Latest Injury Report...and Waiting...

Yes, another one. Not so bad as I thought for a while today, though. And of course it was doing something really stupid and dumb in regular Elizabethan fashion. I was replacing the water cooler container at work...and it slipped out of my hands and landed square on my foot. It didn't really occur to me until someone asked me if I was okay that it actually landed on my foot though...

Anyways, the foot was sore all day, but it is much better now that I have it elevated...NOT BROKEN...not even close. Half the office was telling me to get an x-ray (we have a machine right there) but it was quite obvious to me that it wasn't, and it really isn't. Actually, if you took a look at my foot it looks just like the other one...long, skinny and blindingly WHITE. I am hoping that tomorrow it feels better, it must be bruising far underneath the skin level because it does hurt, but there isn't any swelling so hopefully it was just a nerve or something that was set off and it will be fine tomorrow.

The crazy thing is that I have replaced that water...bottle I guess is what you call it...about 5 or 6 times at work, and a gazillion times when I lived in Arizona. The difference between the one in AZ and the one here though is that the one here doesn't have a handle on it, so you can't get a good grip...

I know, clutz, butterfingers, stupid accident magnet...call me whatever you like...

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I hate waiting...I REALLY hate waiting...

Deutsch anyone???

Boy, today at work this lady came in who spoke VERY little English, and a lot of German. I could understand her for the most part, but my word I couldn't think of the vocabulary...and I am pretty sure I never learned 'CT scan' or 'insurance' when I was in my German courses...she stressed me out...but it was cool listening to a good amount of German for a while. She was SO frustrated...and I am not sure how much I really helped in the situation...I really hope she is inspired by the experience and brings someone along who speaks both fluently next time....

I need to brush up my German skills...

STRESS!!!and hands...

Stress does not bide well with me. No, it's not about a boy (really, it's not...). No, it's not about my Church calling (probably one of the better things I have going for me right now, to be honest with you). No, it's not about my roommate (who is FABULOUS by the way). No, it's not about work (the job is fine).

It's about school.

Yes, I am kicking myself in the face for moving away the first time. It was stupid. I should not have done it. I should've opened my eyes and listened to more people and seen that a train wreck was about to happen. But I can't do anything about that now. I have a car payment to make. I have insurance, rent, credit card, car registration, and other random bills that pop up.

AND I have a degree to finish, and I have a deadline.

Yes, I am stressed out.

I don't know what I need right now. And I am not posting this to ask for ya'll to come up with solutions...I just want to vent...if you really feel like assisting, a prayer or two would be FABULOUS because I truly believe in the power of prayer...

I am just thinking...and stressing...

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In other much happier news, I finally fixed the poor skin on my hands for the most part. The winter is just brutal on my hands, it doesn't matter whether I am in Phoenix or Dixie...the wrists, knuckles, and all the skin in between gets red, inflamed, cracked and even bleeds sometimes...it hurts, it looks bad, and it makes others wonder whether I am a leper or something...

Usually I am able to keep the damage down to a minimum if I keep up with the moisturizing, but me being the smart one that I am, I left my smaller and much more portable bottle of lotion in Georgia with my beloved cousins out there (btw, I left a bottle of lotion out there...if it's been tossed, that's okay, it's replaceable) which means I have not lathered it on after every time I wash my hands with the brutal stuff they have in the soap dispensers at work...it's killer stuff, whatever it is...

I have Mary Kayed the poor hands out over the weekend, and I think I finally have them to where I am keep the damage down to a minimum for what's left of the winter...it helped that the temperature here has been VERY mild lately...which made me immensely happy...

MmmmMmmm...

The house smells SOOOO good. Why you ask? Because I made this:


AND this:


Here is another shot:


I have only had three slices of bread so far...this is the Italian Herbed Braided Bread:

Yeah...YUMMY!!!!!

I went to the store to get bread bags for the 5 loaves of bread (Grandma Raisor's recipe...SOOOO good) and came back in...yeah, the house smells so good. Rachel came in earlier and agreed. :)

I just needed to stretch out my baking abilities...I haven't done this in a long time. I loved it. Got covered in flour...that was the best part. :)

Better...and Good...Inauguration

K, that background was horrible, and I admit it. This one is much much better. And actually it didn't take me long to change color schemes...I have discovered this lovely thing called 'color hex codes' where you can actually change the color scheme using html...pretty dang sweet if you ask me...

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I like it when I go to a doctor with a sincere concern and what I thought was a problem was actually a good sign...and when the scale at the other dr's office says the same thing or less than the scale at the doctors office where I work...:)...and I like nice doctors. I am all kinds of healthy, I am happy to report.

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I watched the quartet play and then the Chief Justice and President Obama stumble over their lines...the quartet was BEAUTIFUL. LOVED it. The piece is called 'Air and Simple Gifts' and is composed by...oh guess...clue, he is a living composer who you actually have heard of...clue, he wrote the Olympic Theme...clue, he wrote the score to a LOT of movies...yeah, John Williams...I admit, I really liked it and I want to listen to it again. I thinks it's funny, someone was saying that the proper tribute to that piece should be given to Aaron Copland...sorry dude, he didn't write the song tune 'Simple Gifts', it's just his version of the song tune most people know. And actually, a lot of composers deem it a compliment when you mimic a style or theme or motive or what-not in your composition. You would be amazed to discover how many pieces there are that quote the famous motive from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony...

Anyways...I hung up on a patient to watch it...I could hear it playing in the background on the other side of the line, and my coworker is yelling 'Elizabeth, get over here, your man is on' (my man meaning Yo-Yo Ma, I have been talking him up since last week) and I couldn't take it anymore and I said 'I am sorry, I am going to have to call you back' and without waiting for an answer hung up and explained to Jason that I was going to be on a 5 minute break...

Pretty cool. The quartet was far more beautiful than that band was, they (the band) were having some tuning issues...

I watched Clinton and Bush get sworn in, and I am glad I watched Obama. I dare say I will watch all the presidents get sworn in if I can. I think it's important. The nurses were calling their kids who were sick at home to turn off the cartoons and watch the inauguration, threatening to be there in a minute...yeah, a lot of the nurses had sick kids today, weird...

I was pretty proud of myself today...a coworker was asking trivia about inaugurations and she asked 'who had the shortest inauguration speech'. It was George Washington. :) I am a big fan of him...

btw...

...I decided to change the blog background...haven't decided if I will keep it, but we shall see how I feel about it...I thought the owl was cute, and the 'whoooo' is really cute...but I am not so sure on the color scheme...

...I haven't decided whether I am going to be one of those who keeps changing their background for the holiday or season, or if I will just get a nice neutral background and leave it there...it certainly takes time changing it all the time, because I have to change the color of everything and then I don't like how something looks on the side, so I change it, and I have to remove a page element, and...yeah...

...and in the mean time the clock keeps ticking and it is now late...all because I am wasting my time redecorating my blog for Valentine's Day...

Done...

Friday...youth conference...went far smoother than I was expecting...
Saturday...youth conference...some hitches but nothing major...
Sunday...Columbiana Ward Conference...

Yeah, I am tired. Very glad we are done. Just wait though, we start meeting for Girl's Camp soon. Cause, you know, it's like five days away and we seriously need to plan plan plan plan plan...

Better and much more interesting and fascinating post soon, I promise.

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January 2, 2009

Never did I think for once that I would actually be watching the Sugar Bowl over the holiday. I mean, I was in Arizona for crying out loud...

Well, I was staying at my BFF Julie's house...and her husband just happens to be a huge Utah fan...

We decided to go to a BBQ place that has TV's everywhere...and of COURSE the game was on...

As we were leaving, Dustin comes walking out with a Utah hat on saying 'alright I am ready to go. I of course had to do a wardrobe change, and he did another one...so this is how we looked at the restaurant:


I should've had Julie take another shot, I look HORRIBLE...about as good as Alabama played unfortunately...anyways...

We put Dustin's hat on Brigham, and this is about the best shot I was able to get. He's a cutie pie...

Here are two videos from that night. Brigham had suffered a hit to the head and was a bit sick, so he was a little fussy...we had to keep him entertained...as always, turn down your volume, it's a bit loud...

I wish you could hear his laughter, it was SOOOO cute...

This was pretty cute. The funny thing is that he kept wanting more throughout the night...

I won't post again until Sunday at the earliest, so happy trails folks! I hope I survive my first youth conference as a leader...gah! :)

Flight 1549...goodbye and hello...

My word, my heart skipped a beat when I heard the news report come over the radio that a plane was down in NYC...at first I reacted the same way I first did to the news report on 9/11...like, wow, that sucks, it ran into a building...and then I saw it...

I am SO grateful for good pilots...155 lives, including his own, were on the line today. That man better be getting some sort of a medal.

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Goodbye President Bush. I haven't liked all the things you did, but I do think some good things came from your administration. Some of the big things that people blame on you you shouldn't be getting the blame for, but unfortunately as the face of this country you got it head on. You are a decent guy, you took on a job no one in their right mind should ever really want to have, because if they do they are the wrong one for the job.

Anyways. Enjoy retirement.

Hello President-elect Obama. I did not vote for you. But this is a democracy, and you won hands down. I am grateful that at the very least it wasn't an election drawn out for weeks and weeks before we knew the results. Please be honest. Please protect the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. Please protect the constitution. And PLEASE get that stupid national debt down a bit...and by a bit I mean a lot. It's scaring me.

Bon voyage!

Cold...Book...Idol Chatter...

I need someone to unfreeze me...seriously, SOOOOO cold. I am wearing a sweater to bed tonight. I am going to try and help the electric bill be a bit smaller by not using the space heater...I will report and let you know what time I gave in and plugged it back in...

Took the car in to get my fluid levels checked, and they checked out, so pending no disaster during the middle of the night, I should make it into work tomorrow...hopefully...

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I am reading The Secret Garden. I have never read it before, and I like it so far...we shall see...

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So how about American Idol, huh? There was one tonight that I thought they should've put through and they didn't because of the stupid cheerleading act that went in front of him. Granted, I didn't watch his whole audition, but I actually thought he was pretty dang good...he needs to audition next year WITHOUT a cheerleading section and he needs to get a dang good song prepared for it...

I LOVED the last one. LOVED her. Her husband was a trip! No emotion, no reaction for the most part...seriously though, she has some amazing chops. A-MAZING.

Didn't watch Tuesday night, with Institute being on Tuesdays I won't ever watch the Tuesday show unless President Archibald cancels, so oh well. I have gotten a bit more into it after last years. I voted for David Cook every time and I was SO happy he made it. I think he is fantastic.

Anyways. That's my two bits.

I will be sooo glad...Institute...missionary moment...

....when the weekend is over. Youth Conferences take a LOT out of a girl...it's good, it's just a bit exhausting...I am going to take advantage Friday morning and sleep in as much as humanly possible...

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After that post yesterday, I thought this was cool:

I was walking down the hall at work today and one of the doctors stopped me and asked if I have lost some weight. He thought I lost 30 pounds or something. It's more like 15...anyways, warm fuzzies!!!

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I talked with a couple of the ladies at work the other day and we started talking about marriage and how people see it today and I explained eternal marriage to them. One of them didn't really take to the idea, although I think she learned something about the Church that she didn't know before. The other one kinda liked the idea. She pointed out that if you really did find someone that you really and truly loved, that of course you would want to be with them for all eternity.

I pointed out the fact that Peter had the power and authority to bind people...you know, 'whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven' (NOT an exact quote of course). I pointed out that we talk of the 'bonds' of holy matrimony, and so Peter had the ability to bind, or rather, marry a man and a woman together for time and all eternity.

Anyways. It was cool.

I DID IT!!!

I would like to announce that for the first time in nearly 2 years, I am under 200 pounds. You have my permission to jump up and down for joy. I have been cutting back a little on how much I eat and I try to eat a little bit every couple of hours to keep the metabolism going. I exercise...sometimes. :) But slowly and surely it's shedding off. 15 pounds and the BMI will be under 25, which is my first goal (by the birthday) and then 15 more pounds to have some spare room (by whenever...sometime this year, although by the summer would be loverly)...which if I am able to do will be the first time I have weighed 170 since...I don't know when. Since middle school perhaps.

Anyways, wanted to spread some of my joy...

You are going to be SO sick of pictures by the end of this...

Okay, this is JUST New Year's Eve...which evidently is the only day of my whole vacation where I actually pulled out and used my camera...

CRACKERS

The sister really wanted to eat at Cracker's...this is proof that I made her dream come true...

Ison showing off...

He said "I wish I had some toothpicks"...now, I could've walked up to the front of the restaurant, but no, I remembered I had stashed a couple in my purse...why, I don't know, I don't usually do that...
Yes, that is two forks balancing on two toothpicks...there are no tricks being pulled here. I was very much impressed...if you look carefully, you can see that lunch was delayed because I had to get a picture...that is our food in the background waiting patiently to be served to us...

RAISOR NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY: THE FOOD

mmmmmmmmm...food...

mmmmmmmmmmm...pizza...my Dad always makes pizza New Year's Eve at our big party...

Robert playing with his gameboy/whatchamacallit thingy and Atom recovering from the AMAZING food that we ate...

RAISOR NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY: FIREWORKS

Nick trying to show Jones that he really is a pyro...

Jones getting all the attention...and soaking it up!

Bradley and Jones...I LOVE Jones' expression!!

He LOVED it!

Jace got jealous, so his Daddy decided to give him a piggy-back too...
:) Couldn't help myself to this shot...
See...family of pyros...

Soon to be Daddy of TWIN BOYS!!!

The one carrying the twin boys...3 months along and already showing...bless you, my dear...I hope I can be there when they come!!!One of my favorite Uncles...
Yes, it is winter, it is nighttime, and we are outside wearing shorts, t-shirts, etc. Wait a minute...nope, it was just Bradley...

RAISOR NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY: THE FIREWORKS SHOW

The plotting and preparing...

Bottle rockets...tons and TONS of bottle rockets...we stuck them into the ground...


Which made for fun when they wouldn't take off...it was HILARIOUS...I have a couple of videos of this, but however well you can watch them on my camera, on the computer you can't see very well at all...not happy about that...

We got pretty spread out with all the fireworks we were setting off...

Awwww...he fits in very well, he is defintely a pyro as well...


Barron and Jessica and (soon to be) Barron the II...SO excited! (his due date is SO close to my birthday...good month to be born in...yay!)


K, so even though Arizona is much warmer than other places in December, it does get cold...this is an unheated pool...don't need the heater during the blistering summer months...anyways...my crazy cousin Nick taking a plunge in VERY VERY cold water. He wanted an airborn picture taken of him...pretty dang awesome, yeah?
"K, give me a crazy face!" I LOVE telling kids that, I get the BEST expressions...

RAISOR NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY: THE INDOOR ACTIVITIES

Aunt Trudy and Denise...

Mom: "cootchy cootchy coo...". It worked, he definitely smiled! :) My parents and Aunt Marilyn putting together a puzzle...

Proof that Nathan loves his Mommy...he is seriously attached to Josh, so this was a rare and VERY precious site...

Maine zonked out...
Puzzle puzzle puzzle...Aunt Linda, Aunt Nancy and I stayed up until 4 am finishing this puzzle. Yes we are nuts. And we got VERY silly too...it was awesome. That is going in my "favorite memories" vault in my head...

Puzzle, puzzle, puzzle...

It is NOT a Raisor party without this...Ison, welcome to the club...I can't wait until all the cousins are together and we have a 42 tournament! :)

Me and my favorite person...Not a very good picture of me, but my goodness could Mommy get any cuter?

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed the recap of my activities exactly 1 week ago...I miss all of you SO SO SO SO much...

Depressing and Tragic

Well today was a sad day. First of all, last night I found out that my former stake president passed away from a heart attack at home. He was still the stake president of the Tempe Arizona University Student Stake when he died, President T. Dennis Barney. Some of you I know were in the stake while he was president. So me being my usually emotional self, even though I was never very close to him, spilled a few tears over that. (For those of you who know him, here is a link to a very nice tribute to him: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/01/06/20090106barney0106.html)

Then I go into work and find out 1) that one of the young kids in the ward who is super sweet and super cute has a brain tumor and has been checked into the children's hospital and is having surgery Friday (the David's kid, for those of you in the ward or who know them...they REALLY need prayers right now) and 2) that the Patriarch's wife has had her IV's taken away from her and isn't supposed to make it another day.

Yeah, and guess what? It was dark and gloomy and rainy...ALL DAY...AND it's supposed to be that way all the rest of the week...AND we of course have had a tornado warning already...I think that there are very few things on my "Very much do not like" list higher than tornado's...

I can't imagine having all of this on your mind and not knowing the plan of salvation...

SO, on those happy thoughts, I will hopefully post a happy blog entry tomorrow...hopefully.

K, so I am a little behind...and busy...

Short post...two videos...first one show Steven entertaining Jace, and then Tyler and Nathan...

This one shows my crazy cousin Nick...turn down the volume...(gosh, am I really that loud??)...he is running at break-neck speed around Aunt Nancy and Uncle Kent's back yard...and it's a big backyard...

I am home...

I am back home in Alabama...

I am safe and sound and unsick...how I am unsick, I don't know, because I was around a number of people who were sick over my long vacation...

I will post pictures and videos tomorrow of the exciting times, and more posts on certain things and events that occurred...

I didn't get as many pictures as I would've liked...although New Year's Eve I think I started bugging people with how many pictures I took...

Anyways...Happy New Year...and good night...

I Have Time...

The haircuts...aren't we cute?

The hair is long with short layers...and Emily looks dazzling as usual...:)

More pictures later...and videos...