I thought it was time to kick this blog into gear again, since we have a lot of changes happening right now and some people will want to keep an eye on our life.

Sometime in the next few months we will be moving from Utah to California. It's a great adventure, and where we feel our family needs to be right now. I'm excited and nervous, scared and insanely happy. And sad to be leaving so many great people I see all the time here in Utah.

I might play a little catch up, I might not, just to keep you all (all five of you) on your toes. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures Kate took of us so we remember our first home in Eagle Mountain.

Disney!

We brought Lottie to Disneyland this week. On Friday, the day before we left to drive down here, we decided to leave Kelsey with the Aunts for the week. She will spend the weekends with Stephanie and the week with Aunt Colleen & Aunt Della.

We have one more day here before moving on down to San Diego. Here are a few pictures... I promised to show Aunt Stephanie how much fun we're having. I will post more later.

They have it all decked out for Halloween. Lots of pumpkins.


Lottie got cozy on Pluto's bed at Mickey's house.


She was a little scared of getting too close to Mickey. She shook his hand and was excited to see him, just didn't want to hug him.

She did better when we saw him out in costume today. She actually hugged him and kissed his nose.


Mama Bo (that's what Lottie has started calling my mom) wasn't afraid to give him a hug and smooch though!


Lottie did run right up to Princess Tiana. We had to hold her back to wait her turn.

We are having a great time, in spite of the fact that Mama Bo passed out while waiting for the fairies. Way too long standing in one place in the hot sun. She's just fine though. At least it got us special seating when we went to see World of Color. See... there's a bright spot in everything!

Feel so Trendy

Do you ever come across something you love, and then wish you didn't because it's just so trendy? I didn't even know how trendy until after I was in love though.

I have been listening to my Glee Cast Radio on Pandora (I know... more and more trend) and heard this song "New Soul." I really dig it.

So at my girl's night last week I asked my friends if they had heard it. Kristyn had bought the whole album on iTunes already. Kalee had to listen, but then said "Oh, I know this song... from the commercial!"

Right there, I thought, dang! Sometimes I just don't like to jump on bandwagons. Kristyn said the rest of the album wasn't as good, and I shouldn't waste my time. I had to check it out for myself, just to be sure. I listened to previews, and hurried over to buy the whole album myself. Sorry Kristyn, I love the whole thing.

"Paris" intrigues me. In fact, since I bought it yesterday, I've listened to that more than "New Soul." Yael Nain (the singer, and the album title) sings several songs in Hebrew (her native tongue) and they are haunting and beautiful - even though I have no idea what they're about.

Anyway, I highly recommend this album if you're into this kind of thing. The musical style kind of reminds me of Poe's "Haunted," which I also love.

One of those days

Do you ever have one of those days? You know, the ones where you are at work, doing your job as a technical writer, and you suddenly realize that Microsoft Word is not spell checking your documents?

And with the error you just found (Waranty? How is Waranty an acceptable word?) in the title of your document, you know that it hasn't been working for over a month at the very least? And you know how you have written and updated hundreds of documents during that time?

Here's to the three hours I spent fixing that one mistake... in the dozens of pdf bundles that form is included in. And here's to many more opening all of the documents I've created lately (once IT actually gets the problem fixed) and checking them.

An Open Note...

to Shopowners Everywhere,

Please do not display merchandise for sale in your bathrooms. Because... Ew.

The End.

Sincerely,
Grossed-out Fabric Shopper
(who did not purchase, and now will not purchase from your store.)

Not to complain...

But I'm going to complain. I don't like to vent and be all negative on the blog, but today I have to.
This Saturday is June 12th. Many of the 3 or so people who read this blog remember that I am running a half marathon on Saturday.

Excuse me, was running a half marathon on Saturday.

That's right. I have allergies, asthma and OCD - which means I can't run on Saturday. Okay, maybe the OCD has nothing to do with my running, but that diagnosis came this week too. Here's the story:

I've been having asthma attacks much more frequently the past couple of weeks. I know it is because of the cottonwood trees that are shedding their little cotton balls all over the place around here. So, it's been really hard for me running.

I've been working for five months now, building up the endurance I need to run 13.1 miles. Three weeks ago I ran 8 miles and thought I was in great shape. Two weeks ago I was supposed to run 10. I hit about 3 miles, had an asthma attack and ended up walking 1.5 miles home. Last Saturday I was supposed to run 8-10 miles. I did 6 and thought I was going to die.

This leads me to Monday. I was sitting and sewing, and I had an asthma attack. That's right, no activity at all and I couldn't breathe. So, I went to the doctor. He suggested (told me) that I shouldn't try to do the run on Saturday because it was likely I would push myself through an asthma attack and end up in the hospital. But he didn't absolutely forbid my running.

I debated long and hard. I talked to Brad, I asked sister, and I talked to Kimberly at work (who has been a big support in my running - she's doing the full marathon on Saturday hoping to qualify for Boston). After that and a lot of soul searching, I decided finally that it wasn't worth the risk, and I haven't really wasted the last five months, because as soon as I get my asthma under control I can keep training to run a half marathon (maybe Vegas in December?) in a much faster time. I can set a new goal for myself, instead of just finishing, to finish in under two hours.

It's hard. I still really want to run this week, and part of me still thinks that I've wasted a lot of time for nothing. After all, I was hoping this would help me get healthy and lose weight. I haven't lost a pound (and no, my jeans are not fitting any looser either) and I get winded just walking up the stairs. But then again, I get winded just walking up the stairs and so I know I can't run 13.1 miles this weekend. I just have to realize that I'm at least a little healthier, because five months ago there is no way on earth I could have run eight miles at once and been okay afterward.

And now here's the funny part. I have been teased a lot about some of my quirks. Yes, I call them quirks. Some call them freakish behaviors. It has always been a kind of joke that I'm "a little OCD." Well, a few weeks ago I came up the stairs at my house, and was so bothered that I had to go down and do it again. Turns out, it was just because I started on the wrong foot. That got me thinking really hard, noticing more of my "quirks."

I have a system when I get in the car. If I don't do things in the right order, I have flashes of horrible accidents while I'm driving. Not so much if I start off right.

I can't start cooking a meal when things in my utensil turn-about on the counter are in the wrong place. Like, if Brad has put the dishes away (which he does a lot. I have a good husband.) and he just sticks things in there wherever they fit, I have to stop and sort it out right before I start cooking. Even if I'm not using anything in there. I think about burning food and catching the house on fire if I don't fix those things.

Well guess what... that means I have OCD. There's a distinction between quirky behavior and liking things in order and OCD. A tell-tale sign of OCD is associating horrible events with certain quirky behaviors.

I'm not at the "What About Bob" stage... and I will probably never be. I'm not even at the needing medication or a therapist stage. I am supposed to talk about my behaviors and thoughts. If I feel like it's taking control of my life, that's when I would start seeing a behavioral therapist. For now, all of you, my good friends and family, get to be my therapists.

And yes, you can tell me I'm crazy. Because let's be honest here. I am a little bit crazy. (The first time I said that, it was to Brad. And I'm lame enough to have finished it up with "and you're a little bit rock & roll.") And really, as I heard once... "I don't have OCD. I have CDO, because I believe everything should be in alphabetical order."

Don't Read This!!!

If you didn't watch the series finale of Lost yet, don't read this. Wait until you've watched it, then come back.


First off, Boone is hot. Just had to get that out of the way. I was glad to see him for just a few minutes at least.

But where was Michael? And the annoying kid? Walter! How come they didn't get to come meet up with everyone in heaven? (Not that I minded too much - I didn't really like them.) Basically, if you weren't a couple, you didn't get to heaven. Except Boone, probably because he's hot.

And how unsatisfying that they call it a resolution, when all it was is everyone meeting up in the afterlife, since they're all dead. I mean, sure, they held true to the "dead is dead" philosophy, but seriously? That is not closure.

I was with it right up to the point when Jack started talking to his father. At that point, it became just another Dallas moment - where an entire season was a dream just so they could get Patrick Duffy back, or Newhart... "Honey, you won't believe the dream I just had." Lame.

As Brad said, "I just wasted 120 hours of my life."

Okay, maybe not all wasted, I just feel cheated. There were no answers here, just another intense, very good episode. Only this time instead of leaving us hanging and wanting more, they wrapped up with five minutes of crap.

I'd go so far as to say I think even Seinfeld ended better. Leaving the main characters in jail is better than saying "Hey, we're not going to tell you what really happened to any of them. We're not going to explain anything about the island, just introduce you to a new shiny place there. We'll just let you know they all got to the afterlife. Because they all died at some point. Just like everyone else."

I am done now.