11:11pm thoughts

I’m up trying to decide if I want to clean up in preparation for tomorrow’s festivities, or go to bed and get up early to do it. I’m sort of getting a second wind, so I’ll probably opt for the former.

There is a bottle of dish soap on the counter. It’s called “planet” and the first sentence of “boasts” states that it is certified biodegradable. Are other dish soaps not biodegradable? Have I been infecting the planet for the past 26 ½ years with non-biodegradable dish soap, and I never knew it? Fact heard from the ecology-lovers that I volunteered with this summer: It takes 1,000 years for your plastic grocery bag to decompose. No wonder California is about to outlaw them. Every time I walk in to Vons I think “I should really spend a few dollars and buy some of those cloth bags, because soon the plastic ones will be illegal, and everyone will be trying to buy the cloth ones, and there will be none left and I will have to carry all my groceries home in my arms, and I’ll probably end up dropping the glass jar of spaghetti sauce, and I just know they won’t give me a refund for that.” I still haven’t bought the cloth bags yet.

The building I work at sits on a hill. Outside of our building is a small grassy area that overlooks the I-15. Yesterday as I sat down for lunch, one of the kids came in and said to two of my co-workers and I “There is a fire across the freeway!” I didn’t think much of it, but I was curious, and considering the scary fires that happened just three weeks ago, we weren’t taking any chances. I walked outside, and lo and behold, the hill was on fire—and it wasn’t a small fire either. It extended from the bottom of the hill, almost the entire length of the entrance/exit to the freeway, and was moving in a triangular sort of pattern up to the top of the hill, towards some military housing. There were three fire engines down at the bottom, and you could see five or six little bitty firemen sprawled all over the hill, shooting little streams of water at the fire. They had it contained pretty fast, and they were able to stop it 15 ft from the houses. Close Call.

When the Witch-Creek fires were going on, our house was boxed in by three separate evacuation zones, so we were packed and ready to go. I made a list of things I didn’t want to forget, besides my emergency pack.

Alvin and his food
Blanket and pillow
Family pictures (I currently have them all in my room. Little project I’m working on)
Purse
Firebox
File box
Journals box
Cell phones/palm pilot and chargers
Computer
Towels
Scriptures

Surprisingly, I left my scriptures for last. I’ve always thought they would be the first thing that I’d grab. All I could think was “I can get new ones. I have my mini set in my storage in Utah, so I’ll be fine. My Patriarchal Blessing is in my file box, so that is safe.” I guess sometimes it’s just a matter of asking yourself, “Can I replace it?” Isn’t it amazing that we live in a world where I can replace my scriptures so easily? Isn’t that beautiful? Gutenberg, you’re my hero.