Blogs Back Soon

You may be wondering why our blog is crappy lately. Well, it's because during our vacation we don't have perma-access to the internet and what little we do have is SUPER slow, so browsing and posting isn't really worth it. We'll be back Thursday, so look for us then and I'll tell you every can't-miss-detail of our time away from work.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Carrie. We love you. I remember thinking months and months ago how strange today would be without you here, and here it is. Time is going too fast and yet not fast enough.

1st Birthday

Finally 5

Sweet 16

Happy 18th!

Here's a Good Rant for You

Oh my goodness, where to begin. Good things first. Troy's team won yesterday. They're now 3-5, but I believe that's the best record in the boy's basketball program right now, so we're happy.

Now on to the real reason I'm posting. I'll begin by saying I'm not in a good mood. Between stupid kids asking me stupid questions, students and teachers expecting and demanding the world and the internet deciding to take it slow just as I'm trying to notify parents their little dears have books to return, I've had a long day. Add to that this little adventure,

and I'm more than a little frustrated. That's right, that is the carpet and pad in my living room pulled up because it is soaked. When I push my finger into the pad water squirts out. The neighbors (with whom we share a wall) are remodeling and apparently have a leaking something in the bathroom. So what do I get as a thank you for letting them know they have a problem? Yes, you are correct, all their water. Okay, I only knew they had a problem after I discovered my carpet was wet, but who cares about a timeline?

Anyway, I wasn't too upset about it last night because, after all, these things do happen and I'm not the one paying for repairs (the joy of renting), but after listening to fans night and day, rearranging the filthy pad and carpet backing to get optimal air flow and enduring the smell that has taken over our house, I am quickly losing my patience. In one way I'm counting the seconds until I get to leave this mess behind but in another I realize this needs to get taken care of in less than 48 hours because if it's not, nothing will happen for two weeks--other than, of course, a dirty, musty stink penetrating every single thing I own.

One final little rant: who pays for the electricity to run those stupid fans 24/7 as we try to salvage worn, stinky carpet? Oh yeah, that would be me. Have a nice day!

A Quick Update

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. You'd think I've been busy, but no, I haven't really. Summing the last few days up, over the weekend my mom passed out right after she pulled the car off the highway (long story, but I'm very happy everyone's okay) and Jason and Lindsay got engaged on Saturday (hooray!). I'm getting more and more excited to go to Utah for Christmas. I miss my fam very much and get more and more homesick every day. I hope the weather cooperates and we can get out of Blythe early so we can get there quickly. Wish us luck!

And Not One of Them for Me

Yesterday I decided I was tired of the bare space under my Christmas tree and gift filling up all my good hiding spaces, so I wrapped all my gifts. I started pulling things out of hidden nooks and crannies at 5:00 and didn't put the last gift tag on until 10:00. That's right, 5 hours! Phew. But it's done and I feel very accomplished, even if my gifts don't have bows and ribbon on yet.

Thank You for Calling the Library

Have you gone to answer your phone at home and rather than saying hello or your usual at-home saluation, you greet the caller by identifying your place of work? Every time I'm about to answer the phone at home, I have to force myself not to say, "Library." And I don't even answer the phone at work that often! There have been a few times it slipped out and we all got a good laugh out of it, but it's really annoying to be walking around my house thinking, "Library, library."

Quite a Dilemma

I'm sitting here trying to decide if I should go out of town tomorrow and do some Christmas shopping (and watch my hubby's basketball game) or not. I'm just so tired and it would great to have a day to myself, but I really do need to go to an actual store and finish my shopping. What's a girl to do? I also need to finish my primary lesson, but I guess I could do that tonight instead of surfing the net. Ha ha. A serious quandary.

Go Big Green!

Congrats to the Boys' JV Basketball team. Tonight they got their first win of the season! Keep it up lads. Now I'm practically a basketball widow because Troy's had games every night this week but one. And he hasn't even gone out of town yet. So begins my six months of solitude. :)

The fearless leader shares his widsom (I guess it finally worked!). And I must say he looked pretty handsome as he yelled at the refs to call the River Valley kid on traveling or palming or pushing, etc. etc.

Drum-roll Please . . .

Okay, so this really isn't that exciting, but here they are: pics of a Peterson Christmas. Just in case the pictures don't explain enough, I'll narrate.

Aaaa, my living room is on fire! (I was experimenting with the setting on my camera)

This does not look like Christmas at all. Far from holy. Just evil.


Finally a picture you can see. It's really nothing special, particularly since I've been doing it bit by bit for a week. But it's done and this is the only part of my house with any Christmas spirit at all. Oh well. With this much we've managed to block off our coat closet and I have to climb over the tree to get Troy's sweatshirt, so this is enough. Merry Christmas everyone!

An Addition to the Family (don't jump to conclusions)

Okay, I know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting for holiday pics, but you'll just have to wait. I want to introduce everyone to my soon-to-be soon-to-be sister-in-law (that means they're not officially engaged yet, but I'm sure it will be any time now, right Jason?).

Welcome Lindsay! You two look like your normal, goofy selves. I love it. Troy is very excited to have another home-grown Californian in the fam. You guys are just too tempting to us Curtises!

How Festive!

Well, I was going to finish my music selection for ya'll, change font color and post pics of my meager Christmas decor all at the same time so you'd be overcome with the merry-ness of our blog, but the decor isn't coming together too quickly. However, I couldn't wait to do everything else! I've picked some old standards, some new favorites and a few little twists for your listening pleasure, so please enjoy and hopefully it will get you in the Christmas spirit as it has me!

How Bad Can One Guy Have It?

Well, today I learned that Lance, who I call my brother-in-law for short (technically he was Carrie's fiance and is now as much a member of the family as my siblings, but that's a lot harder to explain to people), totalled his truck today. He told my sis he was only going 25 mph but slid on the slick road and rolled it. For anyone who's counting, that's three of his vehicles totalled in 9 months. Add to that he's lost his fiance, two or three dogs and who knows what else . . . It would be too much for me to handle. I love the guy and hope things start working out better for him. He's not the internet type, but here's a shout-out to Lance and a prayer that things start looking up.

Christmas, Christmas Time Is Here

Well, Thanksgiving is past and Christmas finally approaches. Although I must say I'm not really feeling the Christmas vibe yet. I've got most of my shopping done, but when I buy things, I feel a little guilt in buying stuff. But then I say to myself, "Self, you HAVE to buy this because you are required to give a gift to your sister/father/mother-in-law/husband." Maybe getting our tree up will help. I'll let you know tomorrow.

It's Been a While

A little update: Thanksgiving was great but the vacation was too short. Strange that I'm complaining when most people didn't have Friday off and I did, but I'm finding that I'm taking a lot for granted lately.

My brother-in-law fixed the light in our kitchen. Our landlord thought I just couldn't figure out how to put in new bulbs, but I told him it was more. After being stood up by the electrician twice, we just learned to live with it. Over the weekend my bro-in-law looked at it and determined the switch was bad. Yeah, that's what I was thinking all along. I just saved my landlord $100 bucks. Well, I didn't, but my family did.

Today we got the carpets in our living room cleaned and it's amazing how much larger the room seems without our furniture in it. No wonder we were excited to rent this place!

What a busy week. Lastly, today I vacuumed my Christmas tree. Strange, I know. But the tape on the box gave way from the heat in our shed and the tree spilled out and got dusty. Now it's all clean and ready to go up.

There you have it, our weekly update. Now we're off to the grocery store for potatoes and milk.

All I Want To Do Is Vacuum!

Doy (that's a little something coined by my old college roommates basically meaning "This is pretty much the dumbest thing ever," although we used it all the time).

So my vacuum bag got full as vacuum bags will. This is the first time I've had to replace it since pulling my vacuum out of the box a year ago, so I checked the vacuum and it said to use a "U" bag. Okay, so I go to Kmart (because that's the only place to get vacuum bags here) and lucky for me they have bags that say "U" on them. Of course they're made by some random company, but the letter matches, so I figure I'm set.

I get home and yeah, it's not working. First I had to alter the cardboard hooker-inner-thingy so it would stay in and then the bags too long and then cheap-o Kmart bag doesn't have anything that will seal the connection between the vacuum part that spits out the dirt and the bag. So after vacuuming one little room I opened the thing to check the performance of the bag and although some gunk has made it into the bag, there's a lot just chilling in the outer bag compartment.

Doy. Family coming into town and no working vacuum bag? What's a girl to do? I will have to turn to the internet and make due until I can get a real vacuum bag. Unless any of my Blythe friends can tell me another place in town where I can buy an actual brand-name vacuum bag. Maybe I'll get lucky at Sears. I'm not holding my breath.

Re-Assignment

Well, on Sunday I said goodbye to my Sunbeams. This week I begin teaching the Valiant 10 class. I loved my little 4-year-olds, but frankly, it was wearing on me. I loved that all the lessons were so simple yet laid the foundations for important gospel principles, but I was almost feeling like I was losing my gospel perspective. I missed really reading the scriptures (yes, I've slipped on my personal study) and getting a specific message out of them. I think the 10-year-olds will offer me just that: an opportunity to get my feet wet again and remember how much we can learn from the prophets of the scriptures. Of course, I haven't actually taught the class yet so I may feel differently on Sunday afternoon, but after spending some time with the lesson tonight I'm very excited. Hooray for a presidency that's in touch with the Spirit!

Gifting

Today I'm thinking the worst part of Christmas and birthday time is trying to decide what you want. You know how everyone asks you "What do you want for your birthday/Christmas?" I never know what to say. Sometimes it's easier to decide what to give someone else than to decide what you want to receive. It's killing me, I tell you. Last year I told Troy to give me a cheese grater (nothing fancy, just something he can get a KMart) and this year I think it's going to be an ironing board cover. Real exciting, I know.

A Litte Change

Okay, enough of the Jazz template. Troy will be crushed. Actually, I've been so bad at posting I forgot it was up. I have, however, decided that Blogger needs to get new templates because I do not want to take the time to re-do all my page elements just because I get bored of my look easily. Hear that, oh watchers of the blogs? Either get some better templates or make it easier to use one from another site. It can't be that hard.

Need a Little Cheering Up?

My friend Michelle has the cutest/funniest video of her son on her blog. Check it out at http://shelle.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/361/ He's going to be a dancing phenom someday, I tell you.

Six Years Ago

Thanks for the info, Kara. I'll return the favor. No one is required to re-post, but it might be fun!

Six Years Ago:

1.) How old were you?: 19 (I really that to think about that!)
2.) Where did you go to school? Southern Utah University, as mighty sophomore
3) Where did you work? Hogi Yogi, yay
4.) Where did you live? Manzanita Hall with my favorite girls
5.) Where did you hang out? Pretty much my apartment and Stonebrook (at least I think that was the complex) and my sister's a little
6.) Did you wear glasses? Contacts
7.) Who were your best friends? Steph, Betsy, Jenn, Chel, Kamie & Michelle (the more I think about this time, the more friends I remember, so I'd better stop here).
8.) What car did you drive? Hmm, exactly six years ago, nothing. In a few more months I shared a 1988 Plymouth Voyager with my sister. Oh, old blue, you were a good beast.
9.) Had you been to a real party? Oh, goodness, long story. Nearly seven years ago to the day I accidently went to a marijuana party, but I was so naive I didn't even know that's what was going on. Thankfully Steph was a little more educated than me and got us out of there.
10.) Had You had your heart broken? Ever? Yeah. November of 2001? No. I was on the prowl. Oh, the memories!

Three Years Ago
1.) How old were you? 22 (again, my subtraction skills are lacking)
2.) Where did you go to school? Southern Utah University
3.) Where did you work? SUU Housing
4.) Where did you live? SUU Housing
5.) Where did you hang out? Basically just my apartment
6.) Did you wear glasses? Contacts
7.) Who were your close friend(s)? Let's see. Troy and Rhett & Sandee.
8.) What car did you drive? 2002 Ford Escort
9.) Had your heart broken? Not at the time. Troy's great.
10.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Married

Today
1.) How old are you? 25
2.) Where do you work? The library
3.) Where do you live? California
4.) Do you wear glasses? Pretty much only for driving and when the desert A/C gets to be too much.
5.) Who are your close friends? Troy, my mother-in-law (I know, a little strange) and lots of people I know are there if I need them).
6.) Do you talk to your old friends? I'm getting better thanks to the wonder we call the internet. Thanks Al.
7.) What kind of car do you drive? FoMoCo. That's what we call the Escort.
8.) Has your heart been broken? I still don't get this question.
9.)Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Still married.

Now was that fun or what?! When I started I was thinking "Six years wasn't really that long ago," but then all these memories come back and it seems like forever ago. Great fun.

A Little Bit of Everything

Wow, I'm feeling very cloudy headed today. I was all ready to enjoy a Friday evening to myself with nothing to do, but with a couple hours left at work, I remembered I have to go to a baby shower tomorrow. I didn't necessarily forget about the shower, I just forgot it was so soon. I've know about it for awhile, so I guess I just thought it was still a long time away. Not so. Anyway, I still had to make my gift and figure out what salad I was making. It had been suggested that I make a seven layer something salad, but I've never done it and wasn't in the mood to experiment. So I'm doing a scaled-down version of my Pepperbelly's knock off (which turned out very well, if I may say so). Anyway, it's now 10:30--that probably explains my cloudy head--and I need to go check on the chicken. I'm kind of at the point that I'm tired but wired at the same time.

I wish I had a funny story to tell, but I don't. The trunk-or-treat was fun. Troy and I were some of the first helpers there so we got to pick our game. We opted for the bean bag toss, but by the time it was over two hours later my hands were black from picking up the bean bags from the asphalt. Ick. And I was so tired. My legs were jello and are still recovering. I think I need to time it next year so I'm either prego or out of town.

One final note: Congrats to cousin Sam on getting married today and Happy 18th Birthday to Sarah. I love you! She'll never read this, but it's the effort that matters, right?

Dinner Tonight

Yes, I'm posting about a dinner I haven't even had yet, but I just can't wait! For any of my Richy friends who have experienced the strawberry chicken salad at Pepperbelly's, you probably understand my elation.

Tonight I'd trying to reproduce a restaurant favorite of mine. It's a salad with chicken and strawberries and almonds and a touch of bacon and tortilla strips topped with poppy seed dressing. I know it sounds a little strange, but I promise it's good. I also know that I just typed a very awkward sentence, but I'm just so excited! I'll let you know how it goes.

Hello, My Faithful Readers

Yes, I know I haven't been a good poster, but there hasn't been anything good to post about. Homecoming went on without a high school game, although Pop Warner played and everything else pretty much went on as usual. Our primary program was on Sunday and it went relatively smoothly--nothing to complain about, but not much to laugh about either. Other than dealing with sibling drama over the weekend (thanks for your help, Kamie. She's clueless about the source of the treats but I told her Brian probably didn't have much to worry about. She did comment that they were very yummy and the packaging was very "done up." Okay, tangent ended) we really didn't do much. I did learn that one of my sisters has to drive a mile to use a restroom when she's not working in the Utah wilderness. Very sad and slightly funny that she has to plan her potty breaks well ahead of time. Anyway, that's about it in Peterson Land. The snowbirds are starting to come back to Blythe, so the streets are fuller and there are more friendly-looking seniors in the grocery store, so that's fun. I'll try to look for some oddly-funny stuff this week.

California Is On Fire

Well part of it. It's really sad that so many people have to leave their homes, possibly for the last time, but let me go on to tell you how it's effecting me:

It isn't. San Diego is over 200 driving miles from me and much of the wind that's fueling the fires is blowing from me to them, so the sky is clear and smoke-free. However, athletically speaking, we are in the San Diego section of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which governs all sports in the state. This afternoon CIF basically put a moratorium on all sports in the San Diego section--with good reason. Schools are being used as shelters, kids and families have left town, air quality is awful and many people have much more to worry about than making it to the game on time. However, that also effects those of us in the east desert. Our homecoming game is scheduled for Friday. We're supposed to play a team that's over 100 miles west of San Diego; one that's as unaffected by the fires as we are. So our homecoming game is cancelled.

For those of you not familiar with Blythe, homecoming is almost the biggest event of the year. Rather than having class reunions in the summer, we have them over homecoming weekend. There are floats, a parade and everyone and most mothers make an appearance at the game. Even people who don't care about the game or a class reunion still use it as an excuse to party and get drunk (generally speaking).

We can't invite a team from Arizona because we are banned from playing games. We can't even have a scrimmage game because the teams can't practice. So now they're talking about have the Pop Warner (basically little league for football) teams play. Who knows. There will still be a parade and all the other stuff, just no high school football game. What's a small town to do?).

Here's a little PV pride

Fall Cleaning

Well, today I used comp time and stayed home from work. I decided I needed to clean behind the washer and dryer because they really needed it. Once I got started I was really in the groove. I pulled out the fridge and cleaned behind it, too. The more I did the more I was loving it (weird, I know). Then I started putting away some groceries that never made it to the pantry shelf when it happened.

I picked up a bag containing three bottles of Prego and I guess there was a hole in it. One bottle fell out right after another and shattered on the kitchen floor. Ick. I was wearing flip-flops, so at least I wasn't standing bare-foot in the mess, but I could tell there were bits of glass in the red goop covering my feet. So I carefully walked to the sink and washed my shoes and feet. Then tackled the mess. Not so fun. That was a major mood-killer.

I spent the next 1.5 hours cleaning up glass and pasta sauce from the floor, cabinets, fridge, etc, etc. My once semi-white dishtowel is now a festive Halloween orange. I was just going to do a quick sweep and swiffer of the kitchen and dining room, but instead did a hands and knees wipe, a thorough sweep, a vacuuming for good measure and then a swiffer. I even found some glass in the living room (which is around the corner from the disaster zone), so I vacuumed the living room again. Needless to say I didn't accomplish much after that. I did go buy some flowers, so I hope to get those planted this week (pictures to follow).


I know, it looks like a massacre.

I don't think the picture really represents the extent of the mess. Don't try this at home.

This One's Just Too Funny

I'm trying to stay occupied tonight. I promise this one is a riot

Say What?!: because you just can't have it all . . .

A Blog Worth Browsing

I ran onto this rather funny blog called The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. For those punctuation and grammar fans out there, it's pretty entertaining.

Okay, so I'm Blonde

I thought about titling this post "I'm becoming my mother" but can't because although we tease her a lot about making a fool of herself, I don't think she's pulled this one off:

Around 5:30 I decided to go check the mail. When I returned to my front door, I discovered that I had locked the door behind me out of habit. That's right, I locked myself out. I knew the back door was locked, too, but just to be sure I walked around to check. Yep, my obsession with security got the better of me. The closest accessible key was with Troy at the high school football game and my car keys were inside the house. Fortunately I had slipped on my Nikes instead of flip-flops, so I tied my shoes and set off on the five block walk.

Lucky for me staff members get into the game free and the ladies working the ticket booth know me. I had no purse, no wallet, no staff ID card--just me and my mailbox key. I found Troy right off, told him my blunder and rested for a minute before walking home. I opened the door just as it was getting dark so I'm glad I decided to check the mail at 5:30 instead of 7:00.

As a side note, there was still no power at the high school, but they announced the power should be back on about 15 minutes before scheduled kick-off (uh, kinda need lights for a night football game). I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe I'll drive by (because I now have access to keys) just after 7:00 and see if the lights are on. What a day.

Lights Out

Today during my lunch break I was doing my dishes (I know, not a great way to spend your break, but whatever) when I looked at clock and realized the power was out. Because we don't live very far from the school I thought, "Hey, maybe it will be out a work, too." And what do you know, it was. That was at 11:40 and school's out at 2:40 so I thought we'd catch a break. We didn't. The power stayed out but we still had school. We didn't have much to do, so for one period I read to my aides (we had sunlight in part of the library) and the other period we talked about livestock and fear of spiders. Very exciting. Anyway, I did get to go home 30 minutes early and when I get home I had power, so I think I just lucked out. Yay.

Monday I'm staying home because I have comp time I have to use by the end of the month, so although the school is having pajama day for Homecoming week, I'm have pajama day at home. Hooray!

A Few Observations

One thing I like about being a librarian is all the stuff I get to listen in on. Other than the gym and the football field, the library is the biggest gathering place on campus, so most of the meetings are held there. And because I have no where else to go, I just listen in as I do my work. Every month each school in the district has a site council meeting. They didn't have them in Utah (at least not that I'm aware of), so it's a new, interesting thing for me. This committee basically decides how to spend the school's money. Well, that's a little broad, but they do make a lot of decisions. Being a meeting junky I love to listen in. Today's was especially interesting because this year there are some vocal people who are experienced with school funding and stuff so I learned a lot listening to them today. I would have liked to stay and hear some more, but Troy was anxious to get home and when I drove by the school 1.5 hours later I think they were just getting out. Yikes! I'm not that much of a meeting junky.

Another something different between Utah and California is the influence of unions. Utah is SUPER anti-union. I remember hearing a teacher bashfully admit that she was member of UEA and then a guy went on to tell her how all the problems in the schools were because of eduation unions. Here you really don't have much choice. One of the first things Troy did when he got to Blythe was join the teacher's union. Once I started working joined the classified union. They take dues out of your check whether you're actually a member or not (because you still get representation and benefit from salary negotiations) so for $1 more a month I qualify for discounts and services all over CA. It's just interesting the difference. I went to a union meeting on Monday to hear the candidates for school board speak and was facsinated by all the other stuff that went on. It's just a reminder that everything is politics and I love it. Well, when I'm watching from afar and not caught in the middle of the drama.

A Sad Day

Today when I got home from work I was talking to my mother-in-law. She told me the brother of a girl in my ward was in a major car accident last night. They're keeping him on life support until all the family can get there and then will have the funeral on Friday. He's 19, just like Carrie. I wasn't planning on doing a sad post today, but I guess things come up.

I know I need to call her and I got her number from her aunt, but I'm trying to remember what it was like for me right after Carrie died. I don't think I could have talked to anyone about it right away. In fact, I was glad when people later told me they tried to call but couldn't get through (probably because I was talking to my parents). I would have lost it, so I guess I just assume it's the same for her. Add to that the fact that I will start sobbing--I don't know if I'd be any help or comfort. On the other hand, it meant so much to know people cared. That's what got me through it and still does now. When I called my mom to ask her what I should do I couldn't even get through the first sentence of the story. Maybe I'll call her after the funeral because it was after everyone went home and people stopped coming by that I felt the most empty. Who knows. I'm just rambling to get my thoughts out.

My heart aches for her and her family and pray they will lean on each other and the Lord for comfort.

A Cupcake Story

Two posts in a day? I know, it's crazy.

Yesterday was one of my TAs' birthday and I always bring cupcakes for everyone on birthdays. Well, Saturday I didn't feel like going to the grocery store to get a cake mix and frosting, so I just decided I'd be domestic and make cupcakes from scratch on Sunday. Sunday night comes around and I get on the net to find a recipe for chocolate cupcakes. I found a good one and was going down the list of ingredients. Got it, check, check. Then I get to eggs. Oh no! I used the last of the eggs on french toast who know how long ago (I'm not a big egg eater). Of course it's Sunday, so I'm not just going to run to the store and pick up some eggs. I can't change things up and make cookies because they need eggs, too. What a dilemma.

Troy and I decided we'd just go to Albertsons before work in the morning and get cupcakes from the bakery. Well we went at 6:30 this morning and they had cupcakes, but holy crap-o! The smallest amount I could buy was 20 and they were all fancy (because of course you're only going to buy cupcakes when you want them to be extra special because it's not that hard to put some batter in a pan and slop some frosting on), so we spent $11 on cupcakes when if I had only had a measley carton of eggs I could made them for about 2 bucks. That teaches me to procrastinate on my grocery shopping (seriously my fridge is near empty and at 5:00 I still haven't gone to the grocery store)!

Oh Indiana!

So yesterday Troy and I were playing Monopoly. We don't do this often because I always lose and it's no fun to lose at Monopoly because once you start losing it just gets sadder and sadder. Anyway, we played last week and I won (thank you Boardwalk), so when Troy pulled it out yesterday I wasn't too opposed. So we're playing along and we're both broke, but Troy and I play the big bucks Free Parking way and he landed on it. He made mucho dinero and started building houses on his only monopoly so he could go for the kill. I was pretty sad, but decided I'd stick it out a little longer to prolong his happiness (what's a wife for, right?). I tried offering him some really bad deals so I could at least get a monopoly (as in I was trying to give him two cheap-o, mortgaged properties for Park Place), but he wouldn't bite.

Finally I picked up the last yellow property and scrimped and saved until I could put a couple houses up (I promise this will get good soon). He kept landing on my stuff and I kept building, but I was also rolling very well and never landed on his properties. Yay! Anyway, he lost.

However, when he lost he started playfully tossing the board and money and everything else. I was laughing while he kept doing it as I tried in vain to clean up. So I would try to sort the mess and he would toss more paper money, chance cards and property titles in the air. Finally he stopped and guess what---that's right. As we cleaned up the game, we discovered he'd lost Indiana. Now Monopoly is ruined forever because I'm married to a pouter.

We've now decided that whenever Troy screws up I can call him Indiana (not after the dog, for you Harrison Ford fans) because after searching everywhere in the room, the piece is lost forever. Well, maybe just until we move, but it's still a funny story.

Another Friday

Ah, the weekend. Troy's at a football game (I hear it's not going well) and I'm enjoying my Friday Night Freedom. I went to a birthday party for my friend's son. It was a pirate theme and I made myself a little bandanna. There were a lot of other friends there and it was nice to see everyone and chat. Actually, I'll see a lot of them tomorrow at a baby shower. I just finished making and wrapping my gift. It's just a blanket, but I like the colors. Hooray for going out of town to find fabric. Anyway, the new mom and the birthday mom are part of a long-time family in Blythe. The matriarch is our ward choir director and is trying to get me to come back to choir, but I just can't. Ever since Carrie's funeral, I don't really sing. Well, I'll sing along with the radio and in Primary, but I have a really hard time singing the hymns in sacrament and the one time I went to choir it wasn't any better. My heart just feels heavy when I think of making the words come out. But you can't really explain that to someone, especially without tears coming to the surface. I don't why singing is the part of me I lost with her, but I just can't do it anymore.

It's strange that sometimes Carrie's death just seems like a fact--that's the way it is and it all seems very distant. Others it's so fresh I can smell the flowers that filled our house and the way my clothes felt on my skin as I stood next to her casket.

Last week I realized we'll have to take Carrie's name off our rotating Christmas list. As traditions pass and milestones are marked, we're losing her. Our family is slowing becoming one less.

Happy Birthday!

Yay for Randy! He's 60 and I don't have to cook tonight! Hopefully his birthday isn't as traumatic as the ones in this video.

I Hate Waiting for Repairpeople

Yes, I'm here waiting for the electrician to come fix the florescent light in our kitchen. He was supposed to come last week, but we were late getting off work and probably missed him. However, we were home nearly 10 minutes before the appointment today and 39 minutes after he was supposed to show up we're still waiting. Hello, like I don't have things to do? Troy has to go back to work and I need to run errands. Blah blah blah.

P.S.--The PV Yellow Jackets suffered their first loss on Friday in the San Diego Christian Patriots. They have a super good team, but we only lost by 2, so I'm very proud of our boys. Oh, and the Titans won, too. What a weekend!

Kids Robot Dance

I just laugh so hard! I guess I'm becoming a commercial fanatic!

Old Navy Commercial

I LOVE the song on this commercial. See my TAGGED post for an explanation.

I've Been Tagged by Kamie

I've Been TAGGED!!Here's how you play. Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged.

Okay, so Kamie tagged me a while ago, but I haven't taken the time to sit and think of 10 things about me. But because Michelle is mad at me now, I'll do my best.

1. I LOVE that song on the Old Navy sweater commercial. Sweaters, who cares? In fact I really don't like them, but I stop everthing I'm doing when the commercial comes on so I can listen to the song (see my other post to watch the video). I just did a little googling and found out the song is called The Way I AM by Ingrid Michaelson and it's now on my playlist. Yay!

2. I love to read but sometimes it takes me three weeks to finish the simplist book because I just can't get into it. However, once I start a book I have to finish it. Over Christmas break last year I read the dumbest book in one evening because I just had to finish the stupid thing. I feel stupider for reading it. This is the book--don't even start it if you are like me and have to finish. Actually, just don't start it.

3. I love living outside of Utah. I miss home and I miss my friends and the scenery, but I love living in a town with only one ward and lots of people who are not members. It just makes the ward a lot closer.

4. My favorite pro football team is the Tennessee Titans. I think I like them because they were the underdog in the first Superbowl I ever watched and they almost won! Plus I like the colors of their uniforms.

5. Man, this is hard. I think I've always been a sucker for the tragic element of things. I love movies, books and music where the ending isn't happily ever after. Ooo, like Pirates 3 and Thomas Hardy novels (even though they take a while to get into). Good stuff.

6. Being the oldest child is not all it's made out to be. When I accomplished something let getting good scores on college entrance exams or graduating from college, I was very pleased with myself. But once I set the benchmark my younger siblings always surpass it. That's right sis and bro did better on the ACTs and sis plans on getting her masters and bro is going to be a doctor. I just can't win. But I love them lots. :)

7. I love beachy and acoustic music. I didn't think that was too surprising until some kids at school told me they were surprised I like Rooney's When Did Your Heart Go Missing and Dashboard Confessional. One said he pictured me as a violins and harps kind of girl (which I do enjoy, but it's not my usually my first choice).

8. Okay, this is a big confession, but I get hooked on a lot of reality TV shows. There are a lot that are too out there for me, but I do get sucked into a lot of stupid stuff. I don't know if anyone remembers Paradise Hotel on Fox many summers ago, but Troy and I were hooked. Now I love A&E reality like Flip That House, Intervention and the First 48. Oh, and VH1 is a regular channel in our house.

9. I'm not really a good blogger, but I love to look at other people's and I figure it isn't fair for me to snoop when others can't do the same to me. But it's fun to tell my stories and stay in touch with long lost friends (aren't those pretty much the only ones who ready this).

10. Yay, nearly done. Um, this isn't really random, but I really miss my sister. It's weird because we weren't as close as we were with our other siblings, but there's still a big whole inside. Sundays are the worst because I have an hour in sacrament meeting to just sit and as much as I try to focus on the speakers, my mind thinks of her and how it felt right after she died. Strange, but today I found myself wishing I could go back to right after she died (obviously if I had my first choice it would be before she died, but stay with me) because although the feeling in my house was sad, it was also filled with support--both from each other and from everyone in town. Now we've all moved on and forget that the emptiness is still there, sometimes even within my own family.

Okay, finished. I don't have many blogging friends, especially that look at this blog, but just in case:

1. Kara because she's always full of randomness.

2. Lacie because I miss her and could use a dash of Lacie Jo.

3. Mande because she always comes up with very interesting and thought-provoking stuff.

4. Troy because he's obligated.

Umm, that is really all the friends I have, so if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged and let me know so I can read up on you!

Major Annoyance

Okay, I was going to post this on Saturday, then I was going to post it on Sunday, but now it's Monday and it's still a good story. Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of metal screeching again cement. That's right, the landscapers were outside doing their weekly thing. Annoying, but tolerable. Then the guy with the blower comes by and let me tell you, he is thorough. Because I was still in a semi-stupor I don't know how long he was working on the sidewalk in front of our apartment, but it was a VERY long time. A little later in the morning he comes by again. I don't know what machinery had been by since then, but there was grass on the sidewalk again. At that point I was officially bugged. Honestly, that thing is loud and even when you're not trying to sleep, it pretty much stops anything else you had going in. Literally as soon as he moved on the lawn mower came through. Uh, hello? Why did you blow the clipping off the sidewalk just before the lawn mower comes to cut the grass. Needless to say, our friend came by a THIRD time. By now I was way beyond bugged, but I thought, "Hey, this is something I can post about," so I got my camera and took a sneaky picture. Ha ha. That's right, those are my blinds framing the picture and the window screen providing a nice filter. I may have been angry that they had to clean off the sidewalk three times, but I certainly didn't want to get caught taking my angry picture. Anyway, it's now two days later and the sidewalks are still clippings free.

If I Could Be Anywhere

There isn't much going on today. It's 1:30 and I'm still in my PJs. Saturdays are the best. Actually if it were a perfect world I'd be far away from my computer right now and with my family in Richfield. It's my favorite time of year up there right now. Today my mom is getting bushels of tomatoes and will spend the next week canning. I'm really in the mood to be in a cold, almost dreary place surrounded by the routines of childhood. I guess it's a good thing I have a job or Troy would be a near-bachelor during certain parts of the year.

Toot Toot

That's right, that's the sound of me tooting my own horn. I just repaired my toilet. Okay, it wasn't anything too rough, just replacing the flapper, but I'd never done it. My landlord suggested that may be the problem, I looked it up on the net, went to the hardware store, picked one out and came home to replace it. Hooray for home improvement! The funny thing is that when I was talking to my landlord he asked if Troy was home to fix it. Excuse me? I told him Troy's even more clueless about stuff like that than me. Although one good thing I must say for my wonderful hubby is that he'll figure things out fast, that smart boy. Anyway, I digress. I fixed the toilet so now I don't have to listen to it run 24/7 or turn on and off the water everytime it gets used. Gold star.

P.S.--This isn't my toilet. Just an example of my skills. Oh, and it's a lot harder when the front of the tank isn't cut out. I'm lucky I don't have fat man hands. He he.

Kids Make Life Hard

Well, I was just reading up on my regular blogging friends and when I read Michelle's I just about lost my dinner. Her blog is very funny, but WARNING: do not read the posts for September 22 and 24 if you have a weak stomach (much like I do). Okay, it really wasn't that bad, just stories about kids pooping and puking and I've definitely heard worse, but icky just the same (and funny because it didn't happen to me). Feel free to visit at http://shelle.wordpress.com/ Love ya, shelle!

Peterson Update

Well, I guess the biggest news is that we've decided not to buy a house. We've decided to hold out and make sure Blythe is really the place we want to be. We're just gonna save, save, save. Hopefully I can become a miser. That might actually be kinda fun.

Other than that, there isn't much going on. It actually felt like fall today. It's 4:24 and we've yet to hit 80 degrees. If you're going by my mom's rules when I lived at home, that's not even warm enough to wear shorts. The kids were so funny as school today. They were complaining, "It's cold, it's cold," when it was never before 70 degrees after 8 o'clock this morning. I should send them to Utah. It would be very entertaining.

Today I'm making cupcakes to take to work tomorrow because one of my TAs is turning 17. Yay! Actually, I just want an excuse to eat cupcakes all day long. What fun.

Nothing much to say . . .

Well, another weekend is almost over. Very sad. I went to the JV and Varsity football games on Friday. Good times. JV lost but varsity won, which was a happy surprise. Go Jackets!

Do you ever have those days you just want to curl up and disappear? That was me today. It hit me as we drove to church and if there was ever a Sunday I was not up for wrestling four-year-olds, this was it. I won't go into what nearly put me over the edge, but I really hope that I'm more perceptive and can read other people's moods better than one or two people I dealt with today. I would think that red, swollen eyes and brief responses would give people the idea that now isn't the best time, but maybe I didn't look as bad as I thought I did. Anyway, I stayed at church and chasing Sunbeams did take my mind off things for a while, so it turned out okay.

A Big Step

Well, I haven't posted for a few days but that's because we've been BUSY! Busy and stressed. But guess what . . . we put an offer on a house! I'm excited, but not too much just in case things fall through. Who knows. But I'll keep you posted!

P.S.--I'm anxious for any advice anyone has!

Yet another Saturday

Well, it's been a not-much-going-on Saturday. Troy went to the UCLA-BYU football game and I knew I needed to get out of the house or I'd only think about stressful things (e.g. house buying), so my best option was hanging out with my mother-in-law. We looked at model homes and browsed through a couple stores. I didn't buy anything because I'm trying to cut back on spending, but she did buy me Wendy's. Umm. Anyway, when I came home to drop off my car before our outing, my neighbors were parked in my spot. Uh, thanks. So I had to go all the way around and park on the street. Really it wasn't a big deal, but that was pretty much the biggest thing in my day. Now I'm back home and prepping for my Sunbeam lesson tomorrow. I'm learning all about how to be a better friend. :) Actually, I really do need to be a better friend. I mean, I think I'm a good friend, but I'm not good at calling someone up to do something. I'm always game when someone calls me, but I never had any good ideas. So for any friends reading this, please know I value you and your friendship.

Enjoy your weekend!

Like a Story That Had Just Begun

Although I do have other things to talk about, today's blog is a special one for my sister Carrie. Today it has been 6 months since she was killed in a car accident. I miss her so much. I hadn't seen her since my brother's missionary homecoming last July. She had just moved away to go to school and had started dating a guy who later became her fiance. There was so much ahead for her. Anyone who's been my to MySpace page knows I've had "Who You'd Be Today" on my page for a long time. It's the perfect song for how I feel about Carrie. She was about to start a new life, one we never got to see her experience. I can only imagine what it would be like for her. I didn't see her with her fiance, except for that one day last July. I don't know if she'd be working now or pregnant with her first baby. There's so much unknown.

I just miss her. It's that simple. I miss what she could have been. I miss the excitement in her voice when she had good news. I miss her stories. I miss her smiles. I'll miss her when my brother and other sisters get married. I'll miss her being there when I have children. It's weird for me to know they and their cousins will never know their Aunt Carrie--that she'll just be an unknown character in too-old stories. For someone so full of life and so much a part of my memories of my family, I feel cheated that she will be held to such a small role in the long stories of our lives.

I've never been able to succinctly say what makes me who I am and what motivates me to do what I do, but now I feel like the loss of my sister defines me. At least it does to me. It's one of the few things I don't think will ever leave me. Remembering the moment my dad told me she had died. Seeing her lying on the cold metal table. Wanting to reach out and touch her delicate hands, the only part of her that was still her, but fearing what my fingers would find. Feeling a desparate final need to straighten her dress before we closed the casket so she would be forever perfect, just the way I wanted to remember her. Wishing everyone would just disappear so I could be with her, telling her how much she meant to me and how much I would miss her.

I hope she's happy and knows how much she means to us.

I am NOT thankful for ants!

Oh my gosh, I'm going to go CRAZY!!!! My life is a constant battle with out little six-legged roommate. Well, make that dozens or hundreds or thousands or millions of them. Who knows when it will stop. In the interest of keeping this short, I won't go into the whole story, but lets just say that pre-July we'd have occasional ants, but nothing too bad. Then we came back from a month's vacation and they've taken over. I promise my house was clean when we left and I still keep it clean, but they are resilient! They showed up in the pantry (where else) and once we got rid of them there they disappeared for a while, but then we found an actual anthill at the base of our toilet after we returned from our A/C outage. Today I had a loaf on banana bread on the counter, properly stored in a bread bag and discovered the little buggers had eaten hole in the bag and were all over the counter. I got rid of them but still feel like I have ants crawling all over me. Oh, and they bite, too. NOT COOL. Anyway, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, baby powder works wonders. It kills the ants (I read is eats away their exoskeletons--sick) and keeps them away. Plus you just have to vacuum it up. Needless to say my kitchen and bathroom are covered in white powder. At least it smells better than Raid.

I am Thankful for Labor Day

In case you didn't catch it, the title of this post is a throw-back to Sunbeams. Teach enough lessons and your sentence structure becomes very simplistic.

Anyway, we survived the weekend. Okay, Troy did. I didn't really do anything that was too difficult to make it through. After three nights of football games, Saturday's JV game ended with a mega thunderstorm during halftime. Now the floor mats of my car are filled with Arizona sand. But, as is always the case, as soon as Troy crossed the Colorado River, the pounding rain stopped. Arizona gets all the action. Anyway, shout out to the PV Yellow Jackets for tromping Parker. Hopefully the domination will continue this week when we take on Horizon!

As for me, I got in my PJs at nine on Friday night and didn't get out of them until 7:30 Sunday morning. I really have no idea what I did during all my pajama time, but I LOVED it. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, just enjoying time to myself.

All Ready for a Long Weekend

Thank goodness the weekend is here. I'm a little bummed because the house we were considering buying is probably going to be sold in the next few days. We had to wait to get current bank statements, etc., and now that the bank has our paperwork the house is going off the market. It sat for months and now that we can almost move on it, it's gone. Not that I was really attached to that particular house, but it's nearly impossible to find something in a decent neighborhood at a price we can afford. Oh well, at least when we find something else we'll be ready to move ahead. Who'd have thought you'd have to be ready to jump when working with a buyer's market.

Speaking of A/C

I promise this is not all we talk about in Blythe, but this is big news! The transformer at work is basically shot and is in danger of flaming (yes, as in fire) any time during the taxing afternoon hours. So until they get it fixed tomorrow afternoon, school hours are at a minimum. That's right minimum day tomorrow! We should be out around 11:00 a.m. Can I tell you how excited I am? It's a good thing I finished handing out books today so my schedule doesn't get thrown off. When I was in school in Utah we always dream of snow days, but in the California desert we get heat days. Yeah, I know, it's not really that great, but any time you get off work early is a plus! Happy working to everyone else!

Thank Goodness for A/C

Well, it's 113 degrees right now. During the last hour of work I guess some the classrooms were without A/C, but not my library, as far as I could tell. Thank goodness! I had enough hotness last week when the A/C at my house was waiting for repair. Good things I have great in-laws in town that we could stay with. Anyway, one more day of textbook distribution on a massive scale and then I have to find the stragglers. Hope I don't run out of books. Keep your fingers crossed!

I had a great time chatting with some friends online last night and was even bed by 10:30, but am so groggy I had to have some kids repeat their ID numbers three times today. Good thing there's nothing on TV tonight that I'll be tempted to stay up late for.

Yesterday my mom faxed a copy of the proof for my sister's headstone to me. Even seeing her name in stone in the picture doesn't make it same real. I've heard people say that when the actual headstone is set at the grave it hits them, so we'll see. It's almost like it's a task that has be completed without feeling. That's how it was before the funeral. There was so much to do to get things ready that we didn't have much time to think about what had happened. Something I don't think you can understand if you haven't experienced it. I know I didn't.

Here Goes Nothing

Well, I guess it's time to give blogging a shot. Those of you who know me know I'm not a great emailer, journaler or any other type of communication -er. But I love staying up to date with friends by reading their blogs, so I'll give it a whirl.

I spent all weekend doing a whole lot of nothing. I prepped for my sunbeams lesson (boy were the kids crazy today!) and spiced up my myspace page. Not that anyone ever looks at it, but now it represents what's on my mind, so I'm happy with it. I've had a Kenny Chesney song on it for a while that is totally what I think about my sister and thought maybe it was time for a change. However, after a couple hours of a new song, I had to change it back. I just wasn't ready to let it go.