books are an underrated gift...

...so says my sister in law, Melonhead.

What do you think she sent me for Christmas?????

This book.

Subtlety is not a problem with her.

Cheeky lil thing, isn't she?

Christmas vacation

Sunday the 20th ~Idaho Falls to Las Vegas

High ~ Flying rather than driving (as I am a known car sicky).

Going from 20 degree weather to 60 degree weather.

Stuffing seven people's worth of luggage into our rental van! It was a tight fit, but we made it!

Low ~ Stuffing seven people in the rental van with the seven suitcases and seven carry-on bags. Yikes.

Flying on Cheap-o-airline where they charge you for everything. Serious. Seat assignments, checked bags, even the ice...

The complete and total destruction of my carry-on bag. Guess it was it's time to go. I have only had it for ten years.

Monday the 21st ~ Las Vegas

High ~ Seeing Scotland's BFF from KY, Derek (a professional poker player) and his high rise apartment located right on the strip! His neighbors? Toby Keith and Sheryl Crow! How freakin cool! And he treated us to dinner!

Low ~ Missing Fremont street and the shows on the strip due to Derek's inability to cut a story short. He's a real chatterbox.

Shopping complex the size of Idaho Falls. Walked my freakin legs off to find a new carry-on bag. Scotland found an ugly one for me. Ugh. Whatever. And was unable to find a decently priced pair of brown sketchers. :(

Tuesday the 22nd ~ Las Vegas to Indio California

High ~ In Indio we had two condo's. So I didn't have to deal with my brother and his gas problems all night long.

Low ~ The five hour drive it took to get there. Gag, retch, puke.

Wednesday the 23rd ~ Indio Condo with day trip to Universal Studios

High ~ The Universal Studios tour where they show you how they do neat special effects and you get to see really cool movie sets like Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewifes, and specialy cars like the Delorian from the Back To The Future movies.

Low ~ Having to get up early and go to bed late so we could make the 2 hour drive there and back. Have I mentioned how much I hate driving?

Thursday the 24th ~ Indio Condo with day trip to California Adventure

High ~ The Soarin over California ride where it feels like you are hang-gliding over these beautiful scenic places and you can smell the woods and the orange fields as if you were really there.

The Hollywood Tower of Terror, the Pier roller coaster and the 3-D Bart Simpson simulator ride that all made my stomach do that plummeting thing which I love!

The Disney Electric parade which was so adorably cute.

Low ~ See above low for the previous day.

Friday the 25th ~ Indio Condo with day trip to Disneyland

High ~ The Haunted Mansion which was all Christmas-i-fied to look like the Nightmare Before Christmas movie!

The Christmas reindeer round up where they had real deer with huge horns! And even though it smelled like poo, I still really liked them!

The sweet little Disneyland train that we got to ride back to the front of the park at the end of the day when we were all exhausted.

Low ~ Parking in a lot that did not have a shuttle to take you to the park. That should just be illegal because it was like two miles just to get to the park where you have to walk the entire day!

The seriously crowded park. Whoever said it was supposed to be pretty dead on Christmas was yanking my chain!

Getting stuck in the Rodger Rabbit ride, where we had to sit with the lights on and wait for them to escort everyone out of the building until they could fix it.

Saturday the 26th ~ Indio Condo with day trip to Disneyland

High ~ The Indiana Jones ride that we fast-passed to skip out on the 2 hour wait!

The really pretty lights on the Small World building and the Sleeping Beauty Castle.

The tallest Christmas tree I have ever seen right in the middle of Main Street Disney!

Having Cold Stone ice cream after the day was done. I got No Sugar Added, of course, and it was delicious!

Low ~ The space mountian coaster breaking down after we had waited in line for an hour and when we were about to get on it.

The lady that got stuck in the Indiana Jones car we were getting in. It took her about ten minutes to exit the vehicle.

Sunday the 27th ~ Indio to Las Vegas, Las Vegas to Idaho Falls

High ~ Getting to sleep in after days and days of waking up early!

Watching our own inflight movie to make the time pass quicker (X-Men Beginnings if you care to know).

Eating Popeyes Chicken which I haven't had since Portland. Yumm!

Snuggling up with my Scotland in our own warm soft bed at home after a lovely Christmas trip.

Low ~ Five hour drive turned into Seven hours due to stop and go traffic on the interstate!!! Hello! Busiest travel day of the year! I was a smidgen tense (read: on the verge of a panic attack) for that trip.

So that was the trip in a nutshell! What a whirlwind of a vacation!

frustration

I have pictures from the Christmas trip, really great pictures because you see I kyped my fathers good camera for the duration of our holiday. But they are not compatible with the dinosaur of a computer I have. Seriously! Will someone who is more technically savvy than I am please use your magic wand on this thing? UGHHH!!!

Christmas excess ~alternately titled~ The glass half full

The other day Scotland and I went for a drive to the famous "Candy Cane Lane" in our town. We wanted to get into the Christmas spirit, and enjoy the beautiful light displays. I snuggled up in my pajamas for the journey, complete with fuzzy slippers. We took the "arctic cat" (the name for my Honda when she has her studded tires on) and she did wonderfully on those snowy, slick roads.

I was completely amazed at the ostentatious displays of excess we were presented with.

Not to say I didn't enjoy myself. It was very pretty. But it just got me thinking, you know? Why is it that even in the midst of this catastrophic recession you see such huge and elaborate displays?

Now, I could go two different ways with that. The pessimist in me responds with comments on the example that people have not learned their lesson, and they continue to push themselves into an even deeper financial hole because they are following the tradition of excess that they have had in years past.

But today, I don't want to be cynical. Today I want to hope that people are showing their resilience to the sadness of these times. I want to know there are people out there that refuse to let it suppress them. I want to be proud of the hope that it represents and the resilience of strong people.

Today, I will be a glass half full kind of person.

On how I could spend 40 hours a week surfing

A couple days ago, I found an online community for women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome called Soulcysters. I spent hours reading other women's stories and how they were dealing with "our" disease.

Yesterday I loaded page after page of information in preparation for our trip(oration) to Californication. Californimation. Californaration. (Did you get the variation? varimation? varication?)

Today I joined blogfrog to participate in cjane's online live chat. Crazy experience, but I loved it. A fast and furious, try to keep up kind of communication (don't worry, I already beat that dead horse). I even clicked away at one point, reminded about how I have other things to do, and then like milkshake up a straw, it sucked me back in...

Mmmmm. Milkshakes.

Anyway, I have decided that I would be perfectly happy spending my 40 hour work week just surfing the web and getting paid for it. Will someone please pay me for that??? Really????

The expanse (of the web) is tremendous, and full of useful information, even more so, than may I suggest Charlotte's Web???? (I know, I am shocking today.) You could get lost in there and never be able to wheedle your way out!

And to think, three months ago when we got the internet in our own residence, I was so very nonchalant about it. Nah, I won't use it. This must be what people experienced when they got a telephone in their own home. They probably felt special that they had it (finally!) but didn't know how much they would use it until things like ward lists got passed around and it took off like wildfire. Wildfire I say!

But there are so many interesting people to talk to and listen to! And cry about! And pour my soul out to! Online therapy with strangers! And my mother told me not to talk to strangers! Bah!

So now, just for today mind you, I will lend my willing ear to others. I will listen to your problems, nod my head knowingly, and cry when you cry. I will do this today because you have done it for me. And because I fully intend to fly right back to my self absorbed rambling after today.

But right now, I am yours... Eat your heart out Dr. Phil!

Fire

I was talking to a girl at work this morning about fire safety. She told me the best part of fire was firemen. . . And although I am not about to deny that, I will say that has not been the focus of fire safety for me.

Scotland and I met our friends Brian and Shelley in Rexburg on Monday night. They had invited us to a dinner that Brian had won at the frontier pies restaurant. We arrived just minutes ahead of them. As we walked in the door, I glanced to my right and saw a large group of people listening to some guy talk about a fire extinguisher. My immediate thought? "Glad I don't have to be at that dinner!" One minute later, Brian walked in and informed us that our free dinner included a presentation on fire safety. Bah!!

So, whatever, it was a free dinner we listened as the guy talked about fire safety and how regular smoke detectors have over a 50% failure rate, how there are so many places in your home that can contribute to the chance of a home fire, etc.

All in all, I guess it freaked me out a bit. They had story after story of people who went to their dinner and then didn't purchase their fire safety equipment and then had a fire shortly afterward in which one or more family members died.

We went home that night, and I had a hard time sleeping. The next evening, we had one of their guys come to our house to perform a free fire inspection and tell us where we needed to place smoke and heat detectors in our home. That night, I was up for a few hours, worrying about our house burning down.

So now, I guess we have a choice to make. Do we buy into their marketing and purchase the top of the line fire detection equipment? Do we say no and hope that we don't ever have a fire in our home? Do I ever get to have a good night sleep again?

I guess this goes back to the question of how much do you control or protect your situation/vs/how much do you just let "fate" take it's course, and have faith that it "isn't going to happen to me"?

I really don't know the answer here. Scotland is very little help in this situation. He is not a worrier like I am. He volunteered to hang his dad's silver fire suit in our bedroom though. That was his "fix" for my worries.

What do I do?

Three strikes, she's out!

Twice in one week.

TWICE.

Twice I have screeched at that devil gray cat while she defecated in my home. Twice I have caught her in the act and snatched her up during (eeewww) the process. Twice her nose has been ungracefully rubbed in the results. Twice I have tossed (or had the hubs toss) her out the door.

This is ridiculous! That cat has lived with a litter box it's entire year long life! Why does it decide that my blankets and carpet are more desirable when the litter box is only a few yards away?!?!?!?

Aaahhhhh!

Cookies

Can you smell that?

Mmmmhhhhhh.

Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

At my house...

Wanna come over?

A little Christmas Cheer

Beautiful! Don't you think?

Berryfest 2009

My exploration into the world of jam making was not without peril. (If you could only see the two formerly white aprons I own you would know this) But I bravely pushed on into uncharted waters with the assistance of the lovely Jen...please disregard the rolling of the eyes, she has a lovely disposition when someone crazy isn't in the kitchen snapping away with the camera instead of helping (oops...).

Sadly, these pictures don't even do it justice...

Food is so beautiful to me. The textures and colors are so rich, anything man made is incomparable!

And, we were rather pleased with the results, beautiful and tasty!

Motivation

My workplace is filled to capacity with motivational posters. You all know what I am talking about. They have a beautiful picture and a word or phrase that is supposed to make everyone motivated in some way or another.

In fact, my office has one very similar to this one.

I see it everyday.

And sometimes I use the plexiglass reflection to fix my hair.

Because regardless of it's intentions, it does not motivate me.

Occasionally it taunts me with the beautiful rock climbing picture that reminds me that I gave up a sport that I was so very passionate about at one time.

Taunts me, yes.

Motivates me, no.

And unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't motivate the individuals that work for me either.

But I think you would be hard pressed to find a professional office (of more than 8) that doesn't have these lackluster pictures somewhere in it.

Then why do we have them?

Is it just for the pretty picture? I know that I chose mine based purely upon the rock climbing image it contained. Did I think about the motivational words underneath?

Negative.

So what would motivate me? What could I hang on my wall that would provide the greatest motivation of all?

This.

Or this.

Because what else is there that motivates me?

The people I love and the faith I hold.

Nothing else matters much does it?

But I also think you would be hard pressed to find a professional office with those pictures on common walls.