Good Stuff

Since I am having a melancholy moment, I thought I'd (try to) perk myself up by sharing some good stuff to maybe help fill the freshly carved pit in my heart.

Yay for happy stuff to mask the crappy stuff.

I'm watching episodes of  "Parks and Rec" right now because it's funny. I like all the characters on the show. It reminds me of my funny friends, Maria and Renee, who also watch the show.

Speaking of funny, my little sister is. I'm so proud of her. She took it upon herself to organize and carry out a huge weekend event in Boise. She called it the Idaho Laugh Festival. She is hooked on making people laugh, and laughing at others who are hooked on making folks laugh. She got 60 comedians from all over the country to participate in 16 different shows at 5 different venues in two days. It went over even better than she'd hoped. She is amazing and I know she's going to keep on doing "impossible" things. She's already looking forward to next year's fest.

I went to four of the shows and they were all packed with laughter. I wish I could have gone to more, but it wasn't possible for me to duplicate myself and be in a few different buildings at the same time. My brother, Gavin, performed (stand-up) at two of the shows on Friday night, one of which I got to see. He did great and the audience seemed to think so, too. =) I love having funny family and friends.

This photo was taken after the Saturday night main event. =) The headliner comedian was Dennis Regan (pictured). I guess he had to close his eyes to fully savor the moment.
He and the other two comedians (Heath Harmison and Eddie Brill) were all very entertaining. Megan hosted the event (at the beautiful Egyptian Theatre) and took the opportunity to open the show with her own humorous bit of stand-up. I don't know how she or any comedian does it!
The show was very funny. It made me laugh quite a bit, which doesn't always happen when I listen to comics do their thing. It's not often I'm in a place where tons of folks are laughing. It makes for a great time, and I can understand why Megan craves it.

Let's see... what else has been good lately?

The Monday after Christmas I took the kids to the aquarium one last time before our pass expired. We took one of Jane's friends and one of Oliver's friends with us. They were all pumped to get out of the house. Right after that, we went to the cheap theater to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2". It was a cute, entertaining movie.

New Year's Day was half price day at DQ, so we got there as they opened and got some hot eats, cool treats, and two ice cream cakes. =) I looooove their cakes. Two days later, I invited Megan over for some of that cake, then later on Renee and Maria came over to have some with me before we went to see
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". We saw it at The Village in Meridian. It was my very first time going there, which seems silly since it's so close to our house. I loved the whole evening; the movie, the surroundings, and most importantly, the people I went with. The Village is awesome. It's like a secret little quaint town in the middle of the city.

I switched to Gold's Gym since one just opened up super close to our house. I was happy when they settled on the perfect times and days for the class I like. Bodypump at 9:30 a.m. Mon./Wed./Fri. Yay! And I'm paying $10 less per month than I was at silly Axiom.

Gavin and Maren are expecting their third child this April. They have two girls already, and this one is a boy. How fun! I can't wait to hear the name they pick.

Cora is getting to be such an accomplished piano player. I love hearing her practice, and I'm so glad she enjoys playing. What a treat it is to see children succeed at things.

That's enough good stuff to sort of ward off my night's stinky bout of misery.
Tomorrow is another day, and I'm gonna try and not dwell on the things I can't control.

Plus, every minute brings me closer to glorious, wonderful spring!

This and That! (Part Two)

I find myself lost in thought a lot. But I don't always get to verbalize the piles of my life's insight.
Partially because the in-person audience doesn't tend to be that receptive when I flap my yapper. =P
So, at the end of the day I'm super glad I have a blog that quietly listens to all I say.
What a good friend it is... never interrupting me... nary a negative remark... practically patting me on the back for typing out my innermost feelings.

Now for s'more sundry subject matter for all to ponder...

~First off, something I've been guilty of, but now *try* to avoid. Have you ever noticed and/or contemplated how folks write out a positive greeting of some sort and intentionally leave off the "I" that belongs at the beginning of the sentence?  Example: "Hope you have a good day."
It sounds more like you're telling him, "you'd better hope it's a good day." Which isn't a terrible message to convey (since we can all use an extra dose of optimism). But is it really that much trouble to type the "I"?
For instance, "I hope you feel better soon" is slightly more encouraging than simply telling someone to muster their own dang hope on the matter. And don't get me started on the half-hearted "love you". I even saw this printed on a box of chocolates last year. Who? What? Are you telling me to love myself? Why not go ahead and add the "I" to avoid confusing the object of your affection. =)

~ For as weak as I am in some areas, in other ways I demonstrate great restraint. Consider all the possible damage I might cause if I commented on Facebook posts and pictures with the first thing to enter my mind. Some would be snarky remarks, others would be me just sharing what I really feel, which would not go over very well. And that's why I usually choose not to say anything at all. That's a bunch of self control right there.

~ I am the Relief Society activities committee chair. When I accepted this call in the summer, I thought it would be relatively painless with a good crew.Well, I started off with more of a "non-committal committee", which wasn't fun.
But over the past few months we've mercifully had some more helpful ladies added to the team. Most months we are expected to carry out an activity/additional meeting. The biggest headache of all was the craft night in November. I'm just not that excited about crafts that don't include sugar. It doesn't help that the word "craft" kind of grates on my nerves. =)
The committee and I decided which 5 projects to have available for all the ladies to choose from, then got them approved, made sign-up sheets, produced a sample of each craft, set up the display table and sign-ups every Sunday before church, made flyers, scoured every craft store in town for supplies, collected money from 35 women, kept track of who signed up to make how many of which thing, sorted everyone's stuff into labeled bags for easy distribution, set up the gym, cleaned up afterwards, and delivered bags and extra necessities to those who didn't show up to get theirs. After all that, we were all crafted out. Actually, I was all crafted out long before doing any of that list. =)

Ryan took a picture of me getting everything ready the evening before the event. 

Oliver was such a good helper!

I already know what to say if I'm expected to organize a craft night again next year:

"You can craft my ass!"  

~I volunteered at the cannery on a November afternoon. They were processing pears that day. I stood almost four hours in front of a swift-paced conveyor belt, seizing blemished fruit segments at the last possible chance before canning. When I noticed my shift was half done I instinctively sang: "Ohhh, we're halfway there, oh-oh, livin' on a pear!"  Then I grinned like a ninny at my unplanned parody. You have to admit, it was good. Too bad nobody could hear me over all that mechanical racket.

~ A while ago I was in the dressing room at JCPenney when I had no choice but to hear what the teens in the next stall were saying. They were talking about some unsuspecting friend. One of them said something along the lines of, "I don't like Jessica's belly button. It's weird." The others either agreed or seemed intrigued. What nice friends! I was tempted to show them my outie, which is surrounded by icky stretch marks, to make them forget all about Jessica's poor tummy. While I'm on the subject, only outies should be called belly buttons. Innies should be called belly crevices. ;)

~ In a perfect world, everyone would scoot to the middle so others don't have to climb over them to sit down.

~ Words to live by: "Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not." -Mark Twain

~ It's cute that everyone calls it "chevron" print. But it's really just zigzags.

~ What is with those tiny, useless tabs manufacturers put along the edge of freshness seals?

They failed to help me open this container of mixed nuts. The tabs are far too small to get a grip on. 

They do nothing but make me have to get a knife out and stab my way to the food. Why do they feel like it helps to put six non-functional "pull tabs" around the edge? Why not stop at one functional tab that's big enough to grab onto and pull?!

~ Has there ever been a box of Gobstoppers that hasn't spilled all over the floor? Wonka needs to rethink their packaging strategy. Perhaps a little drawstring pouch? Boxes are obviously incapable of keeping those restless, round candies contained!

~ You've heard of WinCo. Why not open up a LoseCo? It could sell all the lost and found food nobody knows what to do with. 

~ I was recently listening to the messages on the home phone answering machine. 

When it came to one I had left for the kids ("Hi, it's mom!") I deleted it before listening to the rest of it. 

Concerned that I'd erased an important message, Oliver piped up: "What if it was a different mom?!" 

 ~ Here's what I saw one morning when I came in to wake Ollie and Jane...

They look so alike when they're asleep. I loved their matching arms. =)

 I'm glad I have this picture for them to look back on.

~ We bring our bunnies inside the house for a while (or two or three) every day. They are pretty good at using their potty box, but sometimes they can't help but poop as they hop around, so we keep the shop vac handy for frequent doody removal. We all take turns. Oliver suggested: "Mom, we should teach the bunnies to clean up their own poop." Oliver is full of good ideas. While we're at it we should make them mini aprons and put them to work doing more of the household chores. Then they could start a little business and call it Dust Bunnies. 

~ I couldn't help but take this mail solicitation the wrong way:

Look, CenturyLink... whether I'm heavy or not is none of your business!


~ I got released today from my calling as a cub scout leader. It's been 3 wild years with the wolf den. I won't know what to do on Wednesday afternoons now. The other wolf leader I've been working with for most of that time (Michelle) told me that when my name was called over the pulpit her two kids gasped and asked her what she was going to do. She said she almost cried. And the cub master's wife told me that he kind of frowned and went "awwww" when my release was announced. Because I was a part of the team. Anyway, it felt good to know that I was at least somewhat appreciated. Not that I'm delighting in their sorrow. That would be mean.


I hope that's it for now, because I am one tired person.