Bob Vila's Home Again

It sort of feels like we have been remodeling our house lately. It all started when we decided to have new insulation blown in so we could take advantage of the Questar rebate, plus the house needed it. When the guy came to give us the bid he knocked something over in the attic and it somehow put a crack in the ceiling over the stairs. So now we have a big white patch where they had to fix the crack.

Saturday night we were having dinner with the Mortenson's and I looked into the kitchen to see two huge bubbles hanging from our ceiling. The previous owners must have used really good paint cause these suckers were huge and full of water! I wish I would have taken a picture of them but I didn't. We popped them and drained a ton of water out of them. Called a plumber the next day and they told us to cut a hole in the ceiling to see if we could see where the leak was. If it was urgent they would come out right away (and charge us $120 an hour for making them come on a Sunday) or we could wait til Monday (only $80 an hour). Thankfully it isn't anything too serious. The tub in Sasha's bathroom isn't sealed well so water leaks down. We just have to dig out the existing caulking and put a fresh coat in to re-seal it. Unfortunately, we also have this lovely hole in the ceiling of our kitchen.

Then Josh decides it is finally time to fix one of his closets up so that he can spread his clothes out a little. This is one man who definitely needs more than 4 feet of closet space. Sheesh, what a princess! So he tore out the old shelf, painted the inside of the closet and put in a new rack and a new shelf. I have to admit it looks very nice.

Oh! And the lights in our kitchen went on the fritz. We thought it was the bulbs so we bought new ones. These aren't your normal, run of the mill, 100 watt lightbulbs. These are the tube lights filled with neon and if you drop one it will explode. So we got the new bulbs put in but the lights still weren't working. All I can say is, Thank Goodness for Howard! Josh's dad came and helped him to figure out that it was the ballast inside the thing that the lightbulbs hook to and that needed to be replaced.

What a weekend, I tell ya! Can't wait to see what this weekend brings!

Edmonds to Kingston Ferry

Last week on my business trip to Washington I got to ride the ferry for the first time ever! It was so cool! Okay, so nothing really exciting happened, but it was my first experience and I rather liked it.

Driving onto the Ferry . . .

This was pretty funny . . . in the bathroom they had fake flowers sticking out of the holes next to the sink. They must have had soap dispensers in there at some point and didn't want to leave the holes empty. Brightened the place up a bit.

This is for Josh . . . this would be how he would occupy his time on the 30 minute ride. They even had a place where you could buy food- sandwiches and soup and such. It was pretty neat and kind of unexpected!

Looking back on Edmonds . . .

Looking down from the upper deck. The rounded part pulls up to the dock and the cars drive right off.

Me, all wind-blown and beautiful.

Much better, under the cover and behind the glass.

Argh!

I have so much to blog about, but no pictures to go with it! Frustrating! I'm on another business trip and brought my camera this time but didn't bring the little doo-hickey to plug it into my computer with so I can't load them. Maddening!
So, posts to come soon:
Riding the Edwards to Kingston Ferry in Washington
Getting ready for the blessing

I know, you're just DYING to hear all about it 8)

A little fun

Just a few fun pictures . . .
These were last night after her bath. She looked so cute all snuggled up in the towel. Of course my poor photography skills don't do the cuteness any justice whatsoever, but I try. :)

I hope this video actually works. A little background . . . when Sasha sleeps she usually has her arms sticking up like she's calling a touchdown at a football game. Or if you've ever seen Molly Shannon in Superstar, it kind of looks like that, too. But you can see how good she is at sitting up now. She gets tired after a few minutes and you still never know when she will suddenly go flying to one side or the other, but she's getting stronger!

It's official . .

I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!!

Girls (and one boy) Night!

Last night Sasha and I went to dinner with Aunti Whit, Jake and Aunti Ann. We went to Charlie Chow's and it was DELICIOUS!!! Jake was having a good time eating all the paper he could get his hands on. He is such a cute kid!

The Jake-ster

Whitney and Jake

Ann and Sasha

Okay, funny story about this picture . . . I'm holding my fortune from my fortune cookie. Before opening the cookie I said out loud, "You will find a new job tomorrow" hoping that that is what my fortune would say. Then I opened my fortune and guess what it said? "You will find a good paying job" !!!!!!! We all started laughing like crazy! So I'm calling it forth- a new, good paying job is coming my way soon (within a month, let's say) and I will accept it and be happy!

After we got our change we were being kind of goofy and said, "Next stop, strip club!" Our waiter was pretty funny and wanted us to say "1-2-3 Trails!" Only Whit was silly enough to say it, though. :)
I had a great time last night, thanks girls! And thanks Jake!

My new trick!

I can hold my bottle!!! She only does it for a few minutes, and its not all the time, but she does get a good grip on it every now and then. It just made me laugh the first time I saw it!

Today's love/hate

I'm copying Sabrina because I need to let off some serious steam!

I hate my job
I love my daughter
I hate my boss
I love my husband
I hate my job
I love the peace and quiet in my home during the day
I hate my boss
I love my friends
I hate my job
I love my family
I hate my boss
I love Jesus
I hate my job
I love that my mother-in-law is able to spend so much time with Sasha
I hate my boss
I love warm weather
I hate my job
I love vacations without a strict itinerary and you are able to do whatever you want.
I love the women that serve in primary with me. They are the most wonderful people!
I love my visiting teaching partner and the ladies we visit
I love that my mom and grandma are such good sewers. I would love the time to learn from them
I love my best friend Amberly and hope she has a GREAT birthday tomorrow.
I love that my husband is so wonderful and supportive of me and lets me vent whenever I need to even though he's heard the complaints A GAGILLION times.
I love it when my daughter gives me her huge, bright smile.
I love being a mom
I hate looking for a job. I've never really had to do this kind of a search before and it is kind of scary
I love the idea of having a job that I like. I'm not even asking to love it, I just want to like it a little.
I love Charlie Chow's Dragon Grill
I love music and the way it enhances my mood
I love to read
I love Whitney and Ann and want to thank them for going to dinner with me last night
I love everyone that reads my blog. Even if I don't know that you are reading, I love that you have enough care (or is it curiosity??) to read my rantings
I love to read other people's blogs. I love to laugh with them and cry with them, whatever the story may be that day
I love my home and my neighborhood. Even the Gladys Kravitz's that watch our every move
I love it when other people share their talents with me
I love photography and wish it was a talent that I had
I love Audrey Hepburn movies and wish I was watching one right now
I love my Hilton Honors points- it is so fun to get a free hotel room

Okay, sorry for the long list. But I feel much better now. I had to get past all the negative by overshadowing it with things that I love

Check one off the bucket list . . .

The number one thing on Josh's bucket list is to go to China. I am so happy to say that for his 30th birthday I am sending him to China!!!

My little brother, Chris, is going with his friend whose mom works for Renaissance Academy, a charger school in Lehi. They are taking a group of Chinese-speaking students on a 10 day trip to China. They opened it up to non-Chinese speaking students so Chris is going. They had one more chaperone spot open so I jumped on it and got Josh in there. He was totally floored when I told him that he was going. He kept asking, "Are you sure? Do you want to go instead? Do you really think they will let me go?" It took a couple days to sink in. It would be cool to go to China, but since this is Josh's dream I want him to go. Plus I think Chris would have more fun with Josh than with me hanging around. ;) Good thing that the teacher organizing it is in my brother's ward so they were able to get to her real quick before the spot got filled, and my mom could put in a good word for Josh. I don't think she embellished too much, ha ha!

He leaves on July 20th and comes home the 30th. They get to visit Beijing, Xi An, Guilin and Shanghai. He gets to see the Great Wall, travel the Yangtze River (the longest river in China) and tons more! I am so glad that he gets this opportunity. I made him promise to take lots of pictures. If he doesn't then he is dead meat and I will never send him on another great trip like this again. :)

My thoughts exactly

I decided to take a little break from work and sneak in a work out (my goals are small, 10 lbs. in 2 months. I think I can do that). Sasha also needed some tummy time for a little upper arm workout. So while I fired up the tv in our room I put her in the boppy on her tummy. After about 5 minutes this is what I saw when I turned around . . .

Sweetie, I feel the same way about working out. I'd rather sleep than do it. Oh well!

Oh, and if you are looking for a fun workout that will do more good than just get you into shape check out the Carmen Electra striptease. I found it on Comcast OnDemand under sports and fitness. It's about 20 minutes and there are a bunch of different levels. Yes, that's right, she teaches you how to do a striptease all while getting a workout in. I love it! It's kind of fun and I can't wait to show Josh. Not in my workout clothes that is! ;)

A fun read . . .

I love to read "Chick lit" books. They are usually very easy reads and kind of a fun way to escape reality for a while. All this traveling has had me reading lots of books. I usually read one per trip. In the last three weeks I have re-read the first three Twilight books (restarting the 4th tonight). But I finished Eclipse on my way to Eugene this week so I needed another book for the trip home. (In case you are wondering, no I can't possibly find a way to occupy myself for more than fifteen minutes without going batty and I can rarely sleep on a plane). So I picked up this little ditty and really enjoyed it! It's just a cute story about a girl trying to figure out her life, find a boyfriend and deal with her nasty boss. It's the same gal that wrote the Princess Diaries and its not written like a traditional book. Its a series of emails, IM's, phone messages and journal entries. I kind of liked that format. Of course it all ends well in the end, but towards the end it had some really funny parts. The guy sitting next to me on the plane thought I was nuts, I'm sure, but it was well worth it. So if you're looking for something light and fun to read pick this up or come borrow it from me.

Oh, and since I have been traveling so much and that is the only time I get to read I am going to be scoping out your Shelfari's if you have one. Feel free to leave comments about any good suggestions you have for me. I wouldn't mind doing some book swaps with you if are commitment shy when it comes to books. I get really picky about the ones I buy but I'm getting more adventurous with the ones I buy. I have collected quite a few fun ones in the past year or so. Please feel free to come to my 'library' and browse.

Stuck

Ah, the joys of travel. My flights for this trip weren't exactly ideal - I left SLC had to connect in Seattle to get back down to Eugene, OR. Well, we flew all the way down to Eugene and got diverted back to Seattle because of the weather. This trip is starting off well. Le sigh. But at least I'm safe and in one piece. I hate driving in heavy fog, I can't imagine what it would be like to fly in heavy rain and fog, those poor pilots. Some passengers didn't have very nice things to say, which I thought was rude because that can be a very stressful job. The crappy part was standing in the eternal line to get booked on another flight. Of course I had to get in the line with the gate agent that moved like a snail through molasses on the shady side of an iceberg in January! I was the last one out of there - it took forever! I wanted to strangle her when she said "thanks for waiting." Did I have a &%#^*@# choice??? Not really! And I'm a drowsy driver at night so I didn't want to just get a car and drive to Eugene. Way too far. There were some other people renting and sharing cars, but since I am traveling alone I knew that wasn't a good idea. Thank goodness there was a hotel available close by so I can at least sleep in a bed. For a couple of hours anyway.
Gee, I can't wait for my return flight on Wednesday that leaves Eugene at 5:20 AM for Portland with a 2 hour layover before I head back to SLC.
I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.
Scratch that.
I'm thankful I have a job. I'm thankful I have a job. I'm thankful I have a job.
Yeah.
G'night