Happy Halloween

So, October 31 - And the Lifted Chick is having a SPECIAL on her book today! Woo Hoo! Go here: http://michellemeisenbach.blogspot.com/ for more details! Frightfully exciting!

What is it about this day that makes people completely lose their inhibitions and do crazy things? I guess the costumes, and covering up part of a person's usual self probably contributes to that.
I was just now talking to a guy that I work with - he proceeded to tell me about what his costume was last year; a Catholic priest with some accessories that aren't appropriate to discuss on this family oriented blog. This year he is going as the King of the Spartans, from the movie "300". The most exciting part for him??? He gets to go commando all night . . .
Yes, don't worry, I immediately told him that this was WAAAAAAAY too much information! Yikes!

But, I guess part of the fun for everyone is that they get to choose who they get to be for a day. The last few years the extent of my "costume" has been an orange Old Navy t-shirt that has 2 jack-o-lanterns on it and the store name under them.
2 years ago, I tried to make my face look like a jack-o-lantern, with eye shadow, just to sort of enhance my "costume". And, two guys from work were ready to track down my abusive boyfriend . . . (I didn't have an abusive boyfriend and Jorge, my then fiance, was still in Utah, at that point!)because they thought that I had been beaten up! So, I won't try that trick again! LOL

Tonight is our Fall Festival. I am the Activities Chairperson in my ward. Thankfully we are combining our efforts with the other ward that attends in our building, so my work was cut in 1/2 . . . okay, well it maybe was cut by a 1/3! LOL Not that I am some sort of control freak, but there are always communication imperfections, and things didn't get distributed as they should have, and we can't find root beer extract ANYWHERE!! and there just wasn't enough time in everyone's busy schedules for some of the little details! Not to mention the vicious rumor that was going around the ward that this party is ONLY for little kids . . . c'mon, people, it's Halloween, LIGHTEN UP!!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm not really worried - The Bouncy house is scheduled to arrive at 5:30, the food assignments have all been distributed, and the weather (supposedly!!) will be beautiful!!! Mid 80's baby!! Woo hoo! I've decided that life is too short to sweat the small details . . . we're going for festive here!

Okay, so out with the old month and in with the new . . .

ANOTHER tag . .. be serious!

10 years ago I ...
- Worked at Kinko's. . . for the 3rd (but NOT final) time!
- Thought being single was the next best thing to DEATH!
- LOVED to scrapbook, and did that MOST of the time!
- Lived in an apartment with my sister, DeAwna - love her!
- spent a LOT of time with my nieces and nephews . . .that was back when I wasn't too nerdy to hang out with! (pre-teenage years!)

5 Things on my "to do" list today ...!
- Make bread for my house and Tiff's house (8 loaves, y'all!)
- Finish Balloon dart game for my parents' ward Trunk or Treat
- Scrap . . . I need that!!
- Clean the house (not my favorite, but necessary!)
- Chill -- isn't that what Saturdays are for??

5 Snacks that I enjoy ...
- POPCORN!! Caramel, Kettle, Cheese, home-popped, you name it! YUM!
- Ice cream . . . a serving a day will keep the bikini away! LOL
- Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!
- Dried Mango . . . oh my, that's good stuff!
- nuts or trail mix

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire ...
- pay off all our debts
- TRAVEL!! I need a passport, first!!
- Help my family members buy their homes
- invest in a business
- Help others in whatever way possible

Places I have lived ...
- Moscow, Idaho
- Mesa, Arizona
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Northern California
- South Carolina

5 Jobs I have had ...
- I've mentioned Kinko's already . . . I won't cheat and list all 4 times that I worked there as seperate jobs! :)
- Scrapbooks, ETC.
- A Doctor's office (OB/GYN) All women worked there . . . even the janitorial staff! Ya, sometimes the estrogen levels were almost suffocating!!
- Wells Fargo - that job changed my life! (because my friend, who introduced me to Jorge, worked there with me!
- Toys and More - that was my first "real" job . . . LOVED it!!!

Picture Tag!

Okay, 2 posts today . . . Tammy keeps taggin' me! This one is a little different, though! 3rd picture folder, 3rd photo . . .

This is my sister, DeNeece, and her eldest daughter, Daylyn. See any family resemblance, ha ha ha!!
♥ these girlies!
I tag Brooke, Aubrey, Annette (mostly so that ghastly photo of the crawdads will go away!!) and Michelle. The rules are that you upload your 3rd photo from your 3rd photo file . . . have fun!

What's New with the Chu? (short for chihuahua!)

Okay, so, we took Chica to PetsMart . . . they scanned her, but she has no microchip! Jorge's theory? "She's a Mexican . . . they don't use microchips!" He's kinda cute, I'm FOR SURE keeping him! :)
Anyway, got some posters up, asking around the neighborhood, and dodging my landlord like CRAZY! (We are, officially, not allowed to have pets in our apartment! Gotta find her mama, or find her a new one!!)
And, BELIEVE ME, he will find out! He has his ways! For example, my friend, Nancy, was over again, on Saturday, and we were working on a crafty project. Her car was parked in the driveway of the apartment on the other side, oh, and she has "For Sale" on her back window.
So, she had been at my house about an hour and a half, and I needed to go to the grocery store. So, off we went. We were in the store, and my phone rings. I look at the phone and basically had a panic attack, because it was my landlord! I was mortified that he was calling about the dog!!!
But no, instead, he says, in greeting, "Are you starting a used car lot?" And, for a moment, I was completely confused! But, then I realized that he was talking about Nancy's car. "No", I replied, "that's my friend's car . . . she's just visiting, and didn't want to park on the street!"
His next question? "How long is she visiting?" Okay, dude, we can just move the &^$%#( car!!! "she'll be here just a couple of hours!" was my answer.
"Oh, well, that's okay with me! I just thought that someone might be wanting that apartment, and saw that car there . . . " In retrospect, I think he felt really silly (as well he should!!) and wished he had never called.

8 Things Tag

8 current obsessions...
1. Chihuahua cuteness! And she is SOOOOOOOOO used to being carried EVERYWHERE!! But put her down, outside, and watch her GO!!
2. Organizing my scrapbook room -- If only my wallet contents could match the vision in my head! Be patient, honey, I'm trying!!
3. Fall Festival for church -- success is in the details!
4. Christmas gifts for the fam . . . what do they like? and, more importantly, what can I afford???
5. Spiritual health -- God loves me even when my efforts are weak!!
6. Jorge's sleeping issues - why won't he listen to me???
7. Digital camera - dead and gone, need a new one! Can't be family photo historian without a camera!
8. Wanna have a baby, wanna have a baby, wanna have a baby!!!!

*8 words or phrases I use often...
1. "I love you!"
2. "In Spanish or English?"
3. "Whatever!"
4. "Silly!"
5. "You can do it!"
6. "If you don't know what it means, don't say it!"
7. "wanna play Scrabble?"
8. "Okay!?!?!?!" (with a sarcastic tone!)

*8 things i want to do before i die...
1. Be a mommy
2. Make a difference in the world, to someone!
3. Scrapbook all my pictures.
4. Be sealed in the temple, to my husband!
5. Write a children's book, or two, or nine!
6. Visit another country . . . preferably European!
7. Compose a song
8. Help the world find a political happy medium . . . "Can't we all just get along??"

*8 things i have learned from my past...
1. First and Foremost -- We did the best that we could at the time!
2. There is no instruction manual for being a "perfect" anything . . . parent, sister, friend, etc.
3. DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF! In reality, it is all small stuff!!
4. Crying is not a sign of weakness!
5. Good times are worth recording, and hard times are worth counting as experience gained.
6. True love sometimes causes its own kind of turbulance!
7. If at first you don't succeed . . . that means you are human! Try it again!!!
8. For all the pain and suffering of growing up in a large family, I have that many more friends/family members to show for it!

*8 places i would love to go or see..
1. New York -- the entire state, but especially the city!
2. Colombia - I want to learn about the native country of my love!
3. Europe - anywhere, and everywhere!
4. Hawaii -- Jorge and I have a goal to go there, and SOON!!!
5. Disneyland - I DO love to go there, and as many times as possible!
6. Every temple in the continental United States! Maybe I could design some sort of map!
7. To a quiet, local, romantic hotel, with Jorge, for a few days, just to escape life!
8. To the birthplace of the Savior - Bethlehem and all of the Holy Land.

*8 things i currently need or want...
1. Money for a beatifully organized and aesthetically pleasing scrapbook space! (Aunt Deby, you're my inspiration!!)
2. A day without a head/back ache! Man, I wish I had appreciated them when I had them!
3. In reference to #2 - a good, and comfortable, chair to sit on, 8 hours a day! Who knew it could be so difficult to find one???
4. Reassurance that my choices aren't always uneducated and completely wrong!
5. New clothes! But since I don't have the best luck with ready made clothes, maybe what I really need is a personal tailor/fashion designer! :(
6. An idea for a business; or rather, a way to channel all the ideas that I have into one productive idea!
7. A massage - DAILY!!
8. An office remodel! This space is entirely too uninspiring and, at times, cage-like!
There it is, my "8" tag! I tag ALL Y'ALL! At least anybody who wants to jump on the bandwagon! ♥

PS - okay, here's the story with Chica - I still haven't heard anything from anyone about ownership. I DID call a service called "Missing Mutts", and filed a report with them, so if anyone calls there, they can pass on my information. I made flyers, and am working on distributing them. Trying NOT to get too attached, but it's not easy!

I'm Ready for Monday . . . Bring it on!

Have any of you ever had such a crazy busy weekend, that you are almost relieved to go back to work, on Monday, for a little relaxing, sittin' in my chair doing busy work, time? That is how my weekend was! Go, go, go, go, go!!

I took Friday off, too, so maybe that's part of the problem! My weekend was one day longer than usual, and so I felt the need to pack it just a little more full of stuff! Ay, ay, ay!!!

Jorge worked Friday night, so I had my friend, Nancy, come over, and we worked on some crafty projects together. We made some Peanut Butter Cheesecake brownies (YUMMMY, by the way!!) and had a few laughs, and kept busy! But not before we made a trip to Wal-Mart and the little Panaderia (Spanish for "bakery") down the street from my house.

We wrapped things up about 2 am -- dang, that's late! Then, we had to start again Saturday morning, with a trip to Sam's club, to print out some photos and hunt down shoes for Jorge. But, before Nancy and I could get out the door, we were joined by a little friend! Apparently, as we were about to leave the house, and I realized that I forgot something, we turned around, and the screen door didn't get completely closed.

So, we start to head back to the front door, and I look down and see this little dog that had wandered in! She's DARLING, and the kind of dog that I have been wanting for a LONG time!


I went outside, looked around for someone to be calling for or searching for their dog, but nobody was. I asked the neighbor across the street if he had seen this dog, or anyone looking for it. The response? "No , but, finders keepers, right?!?!?!"

Nancy had a big tote bag, so we decided to take Chica (the name another friend, Megan, chose) into Sam’s Club with us. She did sooooooooo well! She did not make one peep, didn’t whine, didn’t growl, nothing! We got lots of looks and a few “cute puppy!” comments, but otherwise would’ve forgotten that she was there!

When we got home from Sam’s, I asked the neighbor, again, if anyone had been around looking for her. She has a collar, and somebody has been loving her, because her nails have been polished. But, where there once was a tag, the little loop that held it on had been stretched. In these tough economic times, it is hard to tell whether she is lost or if someone just ditched her!

So, Saturday night – working on projects for the Fall Festival, at our stake center. I needed to make posters and flyers. I had the plan to just make one flyer, enlarge it to poster size, and then make smaller flyers from the same original. I got my printer out (ya, so we’ve lived in our current apartment for 16 months, and I am just now busting out my printer . . . big deal!!!), and there were no chords! No USB chord, to connect in to the computer, and NO power chord!!! And I, being the QUEEN of procrastination that I can be, sometimes, waited until 9:30 pm to even bust open the box!

Eventually, after looking for the chords for a while, and calling around to see if anyone has my same printer, I gave up! I still had a lot of stuff to do . . . including going to Americopy before they closed at 11 pm.

And, my posters and flyers ended up being hand-written . . . maybe a little lame, but desperate times call for desperate measures! And my hand-writing isn’t terrible, so . . . I did what I had to do! My head didn’t hit the pillow before 3 am – I had to take the dog out, you know!!

Then, my alarm went off at 6:30 am for my 7 am meeting Sunday morning . . . OUCH!! After Sacrament Meeting, in which I could BARELY keep my eyes open, I went home and took a 30 minute power nap, before heading back to the church for Relief Society.

Anyway, long weekend + short sleep = VERY TIRED GIRL!!!! At least at work, I can sit in one chair and chase papers for a few hours at a time, to relax! Here’s something you won’t hear me say, very often . . .
HAPPY MONDAY!

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Okay, this is a LITTLE late, but better than never, right??? This week has been a crazy one, with no "personal" computer time!

Every six months, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has its General Conference. The amazing thing about this is that AT LEAST every six months, I TOTALLY need to have my spiritual bucket fill to overflowing. The speakers and topics of General Conference ALWAYS do that for me! This time was no exception.

The other amazing thing is, that in this world of turmoil, fighting, back-stabbing, mud-slinging, hate crimes and violence, the overall message is always: Hope through Jesus Christ. The most everyday disappointments, and even major heartbreaks can be healed through Him, and these conference sessions remind me that Jesus Christ is TRULY the "way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6), and how much His example and influence can calm the storms of my life.

I love to hear the prophet testify of the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of us. And, my favorite talk was probably by President Monson, when he urged and reminded us over and over again, to "Enjoy the Journey"! (Yes, I may just stitch that on a pillow!)

It was refreshing, rejuvinating and hope-filling . . . I am always sad when the Sunday afternoon rolls around (all too quickly!!) because that means it is over for 6 more months. But, hey, that's why we have DVR!! I can watch and listen to whatever talk I want to, to be reminded again and again.

Another Birthday . . . .

Happy Birthday, Dear Kerry!

I'm not going to sing the song, because of this:

Ever wondered why some restaurants make up their own silly birthday songs for their staff to sing to patrons? It's so they don't have to pay royalties. Every time you celebrate someone's birthday at a restaurant or other public place, you are technically committing copyright infringement by singing "Happy Birthday to You" to the birthday girl or boy.

The tune was written by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill in 1893, and copyrighted in 1934 by their sister Jessica. Although the original copyright would have expired in 1991, two intervening acts of Congress have extended it through at least 2030. The song earns about $2 million per year in royalties -- and would probably make a lot more if The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had a representative enforcing the copyright at restaurants.

Have a good birthday, anyway, Kerry! ♥ your Kentucky-livin', horse-lovin' guts!

She's 29 today . . . AGAIN!

Today is my "little" sister's birthday! And, I put little in quotes, because she has been taller than me since she was 16, so there you go!

Karalee is an amazing person! She is a very talented hairdresser, and she has a great sense humor! Her teenagers love her, because she still has a kid's heart!

You should hear her order food, in the drive-thru, with her baby talk voice! Oh my gosh, pee your pants laughing!

She is one of my best friends and she loves me all the time, even when she has a good reason to just give up and walk away! (Ah, family ties that bind . . . and gag! LOL)

Happy Birthday, my sister! Sure love you!