Alabama 33 Virginia Tech 21

Last year one of the doctors asked if I babysit. Of course I babysit! I love kids!!! So I babysat for her.

We talked again a few weeks ago, and after she consulted with her husband they decided that they wanted to use me again this year. Woot!

Tonight at FHE the YSA were trying to figure out where they could gather to watch the game, and our house came up...the roommate is going to the beach with her family, so everyone took a good look at me...I considered it for a moment, and then luckily remembered before they ran with the idea that I was babysitting Saturday.

There were protests: how could you babysit during a game?

Very easily: my life does not revolve around Alabama football. Nor does it around any other sport for that matter.

They were still amazed.

I actually enjoy being around kids wholeheartedly, so it's not really work to watch them. I'm not missing anything Saturday that I feel I am going to miss out on except associating with my friends here in town...but my closest friend I believe has to go to the game to work, the roomie will be at the beach, so...why not?

People here take their college football seriously...and even their high school football. They could really care less for the NFL...going to the scrimmages before the season starts is a highlight for all football fans here...you would think an actual game was going on...the minute details people mull over here is just incredible to me...everyone is an expert on football here...our 'ice-breaker' at FHE tonight was 'what will the score be for the game Saturday?' Everyone told their guess, which was recorded, and the closest to the actual score wins something...not sure what yet. EVERYONE guessed an Alabama victory...I strongly thought about going the other way, but I think that might have pushed some peoples strings too far...

It irks some people to no end that I root for ASU...:) It's my Alma Mater, and I wouldn't trade any moment of my 4 years there for anything...even the bad experiences. They were good for me. GO DEVILS!!!

But after ASU, I do have to say, 'ROLL TIDE ROLL'!!!

So I had some chewing gum...

We had a YSA (young single adult) dinner and fireside tonight with the entire stake presidency and their wifes. We had an AMAZING turnout, considering it was just our stake...

Dinner: lasagna, salad, rolls and cheesecake.

Finish dinner, and Cody starts passing out his stash of mint flavored gum...

Get into the chapel, and the pianist signals to me that I am going to lead the music. I seriously need to have an attitude change, because I really didn't want to and haven't wanted to lead the music at church for a while...but especially tonight...

I am sitting up there, it's about to start and I realize: I still have the minty rubbery substance in my mouth...

Do I run to a trash can? No, the opening hymn will need to start in about 2 seconds...purse is down in the pew, so that option is out...I don't have a special place in my mouth that I can stash it and be sure that it will stay there for the entire hymn...

Yeah...I swallowed it.

Foul fowl...

Yesterday a funky smell was coming from the general direction of the kitchen...

I searched in all the 'usual' places for malodorous sources...without much luck...except that it was definitely coming from the fridge...but we were finally successful in finding the culprit:

Putrid Poultry

Butter...

Last night I found THIS New York Times article about the effect the movie Julie & Julia is having on the book business. My favorite part of the article was the ending.

I already bought the book Julie & Julia before seeing the movie, but didn't start reading it until after seeing the film. In the movie, Amy Adams character Julie Powell asks her husband 'do you think she (meaning Julia) doesn't like it (her blog) because I use the F-word sometimes?'. I admit, I chuckled...terrible, yeah, I know. Well, then I started reading the book. That sucker had more language and blech in it in the first 100 pages or so than any 100 books that I have ever read combined. She has every right to do that, but that is just not for me...I kept hoping it was going to clear up because beyond all that it was an interesting read, but it kept getting worse, so I skipped to the parts about Julia Child's life that were strewn in the midst of the book and then I threw it into a plastic bag and have yet to decide if I should give it to the library or what...I was SOOOOOOO disappointed, the movie was lovely in many ways...

In the Times article they quote Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally) who is the director, writer and producer of this film. The quote is at the end of the article with her saying that she secretly hoped that moviegoers would go from the theaters to the bookstores and that books would go flying off the shelves...but they may find that another product may be flying off the shelves much more than those books mentioned in the film...

...because as for me, I bought butter. :)

And this little piggy went...

First Swine flu scare at work today...

...luckily it wasn't the H1N1 strand of flu, it was just regular flu...phew...

I found it kinda funny that after we got the results back from the lab and the word was spread, we relaxed back into regular mode...and then the paranoia hit that flu season is around the corner and this will be the first of many scares...

...I believe the lobby is now littered with:

'if you are sick, tell the receptionist so we can hand you a mask so you can scare all the other patients and give them someone to gawk at and insist on you using the hand sanitizer we leave available for the patients to ignore or refill their own hand sanitizer bottles (yes, that really happened...the nerve)'

...signs that have a stop sign on them. Unfortunately, they are black and white...so their effectiveness may not be very good.

I suggested the brilliant idea of a sign with flashing lights, but the others argued that we would get complaints that it was causing headaches. There already is a TV out there...in my book, if they can handle one of those all day every day in their own homes, they can handle a flashing 'stop' sign in the lobby...;)

A Profound Statement...

If you think about it, this really is a profound statement no matter what your situation in life is:

“My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not.

Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.”

-by none other than our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson

It Has Happened...

I've waited for this day for a while...

You know when you have a Gospel question? And you sometimes have to wait to find the answer? And when you get the answer, it's just an amazingly lovely experience?

Usually these come in the form of a Sunday Talk, a Conference Talk, some random comment made by someone that doesn't even have to be a member of the Church, a book I am reading, etc...

Sometimes they come from the Scriptures. But there is one book that I have never really gotten this kind of experience from in the scriptures.

This time I did. The Book was Isaiah...:)

Yes, I am doing the happy dance...and I wasn't even looking up the topic, I was on a different route...

Usually I refer to it as 'the dreaded but evidently really important Book of Isaiah'.

I like to think of myself as something of a scriptorian...ha, the word is actually 'scripturist'...yes I bothered looking up the correct word...

Scripturist: one who is strongly attached to, or versed in, the Scriptures, or who endeavors to regulate his life by them

Anyways, Isaiah definitely caused a bit of a challenge that improved little with time, experience, knowledge, etc...

I should do a re-read-through of Isaiah for kicks and see how I do...:)

Forgive me...

...but...am I completely corny for loving this? Both because it involves a world record (longest successful game of telephone) AND for the ending...:)

If I don't get married...

...then someone seriously needs to hire me as their personal chef and in home babysitter...these are two things that I love to do, and being single and not quite 28 yrs old is really putting me down in both of these lovely areas...

Cooking for one sucks...my money constantly is getting thrown away into the trash with all these darn leftovers that I don't get to before the green and blue fuzzies make their appearance...and baby, I can and love to cook/bake/etc...Southern Living has some awesome recipes...

Babysitting jobs go usually to the young women...pre 22 years of age...

btw...shameless advertising...if anyone needs a babysitter/beginning piano teacher/cello teacher...Elizabeth is in serious need of some funds...in a bad way...

This was not supposed to happen...

New car. New cars don't break down.

No, they don't!

They are brand new...they have to be at least three years old before they break down.

No, I know about these things. The first thing that breaks down in a new car (understanding that you do your regular oil changes and such) is the battery, which should last you at least three years. My battery is 1 1/2 years old...

Guess what?

Went downstairs at lunch yesterday...and my car wouldn't turn over.

That hasn't happened in 1 1/2 years to me...unless I wasn't in my car...so of course I thought I was hallucinating or traveling back in time or something...I mean, it's a new car...new cars don't not turn over...this isn't right...

...after pinching myself a few times, turning the key a bunch more times, and such, reality set it...my car isn't turning over...

...got it jumped after work, drove it home...(oh, to make matters better, I am running on fumes...I forgot to fill my car up last night)...turned it off and tried to turn it back on for kicks...

...yeah...

...the battery is dead as a doornail...won't keep a charge worth anything...fabulous, right??? At least it's not the alternator...

Well...one and a half years was a pretty good run!

Reading...

Have you ever started reading a book on page 19 at 9:30pm to help you wind down, and then realize that you are on page 80, look at the clock, and it's dangerously close to midnight?

Yeah, that was last night.

The funny thing is that the book I was reading last night (not Jekyll and Hyde) is turning out to not be all that good...but I am still determined to finish it before I throw it away or donate it to the library...and yet I read it for almost 2 1/2 hours...bah...

I was attempting to get to sleep earlier so I could wake up earlier...with school starting back up, traffic is simply horrific...which makes getting to work in 10 minutes impossible...more like 20 if you are lucky...

TMI...

Never...ever...I mean, NEVER EVER tell anyone that you are in the shower when you are on the phone. ESPECIALLY to a stranger...EVER...I mean, that does real damage to some people...

This statement would've been 'verify the person calling you is a nurse before you presume they are and tell them every single symptom you are experiencing' because that is what the phone call started out as...

...and then the awful truth came out...

...some things are just not meant to be known...

...I just thought we had a bad connection...that happens often enough in the nearly 100 phone calls I make every day...

...sometimes I really wish I could just go back to the pre-eight-years-old days...

..he actually said 'close your eyes, it's not a pretty picture'...I mean, come on...

...on the agenda tonight: watch totally engrossing movie/tv shows, read totally engrossing book...Amber, I really need my Fiddler on the Roof back for real this time...the men are fully clothed from head to toe in that one...

On a Roll...

I am on a Robert Louis Stevenson kick...first the poem, now a book: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I think when I finish with it I will read Treasure Island as well...I can't believe I haven't read either of these books. I hope I am not totally depressed after reading this one though...we shall see. It has a bunch of cool history that goes along with it. I am actually enjoying reading all the introductory stuff in the front of the book.

Dream, Dream

The Land of Nod
Robert Louis Stevenson

From Breakfast on through all the day
At home among my friends I stay,
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod.

All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do--
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams.

The strangest things are there for me,
Both things to eat and things to see,
And many frightening sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find the way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.

I thought I had forgotten how to dream...I used to wake up still in the middle of one. I sometimes remember the entire dream...and if I like it, tuck it in my memory...I have this weird ability to re-dream dreams when I feel like it...

But lately...none...

Until last weekend...I finally found my way back. My word they are vivid too. I don't remember any of my dreams being so colorful...and I mean that literally...bright reds, greens, blues, etc.

But they are rather erratic...not one long story, just a bunch of short scenes that seem to have nothing to do with each other...

I really should keep a dream journal for the heck of it...

Happy dreaming!!

Bogels...

If you have a Panera anywhere near you, and you have any sort of liking for bagels, GO to your nearest Panera and get yourself one of the containers full of 'bogels'. It's like getting donut holes, except it's bagel holes...

May I suggest the Cinnamon Crisp Bogels...

A coworker brought them in today...SOOOOOOOOOO good!!!

Some thoughts...

I need to stop making promises to write posts about this, that and whatnot...

I MAY get to posting posts I promised to post...(say that three times fast)...

And I MAY stop promising to write posts on certain topics...maybe...

One day a post was in production...and suddenly it was way past bed time. My whole evening was gone. That makes me so angry, because I need to attempt to get a full nights sleep...

I believe I have mentioned the following before, but oh well, I am repeating myself. Won't be the last time, for sure. I am trying to turn a much needed leaf and be on the internet/computer as little as possible after work. I am on it all day at work. The evenings need to be dedicated to doing something useful...useful only includes the internet IF I am working on a very long paper...

Where did the summer go? It seemed like it would never get here, and now it is very nearly gone. The school buses are back in all their glory. Good to know that the school systems are still able to run despite all the economic turmoil happening...

I am thinking about creating another blog...one that is on a specific topic, unlike this one that consists of random burblings that come to mind...one that will stretch me a bit, and will cause me to do some good research...I have found that I love doing research. I probably should've been a musicologist...but music theory stretches me and and challenges me, which is why I have stuck with it...