I Think I'm a Camel...

I think I retain water as soon as warm weather hits Alabama. And then the scale goes up 5 pounds. And then I am sad. Until the weather cools off again and I magically lose the 5 pounds just as magically as I gained them. This is my theory. Because it happened last year too. Or maybe I'm just a heifer and it takes 6 months for my eating habits to catch up with me. Either way, it's lame. Funny, though, because my body doesn't sense a need to "store fat for winter" and heifer up then. Perhaps it's the Panamanian Princess part of me coming out... The part that says, "I don't know how to heifer up at winter, since it wasn't cold there. But I know how to store water!" Of course, after 10 years, you'd think my body would figure it out, right? Anyway, I guess, given my seeming propensity for mice, it's a good thing I'm a camel and not an elephant ;)!

Last night I went to Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment at church with the Relief Society. We had two very awesome and practical and useful lessons. Followed by wonderful root beer floats with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream (man, I'd forgotten just how great that stuff is). But, I digress (and have probably also given you guys reason to believe that I am not, in fact, a camel, but am instead a pig). The lessons were great. The first one was a general budgeting class. Just tips one lady gave on ways her family (with 10 children) has saved money and met their goal of staying out of debt. One of her tips was, "never buy new. There are plenty of people out there who get rid of practically new stuff." Thrift stores, garage sales, and looking in the ads are great ways of finding spectacular deals. I have to say Julie is very good at finding amazing deals at garage sales. If we lived closer, I'd be going with her... She knows how to find the treasures! Another tip was to learn how to do things yourself by reading. Many home-improvement projects can be done yourself, rather than hiring it out. Of course, it requires self-discipline. But, it saves a lot of money in the long run. Another good tip was for young mothers (which I hope to one day be a semi-young mother ;)). She said, "Don't buy your kids a bunch of toys. They'd rather play with you when they are young. Instead, invest that money for your child's future." Anyway, these were great tips, in my opinion. There were many others, but those were some big ones that stood out. Following that lesson, we had one on budgeting for meals and planning out meals. I have tried this before, somewhat. I think I want to try it again. I think it's also particularly effective if you have a family and your meals have to be bigger than 1 serving. This sister grocery shops once a month. So, she plans out her menu for the month -- about 25 meals -- and then keeps a list of what she needs for each of those meals. That way she gets everything at the grocery store that she needs, and she won't have to make extra trips -- which cost gas and, let's face it ladies, we all know we buy "extra" stuff each time we go to Wal-Mart. Anyway, she doesn't assign a meal to a specific day, that way she has options when she wakes up that morning and she can look over her list and say, "What do I feel like eating tonight?" Anyway, I think it's a good plan. I want to give it a whirl. So, those are just a few tips I picked up last night.

I have big plans for the future ;). I want to have a garden (I wonder what grows well in Washington?). I want to be a smart budgeter. I think I haven't done too badly here. And I will say that I agree with one of the the statements in the lesson taught by the first sister. She said that she feels that, if we have righteous desires and righteous goals (like staying out of debt), Heavenly Father will put things in our path to help us accomplish that goal and still have what we need. I too feel that is true. I have seen it in my life. When we show we are willing to sacrifice and don't have a burning desire to "keep up with the Joneses," we will have all our needs met and we will not have to go into debt for it. And, in my experience, I've found that I even have a lot of what I want too. I hope I am able to continue along this path so that I can be completely debt-free one day, and hopefully sooner than later!

Okay, that's about all I can really think of to say. It's Friday. I'm glad. I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

*And, Anna and Kira and Stacy guessed the movie quote correctly! (Anna -- I actually bought the movie thinking I might like it. It was $5 and I figured it's a "classic," and given other factors, I really expected that my opinion of it (which wasn't favorable before, either) might have changed with perspective. I watched it. I didn't like it. But, when I was watching it, I got my movie quotes, so I used one ;))*

You Stink!

Well, in the interest of keeping those memories I mentioned yesterday closely tied to yesterday's post (for reasons that will soon become very obvious to you), I have decided to write about them now. And trust me, you won't want to miss this.

Okay, I will say, given the facts, that one of two things (or possibly both) follow me from place to place -- or apartment to apartment. The choices are:

1. Rodents
2. Death

(Sadly, because I'm 4 for 4 on the death one, I'm thinking it's probably that one first...).

So you all know the story about the two mice rescued by Stefanie. And their short lives as our "pets." So, on this story, we're 1 and 1 -- 1 rodent, 1 death. Let me continue to enlighten you on my past.

So, the first year of our marriage, Heath and I lived in a little 1-bedroom apartment across the street from the library at which I worked (very convenient for rolling out of bed 5 minutes before work -- but as that is not pertinent to this story, I'll leave it at that). Now, the landlord lived next door and the wife was the previous librarian, who I replaced when she retired. Anyway, the building in which we lived was actually an old church that the landlords had bought and converted into 3 small apartments. Ours was the smallest, at 1 bedroom. And it was cheap. I'm thinking we paid about $200 a month for that. Anyway, built onto the back of the building was an old wooden structure that used to be the pastor's "house." That part wasn't rented out, but the landlord used it for his personal storage. So one week before we were to move out, I went into the bathroom. (Our washer and dryer were in the bathroom, by the way. And there was no vent for the dryer... It was like a sauna in there when the dryer was running -- ah, newlywed life). I smelled a faint smell of rot. But only got a whiff of it every here and there. I got Heath to come in there and smell, and he didn't smell anything. Which made me believe it was my imagination, because his sense of smell is something like 100 times better than mine -- it's practically super-human ;). But, I got another whiff of it and thought, "Oh, I'll just light a nice candle (it was probably vanilla -- right Julie ;)?) and it will go away." And that was pretty successful. I believe that was a Saturday or Sunday. The next day (let's call it Monday), the smell was stronger. Heath smelled it too now. And we only smell it in the bathroom. But it's distinctly a rotting smell. And it's strongest against the wall where the washer is. So, we pull out our washer and dryer, thinking maybe a sock fell down into the washer somewhere and was molding away (which wouldn't explain the rot smell, but hey... you explore every avenue). We tip the washer on it's side and end up learning a lot about washing machines -- did you know they are basically hollow except for that tub? So, nothing in the washer. Then we checked the dryer, thinking maybe something crawled in there and got heated to death. Nope. So then we have to reconnect everything. And we still have no explanation and we just settle on keeping the bathroom door closed at all times and holding our breaths while in there -- except in the shower, of course... We'd have died without breathing for that long. By Tuesday, the smell is even stronger. It's becoming unbearable. The smell almost makes it worthwhile to impose the old girls' camp porta-potty-rule: once in the morning and once at night -- hold it the rest of the time. Or use the library across the street. Because I had the keys. Because I'm cool like that. Anyway, we determine that we must get to the bottom of this mystery. It is bad now, and we are trying to pack, because we are moving, literally, in 4 days. So you can imagine the state of our little apartment. Well, I go into the bathroom and look up at the ceiling. I see a little brown spot that looks like liquid has soaked into the ceiling. So I wonder... did a mouse die up there and it's decaying onto the ceiling. Gross, I know. Well, our bedroom had an entrance into the "attic" (remember, this is a converted church building, so the actual ceilings are way way higher than the ceiling they added for the apartment). So Heath gets up there and shines his flashlight in the general direction of the bathroom. He reports that he can see the insulation matted down in a spot. So, our money is on a dead mouse. I tell him I'll tell Mr. Rice the following day. Mystery solved. So the next morning, we somehow survive the swamp of decay that is what our bathroom has become. Ick. I have class that morning. I get home around noon. I don't even make it inside the door when I am slammed with a smell so powerful, I know I can't stand it anymore. There had been a time when we seriously thought we could just endure the smell, since, shirley, it couldn't get any worse by the weekend... but those days and plans were long gone, because, shirley, the smell had become unbearable. (I just called you Shirley twice, in case you didn't notice :)). So, I walk over to talk to Mrs. Rice, since Mr. Rice isn't home at the moment. She tells me she smelled it too when she went out to their storage area to get canning jars. She said she'd tell him as soon as he got home. So, I went on to work and opened up the library like a good librarian -- always serving, even in the face of trials ;). Hahaha... Mr. Rice came over when he got home, and I explained to him our thoughts and discoveries. Then he disappeared over into the apartments. And I was cringing slightly at the disarray he would find in our messy apartment. Right around 3:00, he returned. He told me he'd been up in the attic over our bathroom, but that spot was just a wet spot from rain water. He said he'd looked around up there everywhere (and it was nice and hot, so I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for him). He found nothing. So, he said, he got to thinking... He went into the storage area and started looking around with his flashlight... And he found it. He came over to see if I wanted to see what it was. I was a little unsure... But, I went. I put a note on the door that said, "Be back in 5 minutes" and walked across the street. I wandered through the old building with him and his flashlight. And there, against the wall (the other side of which is our bathroom) is a dead cat. Ewwwwww.... It's no wonder it smelled so bad!!! That was AWFUL! And I'm sure it wouldn't have ended quickly. That was a big cat. So, Mr. Rice took it and buried it somewhere -- a job not for the likes of me. So, I totally wanted to make a sub-heading for this story and title it (and link it) this: Smelly Cat. But that would have given it away, and I like telling this story the way it happened to us. Oh, and this smell might have actually rivaled "OOo-stank" smell.

If you're keeping score, we're now: Rodent - 1; Death - 2.

Like I said, we moved away that weekend (and with the removal of the dead cat, the smell was removed also). We moved to a townhouse in Dothan. This was around May 2004. Sometime around December, I was sitting on one end of our couch and I started to smell rot and decay again. But again, only in whiffs. And when I'd go to the other end of the couch, I didn't smell it. So, again, I thought it was my imagination. But, as the experience, when sitting on that end of the couch, persisted, I started to grow suspicious. And then, one night, Jon and Julie were over. Julie was sitting on the "stinky" end of the couch. I said something to her about how I always smell something when I sit there (obviously I was a gracious hostess, since I allowed my guest to take the stinky end). And Julie says, "Yeah, I keep getting a whiff of something." So, proof that it wasn't my imagination just recalling the smell of the cat! So, we pull out the couch and search inside it, thinking something crawled up in there and died. No dice. (Hey, at least our furniture and appliances are clean). Eventually, it becomes clear that it's something in the wall -- probably a mouse that has died. And we will just have to wait until it's finished rotting. I guess we should just be thankful it was a mouse instead of a cat... A mouse is smaller.

Rodent - 2 (we assume)
Death - 3

Several months later... In the same apartment/townhouse, I was baking a cake for my friend Donna, whose birthday was the next day. I had it all mixed up and had just put it in the oven when I started to smell an overwhelming urine smell. It STUNK. I called Heath in there. After much searching, we found that there was mouse pee and other stuff under the stovetop. The good news is that the oven wasn't contaminated, but even so... We were horrified. And we didn't want to smell that any longer. So, we turned off the oven (which was heating up the surface and making the pee really smell) and took my uncooked cake out of the oven. And the next day we reported this. Now, we hadn't seen any mice. But obviously they were scampering around somewhere. So, we came home the next day and saw poison had been put out, the stove was cleaned up completely. The consensus was that they were getting in behind the stove (kind of like with the mice at the apartment Stefanie and I share). Perhaps apartment owners should look into a way of preventing this??? Anyway... After several days (or maybe even weeks), Heath got home before I did one day. I'm glad too. He was greeted with a kamikaze mouse on the kitchen floor. Based on evidence, we are pretty sure the mouse jumped to its death from the counter-top (and yes, we disinfected EVERY surface that night). Heath took pictures to prove it to me (not that I doubted him... But how often do you come home to kamikaze mice?) and then cleaned it up. I think the picture was also meant to be evidence for the apartment complex. Don't know if we ever shared it with them. Don't think I have the picture either... And I'm not going to search for it in my picasa pictures at home. On the up-side... kamikaze mouse didn't stick around long enough to smell.

So, rodent -- 3
Death -- 4

So, in 3 of the 4 apartments I've lived in since I moved out of my parents' house, this is what has followed me. Although I do want it duly noted that in my apartment I was living in this time last year -- alone -- I didn't have any mice or cats or dead mammals. I had to RAID a roach. But no mammals died. So, maybe it wasn't/isn't me, after all... ;). I wonder what joys the future holds in my new homes.... I tremble to imagine.

And for those of you who are now totally grossed out by this post, just be glad you only read it and didn't experience it ;).

*And Heath has guessed the movie quote correctly! And he even "sang" along with it in writing.*

A Post too Random to Name

How's that for a title?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gotta love Coldstone.

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


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

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

*Julie has guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Montgomery Missives

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

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

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

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

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

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

I [Am Now Debt] Free!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*And Julie guessed the movie quote correctly!*

Water, Water Everywhere...

But none running in my sinks!

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

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

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

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

The Comeback Kid

So I was chatting with Alysha through gmail chat the other day. And she said something about loving something. I think it was bowling. I said, "I like bowling." And she said, "I LOVE bowling!" And from somewhere deep inside, the obvious comeback bubbled up from inside of me, and I said, "Well, then why don't you marry it?" And then I laughed at myself. Because I'm so hilarious. Okay, not really. But because I remembered those corny lame comebacks from my childhood. So, following will be the appropriate responses to various comments or questions posed to you.

Of course, I have already given you the first one, but I will repeat it in case you missed it:

Statement/Question: "I love x" (x being the variable here :))
Appropriate Comeback: "Well then why don't you marry it?"

Statement/Question: "Where is x?"
Appropriate Comeback: "Up your butt and around the corner."
(Okay, so I realize this one is a little crude. But if I'm going to be honest and tell you the comebacks, this one has to be included, particularly because it is so lame as to be hilarious to me. I mean, really? Who came up with that as a response?!?)

Statement/Question: "You are such a dork (or loser or dummy or idiot, etc) (technically I should have put 'x' here too ;))
Appropriate Comeback 1: "I know you are but what am I?"
(FYI -- this statement repeated over and over can really give rise to some great fights between siblings).
Appropriate Comeback 2: "I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you."
(This one is particularly awesome since it's also a poem. And this one also could instigate fights when said repeatedly to a very frustrated sibling).

Okay, that's all I have. So, now I'm opening up the blog for your suggestions and memories :).

So yeah, kind of a lame post today, but I don't have much of anything exciting to tell you. Stefanie cooked some very yummy spinach lasagne roll-ups and she made 2 types of bread. Plus we had salad. And I had made cupcakes with Emily on Friday, so I'd frozen many of them for dessert for last night. And Institute was good. And I slept very well :). But I am still tired :(.

Oh, and just to keep you guys up-dated on things like job search stuff. I have found another job for which I plan to apply. It's not exactly where I would like it to be (it's in Olympia, which is an hour's drive away from my family), and it doesn't pay nearly as much as the other job (half of it, actually). But, I'm much more qualified for that position. See, with the other job, I would still have to commute, but I'd have the option of commuting most of the way by ferry, and that would give me time to do stuff, like read. I could make use of that time. But if I have to DRIVE the whole time... Well, that's kind of a waste of time. Plus it kills on gas. So then I'd logically have to move to wherever the job was, and that nixes the whole moving in with my mom thing. Which, although it may seem like a weird desire to some people, seems to me like it would be ideal. We'd be more like roommates than mother/daughter, given that we are both adults now. And my mom is easy to live with. And it'd save us some money. So anyway... Oh, but I should say that the other job for which I applied -- the one that pays incredibly well and for which I am not technically qualified -- I haven't heard anything back on that yet. I fully expected to get my rejection letter pretty fast. I mean, I had to fill out the rejection letter when I applied. So, unless they didn't get it (like my application got lost in the mail), I guess they are either actually considering me, or they decided my lame-o application and lack of meeting their qualifications didn't even merit a rejection letter. Hahaha... Guess I'll have to see. But seriously, now is the time they said I should expect to start hearing something, and as I haven't heard anything, I guess I will assume I'm not going to. And I totally don't want that to sound pessimistic and defeatist. I'm not crushed or anything. I just applied knowing that I don't meet their qualifications, so I had no delusions of grandeur. Just figured it couldn't hurt to try ;). And, with the job search, I'm not feeling particularly rushed. I am not above taking "lower-level" jobs in order to get my foot in the door. But, in order to get those, I'll have to actually live in WA. They aren't going to wait 3 1/2 months (now that the Panama trip pushed back my arrival time in WA) to fill a position for a library assistant when they can fill that locally. So, that's my story :)!

*And, Kira and Aunt Hila know the movie quote!* (And I'm pleased to say I have had more guesses this time than at any other time! And most of them have been correct!)

And P.S. -- dig into your deepest memories and see if you have any comebacks that I missed ;)!