A knife little story

Last weekend, one of my favorite people came to visit me.  Okay, she really came for a wedding, but I got to pick her up from the airport.  We will call her Ginger.  She really is one of the best people I know, and she thinks I'm funny and great, so naturally, I think the same of her...but it's legitimate.  Plus, she makes me do and say silly things that I don't normally say.  It's a good relationship.

We hit up the local flea market.  This place is HUGE!  We looked around for such a long time, enjoying the fancy t-shirts, belt buckles, head scratchers, and various Arizona paraphernalia.  We ended up at a cooking show.  It was perfect timing, because the demonstrator was just getting ready to let us taste the food.  We somehow became friends with the demonstrator and enjoyed some good bantering.  Then came the raffle.  I got to pick one of the numbers, and I picked Ginger's number!!  It was a fancy bread knife.  I was jealous.  Luckily, she regifted it to me!  How about that?!?!!?  It's actions like this that determine best friend status.  That, and TSA doesn't allow knives.

So, if you need bread cut, let me know.

I keep myself on my toes

Sometimes I think I'm pretty normal, and then, the 10:00 hour hits, and all bets are off.  Today's example...I decided that green beans would really hit the spot.  What?!?!  And they did!  That's the worst part!  Slightly disgusting, but surprisingly tasty.  It may be time to go to the grocery store.

And, I came out of retirement.  I'm regretting that choice, but hoping the retail therapy that will happen when the first paycheck comes will help me cope with that decision.  It's not an ideal job, and I may be overqualified for it, but who doesn't like the opportunity to answer phones, stock coffee flavors AND get micromanaged?  That's what I thought :0)

BUT, I discovered a few things in my driving to work: 1) it's hard to drive and eat cereal, especially when it comes to drinking the milk. 2) 97.3 FM is a 24/7 comedy radio station.  How grand is that!?!?  Laughter really makes the drive go by quickly. Technically, this is a couple of things.  I'll keep my eyes out though and share them as they come. 

LOST

I finally finished LOST.  It has been a long time.  I started season 1 at Thanksgiving of 2006 and last week finished the final season.  I can't say that I was totally pleased with how it ended.  Much too sappy.  But it was a fun ride.  And it was even better that I would convince my roommate to watch one more episode.  Every time.  Overall, I have learned that I never remember the flight number on all my trips.  Ever.  I have tried, and it just isn't in me.  Yet, everyone on this island, and many others do.  How?  I've decided to not make this a lifelong goal of mine.  And I'm not going to try and remember who everyone on my flight was.  Although, I may be willing to name future children after some of the characters. 

Dear Abby

Three questions have been going through my head all day long and I can't make sense of them.  If you have any counsel, please feel free so give me some advice :0) 

Dear Abby,

1) if you were to be outside, and you hear a person berating their dog, and possible throwing rocks at them, what is the best way to handle the situation?  I chose to not do anything, which I'm not condemning myself for yet, I'm sure that will come later.  But I haven't ever dealt with this before, and I really have no idea how I should've acted.  If it was a kid, you bet I'd say something.  Is a dog any less than a kid?  Did I really see what was happening?  Nope.  Breaks my heart.  Ok, the condemning is coming.  Dang it.

2) how do you respond to a person that you don't like?  Each time you are around them, you find yourself being less nice.  Clearly this person doesn't deserve to be treated as such, but I can't shake it.  Advice.

3) and lastly, someone wants to move in with you.  You know it's not going to be a good situation.  And the potential for not getting along is pretty high, yet you are desperate to have someone help pay rent. And maybe it won't be that bad and you just have a tendency to make things higher drama than they need to be.

Sincerely,
Dog-tired of not coming up with any answers.

Overdue Book Review

I haven't stopped reading, I promise.  I've read a few books in the last little while, but I'm not sure which ones I haven't told you about.  Here are a few:


The Devil in the White City - fascinating.  The true story of the World's Fair in Chicago combined with a creepy guy who kills women.  It was a pretty good read, and the facts were fun.  Definitely interesting.
The Shell Seekers:  this was the large print book.  Which made me feel like the fastest reader ever.  Not the most exciting book.  Kind of depressing, actually.
Bossy Pants:  the autobiography of Tina Fey.  Which happens to be one of the funniest ladies ever.  Cute books.
Enna Burning:  The sequel book to "Goose Girl."  Cute book as well
Flipped:  Absolutely adorable.  It's a 2-sided book of teenage neighbors.  So fun to read.
Letters to my 16-year-old self:  Quick read, bun to read what some people would say to themselves after they've reached their success.  It was annoying at sometimes, but often the people wanted to tell themselves to be okay with who they are and develop better relationships with their families.
Scorpions for Breakfast:  As an Arizona resident, I now care about the immigration issues...right?  This is written by the governor, Jan Brewer.  She may have been a bit dramatic about what's going on with immigration, but there is definitely an issue right now.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter:  Interesting.  I agree with some of her points, and it's crazy to learn more about advertising and the way they've changed so much of our lives.
Ender's Game:  Fun little book that we had for book club.
Lovely Bones: still not sure how I feel about this one.
Tipping Point:  Always fun to read Malcolm Gladwell.  Another good book.  He focuses on what makes something a success or a failure. 
Blink:  And another by Malcolm Gladwell.  This one's about our thought processes, and how quickly they can happen.
Maisie Dobbs:  Recommendation from my Mom.  It was a cute book, not as much of a mystery as I was thinking it would be, but it was a good read.

There might be more, but this I think catches me up for a while.

Call to Repentance

Confession:  sometimes I don't like to answer the phone.   

Well, the other day, I was deciding to take a nap, and my phone started to ring, I looked at who was calling, and did a quick mental check of why she would be calling.  I couldn't think of anything, and having a chip on my shoulder about something, I put the phone down, and went to sleep.  20 minutes later, I listened to the voicemail.  She was in such a huge bind and needed a ride somewhere important.  Luckily, I was able to call her back and we were able to make it to her appointment, just a few minutes late.

Now, I know that I can't be there for everyone, all the time, that's impossible and unreasonable to think.  But I still do, AND this time, I chose to not even reach out to be of service.  I avoided it.  And I felt like such a jerk, and still kind of do.  I have been called to repentance, no pun intended, but it's catchy. 

There is a story of President Monson of how he had kind of been putting off a prompting all day long, and finally went to do it.  It was to visit someone in the hospital, and when he got there, the person just just passed away.  He was heartbroken and devastated.  But he made a promise to never put off a prompting again.  And he has blessed so many lives because of his skill in hearing the prompting of the spirit and acting.

Now, I know I'm not comparable to President Monson, but I feel a little of what he felt.  It has been a hard pill for me to swallow and I still feel very humbled by the experience.   I hope that all of us can find and act on opportunities to serve, and not let person biases stop us from serving.

Nice Discovery

I recently began the interesting adventure of Bikram Yoga.  90 minutes of yoga in a 105 degree room.  Disgusting?  Perhaps.  But the nice treat for my first visit was the instructor, Nathan.  He was a tall, lean man of about 27.  When I came into the studio, he was behind the counter, so I was taken aback when he came around the corner and I saw the whole picture.  He was wearing nothing but the smallest pair of tan, velvet shorts that I have ever seen.  His beautiful ponytail cascading down his back.  Wow.  It was like meeting Tarzan, or at least the guy from "The World's Greatest Athlete." (which, is actually a very funny Disney movie).  Distracting.  I couldn't look at him.  At all.  He had quite the soothing voice throughout the exercising, but what made it so much sweeter, was in the final relaxation pose (laying on your back, hands open, feet open and just focusing on your breath), he sang a sweet lullaby to us.  I am only familiar with the song from the fantastic movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", another Disney classic.  I had the hardest time not laughing.  I didn't think anyone else knew this song, let alone use it to sing to a random group of people who are beyond sweaty messes. 

So, the discovery.  Upon looking up the words to the song for my brother, I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDaWZHPduKY&feature=related
A nice clip from the movie.  Which led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn6Tol70BjU&feature=related
Someone else singing it!  What?  Which led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlWmp64qpE&feature=related
This Stacey Kent lady is actually quite good.  I like her music.  It was a neat discovery. 

So thank you creepy yoga instructor in a small piece of fabric for singing a beautiful lullaby for me to mock so I could find this new singer.
I am excited for tomorrow's outfit!!