Friday Forum, work
Two Longest Car Rides: Dothan,AL to Citrus Springs, FL; Ashford, AL to Seymore AFB, NC
Two Favorite Holidays: Christmas, Thanksgiving
Two Favorite Drinks: Water, Mountain Dew
Two Things About Me You May Not Have Known: I have a birthmark on the back of my neck and I won a trophy in Math Olympiads in 6th grade
Two Jobs I Have Had in My Life: Ashford Branch Librarian; children's room circulation clerk
Two Movies I Would Watch Over and Over: Excess Baggage and Napoleon Dynamite
Two of My Favorite Foods: too many to name
Two Places I'd Rather Be Right Now: in bed! or in WA with my nieces and nephews (and everyone else up there)

Okay, so now that I have done that... Can you tell I don't have much to say? That's because my life hasn't been all that interesting this week. I've been mostly working on school stuff. I did succeed in writing 1 of my 5 book talks last night, so I think that was good. I'm hoping it sounds okay. I read it to Stefanie. She said it sounded good. I also tweaked my resume! Woohoo! And thanks to Stefanie, I have resume paper on which to print it. Here's the thing: I have 2 boxes of resume paper of my own. 2. I looked in 3 boxes last night that I thought they might be in. 3. I was unsuccessful. Which is annoying. And since I want to get this application and everything in the mail tomorrow, I needed to be able to print the resume and cover letter today. So thank you Stefanie for being my life-saver on this issue!!! I still have to write the cover letter.

April and I have planned our next great adventure. We are doing another girlie night in honor of her upcoming birthday. What does April want more than anything for her birthday? Well, to be mooned by iron buns. Luckily for her, Birmingham can deliver! So, we're going to go get mooned by Vulcan. And yes, you can expect pictures ;). But not for a couple more weeks.

Well, aside from my dream that U-Haul charged me about $2000 to rent their largest truck (even though I told the lady I didn't want the largest truck, but she'd already rung it up and said she couldn't change it) and a trailer to move everything... I have nothing else to report ;).

Oh yeah, OOPS! In case you didn't see the comments yesterday, check this out:
NKOTB

I do believe we have some upcoming excitement for all of us women who were girls in the 80s and early 90s :). Woohoo! They'd better go to Seattle...