He is the Reason...

For some reason this year, I have had multiple friends mention that they are having a hard time feeling the Christmas Spirit. And for some reason I have seemed to feel it more this year than ever before. I have felt it in the lights, the winter chill, in the faces of children, the faces of adults, in the words of the Christmas songs being sung all around me. This year, the Christmas Spirit has been everywhere!

This has been such a great season for me. Perhaps that is partly because I finished most of my Christmas shopping before December began and that meant less time fighting crowds and feeling irritated. But mostly, I think it's because this is the first year where I didn't focus so much on myself but instead focused more on those around me. This year, I seemed to have a better understanding for the reason we celebrate this season.

I mentioned in my grievances that I am frustrated with all the people who tell me I can't wish someone a "Merry Christmas" but instead have to use phrases such as "Happy Holidays!" or "Season's Greetings!" I have never understood that, and most likely I never will. Christ is the center of this holiday. If it weren't for Him, we wouldn't even be celebrating it. So why do people feel they can try and take Him out of it?

It makes me think of the line in the scriptures where He says, "I came unto mine own and mine own received me not".

His people did not receive Him then and some still don't receive Him now. Why? Why are people not willing to recognize His hand in their lives? Do we not understand that He came to this earth for us? He lived His life, He preached His Gospel and He died on the cross...for us. He did nothing for Himself. And in return, all He asks is for us to come unto Him, to receive Him. And yet, we don't. This I do not understand.

But this I do understand; that Heavenly Father gave us the gift of agency - the ability to make our own choices - and not everybody will choose to believe what I believe. That is their choice and their right. But that does not give them the right to take my beliefs away from me.

I believe in my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and I am so grateful for Him; for His birth, His life and His death. For without Him, I am nothing. He suffered on that cross for me. He felt every joy, every pain and sorrow, every doubt and fear that has ever come into my life. He knows me intimately. I am grateful to know that when I kneel to pray I never have to wonder if He understands what I am feeling. I know that He does. He is my older brother, my friend and my Savior and I love Him with all of my heart.

So friends, though I mentioned it before, I will mention it again. I will not apologize for my feelings and beliefs regarding my Savior nor will I apologize for celebrating Him at Christmas time. He is in everything I see and feel this time of year: He's in the lights, the winter chill, in the faces of the children, the faces of adults, He's in the words of the Christmas songs being sung all around me. This year, Christ has been everywhere!

HE is the reason I celebrate this season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

An Early Christmas Gift...

My sister was due on the 22nd. Look who decided to show up on the 17th!


This is little Maggie. Isn't she so cute?


She weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz. She was definitely anxious to get here and we are all excited to have her. I thought being an aunt to 19 kids was awesome, but now I think being an aunt to 20 is even better!

Welcome to the family Maggie! We love you to pieces already!

Airing of Grievances...

Next week on December 23rd, my office will be participating in what has become an annual tradition here on campus: Festivus. For those of you who aren't familiar with Festivus, check out this clip from Seinfeld.

Even though I know it's only the 19th, I've decided to start my own personal Festivus celebration a few days early. According to Frank Costanza, the tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. "I gotta lot of problems with you people and now you're going to hear about 'em!"

So now, in the tradition of Festivus, I will air my grievances:

Chartwells: You try hard, but your food sucks. Either learn to cook or get out of the kitchen. Nobody wants to eat cooked "root vegetables" that are cold ever again. Though your food at the Holiday lunch was somewhat decent this year, it does not make up for the last six years of having to eat the crap you cook. Do you actually taste your own food? I didn't think so.

Campus Food Services: Fire Chartwells. They suck.

UTA: When a snowstorm hits at 8am and you can still manage to run your trains on time, I don't want to hear "the trains are delayed due to a snowstorm" at 5pm when we are all trying to get home. Especially when it's been NINE HOURS since the snowstorm hit. We had to wait for nearly an hour to catch a train. Get it together.

Students: Learn to take responsiblity for your life. Life is not handed to you on a silver platter. We are not paid to babysit you. When you enter college you are considered an adult. Act like it. If you fail or withdraw from your classes, too bad. We aren't going to take them off your transcript. We will, however, allow you to repeat those classes for a better grade. Just pay us $4,000 to do so.

TRAX Riders: Show some freakin' courtesy! When I'm in front of you to get on the train, don't shove your way past me just so you can be first. Three of you pushed in front of me today. Three of you just about had your face punched in. Lucky for you I was feeling the Christmas Spirit.

Homeowners: For those of you who put up Christmas lights, I applaude you. However, in the future can you please try to make them look nice? Nothing is more nauseating than looking at a bunch of lights that are flung about as if they had been vomitted all over your house and yard. Oh and for the record, blue is not a happy color. I have no idea why you'd put solid blue lights all over your house.

I'm not really sure who to direct this last one to, but I'm tired of everything having to be "politically correct". I don't want to celebrate a "Holiday" and I don't want to wish everyone a "Happy Holiday Season". It's Christmas! And from here on out, I will only refer to it as such. If any of you feel left out or feel offended, too bad. I'm not going to apologize to you for what I believe.

Merry Christmas you Mormons!

I thought this was hilarious. The "Tapper-nacle" choir was a great touch!

The Spirit of the Season...

Do any of you have a little cash to spare and would be willing to donate a few dollars to help send care packages to our troops overseas? Operation Gratitude is currently accepting donations in any amount to help cover the shipping costs for these packages. One package costs $11 to ship. If we all donated $11, think of what a difference that would make in the lives of our troops! Well, you can see for yourself by clicking here.

Our servicemen and women are far from home, away from loved ones, and could really use a lot of exta love and support this time of year. I know that if I were far from home during the holiday season, a package like this would really help boost my spirits. We all appreciate their service and I can think of no better way to say "thank you" for all they do.

This is a great time of year to give a little bit extra to those in need. If it's not in your budget to help a soldier, consider donating needed items to local charities and homeless shelters in your area. Or if you are able to do both, that's even better!

Let's spread the spirit of the season to everyone around us and help put a smile on someone else's face.

Merry Christmas!!!

Thursday Confessions...

Normally these would be my Thursday NIGHT Confessions, but I won't be around tonight to write them. So I'm giving them to you a few hours early.

• I once survived living in -30 degree temperatures.
• The house I lived in barely survived.
• It was the worst winter of my life.
• I have friends now who are practically bawling over the fact that it is -10 where they live.
• I told them to suck it up, wait until it's -30 and then call me.
• It was 2 degrees when I woke up this morning where I live.
• I wanted to cry.
• I've been inside for over an hour and I still can't feel my feet.
• I'm a whimp.
• I need to wait until it's -30 and then call myself.
• I hate being cold.
• I'd rather be cold than hot.
• But not frozen.
• I need hot chocolate. Then I'll be warm.
• I love being warm.
  

Peeing in the Arctic...

I am still trying to work with Google about getting my full name off their search results. I've been trying a few different things and it might take another day or two before I know for sure if they worked. If they don't, then I will invite you all to read my private blog. I know there are a couple of you out there who read my blog and don't think that I know. Well, guess what? I know. So just fess up already. Otherwise, you'll be banned from reading my blog forever. And trust me, you'll be missing out.

In the meantime...

I came to work today dressed appropriately for the frigid cold weather...thermals, boots, hat, gloves, etc. I wasn't leaving anything to chance. After all, I ride the train and sometimes trains are late. Of course, I was able to shed most of these layers once I got to work because my office is kept fairly warm.

The bathroom, on the other hand...

I'm not sure why, but for some reason the bathrooms in this building are at least 40 degrees colder than the rest of the building. I walked in there and the cold slapped me in the face so hard I thought I was going to suffocate. It was so cold that for a second I thought about walking right back out and putting on my winter gear...just to use the bathroom. Thankfully that thought quickly passed when, in a moment of clarity, I realized that would only create additional problems with the whole bathroom procedure.

As I walked into my stall and stood there staring at the toilet, I actually wished I had been born a man just so I wouldn't have to bare my bum and stick it to the ice covered toilet seat. But then when I did sit down and had the breath knocked out of me, I wished to be a polar bear. If I were a polar bear I wouldn't need to bare my bum, be a man or even use a toilet. And most importantly...I'd still be warm.

I wonder if I could get workers comp for getting hypothermia while using the bathroom.

Going Private...

Dear Readers:

It has recently come to my attention that by typing my full name into a Google search, my blog appears for the whole world to see. I have no idea how this has happened, as my account is only set up with my first name, and not my last. I guess Google has somehow managed to extract my information from somewhere, and seeing as they are SO customer friendly they don't give me anyway to contact them and find out how this has happened.

Because my blog is now available for all to see (though I am aware not very many people will probably type my name into a Google search at random), and because I have pictures and other information about my nieces and nephews on my blog, I feel I must make my blog private for now.

I know I have a lot of faithful readers out there and I hope this won't dissuade any of you from continuing to read my blog. Please just send me your email address and I will send you an invite. I also know there are many of you who blog stalk me (you know, read my blog even though you may or may not personally know me and never leave a comment so I won't know you are reading it). If you'd like to continue reading my blog, especially if you're a hot single guy, drop me a line letting me know and after I conduct a full background check and deem you safe, I'll send you an invite as well. :)

I'll probably go private in the next week or so. Thanks for your understanding!

Camille

PS - If you wish not to leave your email address here, please email me at chameleon5@hotmail.com

Love and Hate...

I hate driving. I've always known this, but yesterday a lightbulb came on in this dim brain of mine and I think I may have figured out why. Sometimes Most of the time, I have what I term "people claustrophobia". I don't usually feel anxious in tight enclosed spaces, but stick me in the middle of a group of people without a way out, and I all of a sudden feel like my chest is closing up on me. If I feel like I'm stuck around people, especially slow moving ones, I freak out. Because of this, I always have a tendency to walk super fast around a crowd of people until I am in the open. At a crosswalk, I'll try to manuever myself to the front of the crowd so I can be the first to cross the street. This is also true when driving. If I get stuck in traffic, I get ornery. If people are going 10mph below the speed limit and I'm stuck behind them, I get ornery. I drive the way I walk: manuvering my way around the slow people until I'm in the open. I can't be caught in the middle of a bunch of slow movers without a way out or I freak out. My friends tell me all the time I drive crazy. This would be why. I hate driving.

I love kids. I went to my parents last night to have them help me with a christmas project I'm working on, and as I was standing in the kitchen I happened to look down and see a piece of paper that had christmas ideas jotted down on it for my sister's family who lives in Arkansas. I was glancing over this paper when I noticed my 10 year old nephews list. The first thing written down said "A jar of pickles". I laughed out loud and said to my mom, "[He] wants a jar of pickles?" She said that my sister told her kids their individual christmas would be smaller this year because they were getting one big family gift. So each of the kids had to think of some little items they would want instead of big items. A jar of pickles. If only I could be as content with such a gift. Sometimes kids really are the best teachers. I love kids.

Working for Free...

YouTube is such an amazing invention. Whoever came up with a free way to post videos online for the sheer enjoyment of letting others watch them, was brilliant! I can guarantee that everyone reading this post has viewed a video on YouTube at one time or another. It is simply awesome.

Except for one thing: copyright owners.

For some reason, copyright owners seem to enjoy taking the fun out of everything! I understand that people like to get paid for their work, but if someone is just trying to express their feelings in pictures while using a moving song, what is the harm in that? None, if you ask me. Especially if they aren't making a profit on it. But time after time I come across a video where the music has been completely dubbed out and there's a message saying it was a violation of the copyright. Why not just remove the video? It seems pointless to let everyone view a silent movie. Well, unless we lived in 1922.

Anyway, as you all know, I posted a video on YouTube a couple years ago. I never got permission to use the song for this video and I was a little worried that one day I'd go to view it and it would have become one of those dreadful silent movies. I really didn't want to get in trouble for using this song without permission, but at the same time, I wanted to be able to share my love for the military with others. So I decided to post the video and see what would happen.

For two years and three months, nothing did happen.

Today I opened YouTube and not only did I notice that my video now has over one million views (yay!), I also noticed a couple other things. The first thing I noticed was that when the video starts to play, there is now an advertisement that pops up informing the viewer as to what the song is, who sings it and where they are able to purchase it. The second thing I noticed, upon clicking on the "statistics" tab (I like to do that every now and again) was that there was a message informing ME that because someone has claimed the copyright on the video the statistics can no longer be made public.

This may surprise you, but I have a couple thoughts about this:

First, YAY for the fact that my video wasn't made into a silent movie.

Second, I'm glad to know that my video is now an advertisement to purchase the song via iTunes or Amazon. I feel so good knowing that my FREE video is helping them make more money.

Third, can someone really make a claim on the copyright of the whole video, or are they really just claiming the copyright to the song? This part confuses me. But aside from that, why does that mean Joe Blow can't look to see what demographic is viewing the video? It doesn't make sense that they would block the statistics from being shown publicly simply because the song was copyrighted. Can anyone explain this to me?

Well, whoever has claimed the copyright has yet to make any contact with me. I think we should come to some kind of arrangement, like paying me thousands of dollars to use my video as their advertisement.

In the meantime, I'll just be grateful that they are at least letting me keep my video on YouTube.

"My Christmas"

If you like Christmas music and you like Andrea Bocelli, this is definitely worth a listen!


My favorite song on here is "The Lord's Prayer" which he performs with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. According to my sister, the choir recorded their portion of the song and then sent it to Andrea Bocelli. He was so moved by it that he and David Foster contacted the choir to see if they would be willing to film the song, with him, for a PBS special that will be shown on TV this Christmas season. When they all got togther a couple months ago to do this, my sister relayed the story that when Andrea Bocelli first heard "The Lord's Prayer" with the choir's voices he said he "had the impression that this music came from the sky". You can hear that in his own words and can see a little behind the scenes action by clicking here.

It is beautiful. The entire album is great. So if you're like me and are always looking for new christmas music to listen to, definitely check this one out!

Thankful Thoughts...

Since it's November I've decided it's the perfect time for me to ponder over a few of the things I am thankful for. Here are just a few things I have been thankful for today:

• The fact that my alarm didn't go off at 5am and I could sleep in.
• The fact that I had nowhere to be and could lounge around in my pj's for a few hours.
• A jacket with a hood so when it started to blizzard outside I didn't have to run blindly through the snow to avoid getting soaked. Instead I just put on the hood and sauntered into the store. It was lovely.
• A snow scraper so when I came out of the store and back into the blizzard I could easily brush the snow off the windows of my car.
• The nice store employee who came over and started brushing the snow off for me while I was in my car looking for the snow scraper.
• A garage so I could pull right in out of the snow and unload my groceries.

The Military Life...

For the last few days my thoughts have been focused quite a bit on the many men and women who serve in the military. I've been thinking about their service and their sacrifices and how difficult it must be for them to serve, especially during wartime. Call me a coward, but I really don't think I could do what they do. I do, however, have a great love and respect for the military and here are a few reasons why:

1 - Wisdom and Honor: To me, the military teaches principles that can be used in every day life no matter ones own circumstances. They have a way of turning boys into men. I understand that not all soldiers, airmen, etc. are honorable men. But most strive to live by the code they are taught while in the military, and they make excellent citizens when they return.

2 – Dedication and Courage: Most are extremely dedicated to the cause, whatever the cause may be. They are willing to lay down their life for their comrades and for those of us whose rights and freedoms they are fighting to protect. They don’t know me, but that isn’t stopping them from protecting and defending me. They know they have a job to do. It’s a job they signed up for, and they are going to get the job done, no matter the cost.

3 – Patriotism: I am a very patriotic person. I absolutely love to celebrate those national holidays that celebrate America. This is a great nation which, I believe, was founded by the hand of God. We are so blessed to be a part of this great nation and to have so many rights and freedoms. I truly believe that those who sign up for military service have great love and patriotism for this country as well. They understand how great this country is and they serve it proudly.

4 – The Uniforms: Okay, I admit, I have a weakness for a man in uniform. I can’t help it. My very favorite picture of my dad is a black and white photo of him in his army uniform. I could stare at the photo for hours. Not because he looks good in a uniform (which he does), but because of the uniform itself. The person wears a uniform with pride. Why? Not because of what he/she did while wearing it, but because of what it represents. It represents America; it represents our freedoms, our culture, our love of God and country; it represents ALL the men and women who fought to make this country what it is. I believe that if they respect the uniform, they not only respect themselves, but they respect the cause for which they are wearing it.

Overall, I just love the military. I don’t necessarily love war, but the military does so much more than fight wars. They help with relief efforts; they rescue people from disasters; they provide security for national events (such as the Olympics). They are who we can always call on and depend on no matter the situation. They know they are serving a cause greater than themselves and for that I give them my utmost love and respect.

So on this Veteran's Day I would like to give my thanks and pay my respects to all those men and women in uniform who do so much for us. They put up with a lot of crap in the political scheme of things but they continue to hold their heads high and wear their uniform with pride, dignity and honor. They continue to put their lives on the line for each of us, whether at home or abroad, with the understanding that they may come back tattered and torn, if they come back at all. That sacrifice alone should be worthy of every American's respect and admiration. To me they are Heroes. They deserve our respect. They deserve our thanks.

So regardless of what your political opinions may be, take the time to leave a comment and express your thanks to our Heroes!

Turkey Time!

This coming Thursday my office is participating in Bowling Olympics and I was asked to be on one of their two teams. Since I love bowling, I agreed to do this. Today my team decided to go do a practice run just to make sure we were ready to go. I wasn't feeling my best and am currently under the influence of two different medications so to be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting much out of myself today. Here's how I did:


Not only was it my first Turkey ever, it was also my personal best in these areas:
Four strikes in a row
Five strikes in the entire game
190 high score

I should be under the influence of medication more often! Okay, not really...but I do think the fact that I was a little out of it and therefore not able to over think my strategy really helped out!

Let the games begin!

The Repair...

Seeing as I didn't have to go in to work today (thanks to the TV Repairman coming to my house) I decided I would take my time getting ready. I woke up at 8am, did a 30 minute workout, made a hearty breakfast and while eating watched an episode of "Bones" on DVD. Around 9:45 I decided to jump in the shower. Upon my exit from the shower, at 10:05am, my phone rang.

"Yes, this is Larry the TV Repairman. Would it be okay if I came to your house in 20 minutes?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

"Okay, thanks a lot. See you in a minute."

Twenty minutes? I wasn't dressed and still had a wet towel on my head! How was I going to be ready in 20 minutes?

Good thing my hair is long enough for a ponytail! I threw on some clothes, some makeup and ran downstairs to move my TV three feet away from the wall (remember how the TV guy isn't allowed to do that?). Just as I finished, the doorbell rang.

What a nice little old man! He messed around with the settings on my TV, asked me a bunch of questions and then said,

"Well, I'm satisfied. It's clear you've done your homework. I'm going to order you some new speakers but that could take a couple days. I'll be back out again next week to do the repair." I thanked him, he said goodbye and I locked the door behind him.

Ten minutes. That's how long he was in my house.

So...is it better for them to give you a five hour window where you have to sit around and wait for them or is it better for them to show up almost 2 hours early?

Trouble with the Tube...

So remember how I went shopping with my sister and she purchased an amazing TV but it was the last one in the store so I couldn't buy one? And remember how I couldn't stop thinking about this amazing TV and after a couple weeks ended up ordering my own amazing TV off Amazon?

Well, my amazing TV has problems.

Only three months of owning this TV and the sound is already freaking out. I tried everything to fix this problem on my own, but it was clearly a defect of some sort. So I contacted the manufacturer and they kindly told me that a service technician would have to look at it. They then gave me me phone numbers for three authorized service centers near my house. I called the first one on the list (they happened to be the closest) and talked to a nice young girl who took all my information and then asked me for the date of purchase. I told her I couldn't remember it off the top of my head because I didn't have the paper with me. She told me she'd figure out when they could schedule a repair and call me right back.

"Right back" turned into three hours and when I still hadn't heard from her I called her back. She said that amazon.com wasn't an authorized dealer and in order for them to repair my tv (and get paid for it) I would need to have the manufacturer fax over an authorization allowing this company to go into my home to repair it.

That seemed easy enough so I contacted the manufacturer. They informed me that amazon.com IS an authorized dealer for their products and that as long as I show the service center proof of purchase, they should fix my TV.

I called the service center back and told the girl what the manufacturer told me....that amazon.com is an authorized dealer and they shouldn't need to fax an authorization.

"That's right" she said. "But we need proof of purchase".

"Which I have" I replied.

"You do?"

"Yes."

Once we got that solved she said they'd be able to "squeeze me in" this afternoon between 1-4pm. I glanced at the clock which said "12:50".

"Oh, that sure is nice of you to try and squeeze me in, but I am currently at work and there's no way I can be home by 1:00pm"

"What about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow should be fine. Maybe later in the afternoon?"

"We'll have someone there between 12 and 5pm."

Seriously?

So not only did they send me on an unnecessary goose chase, but I now get to take a day off work just because they seem to think I don't have anything better to do with my time than wait around for them. Oh, and I have to move my TV so that there is a 3 foot radius around it so they can get behind it to do the repair. Because apparently, the repair guy isn't allowed to move it.

I am one person. Can someone please tell me how I'm supposed to move a 46" TV all by myself? This should be fun.

The Stepfather...

If any of you are looking for a scary movie to see this Halloween, don't bother with this one. It was the stupidest movie I have ever seen. I was so excited for the potential of wetting my pants and hiding my face in my coat..but there was none of that. It never made me jump nor did I have to close my eyes. In fact, the movie only became slightly scary with about 15 minutes remaining and even then it was shoddy at best. The plot was full of holes, things didn't add up, there wasn't enough suspense or intensity to leave you on the edge of your seat. Oh, and don't even get me started on how the girlfriend in the movie wore only two kinds of outfits for the entire 1 hour 41 minutes: bikinis and underwear. Despite the fact that the movie itself was pretty lame, the language wasn't bad. For that reason alone I'll give it two stars.

Marbles, Museums and Crooked Backs...

Here are a couple more stories from my journal that I thought I'd share. I was on vaction with my parents visiting my sister's family in Arkansas at the time.

10-12-03: "Tanner (age 6) put some marbles down his underwear today. When Jeanine got mad and he tried to run from her we couldn't help but laugh - he was jangling all the way to his room as the marbles rattled together in his underpants! ... Then there's Travis. The poor guy threw his back out and can't even walk straight. He's in so much pain and is literally a crooked man. When he was trying to get up from the floor he could barely do it and Jeanine said, 'Maybe you should call in sick to work' and he said, 'I can't crawl in sick!'"

10-13-03: "Today I was trying to explain to Cameron (age 4) that his toy cars were SUV's. He was trying to tell me they were trucks. I said, 'S.U.V.' and he said, "Well, S.U.V. spells truck!'"

10-14-03: "We decided to go to the Wild Wilderness Safari. We drove our car through this zoo thing and the animals came right up to our windows... Cameron was trying to tell us it was a museum we went to, not a safari. He said, 'It's a museum because there were cows there. If there are cows it's a moo-seum!'"

How Would You Respond?

[Editor's Note]: In order to tell this story I am going to have to divulge a little more information about me than I really care to. Some may laugh and some may be shocked but it's okay...judge me all you want. I'm woman enough to take it.

An old guy friend of mine came to visit yesterday.* Our history goes back seven years to the time when we were both young college students at Utah State. We were the best of friends and spent a lot of time together. Throughout all the time we spent together I began to fall in love, and I don't say that loosely. The problem, however, was that he wasn't in love with me. I'm sure most of you have experienced that at some point in your lives. Anyway, despite our rather complex history we've managed to stay in touch over the years - usually once every couple of years. A week ago yesterday I decided to drop him an email. He called, I wasn't home. We ended up playing phone tag during the week and then yesterday we finally managed to connect. He came over to my house for three hours yesterday afternoon where we talked, caught each other up on our lives and laughed - a lot. It was as if time hadn't even passed and we were still those two young college students from seven years ago.

At one point in the conversation he looked at me and asked, "So have you gotten any better at dating?"

"What?" I said.

"Remember how at Utah State you were really shy about dating?"

"Oh, yes. I've gotten better."

What I didn't tell him was that I still don't date but it's not because I'm shy about it...it's because guys are dumb.

"Have you kissed anyone yet?"

Seven years ago we had a similar conversation and it came out that I had only kissed one guy. Ever since then he's always been curious to know if I've kissed anyone else.

"No I have not."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know why. I just haven't."

"Well, we just need to kiss and get it over with!"

In the split second I had before needing to respond to that, my thought process went something like this: Is he joking? Is he serious? Stay cool, be calm, don't blush...

I laugh. He laughs.

"Um, okay..."

It came out kind of sarcastic as if I was saying "yeah right, that's never going to happen" which wasn't at all how I intended it to sound.

"Seriously, you just need to kiss a guy and then all your problems will be solved."

"It's not that I don't want to kiss a guy, but the guy has to want to kiss me too."

"There are plenty of guys out there who want to kiss you."

"Really? I don't think so."

"Trust me. That's not the problem."

Thought process: what is he saying? Does he want to kiss me? This is awkward.

My split second was up, but it just so happened that right then he needed to blow his nose so he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I was sweating to death so I asked him if he was hot. He said no, he was fine. I walked over and opened a window to cool off the house a little, telling him I was sweating to death. To which he replied, "That's just because I told you we should kiss!"

Thought process: Heaven help me.

For the record, we didn't kiss. But just in case that happens again, I need to know of a better way to respond.

Oh, and walking up to him and planting one on him is not an option.

*I really, really hope that he never reads my blog.

The Year was 2003...

I have written a post once before about how I came to start a journal as well as the fact that I have continued to write in a journal every night and have done so for the past 15 or so years. To read that entry, you can click here. I am bringing this up again simply because over the past three days I have been reading back in one of my journals from 2003 and some of the things I have written down have made me laugh out loud. Here are a few snippets of things from 2003, things I never would have remembered had I not written them down:

4-16-03: I think the most classic moment today came when Joseph* got into work. I don't think he believes in deodorant or showering. He smells SO bad. The best way to describe his "stench" without being too graphic is to say he smelled like a stale sanitary pad. Yeah - disgusting! Anyway, Mandy* sits right next to him and couldn't take it anymore. She was so ready to puke. I told her there was some air freshner in the back room and she should get it and spray some on his desk when he leaves to the restroom. She didn't dare so she asked me to. The only freshner I could find was this gross citrus stuff. I decided that was better than nothing so I grabbed it and took it to my desk. As soon as Joseph went to the restroom Mandy yelled my name. I grabbed the citrus can, took off the lid and headed to his work station. I held the can at my side so as not to appear too obvious to my other co-workers. As I walked past his chair I gave the can a couple squirts and just kept on walking. No one had any idea I had done anything. Joseph eventually came back from the restroom and he said, while sniffing, "What's that orange smell?" Linda said "I don't know. I think someone ate an orange." Mandy and I were dying. At least we didn't end up hurting anyone's feelings!"

6-13-03: "I spent nearly 4 hours with Natalie, Tyler, Ben and Emily. The boys were adorable. At one time I had to blow my nose & Ben said "Okay, I get you tissue" and he ran into the bathroom. He then handed me some toilet paper & said "Here you go". I said "thank you" and took it from him. It was approximately 1 1/2 squares and barely fit around my nose but I used it anyway...for a two year old he is quite the helper!"

6-21-03: "The afternoon and evening were spent with the kids (Amber and Clayton). They were both so crazy and hyper but they were so cute...at one point during the night Amber told Tricia that she (Tricia) was "worned out" and went to get her new batteries. That had Tricia in tears she was laughing so hard. Those kids really do wear us all out. :)"

6-25-03: "Harry Potter has become this national icon in children's literature and people have been anticipating the next volume for two years. It finally came out Friday night and people stood in lines at midnight just to buy the dumb thing. I haven't read any of the books yet and I am actually refusing to do so...people talk about it like it's real life, 'Oh, poor Harry, he goes through so much and I feel so bad for him!'. Newsflash people - HE ISN'T REAL!"

6-26-03: "Doug* came over tonight and stayed until about 8pm. He had a very funny story to tell. He ran into a girl from one of his past classes on campus the other day. She had lost her keys so he offered her a ride home. He said she's a fairly quiet girl but very nice. When he got to her house she turned to him and said, 'Do you want to have sex?' He said 'What?!?' and then he said, 'uh...no'. Doug was like, 'Can you believe that?'. I said, 'Are you sure it wasn't a dream?' and he said 'No! I'm positive it wasn't!'. Then he said, 'You know how you kind of think up scenarios in your mind so you know how to respond to them?'. I said 'yes' and he said 'Well, that wasn't one I've ever thought up before!'. It was seriously so shocking - but so funny!"

6-29-03: "Mike* called to get directions to the party. We talked for 25 minutes...he asked me if I was dating anyone and I said no. He then proceeded to tell me about this girl that he's been dating for a month now. What caught my attention was when he said he might be getting married. I laughed and said "yeah right!" He said, "she plays the piano just like you...she's a good cook, just like you - I love your cooking'. He loves MY cooking? Perhaps he should have said he loves HER cooking if he is going to marry her!"

Now do you see the benefits of writing in a journal regularly? It's cracking me up! If you guys find this humorous and would like me to share more funny stories from my past, let me know! I might make this a regular blog entry.

*I changed some names to protect identities.

Another Year Older...

But none the wiser...

My friends threw me a great party - blazing candles and all!





I had a great day. Between the birthday songs, emails, texts, phone calls, party and Facebook wishes, I received about 45 birthday wishes yesterday. I appreciate them all. Thanks to all of you for helping to make my day great! Here's to another year!

Construction Season...

I'm sitting here watching Fox 13 news while I eat my dinner and they just did a news story on the Mountain View Corridor that will be built on the west side of the salt lake valley. They mentioned that most of the road will be built during "the next 4 construction seasons".

My question is this: What exactly is a "construction season" in Utah? I thought our seasons were fall construction, winter construction, spring construction and summer construction.

So are they saying it will take one year (four seasons) to build this road or are they saying it will take four years to build this road?

Add That to the Resume...

My supervisor here at work is on vacation this week. And while she's gone, she had a wall in her office painted, kind of like an accent wall I suppose. The chosen color was a light blue. It's not a bad color (hey, my favorite color is blue!) but it's probably not something I personally would choose for a wall. My co-worker and I walked in and looked at this wall shortly after it was painted and I said "Really? Is that the real color?" I thought it was a primer or something. Just goes to show how much I know about painting...

Anyway, my other co-worker came up with this brillant idea to make a mural on the wall that will help the color of this paint job feel more at home. So in talking it over, this is what we came up with:




My co-worker who came up with this plan is the project coordinator in our office. I told her she should add this project to her resume and underneath it write: shows great initiative and leadership, works well without supervision, great attention to detail, exhibits creativity, knows how to delegate, etc.

She pretty much did everything. I did the clouds (don't they look nice?) and taped a couple flowers on (oh, and made the little antennas for the butterfly). But other than that, it was all her.

I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to hire her? And I ask that question because there could be a 20% chance that we might not have jobs here after next week...especially if all that scotch tape we applied to the newly painted wall pulls the paint off.*

*I'm kind of banking on the hope that our supervisor will love having a little nature in her office, especially one that has no windows. This way it can be spring all year long!

A Familiar Face...

Do you ever have those moments when you see someone you recognize but don't know how you know them?

I ran to Target tonight after work just to pick up a few items and as I was wandering through the familiar isles of the store I walked past a familiar face. We glanced at each other as we passed, he not seeming to recognize me, but I recognized him...somehow. I know I've been pretty sick for the past five days and my brain continues to be in a slight fog, but I knew I knew him and it drove me crazy and I didn't know how.

I won't say I stalked the poor guy as he traversed the isles of the store because I didn't. But between my wanderings and his traversings, we happened past each other multiple times. Each time I continued to stare at him trying to figure out how I knew him. He, most likely, looking at me, wondering how many more times he'd have to walk past the psycho girl who couldn't seem to stop staring at him.

This wasn't a guy my age, mind you. He was probably in his late 40's and married. He was also walking down the isles with another woman who, hopefully, was his wife. I knew I didn't know him from work or church. In fact, I didn't feel that I even knew him well. I just knew who he was...I'd seen him somewhere before. Did I recognize him from the train? Was he in some random magazine ad, or on TV?

How in the world did I know this guy?!?! I didn't know and it was driving me crazy!

Just as I walked passed him the last time I heard the woman say something about court and all of a sudden a lightbulb went on in my head. I knew him from court!!

He was the prosecutor. I was on the jury. He won the case.

Mystery solved, and a good thing too because I was just seconds away from being turned into that scrawny pre-pubescent boy they call a security guard.

Making Mints...

Last night my family was reminicing about our growing up years, such as how I used to always be the "garbage girl" when we'd have the treat basket at grandma B's house. This was my claim, but my younger sister quickly disagreed with me, letting me know she had been the "garbage girl" since the day she learned to scoot. But either way, according to my dad, that's what kids are for! So now we make our neices and nephews be the "garbage girls/boys" when they have the treat basket at our house. It's only fair.

But that story has nothing to do with the point of this blog post. Back to reminicing about our growing up years.

We were talking about baking and how everyone in our family had a "specialty" that they made growing up. One sister always made the chocolate chip cookies. Another always made the orange julius. I always made the banana bread. And on and on it went. Apparently, according to my brother, nothing has ever compared to the brownies he and our other brother made once (but which the rest of us have no recollection of). Nor does anything compare to the mint patties that my sister and I once attempted to make.

That is the story that will most likely go down in our family history as the best baking story ever. Here's how the story goes:

Several years ago, the two of us decided that we wanted to make some mint patties. They are fairly simple to make. They consist of four ingredients: butter, karo syrup, mint extract and powdered sugar. So this particular day, we got out the recipe, all the ingredients and went to work. My sister told me how much karo syrup we needed and we started pouring it into the bowl. Well, we ended up running out of karo syrup so the two of us stopped what we were doing and ran to the store. We bought a few more jars of the sticky stuff and headed back home. After adding about the 9th cup of karo syrup, my sister mentioned that it was looking rather sticky. I picked up the recipe and double checked the ingredients. We needed 1/2 cup!! My sister didn't see the {/} between the 1 and the 2 and thought we needed 12 cups!

What two geniuses don't know that there isn't a recipe in the world that calls for 12 cups of anything!?!

When our brother asked us if we threw it away, of course we said yes! But that got us all laughing once again when I asked how many pounds of powdered sugar it would have taken to fix that big of a mistake!

I'll spare you all the arithmetic, but if I figured it correctly, it would have taken 24 pounds.

I'm sure nobody would have stopped and stared at us for hauling four jars of karo syrup out of the store, but 24 pounds of powdered sugar?

I'm pretty sure we'd still be eating those mint patties today!

Thursday Night Confessions...

Some of my friends do this thing on their blogs called "Friday Night Confessions"...or Sunday, or whatever day it may happen to be. I love reading their confessions and so I decided to give this a go. Not that my confessions will be nearly as earth shattering (or hilarious) as theirs but here goes...

• I throw away more food than I eat. I like to buy fresh produce but I never manage to eat it before it goes bad.
  
  
• I never answer the door if I'm not expecting anyone.
  
  
• I never answer my phone if I don't recognize the number.
  
  
• I have a certain spot where I stand everyday while waiting for TRAX.
  
  
• It bothers me when someone else stands in my spot.
  
  
• There's this girl that tries to stand in my spot everyday.
  
  
• My blood starts to boil the instant I see her pull into the parking lot.
  
  
• Yes, I know what car she drives.
  
  
• When I see her, I will sometimes speed walk to my spot just to beat her.
  
  
• I love my new TV. Sometimes I don't go to activities just so I can sit home and watch it.
  
  
• I'm watching it right now.
  
  
• I called my friend earlier and left her a message that said she can call me back but if I don't answer it's because I'm watching TV.
  
  
• My TV addiction may or may not be resurfacing.

Please, Spit on Me...

Have any of you ever seen the episode of Friends where Joey is rehearsing lines for a new show with a guy who is constantly spitting in his face? And because of this he constantly tries to shield his face from this guys spit, only to be told later on that spitting is how you know you are pronunciating your words correctly. The more spit the better. This episode always made me laugh because I thought it was so ridiculous. Nobody really spits on people, right?

Apparently, they really do.

I witnessed this first hand tonight when I went and saw "The Scarlet Pimpernel"* at Hale Center Theatre. My friend and I sat on the front row of the theatre, where we were almost too close to the spit that kept flying out of the lead character's mouth. Sometimes it was a gentle mist and other times it was like Niagara Falls. It reminded me of the time I went to SeaWorld and sat in the "soak zone". Had I known before hand that spit would be a flyin', I would have been more prepared. Perhaps with an umbrella or a poncho.

It was gross and kind of distracting to watch. I felt so bad for the people playing opposite of him who kept getting sprayed in the face and yet still had to stay in character.

But hey, at least we understood every word he said.


*This play was amazing! It's a little different than the book, but I still loved it. If any of you ever get the chance to see it, definitely do. You will love it.

What Am I Eating?

Last night my sister and I went to get haircuts. When we finished we decided to stop for a bite to eat at the nearby Carl's Jr. I don't eat at Carl's Jr. that often. The reason for this has always been because I can't stand their commercials. I mean who actually tries to sell food by making it look completely unappetizing? Oh, that's right. Carl's Jr.

Before last night, I could count the number of times I've eaten at Carl's Jr. on two fingers. Though perhaps slightly overpriced, I didn't feel either experience was horrible. But it's just not a place where I think to myself "I really want to eat there. I am craving Carl's Jr."

Nonetheless, my sister and I were hungry last night. It was 9:30pm and I didn't want a big greasy hamburger sitting in my stomach all night clogging my arteries. The closest place that had chicken strips (which I thought would be a little healthier) was Carl's Jr. So that's where we went.

In a word: disgusting.

That might will be the last time I ever eat chicken strips at Carl's Jr. I'm not even sure what I ate were chicken strips. I knew from the first bite that they were disgusting but not wanting to waste the food, I kept eating bite after bite. Something about them didn't taste right. While eating the first strip I chalked it up to the chicken being processed instead of real. But while eating the second one I was beginning to realize that it didn't really taste like chicken.

I turned to my sister and said "These don't really taste like chicken. They taste like...fish?" (note I said it like a question rather than a statement)

"Like fish?"

"I think so. I can't really tell but it tastes fishy to me."

I then stuck the last one up in her face and said, "Take a bite and tell me what you think"

She gave me a disgusted look and said, "Uh, I don't really want to."

"Just a tiny bite..."

So she took a tiny bite and chewed. As she did her face became slightly distorted.

"Does it taste like fish?" I asked.

"I can't really tell" she said. "But it's disgusting!"

I still have no idea what I ate for dinner last night but quite honestly, I'm not sure I want to know. My sister wondered if they fried the chicken strips in the same grease they used to make fish tacos. I honestly don't know.

But what I do know is that I now have a more valid reason as to why I don't want to eat at Carl's Jr.

Headed to the USO...

Two years and one month ago (August 9, 2007) I was sitting at work with not a lot to do.* Sad to admit, but true. I had completed all my work and didn't have much else to work on at the time. I decided to turn on my CD by the Ten Tenors and listen to it. I came to a song called "Here's to the Heroes", which is one of my favorites and I listened to it over and over again. There was just something so inspiring about that song. So inspiring, in fact, that the thought came to me to make a video.

So for the next two hours I went to all the military websites and downloaded pictures and then went to Google and found a few more. I pulled up Windows Movie Maker (not the software of choice but I used what was available to me at work) and plugged the pictures in with the song. I wouldn't say it was my best work ever. There are things about it that I still don't like. But without using a better software program I just had to be content with how it turned out. For the most part I was pleased enough with it to share it with my family.

Their response was overwhelming. A few even asked if they could share it with their friends. The only problem was the file was much too large to send via email. So I decided to do something I thought I would never do. I put it on YouTube.

For just under 2 years my video sat on YouTube and every six months or so I would get an email letting me know someone posted a comment. "Oh, so people are watching it?" I would think to myself. This past May I got an email via my YouTube account from a lady asking my permission to show my video at her church services. I agreed and I mailed her a copy. A week later, I got another request to show it at a church service. I complied with that one as well.

From then on I was a little better about following this video. I knew it was available for the world to see, but I never actually thought anyone would watch it. At the beginning of July I checked to see how many views the video had. It was at 16,000. That many views in almost two years certainly wasn't anything to write home about.

But then something interesting and completely crazy happened. I started getting more and more comment notices in my inbox - one, two sometimes three a day. "What is going on?" I thought to myself. On July 4th the view counter was up to 22,528. The next day it was at 24,818 and each day thereafter it just kept going up by the thousands! And today, just two months later, it reached over 300,000 views.

But something even more interesting happened yesterday. I received two more requests. One from a woman who wants to show it at a district conference for Active Duty Coast Guard Members. The second from the co-chair of the USO Benefit that will be held in Chicago on October 17th.

A USO Benefit? Seriously? That's not just some little church with 100 or so members. A USO Benefit is HUGE (as are the screens the video will be playing on, apparently).

I don't share all of this to boast. I am completely humbled by it and I don't even know how to react. What simply started out as something to keep me busy for an hour at work has turned into something bigger than I could have ever imagined! For two years that video sat on YouTube and did nothing. I have no idea why it is now becoming so popular. I feel so honored that people feel inspired to share it with others.

It's exciting to see the type of reaction this is getting all across the world. But the one thought that keeps going through my head is that if I had ever thought this video would get this much attention, I would have spent more than two hours working on it and I certainly would have used a better software program. I'm almost embarrassed to let it be shown at a USO Benefit.


*I hope I don't get fired for admitting to the fact that I was bored at work and spent two hours making a video. But that sometimes happens during the summer.

Cucumbers, Cucumbers and More Cucumbers...

I went to my garden this morning to check on it and I ended up picking an ear of corn, a few tomatoes, a squash, two peppers and 18 cucumbers.

Yes, you read that right. EIGHTEEN cucumbers.

I took seven of them to two of my friends. I threw two of them away (they were way too big and over grown to eat) and I still have nine more.

I've been eating a cucumber a day for about three weeks. I love them. But I'm not sure how many more of them I can eat. So if any of you out there like cucumbers I am begging you to please take some off my hands!!

I Feel Like a Traitor...

I'm going to the Utah vs. Utah State football game tonight after work. I'm very excited. I love me some good football. I am even more excited to go because it's between two of my favorite schools.

I graduated from Utah State University. I am and always will be an Aggie.

I work at the University of Utah. I also attended school here for two years before transferring to Utah State. I guess you could say that makes me a Ute.

And this is where my dilemma comes in. Who do I cheer for?*

I know as well as anyone that the Aggies are not a well established football team and the Utes are probably going to thrash them. But they are still my team and part of me, naturally, wants to cheer for them. But on the other hand I work for the U, the game is being played at the U and I am sitting in the Utah section of the stadium. I can't really show up in a blue Aggie t-shirt unless I'm okay with getting beat to a pulp. And I'm not okay with it.

So today I came to work in a red t-shirt ready to cheer on the Utes.

I totally feel like a traitor.

*My heart will still be with the Aggies and I'll be cheering for them on the inside.

I {Heart} Hulu

I'm pretty sure most of you reading this post have heard of Hulu . It's a great website that allows you to watch TV shows, past and present. Usually I watch TV shows directly from network websites (NBC, ABC, etc), but a few weeks ago I was sitting home with nothing better to do, so I got online and started surfing Hulu to see what old TV shows I could watch that I grew up with.

Even though I found some old TV shows that I'd love to watch, I ended up clicking on a show called Kyle XY.

I remember seeing a couple of these episodes when it aired on ABC and I liked it, but when the show moved to ABC Family I was no longer able to watch it since I don't have cable. So when I saw it on Hulu I thought I'd check it out. I'm totally addicted! It only ran for 3 seasons and right now I am part way through season 2. Has anyone else seen this show? Am I a complete nerd for liking it?

I also randomly came across this show:


Warehouse 13 airs on the SyFy channel (formerly SciFi). Once again, I don't have cable, so this is a show that I had never heard of. I'm not really into science fiction, but this show is awesome! I love it! This is a current show though so I am limited to one episode a week. That's probably better than shoving 2 or sometimes 3 episodes into an evening home alone, as I do with Kyle XY.

Hulu is amazing! I think I'm hooked. But it makes me wonder why I just bought a new TV when I just sit on my couch and watch TV off my laptop...

Coming Back Around...

Along with several other millions of Americans, I heard the news this morning that Senator Edward Kennedy died. This is not extremely surprising news. Senator Kennedy has been sick for a very long time and we all knew this day was going to come. I personally wouldn't say this is very tragic either. But then again, I'm not a Democrat.

I found it very interesting when I read about his death this morning to learn that a special election would be held to find his replacement. Unlike most states, Massachusetts apparently has some law that requires a special election to be held, rather than just having the Governor appoint someone to take his place. But what I found especially fascinating about this law is that it only came about in 2004 by Democrats wanting to make sure that the then Governor, Mitt Romney, wouldn't be able to appoint a fellow Republican to office when Senator John Kerry became a presidential candidate.

And it seems that days before his death, Senator Kennedy was asking for that law to be reversed so the now Governor, Deval Patrick, could appoint a fellow Democrat to office to give an added voice in support of Barak Obama. But it turns out the special election will go forward as required.

So, it looks as if their once ingenius plan is now coming back around to bite them in the butt. I'm secretly hoping that the people of Massachusetts will elect a republican to office, just to show the democrats that they can't simply change the law everytime they are in jeopardy of losing their power.

Introducing....

Kyler Ivan

Born August 20, 2009
Weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 20 inches>

It Has Arrived!

I'm not talking about my sister's baby, though he should be arriving tomorrow and another post will be coming to discuss that arrival in more detail. Right now, however, I am talking about my beautiful new TV. After a week of waiting patiently for it, my dad finally called me this morning and said, "Your TV is here. Can you please come get it out of my front room?"

I guess the delivery man took it out of the box, plugged it in, put the batteries in the remote and tested the TV right there in the front room...just to make sure it was working before he drove away. Pretty awesome service if you ask me. But now my dad's front room is strewn with a giant box and all it's innards, not to mention the TV itself.

So that means I am off to get my TV and haul it to my place! YAY!

Play Time at Hale...

Intrigue + Deception + Romance = my favorite book of all time! Now I get to see the play!

September 24th can't come soon enough!

Making It Easier for Jesus...

My niece called my mom and dad yesterday with some very big and very important news! It turns out she is going to have a little sister!

We are all very excited about this, but she is especially. See, she is currently one of five children and her four siblings are all boys! A little while ago she told her mom that if the baby was a boy she was going to pray for Jesus to come down and "use the force" to switch the boy into a girl.

Luckily for Jesus, that will not be necessary. But perhaps He just decided to make it easier by granting her prayer in the first place. :)

We are all very excited to welcome this new little girl into our family come December!

I Gave In...

One and a half weeks ago, I went with my sister to buy her a new TV. We went to look at a specific TV and ended up falling in love with a different one. As we were at the store I said to her "Maybe I'll buy me one too!" As it turned out, they only had one left in stock so I took it as a sign that I didn't really need a new TV.

Everyday since then I have been thinking about this TV non-stop. I've tried so hard to convince myself that I didn't need it (I really don't need it) but oh how I wanted it!! Here were some of my arguments against buying it:

"You hardly watch TV anyway, why spend the money on something you rarely use?" (remember how I used to be addicted? Not so much anymore!)

"The TV you have works perfectly fine, as does your roommates"

"It's a lot of money that could be spent paying off your car which you only have four months left to pay on. Use the money to pay it off now!"*

Back and forth I went on this issue. Last night I nearly hit the "place your order" button online but I said to myself,

"I'm leaving town this weekend. I'll think it over some more and make my decision when I come back"

And then this morning when I got to work I just couldn't take it anymore. The voice in my head kept saying, "Just do it! You won't stop thinking about it until you do!"

And so I did. And now I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

*I still plan on paying off my car. The house I was saving up for will just have to wait a little longer. :)

Quote of the Day:

If a girl is going to catch the right chap she's got to have the right face to do it with. And if you haven't got one of your own, paint it on!

Calling Campaign...

Apparently at the U there is this thing called the Calling Campaign. I had no idea it even existed until about two weeks ago. But what happens is people on campus (usually the Student Affairs staff) will divvy up a list of current students who have not yet registered for the upcoming semester and will then call each of them to remind them that fall semester is a few weeks away and if they plan on coming back they should register soon. Well, my office somehow got assigned this task this year and so for the past week I've been taking my turn at calling these students.

The calls have been relatively easy so far. People will give their explanations as to why they haven't registered, we'll have a little chat, they'll thank me for calling and I'll hang up. Big deal, right?

Well, apparently it was a big deal to Mary*. I called her up this morning and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Hi, may I please speak to Mary?

{Mary gets on the phone} Hello?

Me: Hi Mary. My name is Camille and I am calling from the U.

Mary: Yes?

Me: Fall semester is approaching and we noticed you have not registered for classes yet. I just wanted to remind you that....

Mary: Don't you think that if I wanted to register for classes I would?

Me: I'm sorry?

Mary: Do you call everyone who hasn't registered for classes?

Me: Yes, we do. We just want to remind....

Mary: I find that completely obtrusive! Seriously, don't you think I would have done it if I wanted to? I don't need you to tell me I haven't done it yet!**

I wanted to say so many things right then but all of them would have been completely unprofessional. So instead I simply took a deep breath, apologized for taking up her time and hung up. Then I wrote her name and number down on the "angry students" sheet so that she'll be sure to get another phone call.

Sometimes I really love my job.

*Mary is her real name. I felt no need to try and protect her identity.

**For the record, I completely agree with her. She doesn't need me to tell her that she hasn't registered for classes. But I don't need her to yell at me either. And that's where she went wrong. So I hope she enjoys that call from the VP's office.

Making Changes...

I can't even remember how many times in the past 2-3 years I have exclaimed "I am DONE!" when it comes to attending a single's ward. For years I would become frustrated with the entire scene and then swear to everyone around me that I was through. It was time for me to move my life in another direction. But then I never would.

When I turned 31 I all of a sudden found myself faced with the hard reality that I no longer had a choice. I HAD to move on. And for some reason, I no longer wanted to. For me, it's so much easier to make that decision in my own time rather than having someone make it for me. And because of that I became stubborn and had a, "You can't tell me when to leave!" type of attitude. I did talk to my Bishop when I hit the ripe old age of 31 and he was kind enough to give me six more months in the ward. That would have put me out this past March.

And still I stayed. I'm glad I did because it was only the beginning of this year when I met some amazing people and ended up with awesome friends. That never would have happened if I left in October or March like I should have.

But recently - the past month to be exact - something inside me changed. It happened fast and was completely unexpected. I once again had that "I am done" feeling. But this time it was different. It wasn't because I was angry or frustrated with the single scene. Instead it was one of losing a sense of belonging. I love my ward. I love the people in my ward, I love my Bishopric. But for some reason I just no longer feel I belong there. The time has come for me to move on.

So today I went to my family ward. I loved it. Don't get me wrong, it's not without it's quirks. The people were interesting, testimony meeting was pretty bad, and some young mother even shed her blouse and breastfed her baby right there in sacrament meeting (though she did cover herself with a blanket). But as I sat there I pondered the question, "Is this right for me?" Am I honestly ready to give up the comfort of my single's ward and go to this bizarre family ward?

The answer was yes. Why? Because it feels right. There are several other single women my age in the ward, a lot of young newlyweds, young families, middle aged families and grandparents. It's the perfect blend of life. I loved the openness, the friendliness, the diversity the ward had to offer. Everybody was their own person. Nobody was trying to impress anyone else, or compete for another persons attention. There were no nasty glares from jealous girls, or awkward stares from psycho boys. It actually felt like church to me instead of social hour.

And so, in the next few weeks, I plan on making the transition from singles ward to family ward. I can't say it doesn't scare me or that I don't have some concerns about it. But it's the right thing for me to do and it's the right time for me to do it. All I can do now is trust that Heavenly Father will take care of me.

Come One, Come All!!

A couple weeks ago my roommate informed me that she applied for an internship working for Disney in Florida. Well, they called her, interviewed her over the phone, offered her the position and she accepted. She'll have to quit her job here, but she is very excited about this opportunity, as am I. It is something she has wanted to do for a very long time. She leaves around the 15th of August and will be gone until the middle of December.

We all know what this means, right?

FREE entry to Disney World for me!!!

Okay, so what it really means is that I'm most likely going to have the place to myself for 3-4 months. So, I'd like to invite all of you over anytime you want to come. I'll probably need the company.

Humans Emit a Strange Light...

I just read this on Yahoo! News...

The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal.

Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.

I find this fascinating! All my life I've been taught that I carry a light within me. The Light of Christ, to be exact. Everyone who is born on this earth is born with this light, because regardless of race or religion we are all children of God. And I was always taught that the Light of Christ is like our conscience...the ability to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. I never interpreted the Light of Christ in the literal sense...that our beings would actually glow with the Light of Christ.

But upon further reflection, I'm beginning to see how this could be. When Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove, he said their "brightness and glory defied all description". Their brightness and glory. That to me means they were glowing brilliantly! So brilliantly, in fact, that poor Joseph had to shield his eyes.

So if we are created in the image of God and He glows with this brilliant light, is it not therefore logical that we, His children, would also have some of that light within us? Of course, it would be a much weaker light because we haven't reached our full potential yet. But just the same, it would be there. And perhaps that is why these scientists are saying we emit a "very weak light".

Or then again, maybe it really is just "a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals". Because that makes complete sense.

Just something to think about.

Stitch Removal Day...

I've never been more excited in my life to get those blasted stitches out of my finger! Not that they hurt...they were just annoying. But they are gone now and I'm happy. The finger still isn't completely healed, but the doctor said it should be in another couple weeks.

Here's a picture of what my finger looks like stitch-free!


Quite the improvement compared to this:

Things I Love Right Now...

So a little while ago I wrote a post about the 10 things that bug me right now and my friend Melissa left a comment wanting to know the things I love right now. So here goes:

1. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears

2. The fact that my finger has healed enough so I can actually use it to type this (stitches come out in 5 more days!)

3. Nights when I can go to bed on time (as in before 10:30pm)

4. Max (my friend's dog)

5. Getting time off work

6. My ability to withstand all things Harry Potter

7. "Mental" - a new TV show on Fox

8. Good friends who listen to me vent.

9. Sweet Pea and Violet body lotion

10. My roommate's grill.

Cambu vs the Butter Knife...

Guess who won?

The cut was horseshoe shaped from the part you see here all the way around through my nail.


Waiting for the numbing gel to take effect which it never did. It was to help make the acutal needle less painful but it didn't help. The needle hurt clear up to the point where my finger started going numb and then it just felt like relief to not be in so much pain.


Four stitches later...and elated over the fact that the doctor decided against ripping my nail off to stitch under it.


All better! I even got a sucker for being such a big girl!


The culprit. It was still sitting on the counter this morning, covered in butter. But surprisingly enough, no blood.


Who knew that a serrated butter knife* could do so much damage. I was only trying to cut some butter. Okay, so maybe the butter was frozen.

But on a happy note, I can now flip people off whenever I want and pretend it was an accident. At least until I take the huge bandage off tonight.

*Apparently there has been some slight confusion about the notion of a serrated butter knife (by the doctor and others). I guess this would technically be called a dinner knife but we called them butter knives growing up. Either way, this is what I sliced my finger open with.

Tall Weeds...

Part of the complex I live in has yet to be developed and therefore the field is growing some amazingly tall weeds. My friend Jason and I were walking through the complex the other night when I made him stop next to one of the weeds for a picture. I could not believe that the weed was as tall as him!!!


For the record, Jason is 6'3". Had my 5'7" stature been standing next to that weed, it would have swallowed me whole.

I am so glad it's not my job to yank it up.

Thoughts on MJ...

I don't get it. I would like to know why the media, and society at large, is worshipping Michael Jackson as if he were a God.

A public funeral broadcast on live TV? Seriously? Last time we did that for anyone it for was a President of the United States who actually deserved it. I don't remember one time in the history of my life where a celebrity/pop star was ever given a public funeral on live TV.

What about all the other celebrities who lived much more respectable lives, who put others before themselves, who didn't rack up 400 million dollars in debt and spend years on trial for molesting little boys? What about them? Why don't we honor them and pay respect to any of them? Why don't we honor those who lived their lives out of the public spotlight and died in much more tragic ways (such as Farrah Fawcett and Natasha Richardson)?

I'm not saying Michael Jackson was a horrible person and I'm not saying he doesn't deserve a funeral where people can pay respect to him if they so choose. But I am appalled by the fact that we have to make such a big to-do about this when he didn't even lead that amazing of a life. He simply was who he was...a strange and creepy man.

So I just wonder why he deserves this kind of attention. Any thoughts?

4th of July Adventures...

My friend Kenzi invited a couple of us to go to her parent's house on Saturday to do a little 4-wheeling. It was awesome!!

Mastering the machine:


The last time I was on a big machine was when I crashed a snowmobile down a 100 foot cliff (don't worry, it was covered in snow, not rocks). I was a little nervous to drive but overall I did a good job and it was a lot of fun. I shouldn't mention the trail we went down where I had to make a life altering choice...make the sharp turn or go over the ledge. Luckily I made the turn...but then instantly threw that thing into park and made Jason drive the rest of the way down the steep incline.

This is the pond where we stopped for lunch:


The end of our trip. We were all so dirty and tired. But it was still worth it!


And this is how freakish I looked afterwards. The shower never felt so good!


After we all got home and showered we met up with a few other people for the fireworks!


What a great way to celebrate the 4th...by enjoying our freedoms with great friends. I am so blessed to live in this great country!

Quilt Progress...

I took the last two days off work and spent them working on my quilt. Monday I went to my sister's house and she helped me sew for six hours. We managed to complete 12 blocks between the two of us. We probably could have done more if we didn't spend so much time talking (neither of us are good at multi-tasking) or dealing with her five children. But we still got quite a bit done. Then yesterday I worked on a couple hours more and got four more blocks done. I now have 24 blocks completed!!

My goal at the beginning of the year was to complete this quilt by the end of the year. I was getting a little discouraged seeing as it's now July and I only had eight blocks done. Now I'm beginning to think that maybe I can get this thing done before the year is over!

Here is a picture of a sample of the blocks. Hopefully it won't look ridiculous when it's done!