Welcome 2011

I had some time going to the airport last night.  Maybe I was being too dramatic.  I think it was partly because I'd been hit the day before and was scared to death to drive on the icy roads.  It was a minor accident, but I'd been doing everything right, so I think I just felt a little vulnerable (it sounds stupid! But I was so scared!)  Anyway, the weather had frozen my windshield washer jets, and I tried and tried to get them to work before I left, but couldn't.  I ended up just using windex, and bringing the bottle with me.  I hit some pretty slick freeway in Lehi and my car felt way unstable so I was going way slow, and I felt like everyone else was driving way too fast.  I had a little bit of a meltdown, and felt like I needed to pull over and just check things over.  I pulled off the Highland Alpine exit to the Maverick to check and sure enough, I had a near-flat tire.  (I've gotta get that tire replaced!)  So I filled it with air and nearly froze my fingers off doing it, then went to spray more windex on the windsheild but there wasn't enough in the bottle to spray, so I went in and bought a water bottle to dilute the windex so I could see out my windshield.  I hated it!  But I made it to the airport safely. 

Geoff also made it safely to the ground, even though his flight was delayed by 2.5 hours.  Better than being cancelled or having to stay overnight I guess.  But I'm glad he was safe.  I told him of my harrowing experience, and he drove us home without worry or incident.

Today, he made me a grilled ham and cheese sandwhich for dinner, even though he wasn't hungry for one.  Also he went with me to the gas station for drinks so I wouldn't have to go alone.  He's so sweet.  I did fine without him this past week, but it's so nice to have him home.  I know this is the age of the independent woman and all, but I've realized that I so appreciate having him around to drive me home when I'm scared, and make me ham and cheese sandwhiches, and just have someone to be there and take care of me.  Sure love him.

Tonight we're staying IN, out of the frigid cold.  Just watching TV, playing with voice changers and hanging out.  I love it!  Happy New Year!

Yum, snow!

Oh, it was just the cutest thing ever just now.  I took Gwennie out for her pre-bedtime potty, and the snow comes up to her head.  She accidentally got a faceful of snow, and realized that she actually liked it!  Then she went bounding around snatching up moutfuls of snow and looking up at me, face all covered in white.  It was just the cutest thing, to see her running around, eating the snow.  I almost want to take her back out, just to watch her play.

Anyway, that was the bright spot in an otherwise craphole of a day.  I discovered a tax problem at work that I may have been the cause of (still not sure how we're going to handle it), and got rear-ended on the way home, and subsequently stuck in the snow.  And it only took an hour to get home on an otherwise ten minute drive.

Someone got killed on Airport Road in the storm - a girl driving a Chevy... so sad.  I, (a girl), who drives a Chevy, must go to the airport tomorrow to pick up Geoff... if the roads are clear... if the flight isn't cancelled.  Oh, I dread work tomorrow.  These are the times I come back to wanting to quit.  If I knew I was going to die tomorrow, there's no way I would spend another minute at work.

Catch up

I'm a slacker.  I'm already starting to forget stuff. 

On Thursday night (Christmas Eve Eve) what really ended up happening is I convinced Geoff he needed an iPod Touch too (he seemed to like mine so I thought it would be fun for him to get one too).  We found one for $175 on KSL, unopened. Retail is about $230, so we thought that was a good deal.  We drove all the way out to West Jordan, out past the Oquirrh Mtn Temple even, to pick it up.  We brought Gwennie along, just for the heck of it.  It was her first experience with sticking her head out the window while driving.  She was timid at first, but then she couldn't get enough and I had to hold her down to keep her from falling out!  It was pretty late when we got back, so we just spend the rest of the night laying in bed, downloading apps and playing with our ipods.  We layed there for a good 3-4 hours doing that, and showing each other what we got.  It was fun.  We ate at Applebee's earlier in the afternoon too, after I was off work.

Christmas Eve, the big event was that we went out to lunch with my family, Uncle Pete & Aunt Sue, and Grandma Bingham.  We went to Goodwood in Draper.  Then we went home and took naps, passed out neighbor gifts, and I don't remember after that.  Probably watched Married with Children or something.

Christmas Day, we slept way in (it was wonderful), went to mom and dad's around noon and exchanged gifts, then headed to my Grandma Boyack's to meet the extended family for lunch and gift opening.  We went back to mom and dad's afterward, to pick up Gwennie, and ended up staying and doing puzzles and watching a movie. 

The morning after Christmas, we woke up before the butt crack of dawn and drove to the airport.  Geoff flew out to Portland.  His plane was delayed and ended up not even leaving until after he'd been at the airport for 4 long hours (it only took ten minutes to get through security and get all checked in!).  I took a nap and did a ton of cleaning!  Geoff called me that night to talk and say good night.  :)

Yesterday, Monday, Alison and Danielle came over after work and we had a girls night.  Al and I made grilled tuna sandwhiches with cheese (I sliced my finger pretty bad on the tuna can, oops).  Danielle joined us later and we went to the mall for an hour, then to WalMart and home.  I wanted to take them to The Chocolate, but come to find out, they are closed for the holidays.  So we went home and made cinnamon streussel muffins (from a box, of course) but they were yummy.  We got a little ways into Strange Brew before I had to hit the sack.  They were both still here when I left this morning but they're gone now and it's just me and Gwennie again. 

So now that I've spent a bunch of time cleaning, and had some fun with my sisters, I think I'll spend tonight chillaxin'.  Maybe a little bit of picking up, but only a little.  Me and my baby girl will snuggle in a blanket.  Geoff is scheduled to fly home on Thursday, but there's supposed to be a huge storm Wed through Fri, so there's a chance it could be delayed or cancelled altogether.  I hope not cuz I miss him, but we will see.  Later Skater.

In the words of Bruce Almighty: Love love love love love love love

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

It's my last day of work, and a shortened one, too! Yay!

Geoff wanted to try pulling an all-nighter tonight - I love doing that with him.  Even if I never make it to morning.

I'm sorta thinking about delivering neighbor gifts, going to the temple (if it is open), maybe even see the lights at Temple Square (if Geoff isn't too opposed to driving to Salt Lake since I'm sure he gets sick of the drive.) 

Enjoy being with the ones you love! I know I will!

Life is good!

Erik's Birthday

Yesterday was Erik's birthday, (his 20th!  So old!)  so we all met at Wingers last night to celebrate.  Geoff was able to come, and Erik's girlfriend Kelsey.  It was fun.  Alison gave him a gift card to the movies.  We gave him a gift card to Olive Garden, and I picked up a box of sugar cookies from The Chocolate for him, since it was on the way, and he loves Granny B's sugar cookies, so I thought he'd really love these.  Danielle gave him a Nuns Having Fun calendar, ha ha.  Wherever she found it; that is hilarious. 

After dinner, most of us went to mom and dad's for some cake and to meet Grandma Boyack.  We told stories of Erik when he was little, including "Dops! Who cwossa my bwidge?"  and other stuff it was so cute.  He was always such a good kid.  I like him.  And my Grandma is the cutest old lady ever.  And that's a fact.

I went home afterward and opened Christmas presents.  We opened all the stuff Geoff's mom sent us already - Geoff didn't want to wait, and I'm okay with that.  He also opened my gifts to him (some cologne and a ring) and I opened his to me (some perfume and a bottle of C.O. Bigelow peppermint lotion from Bath and Body Works that is soooooo good!).  We also started the second batch of apple butter.  A few days ago, Geoff downloaded Talking Rex to the iPod and we've been goofing around with that.  Fun nights.

Apple butter and blind dog

Congrats to Josh & Kenna on adoption of their "little studly" this last week!  They've been through quite a lot and really deserve this! And he is CUTE!

It's been raining all day today and yesterday.  We have to force Gwennie to go potty outside because she hates to get wet.  Well tonight we thought we'd take her for a walk in her raincoat.  The hood kept falling over her face, and I wondered if she could see, but she went trotting off anyway.  My suspicions were confirmed a moment later when she ran face-first into a utility box, hard.  It was just like that Dana Carvey movie with the dog that has a depth perception problem.  I wish I'd got it on camera because it was so funny!  I took the raincoat off after that, obviously.  (And she was fine.)

Been making applebutter today with a recipe Geoff's sweet cousin, Becca, gave me.  It looked way easy because all you do is throw everything in the crock pot and let it cook.  It wasn't until I googled ways to make the applebutter thicken that I realized I'm supposed to can it to seal it off, too.  If I had known that, I wouldn't have picked applebutter as neighbor/coworker gifts, cuz that's more work than I planned to do (simpler is always better!).  Luckily, the jars I bought were the type you can can with, and we have a canning pot from 2007 when Grandma taught us to can peaches.  (We'd meant to can some more stuff, but it never happend.)  Today's batch made 17 jars.  Two more batches to go.

I can't believe the weekend is over already!  It has gone too fast!  I'm glad this coming work week is a short one!

Incredibly sad

So many memories here.  A piece of history.  It's just so sad.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13693318

A cure for AIDS

A few days ago, I saw a story on the news that researchers have found a possible cure for aids through the use of stem cells.  There's a man that they believe, so far, is cured.  I don't know why the media isn't making a bigger deal out it; you'd think it would be hugely celebrated. 

But moving on - it got me thinking a lot about some of the things I've heard people say or express about AIDS, and my own thoughts on it.  I've heard anger expressed that AIDS resulted from the union of two gay people and spread from there, and that AIDS is a scourge of the wicked.  I say it's hogswallup.  I haven't done extensive research myself, but I'm pretty sure that they traced its origin back to human-ape contact in South Africa.  (Might've been South America, I don't remember.)

As to the "scourge of the wicked" thing.  Well.  There is so much more that comes into play with those affected by AIDS.  For one, unsanitary medical practices.  Drug use is a big one.  Statistics will obviously vary among demographics and parts of the world, but consider this statistic about Myanmar:

A report from the United Nations International Drug Control

Program states that 74.3% of all tested drug users, 9% of the

prostitutes, 0.5% of blood donors and 1.4% of pregnant women in

Myanmar were HIV-positive (13).*

STOP READING HERE if you are too sensitive to the plights of the innocent, because this is really sad, ok?

I remember how affected I was when, at 19, I saw a special on TV about the child sex trade in Southeast Asia.  It was the first time such notions had ever entered my realm, and it really shook me.  I later did some research on it for a college english paper, and learned that the child sex trade is one of the largest contributors to the spread of AIDS in the world.  The article at the link below sums up most completely the stuff that I learned while researching for my paper.  It's very informative, with regards to how the women and children end up in that situation, and why it happens, and what is being done to stop it.

http://www1.american.edu/ted/myansex.htm

People choose children instead of adults, for religious or superstitious reasons, thinking that they are pure because of their virginity, when in reality they are only marketed as virgins.  Some believe that if they have aids, sleeping with a virgin (or child) will cure them.  There are laws to stop it, and many groups are fighting for the children and for human rights, but there is so much corruption with law enforcement, and even governments are reluctant to comply with the law too much because the sex tourism is such a large part of their economy.  In the meantime, the children are the real victims of all of this.

The exploitation of boys and girls exemplify the single most

unsavory element of the worldwide growth in the sex trade: an

explosion in child prostitution, driven in part by the fear of

AIDS. Since 1985, child prostitution has escalated dramatically

worldwide. In the developing world the number of child prostitutes

are staggering: an estimated 800,000 underage prostitutes in

Thailand, 400,000 in India, 250,000 in Brazil and 60,000 in the

Philippines.(25) The newest international sites for child

prostitution are Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China and the Dominican

Republic.*

It's just something that is a huge, and very heartbreaking problem, and I think awareness is needed, although it is hard to figure out what a single person, like me, could do about it.  As far as AIDS, there is so much more to consider than "wickedness," or the "bad" things a person must've done to contract the disease.  There are so many innocent victims in the world, millions.  Any death or infection - no matter by whom or for what reason - is tragic.  It will probably be many years yet that a cure for AIDS - if that is what this is - is widely available for all who've suffered.  But I do hope that will someday be so available.

*Both quotes are taken from the article at this link: http://www1.american.edu/ted/myansex.htm

I guess this makes me a republican, then

We are all ready to make neighbor gifts this weekend!  And most of the Christmas shopping is done!  Geoff is still sick, but says he feels better... as he lays on the couch in silence... uh huh yeah...

No new adventures today; the drugged up guys (there are actually two- they are twins) didn't even come down the street today.

BUT, I learned that 37 of the 50 states are on the chopping block for insolvent unemployment compensation funds.  Meaning, if they don't pay back their federal loans within the next year, the FUTA  tax rate will go up (called a credit reduction).  Michigan was the first, with their credit reduction starting last year; this year Indiana and South Carolina join it.  NEXT year, wow I just can't believe it.  Whoever is doing my job at work will be having their hands full with all of those states!  (Assuming that none of them pay their loans back, which some still may.)  It got me thinking a little; people who are against business tax cuts have got their heads in the clouds.  They may think it's better to take money from the soulless corporations and give it to the people, but businesses are what supply the jobs that everyone wants so badly!  And they've got everything going against them with this crappy economy - sales/revenues are down, taxes are going up... as a result they have to lay people off or go out of business.

There will always be people at the top of some ladders who are corrupt and embezzle or give themselves huge, undeserved bonuses.  And it's not fair.  But that is going to happen in a good economy or a crappy economy, take your pick.  Better to let and get businesses to thrive and increase the workforce anyway.

The times we live in.  There's just not enough money to go around.  I should consider myself so lucky to be doing okay.

Today

This morning, I realized that I had worn my blue pants all day yesterday, thinking they were my black ones. 

Gwennie scared herself with her own fart.

Geoff did a perfect imitation of the Grinch song "you're a mean one, Mr. Grinch..." with the help of his cold and it lowering his voice and all.  (He's in bed now, knocked out by cough syrup, which we actually had to show our ID to buy today.)

And the crazy druggie guy that walks up and down the street outside my window at work, paused in his daily mutterings long enough to lift his leg at the building - as though he thought he were a dog peeing on it or something - which, I guess, is better than the time he actually did pee on it.

What adventure will tomorrow bring?

Positively toast

Haven't done much today, feeling sort of gross with a cold; Geoff and I both.  I did some studying for a final exam which is tomorrow after work.  And went visiting teaching.  It is nice to just lay around with Geoff and just watch TV or read. 

When I was on the HCG diet, we'd gone to the library, and I picked out a conspicuous looking book labeled Toast.  I swore once I was off the diet I would go back and find that book.  Geoff picked it up yesterday for me.  I made two of the recipes today - sunnyside up toast, and french toast cooked in a waffle iron.  (We have a small, cheap one). The waffle french toast actually has an orangy-recipe for the egg batter, but we don't have orange juice today, so I just used regular french toast batter.  But how neat is that to cook it in a waffle iron?  Yum.

I've decided that this negativity about my job has got to stop.  I can't say for sure how much longer I'll be there, but even two days is too long when I feel that way.  Last Thursday in a "numbers" meeting with another department, one of the ladies talked about how her goal for the month had been to be more positive.  I spoke with her afterward.  She talked about a story she'd heard about perspective, saying it's all about how you look at a situation.  That every time she feels irritation or other negative feelings welling up inside, she takes a second to distance herself, then holds two choices out in her mind - one to choose the negative, and one to choose the positive.  And also that it's within a person's grasp to identify those things that cause discontent and change them.  And to put it simply, recognize that this is what you get paid to do, and you might as well be willing and happy to do it.

Well, seeing as how my "discontent" centers around my job, then I must change that.  Quitting isn't a logical option right now.  I can only change things within my job.  So I will start looking for ways to do that, and it might take getting creative.  I tried just acting happy last Friday, and it was a pretty good day.  The fact that it was Friday helped, and I had two successful phone calls one right after the other, to the IRS and the Georgia Dept of Revenue, which was a huge booster for the day.  We'll see how things go tomorrow.  One thing that I recognize though, is that the people I work with are so great.  Really I can't think of even one person that makes it hard to work there... so that is a huge plus.

This next week will be pretty busy.  I'll be glad when next weekend rolls around.  Then I'll be exactly where I was at this time last year - exactly one full time job and no other commitments.  My class will be over, I have quit my second job, and although I went to ward choir last week after church, I've decided not to continue with that either.  Sounds like I'm being a recluse, but I think it is exactly what is needed right now.  I really, really want to focus on taking care of myself - gym, eating healthy, etc.

You wouldn't know how intelligent she really is from the blank look that's always on her face

This was from the work party

Figuring out how to take ipod pictures.



Nice

Wow. I figured out how to get on my blog and blog from my iPod without buying the app.

Facebook status collage 2010

jui;nj

Boo.  No motivation for anything.  Except sleep.  Yeah, sleep.

70's hair

I feel like this blog is so self-indulgent.  Ha.  Well what else would I write about, I guess.

I tried to do my hair curly today... it poofed and now it looks like it came straight from the 70's.  I have an hour to try and fix it before going back to work.

LOVing this iPod Touch.  I figured out how to configure our router for wireless internet (had some help in setting the password to make it secure).  It is so much fun.  I can see just how an iPhone would be so awesome, since it can have internet everywhere and not only near a wireless router. 

Last night I made a night-time playlist.  It's nice to sit in a clean, dark room once in a while and do nothing but listen to relaxing music.  (I don't do it often at all, but hope to more now that I have this groovy music-player-thing!)  I love all of the songs so much, that I might list them on the blog later- just for my self-indulgence... it would be boring to sit and read for anyone else.

Blessing

Saturday was neat because I got to drive up to Logan and be present for Danielle's patriarchal blessing.  I met Alison and John Bob, and Mom up there.  We got to see Danielle's dorm apartment, and went to the patriarch's house for the blessing, which went for about a half hour all by itself.  It was the neatest blessing I'd ever heard.  It made me see Danielle a little bit differently than I had before... not that I ever thought she was anything less than amazing... but I think she is meant for bigger things than I would've imagined.  She really is the sweetheart of our family, I must say.  I was so glad that she invited us up for it. :)

After that, we went to dinner at Olive Garden.  We got to know John Bob a little bit - he's Al's boyfriend and very cute. 

Then I drove home and got home about 9:30.  We caravanned (SP) on the way home.  I volunteered to be the leader because no one else wanted to.  I accidentally led everyone out into a dark backcountry road.  It's a straight shot from the canyon opening to the freeway so I really don't know how it happened, but oh well. 

It was a very neat day altogether, and made me want to get out my blessing and read it again.  I've let way too much time go by without reviewing it.

Work party

Friday night was our work Christmas Party.  We had a dinner at Thanksgiving Point and then a little "Let's Make A Deal" activity.  More like a BIG activity.  Our table won iPod Touches.  Some of the other prizes were $500 in Chevron gift cards, $500 gift cards to Sierra West jewelers, KitchenAid mixers, digital cameras, and iPads.  The bum gifts were a jar of sauerkraut, sunglasses, a bottle of lotion, and a candy cane with a dollar bill attached.  The groups with the bum gifts got a chance to trade their gift at the end of the party for a yet unopened gift.  All throughout, the owners would try to lure them away by buying their chosen gift before they got to open it, for a sum of money usually a couple hundred dollars.  BUT.  The grand prize gift that was in there... no one knew was there... and in fact, I think a couple of groups had turned it down for the money, were.................  GET THIS............................  $2,000 in travel credit to anywhere AND a cruise!!  Five people each, the table next to ours, got that one.  Yeah.  Pretty much everyone in the whole room was stunned.  So I guess in dollar value the iPod was one of the cheaper gifts, but still I'm not disappointed.  We've been playing with it constantly since we brought it home... I never thought I'd have anything as nice as that.  I sure do work for a great company.  No matter how put off I get by taxes, at least the company itself is great and I have to be grateful for that.

Oh my gosh, I die every time I watch this

Lawrence Welk parody

I love it so much that I'm posting on my blog AND facebook, how's that for cool.

Hint: Click to watch

Urk

Just one little pet peeve that I have to get out because I'm bored - I cringe every time someone says they "loved on" or need to "love on" their kids or babies?  I know what moms really mean when they say that, but it sounds weird and gross!  As one who has absolutely no business correcting moms, I just have to ask, don't love on your kids, just love them, ok?  Thx. :-)   Ha ha it reminds of when Michael Scott made his screenname "littlekidlover" so that everyone would know how good he was with kids.

Doggie daycare

So I made an appt to board Gwennie Saturday night at Rockin' Dogs, the place we've been taking her since she got all her shots.  I've always thought something was a little "off" about the owner- but always just thought - "well, he's a business owner, business owners often have weird personalities."  However, after I made the appointment today, I found a bumload of horrible online reviews for Rockin Dogs.  Really, the only thing I've ever wondered about, besides the owner, was the extra $30 they charge for dog grooming when staying longer than two days, because it didn't look like she'd been groomed, and her nails certainly hadn't been clipped.  Other than that, it has seemed fine.  But after reading all of that, I think we'll be looking elsewhere for another boarding facility.

Thinking on it - I wonder why should it be so hard to run that business AND be honest and polite at the same time?  Then I thought - I could do it!  I would take the things I like about Rockin' Dogs, include some ideas of my own, and run the business, and do it honestly and with great care for the wee doggies.  Let the positive word of mouth be a marketing tool.  I'm sure the hardest part would be getting the business up and going - no small job and I don't doubt it.  But once it was up and going, I could totally do that.

I think I could handle something challenging as long as I enjoyed it.

Just a thought.  Right now we're kind of in limbo, waiting to see what happens in the next year or so.  But I could start making tentative plans in the meantime.  Be something to look forward to.

blondeness

We decided Gwennie just needed more attention.  So we've been giving the little bugger more attention the last couple of days.  She is SUCH a bugger cuddler sometimes.  I should be nicer.  Since I'M a huge cuddler nearly all the time.  I get Gwennie.  Poor Geoff has to deal with us both.  (He's doing a good job though!)

Getting my roots touched up today.  Just thought I'd try to look nice for the Christmas party, which is Friday night.  I can't believe this will be my fifth party.  And possibly my last.  Crazy to think I've been there for that long though.  But yay for blonde roots.

So I know this is old as the hills, and I'm sorry for going on about it.  But I was just thinking how not long ago I wanted a big house.  Big, nice, modern.  Ever since the idea of moving overseas though, it seems a big house would just be an anchor - something to suck up resources that could be put into a move, and keep us rooted somewhere.  So I'm totally happy living somewhere small - I'd even take a place without a dishwasher - if it meant getting that much closer to that goal.  Stupid huh?  I think about this stuff a lot when sitting behind a desk dealing with taxes.

Someone at Geoff's work brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and shared the easy recipe with him: one box of spice cake mix, one can of pumpkin filling, one bag of chocolate chips.  Mix all together and bake.  So Geoff came home and made them, and they were so delicious!  I made them for my work a few days later and everyone loved them.  Last night Geoff had an idea to use chocolate cake mix instead of spice cake mix, and to use peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips.  So we made them last night, and they were, quoting Geoff: "the worst cookies I've ever had."  Ha ha.  Well you win some you lose some I guess.

Thanksgiving weekend was sooooo nice. I just loved staying home and hanging out.  Reading, napping, watching movies.  Only two point five more days until the next one!