If You Build It

Above the stairs in our house there is a ledge for...plants? Tapestries? I'm not sure. When we moved in, we thought Acouchi would like to play up there, but it is too far for her to jump. My wonderful husband came up with a genius solution. He built it and Acouchi loves it!!



It is her new favorite place.

Hare Krishna, Hara Hara

The Festival of Colors, or Holi, is really big around here. I've wanted to go every year but I have never been able to. This year I was super excited to go!! Drek and I went together. We meant to be there at 4:00, but due to some extra-errand running and the ridiculous amounts of traffic, we parked the car at 4:45, and walked for 30 minutes before being greeted by this sight:
So many people!! We got there and the music was blaring, people were everywhere and right as we joined the crowd (before we had time to buy our own colors) it was time for the throwing of the colors!! Drek and I were right in the middle of it:


After we were covered in color, we went up to the second story balcony of the Temple to watch the crowd. Here is a video so you can feel like you were there:


We went and found the llamas, the zebus and the parrots.
This is me feeding a llama. Look how colored my hair is!!

Only then did we get food. 100% Indian, 100% vegetarian (I love religions that encourage vegetarianism, their food is the best).
What? You say it doesn't look very good? Indian food isn't pretty anyway, but there is just no pretty way to mix spinach and tofu.

We had so much fun!! The best part was just being with my wonderful husband. Even though it was a long walk to and from the car (again, traffic was ridiculous) it was wonderful to go on walks with him.

Drek's favorite part was the shower at the end of the day. He thought the amount of color in the water was really funny:

Also The Anniversary of The Day Drek Proposed

Yesterday was Drek's mom's birthday!! The family came up to our little townhouse to celebrate. I made homemade spinach and mushroom manicotti and bought some fancy Italian bread to go with it. For the cake we had cherry cream cake, it turned out better than I thought it would. As I was making it the thought occur ed to me that this was the second birthday cake I ever made. Really. I make Drek pies on his birthday, I made Josh green jello for his birthday, and the only other time I made a birthday cake, so did someone else so mine wasn't the birthday cake. I've bought a lot of birthday cakes, but the only other one I've ever made was Krisling's Star Wars Birthday cake. Weird.
Mom opened presents, including a digital picture frame from the family that took some work to put together:
We played a bunch of games. This was a very intense game of spoons:
It was so much fun! It was nice to have visitors to out little place, we don't get them very often.

8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009

Don't forget about Earth Hour!

Games

Yesterday Drek and I drove up to the capitol to visit my parents, who were staying overnight close to hospital where my dad received his chemo treatment. We went up to visit, to talk, and to play Robo Rally. My dad was doing remarkably well and it was nice to play with him. We had to be back so Drek could interview someone at his work. There were several delays (that's what happens when your husband trusts a mechanical women over you) but we did manage to make it back in time.

Yesterday night Drek, my sister and her husband and I had a game night. They introduced a game called St Petersburg. It's a fun game. I lost horribly, but I am intrigued to play again. The best part of the night was the socializing.

This morning was a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Hopefully, it will be a weekly tradition this spring and summer. It was so much fun to play but I am so sore now. I am very out of shape.

Raise Your Level of Communication

Stories like this amaze me. My goal is to change world, but so far I have only changed myself. This kid has already changed the world, and he's not even sixteen.

I looked at his website, and while it's not pretty, it is amazing. I joined the No Cussing Club immediately.

I think he's right. Words change the world. Do you want to change the world in a negative way by cussing? Or uplift the world by being positive?

I Heard in Health Class That Pregnancy Can Often Lead to Infants

Not that you have to care, but in order to give understanding the people who read this blog, if I make a reference to a new baby or my pregnancy, it's because I am pregnant; Three months along, due in September. I've been keeping a blog of the adventures of pregnancy. It's a private blog so if you are interested just email me and I'll send you an invitation. Don't worry, I won't be going into detail on this blog.

3.14

I made Pie Cups. Just like I said I would last year. Sorry the pictures are fuzzy.

First: Apple pie cups. I made the crust and the filling and used cupcake tins to bake them. I used every other hole so the crusts wouldn't get ruined. I think this was an unnecessary precaution.

I criss-crossed the tops (it took forever!!) and the did the cherry pies. The cherry pies had normal tops, I also did them every other hole. I glazed the tops and baked them for 15 minutes on 425. Here was the result:
Deliciousness!!! Perfect with home made whip cream on top.

Say Hello to iPhone

My phone is broken. Again. Sigh.

I was driving home on the freeway when traffic came to a sudden halt due to a tire in the road. I called 911 on my cell phone ("It's not an emergency, I just need to report a tire in the middle of the freeway"). I was transferred to Highway Patrol and my phone hung up on itself. I didn't want to call 911 again, so I called Goog411 to get the number for highway patrol. Goog411 hung up on me because it thought I was talking because my phone was making so much noise.

Later that day my friend from Philadelphia called. I had to end the call early, even though we only talk every few months and we had a lot to catch up on, because my phone was cutting in and out and I couldn't understand what he was saying and I was afraid it was something important.

I decide to have a talk with Drek. The problem is this: I don't want to buy an expensive phone. I will lose it. I don't want T-mobile to give me a phone, or they will me sign a contract. I can't buy another $24 phone from Wal Mart, this is my third one in five months.

When I broke my first T-mobile phone, I bought a $24 phone from Wal Mart. It was a brick, analog, and it is Super-Phone. After using it for a year, I gave it to Drek-my-boyfriend, so he could have a cell phone (or, make him use a cell phone. Mostly I gave it to him so I could call him.) That was three years ago. He is still using Super-Phone. It still works (so much better than my two-month-old phone). It picks up signals where digital phones cannot. It could survive the holocaust. I need another phone like this. Alas, they do not make them anymore.

I tell all this to Drek, and suggest getting a landline. I hate landlines, but it would be cheaper. We could lower our cell phone bill and you know I would never lose it. If there was an emergency, I couldn't call anyone if I was out and about, but I couldn't anyway, so why not?

Drek is quiet, and then says, "Well, my work is buying me an iPhone, so you can have Super-Phone."

I freak out. "When did you find this out?!"

"I wasn't going to tell you until it arrived."

Allow me to reiterate the important parts of this post. DREK HAS AN IPHONE!!

Always Forever

I love my husband. To me, he is perfect.

Saturday was the first time in a while that we both could just be together without needing to do or be anywhere. We played board games and card games and talked and laughed and had a wonderful time.

Sunday my wonderful husband and I snuggled in bed after church reading books and watching shows on my laptop. He even made Peach Crisp for us to munch on. We went for a long walk on one of the many trails we now live by. I love exploring with my husband.

Guests is What I was About to Say But Now That You Mention it I Happen to Quite Like the Women of the Outback.

I finally watched Australia. It was good, it just wasn't Baz Luhrmann good. I liked it, but it wasn't stunningly brilliant and mesmerisingly beautiful and incredibly flawless like his other movies. Also, I still can't get over that she drowned in a water tower. How do you do that?

I was stunned at how much history it taught me. I knew nothing of Australia history, NOTHING. So it was educational. If not appalling. 1973? Really? And they only apologized in 2008? As in, when the film came out? Really? Australia, after that green New Year's party, you were #1 on my national list. Now you are #4. Shame on you.

What Is It? It's a Compass. What Does It Do? It Points North, John.

Today I volunteered at the temple. When Drek and I went to our new ward on Sunday, the stake was asking for volunteers to be ushers during the open house of the Temple (LDS temples have "open houses" before they are dedicated and functioning. Anyone can attend the open house, it's basically a tour of the inside of a temple). I volunteered, hoping to get some inside information (how long it took to build, how much it cost, why they chose that location, etc).

The hour meeting prepping you for assignment was just the supervisor checking and rechecking list, looking around, saying hi to friends and asking what every one's names were. Five minutes before we loaded on the bus he turned to me and said "You are number thirty-two, and you will be in the celestial room." Sweet! (The Celestial Room in an LDS Temple is always a beautiful room with white and flowers and such. It is supposed to represent heaven). The best spot, sure to be a wealth of information.

We arrived at the Temple, I was taken upstairs and handed off to the person I was replacing. She smiled at me, handed me her "Usher" name tag and turned to leave. "Wait!" I said; "What do I do?" She smiled and whispered; "Just smile and make sure people don't take pictures or talk on cell phones." And then she left. As she walked away I wanted to ask if someone did take a picture, was I supposed to confiscate their camera, but it was too late. Apparently, there would be no inside-information-giving. I smiled at the people already in the room and leaving the room ( I was at the exit, there was another usher at the entrance) and tried to figure out the situation. I realized that when everyone came into the room, they looked up. Curios, I, too, looked up. HOLY AMAZING!! Hanging from the ceiling was the most beautiful three-story chandelier I have ever seen. It was lighted, it sparkled, it was gorgeous. I looked back down. I didn't want to seem "touristy". People like their ushers act like they have seen the room before (and I had not).

Soon, a person walking by stopped and asked my my first question. "Is it made of diamonds or crystal?" Meaning the chandelier. I did not know. This was just the sort of inside information I was hoping that as an usher, I would be told. Alas, I was not told anything. However, given the choice between diamonds and crystal, I would pick crystal, and since people want their ushers to be knowledgeable, I answered "Crystal. Isn't it beautiful?" And smiled.

From then on I must have been asked twenty times what the chandelier was made out of, every time I would say crystal. On the bus going back to the parking lot at the end, I asked the supervisor what the answer was and he said Austrian crystal, and went off on how heavy it was.

My second question of the day came when a women asked me "What kind of flower is it?" "Which one?" I asked, thinking she meant the beautiful bouquets of flowers set in stunning crystal vases around the room. She gestured up to the ceiling. I gazed up and noticed that at the top of the chandelier was an elegant pattern resembling a flower. The same design is on the ceiling of the Provo Temple. I was pretty sure this was just a design, and not a particular flower, so I smiled apologetically and admitted that I didn't know.

Twenty minutes later a women asked me if my religion worshiped pansies. She could tell I was confused and added "Or is there some sort of pansy symbol?" Again, she gestured up and I supposed she was referring to the design on the ceiling. "Oh, they are just pretty flowers." I smiled at her (I had the smiling thing down pat).

Two hours later a man came by and said: "Are those Sego-Lilies?" and pointed upward. I followed his gaze and to my astonishment realized that bordering the ceiling were designs of flowers. This must have been what everyone was referring to. They resembled pansies, but I was sure the man was correct. "Yes, they are Sego-Lilies." I said. Which makes so much more sense, as the Sego-Lily is the Utah state flower. At the end I asked the supervisor and he confirmed they were, in fact, Sego-Lilies.

Little kids liked to ask questions too. They asked much better questions like "How do you now if there are mice in the temple?" and "How many shiny things are on the chandelier?" and "Did it cost more than gum to make it?" As he and his mom passed me one kid said "Mom, I want to live in this room."

Awwwww

All Those Months of Doing a Stunningly Boring Chore

I'm doing laundry. Ask me where!! Ask me where!!!!!!!!!!

Where?

AT HOME!!!!!!

I have never done laundry at home before.

Everything's Cool as Long as I’m Getting Thinner

So glad February is over. What a horrid month.

March was looking better; Drek and I are out of the old apartment and enjoying our new one. We are slowly unpacking and settling in.

My dad was released from the hospital yesterday, but was rushed to the ER again today. Not good.

Hating work. Seriously, if this keeps up I'm taking my chances with the economy. I am not going to keep dealing with this stuff.

I'm not getting thinner, BTW. Quite the opposite. It is scary. My newest idea is to have a small "Biggest Loser" competition. But not right now. Right now I have more urgent issues.