Blog-Stalking Idea #5

I was rather ho-hum on whether or not I'd even blog today. Nothing much to say... imgine that! I spent my evening working on packing. I'm rather proud of how far I got. I have a whole pile of stuff I need to take to good-will... A lot of clothes I'm parting with because I never wear them. I don't even know why I kept some of them this long. The good news is that most of what I'm getting rid of is not being gotten rid of because it's too small. I just seriously don't wear them. Hopefully someone else will finally get some use out of them. Anyway, so that's what I worked on. That, and re-writing the Panama list on an un-scribbled on piece of paper so I could add some things, and so I could have it torn out of my little notebook to take with me to Panama instead of having it packed in a box in T-town while I'm out of country... So you see how interesting my evening was ;).

Although... Brad called me to tell me he got some of my mail from the University. What the heck?! Well, due to some weird error of the postal world (which they refuse to correct, I might add), when Brad and Tarylyn moved into their own place, they did a change of address form. And so now a lot of things with our last name (whether that mail is intended for Brad's family, my mom, or -- now -- for me) go to Brad's house. It's a lovely situation. One they have tried to fix for over 6 months now to no avail. I do believe I'll be going in to have a little chat with the idiots that work at the post office up there. I mean, really... how hard is it to differentiate between first names??? Ugh. And then I slept very very soundly last night. So soundly, in fact, that when I finally became conscious that I was hitting snooze, it was 7:26. For the record, I am due at work at 7:30. Do you think I made it? Nope. But anyway, while in the midst of getting ready for work, my cell phone rings. I mean, really... who calls me at 7:30? Turns out Brad does. Because Brad is driving over 300 miles to work today, and it's 5:30 his time. I guess I shouldn't be whining about 7:30, right? Ick. So, we talked the whole rest of the time while I headed to work, and he reminded me of episodes of Garfield and Friends... a great show from our childhood :).

Okay, anyway, so I was blog-stalking a few minutes ago and came across this idea on my friend's sister's blog. She's also now my blogosphere buddy, so at least I stalk her non-anonymously :). Anyway, I thought this would be fun. Here's the "game":

A Stroll Down Memory Lane
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.


I mean, you guys know how I love to write memory lane posts, so you know this was very cool to me. So, amuse me and play along :). I'd love to hear your memories of us... perhaps there's one I don't remember :)!

*And Julie guessed the movie quote!*

100 Things About Me -- Part 3 of 10

Before I begin my list, let me say this: I put in my 2 weeks' notice yesterday. My last day is still the 31st, but due to not wanting to have to set silly goals for the next year in a meeting today, I went ahead and took my resignation letter to my supervisor yesterday. My supervisor is actually leaving this week. Her last day is Friday. All I know is that the next 2 weeks are going to fly.

It seems like there was something else I was going to say, but I can't remember what it was. Oh well. Perhaps it will come to me.

21. I know how to drive a stick-shift car.
22. Up until 1998, I flew at least every other year from Panama to the States for vacation. So flying has never been a novelty to me as far as I can remember.
23. In 1997, Brad, Christina, and I flew from Panama to Atlanta by ourselves and were meeting up with my mom in Atlanta. That meant I was in charge. When we were going through customs, the customs guy asked me and Brad (my 13-month younger brother) if we were married. GROSSSSS. Ewwww. Ick!!! I mean, really dude? I was 16 and he was 15. Did we really look like were were old enough to be married? And what was Christina? Our kid? I mean, our passports all had the same last name!
24. I think the absolute worst way to die would be to run out of oxygen...
25. So you will never find me in outer space or scuba diving.
26. I am not a dare-devil... I do not find adventure in doing things like sky-diving.
27. My favorite color is something like hunter green.
28. Back in my school days (except in 6th grade when I was actually part of the "cool" group), I always sat in the first seat on the bus, right behind the bus driver... I know, such a loser. I was a senior in high school, sitting behind the bus driver.
29. My dad says I should have been named Margaret. Instead, that's my middle name.
30. I scored a 29 on the ACT back in 1998. It was the only time I took the test, and I was happy with my score, so I didn't take it again.

Oh yeah! I finally remembered what it was I wanted to say! So, April and I are having a girlie night this weekend. We thought it would be neat to do a theme around libraries, since we both just got our library degrees. But, what kind of food can you have? April thought up Dewey Decimal Soup (vegetable alphabet/number soup) and buns (as in a librarian's bun). The only thing I can come up with is a salad and call it "leaves" of something... Which is lame. So, I'm calling on my creative friends out there to help me come up with library-theme food -- or book-themed... I looked online and couldn't find anything!

*Julia-Ann has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Blogging Blues

Lately I've had a case of blogging blues. I just haven't felt like writing a whole heck of a lot on my blog. I've skipped numerous days, and even when I have blogged, the posts have been less-than Nilla-like. They have not droned on and on and on and on with endless (and pointless) details. Perhaps some of you said a little prayer of thanks for that ;). Today, I feel a desire to remedy that... at least somewhat :).

First order of business: Maybe it's me.
So remember all the rodent/death stories? Well, it seems I have another to add. A couple of weeks ago, several of us found evidence (in the form of poop) of mice in our cubes. Nice. Nice. So, they baited traps, and while I was away on vacation, I know they caught at least 3 (2 of which were in the trap they put in my cube, so that makes the count for rodents and death go up 2 for me). Once again, say it with me... nice. Yuck. Still gives me the willies. Anyway, upon my return, there was no more evidence of said mice, and all the cube world here was happy. Until yesterday. I was sitting here, cataloging a book, minding my own business. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something scurry around the corner of my cube, into my cube. It was suspiciously small and gray. I thought to myself, "Did I just see that?" I looked by my cart of books and saw nothing. Then I moved the cart of books. And there was a huge mouse. Huge. Borderline rat. The jury is still out on whether it was a mouse or a rat. I don't really care. Anyway, it cornered itself in a section of my cube under an extra chair. I stood where it couldn't get out (after gasping audibly at the sight of it, because, really, who expects to see this?). I called for Annie. No answer. I called for my supervisor Bethany. No answer. But I can't move, or the stupid thing will run away! Finally Annie says, "Who are you calling?" I say, "Someone, anyone!" So Annie walks back toward me, and I say, there's a mouse!" And she says, "In the trap?" And I say, "No, it's alive" (the trap had been removed before I got back from vacation). Annie peeked around the corner to where the mouse/rat was, and she freaked out. Then Bethany finally heard us and said, "Is something wrong?" And we were both like, "Yes! There's a mouse!" So Bethany calls it in, I'm still standing there, trying to keep the mouse cornered everytime it tries to venture out of it's spot. Annie gets a box to try to trap it. Bethany comes over with a box to try to trap it. But it's under that stupid extra chair. So, they tell me to back up to see if it will come out. Well, it does. And it runs straight for Annie and Bethany! Annie throws the box down to try to trap it. Failure. It runs toward Annie, and it must have gotten on her foot, because the next thing I know, Annie is jumping in the air, and the mouse is airborn! (Let me just take this moment to say that I replayed this scene in my mind last night before falling asleep and I was just laying there laughing to myself in bed). The mouse/rat scurries over into William's cube. William was on break, so he missed the excitement. Bethany goes over there to try to get it, well the mouse is crawling up Williams cubicle walls! In the end, one of the guys who works on the floor came and got it in a box. I left work after that (because it was my early day, not because I was traumatized by the mouse), so I don't know what became of it. I don't even know where it came from. But I sure am sad that it decided to scurry into my cube. Ick. Oh, so this increases by rodent count by another one... I'm not sure if it increases the death count, though. They might have released it. But anyway, it seems rodents and death are still following me... So maybe it's me?

Second order of business: What are the odds?
So, in the 2 years I've been at this juncture in my life, I have gotten in touch with various friends and acquaintances from my past. In January, you may recall, I drove to Atlanta to see my friend Emily from Panama, whom I had not seen in 1o years. Check this out! Another person from Panama got in touch with me again. She was one of my Young Women leaders (well, she was in the YW Presidency, but was actually "over" the younger girls) in Panama. So, another person I haven't seen in 10 years. Anyway, turns out her husband is stationed at an Air Force base about an hour from me! So, she is driving here with her 3 kids next Monday and we are going to do lunch! How neat that she got in touch with me and we found this out a mere 2.5 weeks before I move away! And to top it all off... While I'm in Panama, I will likely see several people with whom I used to go to church there, because I already know of 2 families that will be there for the Temple dedication, and one of the people will be Chimene, who was the mission president's daughter and my friend.

Third order of business: Cool stuff
Okay, so I had to think of something to name this, and cool stuff sounded pretty cool :). For several weeks, Virginia and I have been pondering making little Family Home Evening things with these little houses she bought at the Dollar Tree (I told you this place is awesome). We finally made some headway last night... Well, okay, so I made some headway. Anyway, I'm really excited about how it's going to turn out! It's still a work in progress, but I have a picture of my work so far.

The flower pots will eventually have pictures glued over the foam "flowers." The pictures of each family member, that is. Because one of these days I'm going to have the family I've always wanted :). In the meantime, I'll make my cutesy Family Home Evening chart thing. See, we are counseled by church leaders to set one night a week aside for our family. We do not schedule any other activities on that evening. It is time for the family. It is a time of learning and fun and togetherness. So, each little "room" will eventually be wall-papered and labeled with the different categories, like "lesson" or "snack" or "activity." Then the flower pots (which represent the family members) will be moved around each week so the different family members are responsible for different things during family home evening each week. I look forward to implementing this in my family some day. But I have been so excited that Virginia and I came up with this idea for the houses she bought! I'm not usually very creative, but this one has been fun. Although I did learn that, even at age 27, I'm not old enough to use a glue gun without burning the snot out of my finger. I have a lovely blister right in the middle of my left index finger. It burned for hours! Genius. Pure genius. But Publix brand chocolate trinity ice cream is so good for these kinds of things. The carton was ice cold and therefore good for my finger. The contents were good for every other imaginable reason. Except the calories. So I ignored those :).

Final order of business: Hello good-byes
Ah yes. The time has come. With 16 days left here and crazy schedules had by all, my good-byes have begun. Friday night, Jeni and I shared our last message as visiting teaching companions. We went out to both Alex's and Debbie's. Debbie and Greg are the sweetest people ever. I will miss them incredibly. They are amazing people with huge hearts and they are humble and just so kind. So, here is a picture of the four of us (and if you click on it, you can see the t-shirt and card they got for me, along with the cards Annie gave me the other day).

Jeni invited me over on Sunday to eat my last meal at her house. And she had made me a special good-bye treat. And it was fabulous. Chocolate and mint. And you can't go wrong with that. I stayed at her house until about 11:30 and we watched National Treasure 2. It seems so odd that it was the last time I'll see Jeni. I hope she knows how much she has touched my life. She was my first good friend here, and I know without a doubt that her being assigned as my visiting teaching companion was a blessing for me from my loving Heavenly Father who knew how lonely I was here, and who placed someone in my life with whom I could connect and get along and be friends. I will forever be grateful.


And Elka, I have missed you tons. And so, just for you, I will hunt down a ticker for my trip to Panama :). But, it's 20 days from today. 3 weeks from yesterday and I'll be boarding another plane to exotic places where I hope to find ojaldras somewhere... (Fried bread dough... I can smell it now as I think of it... mmmmmm :)).

Oh, and wish me luck with packing. It's a bore :). Oh, and in other moving news... I reserved the Penske truck yesterday. And I have already earned back the $48 it cost me to renew my AAA membership. I saved $217 on the rental because of AAA. Plus over a $100 for reserving via the web. Total is still going to be over $1500 just for the rental. Yikes. But, that's also because I'm towing my car. But yikes. And at 10 miles per gallon and gas prices as they are. Double-yikes. But, it will be okay. Of that I have no doubt :).

100 Things About Me -- Part 2 of 10

Well, since I have nothing new and exciting to report. Except, check this out... Talk about a reality check! I have exactly 21 days left at my job. That is 3 weeks. That means I have to put in my 2 weeks' notice next week! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. In roughly 6 weeks, I'll be in Washington. Strange to think about it that way, really. Also, I have gotten one of my grades -- the information technologies class grade. It was an A.

And, to the list!

11. I love the dollar store. Especially Dollar Tree here in AL. You have to know a good deal in order to make it worth your while... But if you're good at that, then you will enjoy the store :). Last night I bought 3 Mountain Dews for $1.00. Now that's a good deal.
12. One day I hope to have a semi-professional kitchen. This means I want it to be big, and I want to have the really nice Subzero refrigerator. I want lots of cabinet space. And two ovens would probably be good.
13. I love to cook, even though I haven't really done as much cooking over the last two years.
14. My pet peeve is a dirty or cluttered kitchen.
15. Clutter everywhere else doesn't irk me nearly as much as in the kitchen :).
16. My absolute least favorite chore is cleaning the shower.
17. I don't like mayonnaise in anything except chicken salad or pasta salad. I do not put mayo on my sandwiches -- I'm a mustard-only kind of gal.
18. I want to grow a garden. Not as interested in the flowers as in the vegetables, etc.
19. I want to own my own home.
20. I am excited about my future. I know it will be bright :).

And We're Back

Well, that was a lovely relaxing several days off of work :). It was filled with lots of fun laughs and yummy food as well :). And let me just say Shayla is adorable! She looks so much like her daddy. And her little brow is always furrowed, as though she is pondering the world. So cute! Because I have lots of work to catch up on, I will probably let the pictures tell the story... I visited Heath and saw his new condo on the way down to see Julie. Then I spent tons of time hanging out with Julie and Shayla and Alysha. It was lots of fun and laughs. At one point, Julie and I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for our yummy food night. We were driving home when we heard a pop! Julie's first thought was that we'd been hit by another car. My thought was that it sounded like a gun shot, but then it also sounded like it came from the car. I looked in the back seat and noticed in the grocery bag that I could see dough in the bag!!! That's right... the tube of french loaf dough had exploded! Half of the dough was propelled out of the tube. It was hilarious :). That was our Juliebean and Nilla memory of the trip... We laughed so hard :). Good times.


Also, I have separated the food pictures out into my food album. So... Here's Alysha dishing up her plate, and you can see our spread :). It was very very yummy. That was also the night we watched The Bucket List. It was a bittersweet movie.


And would you believe they still haven't posted our grades!!?? I'm not worried or anything... Just curious. I'll let you know what I find out :).

Happy Early Birthday to my Mommy!

Well, my mom's birthday is on Saturday. I will not be here on Saturday. In fact, I won't be here for several days. I will be visiting the 'Bean and her new baby Shayla! I have not met Shayla yet, and I have been waiting (not-quite-so-patiently, because it's beyond me to do so) to meet her! And now the chance is finally here! So, just so you know, I'll be gone for several days. That being said, I want to tell my mommy happy birthday! Not that she reads my blog or anything. Because she doesn't. And then, when I ask her if she has, she says, "No, I know. I'm terrible!" I'll catch up her when I'm up there :).

So, Elka actually has requested stories about my mom. So I've been saving them up for her birthday post. So, Elka... here you go!I'm going to go ahead and say what every person says about their mom... I have the best mom ever! She is probably the most patient person I've ever met. Which is something I don't understand, but I really admire it. She's also always happy. She always looks on the bright side. Always. And she always finds the good in everyone. Always. I've noticed that, when I've been at my lowest, and I call her and cry, she cries with me. My mom is a strong woman, but she has a tender heart. And there have been many times she has said to me, "I wish I could take your pain so you wouldn't have to have it." And I know she means it. And I know that, to mean that as sincerely as she does, it takes an immense amount of love -- to desire to take someone else's heartache and grief and pain. My mommy is selfless. But she is also so funny. I love my mom so much, and here are some reasons why...

I can remember so many things my mom did for us over the years, sacrificing things for herself to do them. For example, she always packed our lunches every morning. She could have made us get up and pack them, but didn't. She made our sandwiches, packed our cookies, etc. every single day. And for the record, this was the majority of our school years. Buying lunch at school was a very rare treat. Another example of this was when I wanted to take cupcakes for my birthday to school and to seminary and to the pool. My mom stayed up late baking them and frosting them and packing them for me the next day. And then, that morning of my birthday, she came in and sat on my bed and sang happy birthday to me as she woke me up. And she hugged me that morning. And I'm tearing up just remembering. I was her 16-year old baby, and it was my birthday, and she was going to make it special for me. And it was... I've never forgotten it. Another example of her selfless actions was that she supported me, even if it cost extra money or took extra time. In 10th grade, I wanted to lose weight (an on-going endeavor, but I'll tell you something amazing to me... I weigh about 5 pounds more right now than I did in 11th grade -- and remember, I'm in camel stage right now). Anyway, my big plan was to eat fat-free food. So my mom bought me all the fat-free stuff I wanted -- ff poptarts, ff fig newtons, snackwell's cookies, ff American cheese, etc. And every morning for breakfast, she cut me up different kinds of fruit (and remember, fresh fruit isn't exactly cheap). These are the things my mom did for me. And I'll never forget them. Ever.
Of course, she's always good for a laugh. Just ask her sister (my aunt Hila) or her niece (Elka). Or even one of her kids (like me, Ben, Brad, or Christina). For example... My family always had cats. My mother thought it was hilarious to "torture" them by annoying them. Now, before you get any wrong ideas, my mom wouldn't hurt a flea. So how would she torture the family cats? you might ask... The answer is two-fold. She'd either put peanut butter on the roofs of their mouths and then watch them lick at it like crazy trying to get it unstuck. Or, she'd roll tape and stick it to their paws and watch them walk and try to flick off the tape at the same time. And she'd laugh harder than you can imagine. I told these stories to Julie's mom, and Julie's mom laughed. She said she'd like to meet this woman. And she's never forgotten this story about my mom either.
This other story is funny to me. I thought I'd written it already on the blog. Turns out I didn't. I searched for it, but it's not there. If, by some weird chance, I did, please bear with me. Remember how I told you that my mom purposefully butchered songs? (Oh, by the way, she remembered another one: Instead of singing "Winnie the Pooh", she would sing "Windy old poop"). Well, she also unintentionally butchered other things. Who out there knows the main characters' names in The X-Files? Yeah, you might think it's Mulder and Scully. But you'd be wrong -- if you were to ask my mom. She thinks their names are Scullet and Mahone. She asked us one night if we were going to watch Scullet and Mahone. We were like, "What?!?" I'm not sure how we discovered that she was talking about X-Files. But we cracked up laughing when we did. Also, I'll never forget when Brad and I came home from school one day. This was in 1995 or 1996 (I could look it up, but I'm lazy). We came inside and she said, "Did you guys hear that Rapper Shaker died?" Again, I'm sure she was met with blank stares and the "Huh?" expression from us. Turns out she was sharing the news that Tupac Shakur (the rapper) had been shot. Those are two classics for me and Brad.

Well, there you have it. Some stories about my mom. I know I have about a million of them. But those are some good ones. Elka and Aunt Hila, feel free to share some if you'd like.
I love you Mom!!! Happy Birthday!

*And Stacy has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

100 Things About Me -- Part 1 of 10

Well, I have seen a list like this while I've been blog-stalking. And I think I'm also going to do it in phases, rather than have to think up 100 things all at once. This way, I can think up 10 at a time, and then I can use this list as filler on days (like today), when I don't have much of anything interesting to say. However, I tend to have a hard time coming up with any of these, so we'll see how it goes. Maybe it gets easier as you go on?

1. I am the second of four children.
2. My older brother (Ben) is nine years older than I am -- and yes, we have the same mom and dad :) -- there was just a huge gap.
3. My younger brother (Brad) is only 13 months younger than I am. Which is probably why he and I are so close. And also why he will never be as cool as I am :).
4. My younger sister (Christina) is pretty much my polar opposite. Despite this, she and I have a neat relationship, and I can't imagine life without her.
5. When I was about 12, I wanted 12 children. Mostly because I loved babies. Then I found out about all the pain associated (and for some reason, the clincher for me was the episiotomy procedure -- that did me in), and somehow 12 seemed like way too many.
6. At this point in my life, I'd like at least 3 children, but I'd really like 4, and 5 would be okay with me too.
7. I recorded MTV videos from the summer of 1995 to some time in 1996. I still have the VHS tape, and I also have the list of all the songs and things I recorded.
8. I used to think my MTV videos on VHS would be valuable to society one day. (I had delusions of grandeur). I imagined a day when there were no more music videos, and people would come from miles around to watch my videos.
9. In light of the above, I now realize that youtube has robbed me of my dream. Darn youtube.
10. I love to make lists. I come across old lists from time to time, and I have to smile at myself, because I realize that that part of my personality has been showing for a long time :).

*Kira and Elka have guessed the movie quote correctly!*