Because, why not?

Celebrating the year 2059, for the endless possibilities that it holds.

I made tortillas from scratch today. They ended up being amazing, though they were a little chubby and Dave said he thought they needed more salt. I was on a cooking spree, and made a yellow cake with crushed pineapple mixed in. When it had cooled I put cream cheese icing on it, and when it was time to eat it I decided we needed to celebrate something. So I pulled out all the number candles we had and decided that we should celebrate the year 2059. Then we sang a rousing chorus of I'm a Little Teapot (with the motions, of course) and blew out the candles together.

All in all, it was a very productive Sunday.
And my talk went very well, thank you.

Maybe I should start packing...

I've been pretty much vague about my packing efforts. I stole some boxes from our recent move at work, and purchased 5 more from the u-haul store this morning. Can anyone tell me why the u-haul store doesn't have parking? They have a huge lot for their vans and trucks and such, but not a single "I'm just coming to buy tape and a few boxes from you guys" parking spot. You have to park on the street, then walk up their drive-way and through their huge parking lot that you can't park in to finally get to the store. Then you have to haul your stuff back through the lot and down the hill to get to your car. I guess that's why they call it u-haul. They just want to make sure that you remember their name.

Anyhow, like I said, that has been my biggest efforts towards preparing to move up to Logan. We're scheduled to leave on Thursday. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to throw everything into boxes by then. I'm also on the lookout for inexpensive vacuum bags. You know, the kind you put your blankets in and then you suck all the air out with a vacuum cleaner, and the bag is then about 1" thick? I realize that will make my blankets and sheets and such all wrinkley, but I'm willing to deal with the consequences. So if anyone knows a good place to get them, let me know.

I also got a couple of DVD/CD cases so that I won't have to lug all of my DVD/CD covers up to Logan. I figure it will save space in my room if I put them all in the cases. I almost started taking the DVD's out of their covers to put in their case today, but for some reason felt that I would appear unfriendly and they would feel unwanted if I did it today, so I put it off. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's what was going through my mind at the time.

I went to a bridal shower this morning, and a going away dinner tonight. The dinner wasn't for me (neither was the bridal shower, haha) though a lot of my friends that were at the going away dinner for my friend Crystal also wished me well. Crystal and Brandi gave me a piggy bank painted with ocean scenes, which is always a pleasing present. Crystal painted it at this great little do-it-yourself ceramic painting shop that we've gone to together before. She did an amazing job.

It will go great in my room. I discovered today (thanks to my Mom's Saturday afternoon love of HGTV) that my design style is Ethnic Eclectic. Basically what that boils down to is that I like a lot of random things, and I try hard to tie them all in together. It suggested that I use nature-type designs to do so. If you want to take the design style quiz, here is a link. It's under "Discover Your Signature Look."

The end. I have to go to bed now. I'm speaking in sacrament meeting tomorrow, so I have to get up early to practice giving my talk. I am resisting staying up much too late reading Deathly Hallows; however, I fear I might give in. Love you, goodnight.

Play-time for Bekah

Last week, I spent Monday and Tuesday at a writing conference taught by Orson Scott Card. And it was amazing. There were about 60 other nerds there that wanted to learn about writing, and Card did not disappoint. We had class all day; we had to write a story and read about 15 beginnings to other stories during our hour (and a half?) lunch; At night we paired up with another classmate and had to interview a random person, do research in a library or bookstore, observe culture in San Diego, and then come up with 5 complete story outlines to turn in the next morning at 9am based on our findings. It turned out pretty cool. We had to share one of our ideas in a group of 6-7 people, and after we read the information on the card (we were only allowed one 3x5 card per story, and we had to fill it completely) our group members had to discuss and critique our outline. Once we had finished reading our outline, the writer wasn't allowed to comment or explain anything further. It was interesting to hear the other group members comments, and it was also kind of funny what aspects of the story they decided to focus on--parts that I didn't even think were important. So I suppose it's always good to get someone else's perspective.

One of my favorite things that he does is his "1000 ideas in an hour" group discussions. We came up with a character together, went through all the twists and turns of character development, and analyzed all the different angles of what would happen to him if such-and-such a thing happened. There's a lot more, but it's all in my notebook in my room, and it's too late for me to expend the energy leaving the family room to go get it, and then feeling obligated to put all 15 or so pages of notes on this blog. You wouldn't find my notes interesting anyhow, because most of them are little snippets of information that only my muddled brain would understand.

Anyhow, that's what I did for fun last week. Besides painting a large palm tree on one of the walls at work. I'll post a picture of it as soon as it's done. The kids want a little castaway painted on the island. I don't think I'm that talented.

P.S. I bought shoes today that look like they were made out of a tablecloth. And I think I love them.

Chick Flick Support Group

I'll admit that I am a fan of Chick Flicks. My cousin recently came to stay with us overnight. I think it was about the time that I was writing the quizzes for my Mom's English class on Austen's Pride and Prejudice. He insisted that he has known too many girls whose ideas of love have become warped by Jane Austen movies. I tried to disagree, but to no avail. He was not to be persuaded.

I think that chick flicks are like medicine. They are good in small doses. If you are sick of Love, it might be a good idea to break one out and put it in the DVD player, to remind yourself (after you have become emotionally stable, else you run the risk of "accidentally" throwing something at your TV) that love really does and can and should exist in your life. But just like any medicine, if you take too much you either become addicted or you make yourself even more sick. In this case your "sickness" can warp your beliefs of what Love really is-most of the time without you even realizing that it is happening. And if you claim not to be addicted, take a real look in the mirror before you walk away. The first step is admitting you have a problem. =]

I'll admit that I own a large variety of Jane Austen movies, and a good number of "chick flicks" that I have deemed worthy of spending $7.99-19.99 on. Amazon frequently suggests such movies to me. But there are many out there that try and sell love, turning it into something cheap and unrealistic. I hate those movies. Most of them, despite weak efforts to incorporate some kind of moral in to their stories, end up selling a cheapened version of what real love can become, thus warping young single minds worldwide. No, thanks. I'm not buying.

So why am I even writing this? Yesterday I ended up at Hollywood Video. I was on a treasure hunt for Season 1 or 2 of Psych for my Mom (see previous post. The season premier was last night). No one had either. Even my Dad's beloved Fry's failed me. And they have everything! Anyhow, I was going to leave HV, because they didn't have Psych either, but then decided to roam around and see if there was anything that I wanted to rent. I remembered that there was a comedy out based on the Snow White fairy tale. A friendly associate helped me find Sydney White. It looked teenie-bopperish but cute. Then, as I was heading towards the counter I saw another movie that I'd had a vague interest in-Penelope. It was also fairy-tale like, so I decided to make a weekend of it, and immerse myself in fairy tales.

Sydney White was not bad, but if you ever want to see a really cute, sweet chick flick, then check out Penelope. It's about a girl who is cursed with the nose of a pig. It's magical and smart and funny and makes you want to become a better, stronger version of you. That's the story I look for in movies. So I guess Amazon can check off one more romantic comedy for this girl.

P.S. I'm listening to the classical music station, and the song they were just playing was written by Paul McCartney. Did you know he wrote classical music? I didn't. I was so flabbergasted that I didn't even catch the title of the song. Sad day...

Random is Bestest

I have nothing to really say tonight, which sometimes makes for the most interesting posts. I guess we'll see.

This last week, for 3 days straight, all I was doing at work was painting and moving furniture and painting some more, then putting stuff away and cleaning once the furniture was all finally in the right place. And then painting some more. We moved into a new clubhouse. It's nice and big and has room outside for a basketball court and maybe even a little garden. I won't be there long, but it will be fun to help them get started. Plus I have now realized the value of painting a room "two-tone." It's where you have most of your room painted a neutral color, and then one "accent" wall a deep or bold color (one that would be too overpowering if you painted the whole room that color, but adds just enough pizazz if you have one wall painted that way). After I came home the second day my Mom, who is trying to re-do some of our house, took me to Home Depot to choose some possible paint colors. I tried to convince her of the benefits of a two-toned wall (I was channeling my inner-interior designer-something that doesn't happen too often), but alas, she was not to be convinced (as of yet. I think I still have a chance. I'm wearing her down slowly).

Have you guys ever seen Psych? It's basically my favorite show ever. It has Dule Hill in it. He played Charlie in The West Wing, and he's great. James Roday plays the main character, Shawn Spencer. He's basically the most hilarious character ever. He's this guy who has a talent for noticing details, and he uses it to solve crimes and convince everyone else that he's psychic. And what's also great is they make a ton of references to movies, tv shows, and music from the 80's and 90's, so every episode turns into one of those "remember when" sessions you sometimes start with your friends (remember Full House, Growing Pains, and the Cosby Show? Remember TGIF? We used it watch it on an extremely old black and white tv in Rachel's room, and beg my parents to order pizza on Friday nights while we watched it)...

So, have you ever gone to the library and checked out way too many books that you know you won't have time to finish--but you're really hoping that this time you will? That was me, yesterday...and for the next three weeks. So hopefully I can get them done. Plus, I purchased another book at Barnes and Noble which so far is really good, but then it's like a toss up--do I read the library books, that are due back in 3 weeks, laying aside my new very very interesting book; or do I read my very very interesting book very quickly and then read my library books; or do I try and read them all at the same time (which is what I usually end up doing), and risk the possibility of not finishing the library books before I need to return them. Ah, the complicated decisions of life...

You know one reason I'm excited to move back to Utah? Super Walmart. Yes, I know they are the devil or whatever because they don't offer benefits to their employees, and some of the stuff they sell is slightly on the crappy side, and they kind of have a monopoly on the "general store" market. But honestly, I need them in my life. You see, out here in California our grocery stores are organized into a union ("We're a union, just by saying soooo.....And the world will know!!"--name that tune). And they have decided not to allow Walmart to join their union (which Walmart probably wouldn't want to do anyways). This decision, however, has a grave impact on my financial welfare. I'm already paying $100 a paycheck for gas. If I can buy a cantaloupe for a few cents cheaper, then I want that cantaloupe a few cents cheaper. Luckily, Walmart has gotten around this and is now selling every kind of grocery type item that they can without infringing on the union's standards. The only thing that they lack is the meat and produce section. So it looks like I still have to buy my cantaloupe at Vons. Until August. Muahaha.

I have to return to my lair and read 7 books at once. Farewell. =]