Clueless

I'm really quite clueless about what I want to blog about today, I just know that I want to blog. So lucky you! You guys all get to read whatever my mind throws up that then lands on this page. I just know you're all very excited!

The days have been quite literally slipping by me, I'm never quite sure what I've accomplished at days end besides the joy of having said that I lived through another day and I'm one day closer to being 20. (Don't ask me why that's one of my goals, I have no idea, but I am quite determined to live to be 20....after that it'll probably be living to 21 or some such nonsense) I know that in general I've done things, lots of things! I just can't seem to pinpoint them to any specific day. But here are some of the things I've done lately!

I began donating plasma! (Although to tell the truth I'm still quite confused about why they use the term 'donate' when I fully get paid at the end of each session...) I figured why not?! It's money, I need money. I don't particularly need my plasma (I mean, I'm sure I DO but it's not like they'll take more than is healthy...right?) and other people do (and by other people I mean whatever companies are buying my plasma to make things) and as an added bonus there is a couple of extremely good lookin' guys who work for the plasma company! I mean, come on, I'm sitting there hooked up to a machine for an hour, I'm bound to look around. I just think it was extremely thoughtful of the plasma company to provide me with such eye candy...

I have gotten up at 4 AM once for a friend and stayed up until 2 AM again for same said friend. Thankfully not on two consecutive days...that might have been a bit much for me and let's be honest, even my friendship has some limits. While I am tired the days following these early morning trysts (probably not the right word, but it sounds SUPER awesome and when am I gonna get the chance to use it again?) and somewhat cranky I'm a little bit flattered that I'm the friend she chooses to come to in her time of need (although this COULD be because I have no life)

I have been doing some research on Shutterfly! Recently two people who's blogs I read and comment on have both switched their blogs over to Shutterfly. Obviously there must be something to this right? So while I have not yet made a decision one way or the other I've been doing some nice in depth research on both webpages.

I have been through a complete emotional roller coaster about this guy. Let me just say it, guys are lame. And confusing. WAY more confusing than girls are. And quite honestly, well, I just don't even know what to say there because I can't even decide what to think! It's just lame! (Although this does lead me to, what I find to be, a very awesome and really funny story!)

Ok, so yesterday I was sitting at the computer moping because this guy is being confusing (as stated above) and I was just messing around on facebook when I realized it was the first day of February. Now I have a friend who absolutely hates January. Like, with a passion. He's certain that January has no good (which I think is a LITTLE harsh, but it's his life right?) So I realize it's the first day of February and that January is over so I trot on over to his facebook page and I post "Happy first day of February Justin!!" and then I go back to moping about Confusing Guy (that should just be his name right?) A little while later in the day I get back on facebook and I see that Justin's mother has posted the following comment on my post. "Justin...take this girl out on a date. Please. Yep. I'm probably in trouble now. :-0" And it TOTALLY made my day!! I mean yes, Justin and I are just friends but I had spent most of my day getting frustrated at Confusing Guy and going up and down this emotional roller coaster and then just as I was thinking how stupid life is in general I log on to facebook and there was that!! It was funny and it was perfect for me! Just what I needed right then! (And it still totally makes me chuckle when I think about it...poor Justin) Thank heavens for small miracles right? That was my small miracle.


Anyways, I have letters to missionaries that I need to write, and I really should do that and stop slacking around on the computer. So I will end this fun little post (much to the relief of my audience I'm sure :-D) but I would just like to make one comment I just noticed, I don't believe I have EVER used as many sets of ( )'s as I did in this post...seriously, this should set a record somewhere...

*Insert Exotic and Interesting Title Here*

So, if you're going to get up at 4 in the morning to help a friend through some problem, I'm not saying you ever have to by any stretch of the imagination, but if you ARE going to get up at 4 the best movie to watch is undoubtably this one:

 

In addition to being ridiculously cute and fun to watch, it makes getting up at 4 not quite as hard, and even slightly enjoyable. Plus it has an amazing soundtrack!

Day #1 at Job #3

Hello there peeps!! Today I started my first day at what I hope to have be my full time job soon.

It's funny, because I've known Dr. Park for basically my whole life...I've been going to him for chiropractic adjustments for years, and I was never nervous then. But today? Man this morning I was terrified!

So just in case I didn't mention it, the job that I started at today was at Dr. Parks as his receptionist and filer and well, pretty much anything he needs done I do. Especially since he's been without a receptionist for about 6 months so there are a lot of things that need to be filed and fixed and updated.

I woke up this morning and put on extra-professional, extra-pretty clothes so that I would have extra confidence when I started my first day. Because even though it was Dr. Park it was still a first day, and I was still nervous. So I get all dolled up and into work I walk...

There I see that Dr. Park is in jeans and a polo...and I was way overdressed. He chuckled at me and told me that I didn't need to dress up for work, and that he didn't have a dress code for the job. Just as I was feeling really stupid he gave me a smile and said, "You look good though" And then I just wasn't nervous anymore. We talked and chatted and I alphabetized and filed and we got to know each other a little bit better and talked about what the standards would be for employee and employer. Although I have to say, since I did spend the better half of the morning sitting on the floor with lots of paper around me I did really wish I didn't wear a skirt to work....But it was great and it was fun! And someday I'll be full time there, and I'll be really happy :-D

In other news I went on a date on Thursday night. It was the first date that I've been asked on since May and I had a very good time! And yeah, maybe he MIGHT have felt obligated to ask me out because my father MIGHT have cornered him and told him that I liked him (which I still have mixed feelings about, I love and yet am slightly angered at my father at the same time. I gotta be honest, it's mostly boiled down to love and appreciation at this point because as Dad says "We parents can say all sorts of things that you feel like you can't") but still! He asked me!! He didn't have to! And so unless he decided to take me on a pity date the whole thing was real and fun and I had a good time! We went out to see True Grit and we bought some ice cream (I finally found some Ben and Jerry's Cake Batter!! I was SO happy!) and then we ate our ice cream and played card games and talked. It was a blast! Someday, perhaps in the future there will be another one, that would be nice I think. And I then of course got to thoroughly analyze every aspect of the date with my sister and my friend and later my mom (isn't being a girl just wonderful? I think it is) and overthink absolutely everything!

I've also gotten my mother addicted to the TV show Psych! Go me!! I feel like this has been a very productive week so far.

Hardware Ranch

Hello!! I know, it has been ages since I've last written, and I would swear that I'm going to be better from now on but I have no way to absolutely guarantee that, so I'll hold off on that promise until I post a few more and actually have a trend going on :-D

So quick update, at the end of December I moved from Missouri back to Utah and began life anew (like I've done 4 times in 2010...) And well, really that's the update. I currently work 4 jobs, all part time which makes it slightly hard to manage a schedule but possible with kind bosses and a planner that never leaves my purse so I always know where it is....

And despite all this I've managed to maintain a fairly hopping social schedule as well! I had a girls night in with a friend of mine, Cindy, who was getting over a break-up so we consumed massive amounts of sugar, and watched Clueless and laughed hysterically about nothing. (We also decided that Bonnie has sections, and each little section of Bonnie is kind of crazy and odd and maybe a little scary, but if you put all the sections together it makes into a lovely person. See this is what kind of stuff you chat about on a girls night in) I had a girls night out with Tiffany where we had dinner and went to see a movie and catch up on all that's happened since we'd last seen each other. I also started attending a Singles Ward...the jury is still out on how I feel about it, I'm giving it a couple more tries.

But the particularly exciting thing of the week (not that all of those weren't exciting, they for sure were) was a trip to Hardware Ranch with me, Kylan, Mom, and Dad. I had never been up to Hardware Ranch before and Mom and Dad were kind and loving enough to decide that they would take me to go, and even let me invite a friend :-D So on Saturday the 22nd we all headed up to Logan and get to Hardware Ranch and take a sleigh ride and feed the Elk. And I was SUPER stoked!

Of course we got up there and realized that none of us had remembered to bring a camera, which was very very sad. But luckily Kylan's phone had a pretty good camera so we were able to snag at least a couple of pictures of the journey.

ELK! (Really they are quite pretty animals, I'd never really thought about it before, but they are)

So, random Elk fact. Their back teeth have rings on them (like a tree) that tell people how old they are. Crazy eh?

I think that particular male Elk had one of the biggest racks of the ones there. Did you know that with Elk the number of points they have doesn't actually dictate how old they are? I didn't! Learn something new everyday eh?)

Me (who was unfortunately caught with a it's-freezing-and-I'm-cold-so-hurry-up-and-take-the-picture smile) and Kylan (who was unfortunately caught with a half smile)

Me, staring at Elk

So this poor Elk had had a tangle with a wire fence earlier in the year, and he had this stuck to his antlers. The tour guy said that it would traumatize him more if they tried to remove it then it would for him to just have it hanging off of his horns until they drop off in May.

So that was Hardware Ranch. It was wonderfully fun and the day was continued with lunch out, a beautiful drive around the area we were at, and watching Meet the Robinson's when we finally got home (because why WOULDN'T you want to watch that movie?) It was a fabulous day!

Chatter

I'm devoting this entire blog post to one very special present. A present I love and adore and will hopefully have with me all my days. But first let me give you some background.

Stephanie, my sister, is wonderfully crafty and pretty much a creative genius. She's also AMAZING at making something where nothing existed before. And this year for Christmas she decided to make presents for all of her nieces and nephews. Some of these wonderful presents included books, a snake, a whale, a kitten, a tutu, a pig, a giraffe (an army giraffe no less) and a rag doll. Do you see what I mean? She made all of these from scratch, she was being simply amazing. For one of my nieces Steph decided to make a monkey. Now I would like to clarify that I loved ALL of her presents! She did an amazing job on all of them and I wanted one of everything for me after I saw how it looked. All of them were some adorable and beautiful, but man, I LOVED this Monkey. (I loved it so much I just capitalized it, and I hardly ever do that....) The Monkey was intended for Kassel and there was a slight delay from when it was finished to when it was shipped out and for that time I kept it in my room. I loved this monkey!! A lot! When at last I finally had to let it go I did so grudgingly, not at all acting my age.

Well, unbeknownst to me Steph began secretly making me a monkey all my very own for Christmas! She worked morning when I was sleeping (because she got up astronomically earlier than I did most, well all, mornings. It's amazing what having kids does to your sleeping in abilities...anways....) and I never had a clue.

Unfortunately I did spoil the surprise early (and I do mean early) Christmas morning. I had gone to bed after stuffing the stockings and Steph thought it would be safe to go ahead and finish up the last touches before putting it cutely stuffed right at the top of my stocking. I however was feeling very sick and couldn't fall asleep so, hearing that Steph was still awake, I went out to the living room to chat with her and moan about my general upset stomach. I saw the Monkey then, and I was so happy! I let her finish it and put it in my stocking when I finally fell asleep, but when I woke up and happily rummaged through the rest of my stocking I had her safely in my hand and she hasn't left it very long since then.

She is SO adorable! She's beautiful and I love her!! Later Christmas morning I was staring at her and contemplating what exactly I wanted to call her, when it just hit me. Chatter. Chatter the Monkey. Chatter and I are now best friends. I love her!!

So I would like to post a special thank you to Steph, my gifts to you pale in comparison to this handmade work of art and superb craftmanship. I love you and I love my Monkey!

This is Chatter. Isn't she wonderful?! She's telling me a secret :-D A secret I'm obviously enjoying. (You'll have to excuse my appearance of general dishevel...it was Christmas....you're allowed to look not put together)

A Splendid Tea Party!

Notice: Anything in this post that is in " "s is a direct quote from Emmuska's mouth. Really that girl does crack me up!

So, yesterday was my niece, Emmuska's 5th birthday. Among other things one of the presents she recieved was a tea set- and not just a doll tea set ladies and gents, no sir. It was a little girl tea set! Perfectly big enough to throw a real tea party! Naturally Emmuska wanted to throw a tea party that very night but Samuel kept getting in the way and the tea party did not go over very well.  Emmuska was very disappointed and Steph promised her that when Sam went down for his nap tomorrow (today in real terms) we would throw another one.

Today came and down for his nap Samuel went, taking Stephanie with him (he sleeps longer and better with someone next to him...don't we all? ...well, providing that that 'someone' doesn't toss and turn a whole lot) so after I finished up with some odds and ends we got the tea (hot chocolate) water boiling and we set up for a lovely tea party for 4 people. (The Hostess, Emmuska, and the Guests, Me, Liberty, and Dora)

Everything was set and everything went off swimmingly. It was "a simply splendid tea party!" Everything was "delectably delicious" and our gracious hostess was very good about keeping our cups filled and offering us "another spot of tea". She also gave us some tips in etiquette by letting us know that "pinkies out was SO elegant" and assuring us that we "never have to worry about anything if pinkies are out"

In the end she was very happy that "Little Samuel hadn't sat in the chocolate AGAIN" and she decided "that tea parties go off much better without little brothers" And as an added bonus "the Lions never showed up! I was so afraid that they would!"

It was, to quote Emmuska, a splendid tea party and she and I have plans for many more in the coming days!

Discussing important matters such as doll clothes, the importance of keeping "Little Buddy" asleep, and if we thought the chocolate should be "a spot more chocolatey" at our tea party

My beautiful tea

Liberty and Dora at our tea party

Liberty politely asking 'Miss' as Emmuska was known for 20 minutes, for a refill on her tea and on Dora's tea (for some unknown reason Dora didn't seem to have "much of an appetite")

Miss Emmuska pouring a refill. She was actually quite graceful and good at it

Our hostess and graciousness itself, Miss Emmuska.

Raking Leaves

So I decided that I have just given up on the idea of even TRYING to catch up on all that has happened in the last while. So many things have happened and it would be a lot of effort. Instead I have promised myself that I will stay updated (because really that is just SO much easier!) from this moment on. (I'm thinking that this promise to myself might last at least slightly longer than my New Years Resolutions do.....and that I think will still be an accomplishment :-D)

For any of you who don't know (...I don't know who you'd be because I know everyone who read this blog and I know you all know...) I'm in Missouri now! I moved to Dixon, MO about 2 1/2 weeks ago and I'm currently living with (read 'mooching off of' :-P) Steph and Mycal. Somewhat to my surprise I absolutely love this area! It  is simply gorgeous where I am and I love the drive out to get anywhere (at least when I'm not the one driving and I don't have to concentrate on making sure we don't die on the turns and curves....) Missouri is a beautiful, beautiful state. Different from the picture I had in my head.

Anyways, on to the actual post! When I was younger I was a strictly indoors type of gal. Thom, Pam and I had a system worked out- I do the indoor cleaning and they take care of weeding, shoveling, mowing, raking leaves, etc...anything outdoors (of course I was the only one who KEPT my side of the bargain but that's a different story... :-P) But then Thom went on a mission. Still the bargain held. I took care of inside, Pam of the outside. And then Pam went on a mission. I was stuck, I wanted to help mom in any way I could so I eventually gathered up all my courage and went outside to shovel the driveway. While it wasn't as bad as I remembered I didn't particularly enjoy myself. It was something to get done and that was it.

Then spring came and I gathered up more courage and I mowed the lawn. And I LIKED it! Wait! No, this was not to happen! I'm an indoors girl! I can't become an indoor/outdoor girl! Or could I? I could, and I totally did! (Of course part of this like could be attributed to the fact that I always listen to music when I mow lawns and rake leaves....not when I shovel driveways. I'm not sure why this is, but it is.)

So it is Fall here in Dixon, MO and as typical of fall anywhere there were leaves out in the front yard. Wanting to get out and get a little sun and still be useful I volunteered to rake the front yard. I plugged in my tunes, found a rake, wished I could find a pair of gloves, gave up on the gloves, and started raking. Quickly I remembered that leaves are very devious and deceptive. I swear there are not that many on the ground and then you start raking and there are a ton!! I always kind of wonder where they come from....

Anyhoo, it started out with me, and them Emmuska came out to help, followed by Liberty and we even got a quick cameo from Sam! Of course once kids came on the scene the faithful Auntie got the camera on the scene! So lets the pictures commence! :-D

Emmuska was actually a much bigger help than I thought she was going to be. (See that car in the background? I officially hate that car....)

Here she is raking herself into a ditch...literally

Because the best thing to do when you have a huge (or even medium sized) pile of leaves is to jump in them!

And then Liberty came out to help! She would take little handfuls of leaves, pick out the pretty ones to save for later, put them in her bag and then when her bag was full she took it to the ditch

Haha, I love how Steph's kids react when a camera is brought out. Little sighs and then charming me with their camera smiles. Already they're prepared for the paparazzi :-D

I LOVE this picture! I think it could totally be a senior picture....you know, if she was a senior...

Apparently leaves make pretty good sets for photo ops. I'll keep this in mind to myself for future reference

Finally all the leaves were raked up and Auntie Bonnie would let them jump in them (I'll admit it, I was kind of a slave driver until they were finished though....)

Liberty was SO funny! She was going to jump in and then she changed her mind at the last second and decided to carefully walk in

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our finished product! Doesn't it look so perty?!

A random shot of my lovely dog, she was so happy for the chance to be outside. Of course the lack of outside opportunities has been entirely her fault. She's afraid to leave my side and sticks to me like glue- as I'm primarily an indoor creature, she is now too. It's kind of funny, and sad, and a little touching

And here! Here is the amazing thing out Dixon. No bagging leaves for these folks! Nope they just rake them into ditches that are located right along the streets in their front yard. And then, to get rid of the leaves, they just burn them. I LOVE IT! I love the smell of it and it was SO convenient! There was a small portion of my heart that missed putting them into our green monster and jumping on them to get them down enough for more layers but really that's only fun when you have Thom there to encourage you and help you jump...and push you over...and do more Thom-esque things. Nevertheless, this ditch thing? AWESOME!