Proof That I Am Dull:

I copied this from Emily's blog and I have seen it on a few others, so here I go, let's see how boring I am...

So here’s a list of 100 things. All the things I’ve done are highlighted in orange. Copy this list on your own blog and come clean on everything you’ve done. Do it. You know you want to.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100.Visited Italy

Only 42 of 100, and the ones I have done are pretty boring.

Tagged

Liza tagged me to post the picture that is in my 3rd file, 4th picture so...drumroll please...














Here is the 4th picture from my 3rd file of pictures. Looks like this is Christmas of '05 at my mom's house with Garth Le playing with his favorite present that year.

Kinda fun to look back. I don't really have anyone to tag so I hope I am not blogger cursed for letting the tag die with me.

Count Your Blessings

I received an email from my sister-in-law today about someone who I was actually pretty good friends with when they lived here in Lubbock, Geoff and Amy Johnson. At the time, Geoff was going to school to become a CRNA and Amy was hard at work having and raising their first 2 children. They were both very quiet people, so it took a while for us to get to know each other, but Amy and I became pretty good friends once we opened up to one another and Garth was their home teacher.

Geoff passed away yesterday in Iraq. Amy has 4 children.

A while back, I read some blogs that Torrie had links to on her blog and I remember thinking, what a horrible shame that people have to go through these things. We had a lesson yesterday in RS about weathering the storms of life, that Heavenly Father will not put upon you more than you can bear. You may think that you can only bear so much, only to find out that you can bear much more when it is thrust upon you.

I am an enigma when it comes to mindset, I am a person who generally will think "why not me" rather than "why me". I am constantly looking around the bend, looking for that horrible thing that is going to happen without a moments notice, which is no way to live. I try so hard to look at the good things in my life and not expect something horrific to happen just because it's about time for something. Things like this make me even more scared of the endless possibilities of trials that we will have to face in this life, but they also remind me to count my blessings. I need to spend more time revelling in my wonderful blessings than disregarding them, expecting only the worst.

My heart is broken for Amy and her children, also for Geoff's family. I pray that this time will pass swiftly for them and they will be comforted and will be able to feel the prayers that are for them and that they will be uplifted by them. I also pray that they will remember that this life is but a blink in eternity that they will be together again and for eternity. I hope they find comfort in that knowledge. I know that I do and I hope that if I am ever faced with something similar to this that I will be strong enough to remember these things and that "thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment" (D&C 121:7).

How would you pronounce this child's name: 'Le-a'??

Leah?? NO
Lee - A?? NOPE
Lay - a?? NO
Lei??

Guess Again.

It's pronounced 'Ledasha' Oh yes...you read it right. This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, LA. Her mother is irate because everyone is getting her name wrong. SO, if you see something come across your desk like this please remember to pronounce it correctly. When the mother was asked about the pronunciation of the name, she said 'the dash don't be silent.'

...She probably works in the bakery department at Wal-Mart:

Some of My Favorites

Thanks Liza for her comment that reminded me of some of my favorite funnies by Jim Gaffigan. As you can see, he really loves food, especially cake but definately NOT Hot Pockets:

• Whenever you go out you gotta get the appetizer. Cuz the appetizer's just an excuse for an extra meal. You're always like "Lets see, I will start with the 80 buffalo wings...and do you have a low-cal blue cheese? I don't wanna fill up too much." But it would be kinda embarrassing trying to explain what an appetizer is to someone from a starving country though. "Yeah the appetizer, that's the food we eat before we have our food...No no you're thinking of dessert, that's food we eat after we have our food."


• Cake's a powerful food. Cake can actually bring people together. You know... "It's Bill's birthday" "Yeah I hate that guy." "There's cake in the conference room." "Well I should say hello."


• My wife's gotten really lazy, or as she calls it, "pregnant".


• There is the vegetarian Hot Pocket for those of us who don't want to eat meat, but would still like diarrhea.


• I'm surprised we're still serving fish with the heads still on. What are we, barbarians? Don't you always think that eye's looking at you? "You don't mind if I watch while you eat my body do you? Don't be distracted if you see a little tear come out. You can just tell yourself its butter."


• You can't have cake for breakfast!...You're going to have fried cake with syrup for breakfast.


• I don't know why they still sell hammocks in the sporting goods section. "Yeah, my activity of choice is laying down. Yes I would like to combine my love of the outdoors with my even greater love of napping, could you help a sportsman like me?"


• When you go out to dinner they always try and improve the salad. They're like, "Would you like some fresh pepper on your salad?" Can anyone tell the difference between fresh and stale pepper? I can't even taste the pepper. They might as well be like, "Would you like us to wave this wooden wand over your salad?" "Uh, all right." "OK, enjoy your magic salad." "Ooh, I didn't know I was getting a magic salad."


• Lifetime, television for women. Yet for some reason women are always getting beaten on that channel.


• It is crazy how the internet and e-mail has changed our lives. Have you ever got a handwritten letter in the mail today, your like "What the hell? Has someone been kidnapped!?!" "I'm not opening it, its probably filled with anthrax or something." It's definitely made sending regular mail a chore. "What, I stuck it in a envelope and now I have to go outside!?! What am I a triathlete?" Ever have the friend that sends you a really long e-mail, you open it up and you feel like you have homework! "Can't read that dissertation now, I'll keep that as new." I don't even read them half the time, just hit reply "Sounds good, don't write back, ever."


• I didnt know hed be doing BEAR jokes...(you have to watch him to get this one)


• There's so many different kinds of cake. There's rum cake, which makes sense because we've all been eating cake and thought "you know what this needs-booze. shot of liquor. I don't have time to eat and drink. I only have two hands buddy and one of them's holdin' a cigarette. Meet me halfway will ya?"


• You ever call people on speaker phone? And they're stupid enough to not realize they're on speaker phone? "You sound like you're in a well. Are you in a well?" "Yes I am in a well, but luckily, there's a phone down here. I'm just down in a well, making phone calls. I was having people guess, but you knew right away, you're so good at the well guessing."


• I went to the gym the other day, saw a woman working out and you could see her ribs. And all I could think about was "I haven't had a McRib in forever."


• I definitely prefer the easy way in life: I see an escalator and I get excited. Sweet. All I got to do is keep my balance.

Soy Veggie Burgers Anyone?

I am getting pretty adventurous with my food choices lately looking for things that are tasty but most of all good for me. Actually I have gotten to a place where if I can choke it down I will eat it if it has lots of nutritional value. I am not a big meat eater, I am pretty sure I could be a vegetarian except I would be even fatter because I would eat a lot of donuts and bean burritos which wouldn't be the best. I bought some Boca burgers after being told about them through a blog friend of mine who has the same nutritional concerns as I do. I microwaved one and had it with a little ketchup and pepper and it was GOOD. You heard me, it wasn't tolerable or OK, it was actually really good! I like the texture a lot better than I like the texture of ground beef, it is kind of like a really really moist hamburger patty. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to slip this into a bun for my husband...Hey maybe when I go to Amarillo I can cook them for girl's night? How about it Liza?

The Good Life

We have a big house, there is just no getting around that. It is nice and all and I am EXTREMELY grateful to be so blessed in our lives, but it is A LOT of house to clean. We have been looking for someone to help clean the house but I have trust issues and some other hopefuls have fallen through the cracks or are not available.

I have several projects that I have been wanting to accomplish, but they never get done because any free time I have I spend it cleaning the house. So, after pimping the job to one of my technician's sister, she accepted the 'challenge'. I even brought her over to the house at the height of it's dirtiness to show her what she was in for and I promised that I would not do the 'clean your house before the cleaning lady comes' bit, that what she saw was what she was going to have to work with. Surprisingly she still accepted the position and we now officially have a cleaning person that will come weekly.

I cannot begin to tell you how great it felt to come home to a clean house. It took her about 4 hours to do the main floor (kitchen, breakfast area, dining room, utility, utility bathroom, and formal living area), the lower level bathroom (a.k.a. Liza and Jerm's bathroom), the upstairs hallway and nook and Garth Le's bedroom and bathroom. This included sweeping, moping and vacuuming of approximately 4,000 sq ft of floor. She did a GREAT job and I am so excited!

When I got home last night I was able to take care of one of the projects that I have been wanting to do since I stole the idea from my sister-in-law. I took all of our DVDs out of their cases and put them into CD holder cases. We are horrible about not putting DVDs back into their right case or back in at all, so this way, they are all in one place and they take up about 90% less room.

I also cooked our lightest ham (16 pounds) we got from our pig and it turned out great. We will have ham sammies forever off that one ham.

My next project is our bedroom and bathroom. We have to go through clothes and throw out ones that we don't wear and I also want to create something on a wall in the bathroom for my jewelry. I don't like people in my room, so I am not having my cleaning lady do our room or bathroom and I am also making Garth Le take care of his play room, so those are the only areas of the house that aren't spic and span right now, making them the top of my current priority list.
The next job I want to tackle is the cabinets in the laundry room. There is so much random stuff in there and we need the room for food storage, so I will most likely work on that next.

Other items on my list are: clean garage, organize and throw away/store toys from Garth Le's playroom, clean and winterize the backyard and porch, move Foosball table to porch or garage, organize and decorate the office, organize the wet bar area (maybe get a popcorn machine), find a cool way to decorate Garth Le's playroom with his assignments from school, organize linen closet, organize cabinets in kitchen (throw away Tupperware without lids, etc.) and I am sure I will think of more things, but I am very excited at the prospect of having the time to do these things.

I am also going to go back to my 7 on, 7 off schedule starting the end of this month so I will have essentially every other week off of work to get various things accomplished. I am excited that my life is becoming more organized for a lot of reasons. I have come to realize that it really is important to have a house of order in order to do the things you need to do to serve your family and the Lord, so here I go in an earnest effort to be more orderly. Wish me luck! Thanks to Debbie for all of her hard work on the house, she did a great job!!!

D&C 88:119-120
Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;
That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.

I know that there is a lot involved in having your 'house in order', but I personally think that one of those things is to ACTUALLY have your house in order, so I am making this a priority for my family.

Another Day, Another ER Visit

Yep, we went to the Pedi ER last night with Garth Le. We were visiting GiGi and Garth Le was being silly (imagine that) and decided to put a blanket on his head and walk around (which I told him rather forcefully to NOT do, but what do I know) He got up on the couch and he fell and hit his neck on the coffee table. Right after, he was fine, I think he was mainly worried that he was going to be in trouble and once that adrenaline wore off, it started hurting. I really thought he was fine and just whining, but over the course of an hour, his tears were more and more earnest and he kept wanting me to rub his neck and he wouldn't move it. We met Garth at home after the priesthood meeting and he said, let's go to the ER, better safe than sorry. We got in pretty fast, took xrays, and were able to go home shortly after. When we got him into a room is when I noticed how horrible he looked, not his neck, but everything else. I just wanted to run out of there because I was sure that CPS would come take him away. He was shoeless and his feet were DIRTY, well, not just his feet, pretty much to his thighs were almost black with dirt. He still had icing stains on his mouth and shirt from his cousin's birthday party a couple of hours before that. He looked like a homeless kid. He has a contusion (a.k.a. bruise) on his neck and some muscle spasms, so he will be fine and we are just an ER copay poorer. The doctor did say there is a reason that pilots don't put blankets over their heads to land a plane...because they will crash. The parallel went over Garth Le's head, but I thought it was pretty funny. He is still stiff and hurting a little today, but all in all, everything is OK and that is what matters.

Welcome to the REAL Cutest Blog on the Block!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Emily!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!! You haven't even officially met me yet, but you seem to know me so well! Thank you so very much!

I NEED A BLOG MAKEOVER!!!!

I know I only have a couple of readers, but my 'blogstyle' is stressing me out! I never want to come to my blog because it is such a pain to read and I have tried to make it look better, but it just gets worse! Help me! I know so many other people who have awesome blogs and maybe they (or their sister who's name starts with an Em and ends with an ily) can help me? I really don't want to call anyone out to help me, because that would be rude, but maybe somebody (Liza), anybody (Liza) may find it in their hearts or PC's (or MAC, whatever the case may be) to ask somebody (Emily), anybody (Emily) to help me with this problem.