footloose & fancy free

These are my new hairs; or my old hairs after changes. If it doesn't look different to you, then it's just a clue that my hair is too long b/c we cut 5 inches off these babies; it should also look darker overall.

Don't feel bad if you can't tell though. I once cut about 8 inches off my hair and my own grammy didn't even notice. It's okay though, the woman made noodles from scratch so she was just too busy to notice things like my hairs.

Today I have not been cooking up a storm, but a thunderstorm!

Today I cooked:

2 loaves of homemade bread
homemade brownies
dinner consisting of: chicken, mashed taters & asparagus

I guess that's it, but it sure wore me out

have you seen my mojo?

I try to keep this blog updated about 3 or 4 times a week for a few reasons:

1. My life is super interesting and exciting
2. You people love reading about me
3. and lastly, uh... I got nothin' else.

Unfortunately, last week, I lost my mojo. You know, my mojo, that thing inside me that puts a positive and hilarious spin on all happenings in life. My mojo is definitely something that is required for blogging. I think it's back today, but not totally; so let me know if you see it somewhere.

In other news, last Friday I discovered that thrifting it up for unknown treasures is about 1,000 times more enjoyable at Savers vs. the D.I. One of the worst things about the D.I. is this really disgusting and unpleasant smell that assaults your senses as you walk through the door. That smell just is not there at Savers.
I offer as exhibit B. that relaxing elevator music plays in the background.
Exhibit C. shelves and merchandise are better organized (wherein comes the only downside: products are more accurately priced to match their value, resulting in often higher prices).
The last exhibit, exhibit D... if you are keeping track, are these amazing carts/baskets that you simply have to see to believe; frankly, I can say no more on the subject. I wish I had photographic evidence, but maybe next time.

As I enjoyed the wonderfulness that is Savers, I found the cookie jar of my dreams. I have been looking for a cookie jar, but if you have looked at cookie jars you might realize there is a category most cookie jars fall under and that category is tacky.
I somehow found this, the cookie jar of my dreams.
Note: This photo simply does not capture the beauty.

Before you delete the D.I. from your friends list I have to tell you the cookie jar was $7.99 which is almost a rip off considering this is someone's trash. Am I right? Plus, I got this weird deer for 50 cents {at the D.I.} which I just had to have for some odd reason.

Charming, yes?

Well, I think so, but if you don't... then whatever to you and yours.

I used to think my eyes were blue? Alas, they are green.

Yesterday, I bought this lovely blu-ray. Sometimes when I watch films made from a novel, especially Harry Potter, I get confused on what was in the movie and how I pictured it in my mind. For instance, watching this last night, I was honestly confused thinking that the last time I watched the film it had included the scenes with the Gringotts break in. Apparently, I've only truly seen that in my mind. Maybe I'm the only one who does that? Maybe not.

According to this photo, by arm is spendidly hairy! According to the Red Cross, I have donated 1 gallon of my blood to their services. One gallon folks! It is actually not that much blood, but if I picture a big milk jug full of blood (my blood) it is quite disgusting. Did you know every time you donate blood they can save up to three lives? Did you also know that every time you donate blood they ask you really weird questions? It's awesome. Questions like: State your gender (haha!) or Have you had a tattoo in the last 12 months? or Have you ever had sexual contact with a prostitute? If that sounds exciting to you click here.

If you do the little click, click, you can learn more and even make an appointment to be asked those questions and other EXCITING ones, as well as get a wicked sweet arm bandage like mine, not to mention free cookies.

I still remember the first time I donated blood and I started getting asked these questions being the ripe and tender age of 18. My facial expression and my thoughts said wwwhhhaaaattt?

That (above) is one {pale}homely lookin' chick. Who is that ghost? But hey, at least she isn't orange, which in my mind, is worse.

wherein I air all of my pet peeves about motherhood

I am warning you{you mothers}
81% chance of getting offended
ya know, read at your own risk & all that fine print junk

The picture above has nothing to do with anything--including this post--
only I must tell you I got all of this for -F-R-E-E-
one day when I found a four year old ($50) gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond from our wedding
it was glorious

A letter to my future self/my future self who has become a mother:

{more of a list of things to remember}

1. do not lose your identity when you become a mother; before you were a mother you were someone different, don't lose her {aka a reader, a runner, a wife, a dog lover, a teacher, a yoga doer, etc. } A mother is a great thing to be, but not the only thing to be.
   
   
2. people want to see pictures of you on your facebook account not just your baby; they want to see your baby, just not only your baby
   
   
3. do not get a mom haircut.
   let me repeat that
   do. not. get. a. mom. hair. cut.
   
   
4. do not let your children play where cars drive; biggest pet peeve on the planet!
   
   
5. biff loved you first; you loved biff first. Don't throw him under the bus when a baby comes
   
   
6. posting updates about every stinkin' thing your baby can now do, like roll over or eat cereal is actually really boring; I do believe this is why they invented baby books. I mean, it's almost as boring as the posts I already do about biff, but in all fairness there's no such thing as dog books.
   
   
7. don't be mad if none of your babies look like you {if you remember, before any babies came you wanted them to look like lee, exactly like lee because flip! he is adorable}
   
   
8. (added 4/21/11) Never use the word prego unless the discussion is about spaghetti sauce.
   

sorry to you, my friends if you are somehow involved with any of the above pet peeves because ya know, whatever I will probably do them too :( only I hope not, which is the point of this post

insert creative title---> here

today I don't love

1. filing taxes
2. 1-800 numbers & it's impossible to understand the employee's accent
3. ants! gah! the bane of my existence
   
4. I forgot to buy HP 7 on blu ray today
5. trying to mop the floor daily w/vinegar in an attempt to ward off ants w/o chemicals
6. the smell of vinegar; apparently the thing I have in common with ants
7. kids playing where cars drive
   
8. goofy 6 year old who said, "we don't like dogs peeing on our lawn" to me
   

today I love

1. fresh salad with sunflower seeds on top
2. exercise; does a body good
3. lee reading Harry Potter (first time ever) {he's on goblet of fire}
   
4. wandering AF DI w/my mom looking at plates
   
5. oreos!
   
6. lee! biff!
7. crazy accented 1-800 number employee calling me back and helping me
   
8. goofy 6 year old who said, "we don't like dogs peeing on our lawn" to me

PS: Not loving Will Ferrell; hows about you?

out on the town

me: we should go somewhere and be fun since we are both home
lee: we just went to the gym, and I went to work today
me: well I didn't; I want to go out; I am easy to please... let's just go for a walk with Biff or go grocery shopping.
lee: okay, let's go grocery shopping.
me: but you have to go get dressed again, no basketball shorts

This is what happens when Lee goes grocery shopping with me..



and this is what happens while I wait for Lee to pick that stuff out...




PS: 1. We did buy some actual food; I even cooked dinner afterward.
2. When I go by myself I am much better at avoiding candy.
3. My hair is so gross! I cannot decide what to do with it *sigh* so I keep doing nothing

what are you going to do with your time off?

sleep in
make the bed
oatmeal/whole grain toast/milk
morning news
Fable 3/xbox/lee
popcorn/cadbury mini eggs
walk biff
tuna/pickle/whole grain bread
gym/lee/5 miles
shower
strawberry+banana+ice+raspberry yogurt
blow dryer/long hair/takes forever
oprah/facebook
lee leaves for school :(
return OVERDUE library books
cake doughnut/sprinkles :)
feed biff
pink toe nails
yoga
lee comes home :)
leftover dinner/spaghetti/salad
biggest loser/hulu

are you grossed out by the sheer amount of food I consume? you should be.

sunday snuggles & thoughts about nothing

biff only gives out snuggles in the morning hours.

glad to be home during the early hours for a few weeks

ps: these photos feature our current free couches

Lee and I BOTH get to have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off together. Praise the heavens -exclamation point- This sort of thing never happens. So I have a question for you people who don't have 45 minute commutes twice daily, or aren't working full time while working on a master's degree. You people that actually go out and do fun things. What shall we do instead of pretending like going to the gym and watching the Biggest Loser is a great night (let's be honest that IS a great night, but that's just Tuesday). What type of fun should we have? Suggestions welcome, right there in the comment section {you know right down there below this} go ahead, click it.

Meanwhile, after Lee goes back to work I just might employ such shameful entertainment as watching the office from season 1 or rereading twilight.

Speaking of the office, you should know that I full on cried when Michael Scott proposed to Holly because it was just so right. Amen.

Now, when I say, "full on cried" I mean a few glistening tears, not bawling. I have SOME pride. It is interesting to note though, that I did not cry -glistening tears- or otherwise during my own proposal or wedding. This of course, is by no fault of Lee's. I think my primary emotion was excitement and excitement just does not elicit tears.

Although, if someone made a film of those moments in my life with great lighting, hair, makeup, and background music: watching that would most likely make me cry because frankly, Lee is the peanut butter to my jelly and seriously everyone knows peanut butter is better than jelly (I personally don't even like jelly; I use jam) so jelly is really lucky here guys! And that my friends, was the longest and most poorly engineered sentence in the history of blog. Also the subject has been changed repeatedly throughout this post.

It must be noted that the point of this tirade is something along the lines of how hollywood/media gives us unrealistic expectations about love and how
true love is more about holding hands and being best friends who sometimes annoy each other, but decide to stick together no matter what instead of flowers (as much as I BEG Lee for flowers every time a holiday permits) and violin music playing while you kiss.
Which leads me to tell you my all time favorite movie is called The Mirror Has Two Faces and starring in it is my all time favorite (musical) person, Jewish or otherwise, Barbara Streisand. You should watch it.

I have yet to watch the newest episode of the office because I am afraid of both HATING and LOVING Will Ferrill. So what's to be done? At the moment, I am avoiding it and pretending that Michael Scott will never leave. Maybe we could do a petition?

Just in case you are wondering, my laundry still hasn't been put away.

couch coveting

When I go to home furnishing stores, even cheap ones like IKEA, my heart is filled with lust. All that clean, new, matchy-matchy furniture. It makes my free furniture, my DI furniture, my where did we even get this from furniture, it makes all my furniture look like a bunch of garbage.

I have an idea to save all the money I would normally spend on diet dr peppers in a pickle jar. PS did you know the last week or two I have been cheating on my soda free life? Go ahead, throw stones at me. Hopefully visions of new couches can keep me out of the maverick.

Couches we have owned so far:

1. Flower patterned couches: source unknown
2. Couches passed from my grandma to my parents to us which we had to get rid of after a week because Biff would not stop sniffing them
3. Couches we got last year from Lee's parentals when they bought new ones; these are actually in really good condition and comfy, but they are definitely dated and I am really tired of Biff jumping on the recliner type ones and denting our wall :(

I am grateful for all the free couches we've had in our marriage; but I really want to buy some. You know, brand new, from the store and everything.

So come throw some quarters in my pickle jar.

Here's a little somethin, somethin, to make you giggle. I need some giggles today because we are going to do our taxes.

dear laundry

dear laundry: put yourself away

I just posted this status on facebook.

I want you guys to know that I actually had a nightmare once as a child (approx 3-4 years of age) and my clothes came to life in order to chase me around my room... This is a vivid memory. I specifically remember being frightened to the point of tears and one of the animated garments offending me was a pair of tights.

I hope your clothes come to life for a time and fold themselves; but I hope they don't chase you around and make you cry!

a secret message

It is 8:51 PM

Lee is baking a cake.

I think he is trying to send me a message.

A message about sweets.

Maybe the message is that we are out of ice cream...? Not that.

Maybe the message is that pineapple is not dessert.

...Men...

conference: thoughts from my brain parts

image

This weekend I spent a lot of time watching LDS general conference. I like to use this blog to share my life with people and sometimes I try to be funny (unsuccessfully according to lee! jk) but I also like to use it as a journal. I am not one of those really awesome/spiritual people who take diligent notes throughout conference, but I did want to write down some thoughts/things I noticed while watching, as well as any talks I want to be sure to revisit when I get a chance.

Pretty awesome stuff:
75th Anniversary of the Church Welfare program
Day of Service coming up? Cool!
3 New Temples announced

Speakers I enjoyed:
Thomas S. Monson/Temples
David A. Bednar/Revelation {metaphor comparing revelation to a sunset}
Richard G. Scott/Marriage
I am excited to read another talk about marriage from the priesthood session by Thomas S. Monson that Lee told me about.

Topics/Themes that seemed to come up over and over:
Service, Service, Service
being childlike
2 great commandments: Love God and Love thy Neighbor as thyself
Being an example of the believers
Spreading the gospel with technology
Marriage: It's awesome; everyone should get marriaged!
Temples: They are awesome; everyone should go to the temple!

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said something pretty amzing which I did not write down, but paraphrasing the best I can remember, it went something like this:

Always share the gospel, and use your words when you have to.

I loved that; to me that means that being a missionary/being an example of the believers doesn't mean that you have to verbally proclaim your testimony to others; it simply means that people will be benefited by your example if you just do your best to carry the light of Christ with you always.

april showers bring may flowers;april snow?

Biff's Potty Path

adorable christmas gift from one of my students

no words for this

long locks

jack frost

nipping at your nose

yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like eskimos

Have you been watching LDS general conference?
I have.
It's been wonderful. I am so grateful to have prophets on the earth.
If you'd like to watch/listen you can go here.

Happy Sabbath