I digress #7 - Cops and white lies!

I've always been so afraid of Cops. I don't really know why. They are supposed to be the "Good Guys", but they run around acting like they're THE LAW!! They ARE the Law, but they don't have to act so tough and better than!! They've always intimidated me. I know there are many nice cops out there too, however. I've gotten pulled over 5 times in my life.. Once when I was 16, I had just got my license and I pulled out in front of a cop, when I saw that it WAS a cop I slowed down even though I hadn't even hit the speed limit yet! There go the flashing lights and the sinking feeling that comes with it! He asked me if I knew why he'd pulled me over.. I said "Well my speedometer is broken, was I speeding?" Uhm. Lesson one. Act dumb and say "No officer, did I do something wrong?" and then batt your eyes and smile. :) Lesson two.. Never tell a cop that your speedometer is broken! He pulled me over to say that if he had've been a drunk person or a distracted person, then he would've plowed right in to me. I think he was quite OVER-EXAGGERATING, I mean.. come on.. PLOWED?? Oh well, he gave me a warning... so I'll let him over-exaggerate all he wants! :) He made me promise to get my speedometer fixed that same week.. but I don't recall that ever happening. :)

It's not so bad any more, but there was a time in my life when I was so paranoid about Cops that if one ever pulled behind me I'd freak out, check my speed a dozen times in a 5 second time-frame and then take my first right just to get out of their radar regardless of if it made me late to where I was going! Even if I wasn't doing anything wrong! It was ridiculous! However, most of the time, I DO have to worry when I see Cops, because I have a NEED FOR SPEED! :) It's true. I have a led foot. I'm not proud of it, but it leads me to this blog entry which I believe you'll enjoy. :)

So, way back in 1996 or 97, I was friends with this awesome girl named Amie. Yep, I'm still good friends with her. :) She had her own car. A 1985 Mazda 323 Hatchback. I was stuck sharing ole bessie with the family so to ME, it was cool that she owned her own car. She said that she was going out of town for a week and that I could borrow her car ON ONE CONDITION!!!! That I didn't speed in it!! Wow.. a car all to myself for an entire week?? To come and go as I pleased without consulting the family for car needs? What a fantastic DEAL!! Oh wait... did she say no speeding??? Whoa... was it possible? I told her YES, it was a DEAL!! And right then and there I made a promise to myself that I would never speed in her car. She left out of town and I had her car! How exciting! I was doing soooo good! I was impressing even myself that I drove only the speed limit!! Not even the 5 above which we're allowed to go! Even though it drove me insane.. I had made that promise and I was keeping it! Amazing! :)

I made it through every single day FLAWLESSLY!! I couldn't WAIT until Amie got back in town and I could report that I never sped once in her car. :) The night before she arrived back home, I was going on my last little jaunt in her car. I was late for a wedding reception for a good friend.. nevertheless I didn't speed to get there. I didn't know where the chapel was and it was 8:45pm so I could not afford to make any wrong turns! But of course I DID! I made a legal U-Turn and to make up for lost time.. I decided to speed back to the light because I just COULDN'T miss the reception!! As I waited at the red light to turn left, the DEVIL in a COP CAR pulled up behind me!!! I swear he had horns!! The sinking feeling overwhelmed me and I started squirming in my seat and was saying NO NO NO NO NO!!! I'VE BEEN SO PERFECT ALL WEEK!!!!! PLEASE NO!!!! PLEEEEEASE NO!!!!!

The light turns green, I turn left and he's right on my tail. I'm scared out of my wits at this time, so I decide I'm going to LOSE this fella, so I take my first left into a neighborhood!! SO DID HE!! He's STILL right behind me! I freak out, so I take my first RIGHT going even DEEPER into a neighborhood!! All the while I'm still saying NO NO NO!!! It's NOT RIGHT! I've done everything PERFECT!!! PLEASE NO NO NO!!!! After I turn right.. he follows me!! Since my little diversion didn't work, I came up with PLAN B!! (Please note... I do not recommend Plan B to ANYONE!!)

I pull over to a house and park. He pulls over across from me. I PRETEND I DON'T NOTICE HIM.... and I get out of the car and ignore his very existence. I walk up to this house and as I'm walking up, I notice that I just HAPPENED to pick the ONLY DARK HOUSE ON THE STREET!! But I can't turn back now.. the cop is watching me. (I wonder what he was thinking..) I continue down the seemingly endless walkway up to the dark house and I knock on the door. (so dumb.. where did my brain come up with that kind of PLAN B anyways!!!) I don't think well under pressure. :) Lesson three - NEVER EVER PRETEND that you "don't see" a Cop after he's followed you onto 4 streets!!!!

I could feel the cops penetrating gaze from behind me as I waited at the door of some unsuspecting homeowner. After I knocked, a little dog started yapping and soon all of the lights came on. If I wasn't panicking before.. I was NOW!! An older woman came to the door and as soon as she opened it, the cop pulled away. **WHEWH** My Plan B WORKED!!! YES!!! Oh CRUD.. there's a lady staring at me with wondering eyes. What the honk am I gonna tell her??? She said, "Yes? Can I help you?" She smelled of cigarettes and I had a hard time breathing at first. I am embarrassed to admit, but I told her a white lie. I figured I HAD to because I couldn't tell her that I had just eluded a COP.. she'd probably get the wrong idea and think I was a fugitive or something!!!

I simply smiled and said casually, "Hi. I'm here to pick up Amie." She said, "Oh I'm sorry dear, there's no Amie that lives here." Just to ham it up, I looked confused and said.. "Hmm, I must have the wrong address. I'm sorry to bother you, have a good night." YES!!! HOME FREE!!! I have 5 minutes to make it to the reception even though I never found the chapel yet!! However, Plan B backfired and my simple white lie turned into the white lie saga!!! She said, "Well, what is her last name? They might be my neighbors and I could point the house out to you." I think the color may have drained out of my face. I made up some random last name and of COURSE she didn't know them. She eagerly wanted to help me find Amie, bless her soul!! I just wanted to call it a night and LEAVE!! I felt captive to her and with every question she asked me, another LIE rolled off my lips... I felt awful, horrible and extremely guilty for lying to this sweet old lady. She asked me if I had the address, and I told her I had left them at home accidentally and was going from memory which is probably the reason I had knocked on the wrong door!! And then.. I changed my entire story!! Lesson Four - When lying to someone's face, never EVER change your story!!

I was getting antsy with this awkward situation and I needed to LEAVE! So I said, "Actually, I'm looking for a church." She said, "Oh." Looking very puzzled because I had just switched up everything. I'm a horrible liar. She continued, "The Mormon church?" Guilt and Shame must have been written all over me.. I nodded my head and she slowly raised her arm up and pointed directly behind me saying, "Do you mean.... That Mormon Church?" Just then, my life turned into a slow-motion movie as I turned around to see the steeple standing tall and proud lit up like a beacon in the night just on the other side of her neighbors house!! (duh, how could I have missed that!!!) I felt like the dust of the earth... I wanted to explain the whole story of what had just happened just so she'd know WHY I came to her house and lied to her like that!! I didn't though. It was 9:00. I got in the car and drove around the corner to the reception just in time to see my friend hop in her car and drive away with her new husband. She saw me and gave me a big smile and a wave as she drove past me. I was glad she at least knew I was there. But it didn't matter that much to me anymore.. I felt like I had a lot of repenting to do when I got home!

I'll never forget the infamous night of eluding the law and interrupting a nice old woman's evening with my lies!! For the next MONTH I drove past her house from time to time trying to get up the courage to bring her some homemade cookies and tell her my story and apologize to her. But I didn't. I learned many lessons that night!! The HARD WAY! LOL!! NOW I can look back and laugh when I tell the story!! I told it recently to a friend who said it coulda been worse if there HAD'VE been an Amie living there since it's such common name..!! OY!!

Moral of the story. Never elude the law and then pretend not to see them.. And never walk up to a dark house and start a conversation of LIES with an old lady!!!!!!!! Or better yet.. NEVER SPEED which is how this whole thing started in the first place! Even though I only sped for 3 seconds. *sigh*

Thanks Amie for letting me borrow your car for a week in 1997. :) It made for a fun blog today! :) I don't know why I freaked out... the cop didn't know I was in the car, he thought it was YOU! :) hahahaha! Love ya! :)

Dear Blog,

Dear Blog,
I miss you. I'm writing to apologize for my neglectful behavior these past 2-3 weeks. It is uncalled for and unacceptable and I want you to know that I take full responsibility!! I've wanted to share so much with you about my experiences these past few weeks and I just haven't taken the time to do it. I am lazy. I am tired. But that doesn't mean I don't care about you and all your readers. In fact that is FAR from the truth.. I'm ALL about CARE!! I'm stuffed FULL of care. Which is why I'm writing tonight.. to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you and that I'll be back soon to fill your pages with memories, stories, and laughs.

Don't give up on me and I promise to not let you down. My next entry will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!!!!! :)

My love,

Stacy :)

I Will Survive!!

A lot of you have already seen this, but I thought I'd post it anyways. :) This was from a Ward Talent Show a couple years ago. My back up dancers are my friends Mariela and Socorro. They did an amazing job for only doing 1 run through! We really didn't know what we were going to do once we got on stage, but it seemed to work out. :) We are holding magnifying screens that are used for enlarging TV screens. This video clearly shows my lack of dancing skills and I obviously didn't remember the words. LOL. The best was when I knocked over the music stand!! That was a real winner of a move. :) I've been called a Bobble-head ever since this talent show... rightfully so!!

I'm working on my next story, so come back soon! :)

I Digress #6 - Joy Ride!

I LOVE this particular trip down memory lane! It brings a smile to my face and belly laughter to boot! :) I had to dig through countless old photos for hours on end to find pictures to help tell my story. I'm all about the visual aids. :) I only found a few and they are old, faded and dirty, but hey, they'll do. :)


Growing up our family had a blue and white Van that almost each sibling got to drive once they hit high school. :) It was the ultimate friendmobile! I called her Ole Bessie! I have many fun memories in Ole Bessie. Like for instance, on occasion we would pile our friends in the back of the van and drive around in an empty parking lot all crazy-like... accelerating and braking, turning sharp corners and zig-zagging. The purpose was of course to create MAYHEM in the back of the Van with bodies flying into each other and people getting squished.. Screams and laughter could be heard for miles!! Ahem, DON'T ASK ME... I do not know why we thought that was sooooooooo fun! People would get bruised up or have the wind knocked out of them and I think someone's glasses even got broken one time.. yet, almost twice a month (after the bruises had healed) everyone wanted to do it again... so off to the empty lot we'd go. :) I think a couple of you might even remember these fun times.... way back in the early 90's!! If you do, chime in!! :) I searched for pictures of my Van piled with a bunch of friends but never found any. Shucks!



That Van started getting extremely broken-in by the time I was using it.. The heavy sliding door, if opened too far, would slide right off its track and the back half would crash to the ground. It was kinda embarrassing.. but people seemed to still love Ole Bessie. :) One time my dad needed to haul something and he took the two benches out. When he was done he put them back in but for some reason he didn't lock the legs of the front bench into place. That night I took Ole Bessie out to pick up some friends for a Friday night. As soon as I accelerated, the whole front bench flew back and landed on the bench behind it. It startled me and I slammed on my brakes and the bench came flying back into place!!

And then.............. I began to grin mischievously and rather excessively... Mr. Evil started seeping through my kind-hearted exterior. I was about to give my friends a ride in my van that they would never forget!!! :) Muwhahahahahaahahaha!! >:}

I picked my friends up and made sure to say (as always), "Buckle up Buttercup".... It was dark that night, so my trusting friends could not see the Mr. Evil grin that was spread widely across my face. I could hardly contain the excitement that was bubbling up inside of me over the anticipation of their reactions!! I probably seemed a little more giddy than usual that night, and they were about to experience exactly WHY that was. :oÞ~

I backed out of their driveway slowly... Put Ole Bessie in drive, and looked back at them and said are you guys ready??? I then stomped on the gas, the van took off with a vengeance and SO DID THE GIRLS!! They screeeeeeeamed as they unexpectedly flew backwards and their feet were high in the air!!!!!!!!! I kept driving as my evil belly laughter filled the van.. once they regained their sense of awareness after that big shock.. they too started laughing uncontrollably.. they were stuck in the reclined position, resting nicely on the seat of the back bench. After a minute or two I asked them if they needed help getting their bench back up. They of course agreed, thinking I would pull over and help them... But no.. I wasn't playing nice that night!! Instead, I slammed on the brakes which sent their bench flying back upright and they screeeeeeeamed again!! And then followed the laughter!! HAHAHAHA!! :)

I'm so happy my dad didn't lock that bench into place because what a fun night that ended up turning into!! My friends wanted to pick up more friends and do it to them!! Apparently, Mr. Evil rubbed off on them a little as well. hehehe :) That turned into the "cool thing to do" on the weekends. We'd seek for new friends who hadn't experienced the roller coaster Van. :) That experience WINS as my most FAVORITE memory of Ole Bessie. :)

Ole Bessie broke down years later and adorned our carport for several years.. until we finally said our goodbye's and parted ways. *sniffle* Rest in Peace Ole Bessie. Thanks for all the fun memories! I love you. :)

I Digress #5 - I Love You.. **GASP**

Towards the end of last year I was on a Positive-Affirmations kick and I would listen to this awesome CD filled with amazingly uplifting affirmations. In one part of the CD it suggests sending LOVE to other drivers on the road. I really had to wrap my brain around that one for awhile. But, I tried it. As I drove to work I would tell drivers in front of me, to the side of me, and in back of me that I loved them. At first I would say it in my head... then when I wasn't feeling so weird about it, I'd whisper it to them, never making eye-contact. I'm not that brave. :)

I remember having a really bad day at work one day and I wasn't about to send LOVE to anyone... maybe some fiery darts saying "MOVE OUTTA MY WAY".. yeah, that would be more appropriate for that moment.. but I quickly noticed that the drudgery of rush hour was making my bad day even worse!! So I decided to put this exercise to the test!! I started throwing "I love you's" to people in cars and pretty soon I was feeling better and was truly lifted. It was incredible. I learned first hand that you just can't be angry when love is present inside.

So, after a week or two of doing this I began to really enjoy it!! I noticed that as I would send my love to perfect strangers, it made me feel so good inside. I'm pretty sure that my heart swelled. I could meet strangers in the store or in the line at the post office and really send my love-vibes to them without them even knowing and each conversation was warm and friendly instead of that awkward silence that is often hovering. :) I felt good about life when I was filled with so much light and love for people. :) Love is POWERFUL.

One particular day, I was on my way to work in the regular stop-n-go rush hour. I instantly fired up my Love and decided to be bold this time and actually look at the people in the other cars and tell them I loved them out loud! I figured, they wouldn't see me and they'd never know I was beaming LOVE to them. It was going great and I liked this BOLDNESS that was present in me, until that all changed in an instant... (dot dot dot)

(Tee hee, this is where my story REALLY STARTS!!!!!)

I pulled up to this beautiful black Nissan Altima, looked over at this guy and with a smile I said, "I Love You"... To my HORROR, he looked over at me RIGHT WHEN I SAID IT!!! I instantly GASPED and covered my mouth!! I am pretty positive that I went ghostly white and in my attempt to give this stranger an explanation of why I just told him that I loved him.. I started waving my hand and shaking my head as if telling him to erase what I just said.. Like an accelerated gesture of the "Jedi hand wave".. (Uhm, did I REALLY just make a Star Wars reference on my blog???? that is kinda funny.) I can not imagine what I must have looked like to him. His brow furrowed as he looked at me, as if to determine what just happened and what was STILL happening. Not much can be said or explained when you're in a sound proofed box, which is what it felt like... So, I decided it was futile to continue playing Charades to convey my point. :) And so... I focused on DRIVING. I looked straight ahead and pretended it never happened. No, of COURSE it wasn't awkward that we were side by side for the next 30 mins in rush hour going 2 miles an hour. Not at ALL!!! ;)

I can only imagine what the topic around HIS water cooler at work was that day... as for mine? I kept that whole experience to myself... until now. :) Because NOW.. I can laugh about it without wanting to hide. Sooooo, Have I continued to beam my Love to drivers since then? Not really. I blocked the practice all together until I found my Affirmations CD a few days ago. I decided to try it out again this week and I feel GOOD!! Now... will I be BOLD and look directly at strangers and tell them through our car windows that I love them?? Hmmm.. Perhaps on a bold day here and there. But if this ever happens again where I get caught sending LOVE.. You'll be the first to hear all about it. :)

You never know... maybe that man in the nice black nissan thought I said "OLIVE JUICE!" :)

"Just For Now" - Imogen Heap

I love watching people mix music to create masterpieces. I'd love to learn how to do it!! Here's Imogen Heap creating a fun mix for her song "Just For Now". :)
I LOVE IT! :)

I'm working on my next story, so stay tuned. :)

I Digress #4 - Strong Armed!

I had a memory come to me just now that made me laugh. If I don't write it down, I may forget for another 10 years!! :) It was 5th grade on a Tuesday and I got anxious as I watched the clock. *DING* It was FINALLY time to go to the playground!! I raced (walked fast) down the hallways of the elementary school and around the corner passing the cafeteria and taking a shortcut at "The Ark"... and there behind the portables were a few picnic tables where I would be participating in a very important event on this day. Kids had already gathered and were waiting for me to catch my breath so that I could compete in an ARM WRESTLING match. I know.. weird huh? lol. It was a big thing back then and even though I was a realllllly shy and very kind girl, I was STRONG and everyone loved to watch me beat the boys my age in arm wrestling! :)

I sat down at the table and across from me was Robert.. the boy I had a crush on in 3rd grade. We locked hands and someone said "GO!" I don't remember, but it's possible that I humiliated him that day as the match was up in 5 seconds, his arm went down FAST!! There were giggles, and whispers behind me and a few friends cheering me on. I went through several boys beating them all. I had earned a reputation of being the "nice bully". It sounds weird coming from ME, but I only had the bully nickname because I was strong and good at arm wrestling. I can't express how weird it is for me to be writing about this experience! It sounds so funny written out! LOL!!

I arm wrestled a couple more boys and beat them too. My arm was starting to get tired. No one else wanted to wrestle me. I got up and rubbed my arm. Just then.. a girl sat down and said "I'll take you on." I looked over and fear struck me.. it was Christina Bacerra.. The only REAL girl bully that year at Emerson Elementary... She was strong, mean, and I was afraid of her. As was everyone, including the boys!! She was always in trouble and had a constant scowl on her face. I never saw her laugh or smile unless she was making fun of me or picking on some one else. She was always in the principal's office for getting in fist fights. And now.. here she was, wanting to arm wrestle ME!!!!!! Sweet innocent Stacy. The crowd was silent... I made up some excuse like the bell was going to ring and we had to start getting back. She put her elbow on the table and said, "We have enough time, let's do this! SIT DOWN!" I felt defeated already.. plus my arm was tired from all the previous matches I'd done. It was quite an unfair disadvantage.

I sat back down and cupped my hand in hers. She squeezed it hard and I was scared. The crowd was still silent as they were all afraid of cheering me on for fear they'd get beaten up later! No one even said "GO!"... So, Christina said it fast and started right in! It took me by surprise so she almost took me down in a split second! But I was able to regain my pride when I powered in with all my 5th grade strength. We were definitely a good challenge for each other because that match was LONG!!! (probably only 2 or 3 mins, but it was long back then!) We both struggled, she'd almost pin my arm down, and then I'd almost pin hers down. It went back and forth... At the end, she almost had me and I knew I didn't have it in me to fight back. BUT, I had a plan. She was an inch or two away from winning and I was hanging on for dear life. The bell rang and no one moved.. they HAD to see who would win this intense match!! Christina kept saying, "You KNOW I have you, so let go!! You know I'm going to win!!" I have a little competitive side to me and that made me want to win MORE! My plan was I figured she'd use all her energy trying to get me down the last couple inches and then when she had no more strength left, I'd exert everything left inside of me to make this huge come back!!! It was all planned out in my head, I just had to hold on and wait it out!

Just then... Monica, one of Christina's mean friend's walked by and pushed our hands down just enough for my knuckles to hit the table making Christina jump up from the table screaming and shouting that she won!! The crowd started dispersing FAST! My awesome plan had been FOILED!!! I never used to get mad at that age, but I was upset and said that it wasn't fair because Monica pushed our hands down. I immediately decided that was probably NOT the best thing to say, because Christina came and got in my face and said, "HEY! I won fair and square!! You can't beat me and you weren't going to!" I said we should have a rematch the next day to make it fair. She just scowled at me and left to go to class.

We never did have that match. However, after arm wrestling Christina Bacerra that day, I gained her respect and she was nice to me the rest of that year and all of 6th grade as well. But ever since then, I've always wondered what would've happened if we ended up having that rematch in 5th grade.. especially if my arm hadn't have been sore from all the previous games. It doesn't really matter any more, but that doesn't keep me from thinking that I would've TAKEN HER DOWN TOWN IN TEN FLAT!!!! lol. Oh, there goes my competitive side talking again. :)

Fun memory to have had this afternoon. :) I was a bully.. That still makes me laugh.

I Digress #3 - Honest Tithes

Tonight I was sitting with my friend Sherri reminiscing and an embarrassing memory came to my mind and she said it had to go on the Blog. :) It's not so bad NOW, but back then it was almost unbearable. :) I remember it like it was just earlier today. I was in Sacrament Meeting with my family one Sunday when I was probably around 10 or 11 years old. My mom had informed us kids that after church we had Tithing Settlement with the Bishop and to figure out what our small earnings were so we could hand in our tithing. I remember sitting in sacrament meeting and I had brought a handful of Monopoly money with me.. a LOT of high bills. I pretended that I would pay with my paper money so I filled out the tithing slip for an insane amount, like the recreated slip below. (remember the horizontal slips?? :)) I filled out the slip, counted my doe and sealed the envelope. I carried that bulging envelope around so proudly all through out church, acting as if I were turning in a BUNDLE of cold hard CASH!! I had no intentions of truly turning it in, but somehow as our family waited for our turn with the Bishop, I must have dropped it. Just so happens, that I happened to drop it RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CLERKS OFFICE!! How convenient... or... not. Just as I spotted it laying right there in front of the door.. so did the 1st counselor.. my heart stopped. My mind raced. I wanted to RUN!.. because I knew that as soon as he opened that envelope, he'd know it was Stacy Householder that was turing in bogus tithing because my name was on there for all to see. I started towards him not knowing what I was going to do or say. I can't say that I didn't have visions of grabbing it out of his hands and bolting out the door. I watched him turn the envelope over looking for a name on the outside.. there was none. I gulped hard. He started opening it and by the time I reached him, he had the stack of Monopoly money in one hand and the tithing slip with MY NAME in the other!!!! He looked perplexed and when I got to him, he looked down at me and gave me a look like... hmm,. I must have had a look of horror, shame and guilt all over my face because he took compassion on me and his words were.. "My goodness you had quite a productive month didn't you! I'm very proud of you for giving 10% to the Lord." :) He is now in the Quorum of the 70's. haha. I don't remember anything else that day, including the actual Tithing settlement with the Bishop.. I think I was so humiliated that I blocked the rest of the day. But it did teach me to always pay an HONEST TITHE!! :)

I Digress #2 - The art of juggling

I've always loved watching jugglers. It's an amazing art to me. And ya know, I personally love to juggle.. It’s a talent of mine that has been developing over years and years. It is impossible to know exactly how many apples, oranges, potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, and homemade rolls I destroyed while mastering this art. And Mom, if you happen to be reading this.. just understand, it turned out to be a very worthwhile cause because as you can see in the video below, your daughter is an AMAZING JUGGLER!!!!! Thanks for your fruit donations over all those years of practicing and becoming! ;)

(okay, so I’m not THAT great.. hehe.. I can only juggle for like 5-10 seconds.) :)

This video embarrasses me, but I am going BEYOND my embarrassment and putting it on the blog. :) This was before we had any furniture in our apartment. :)





OooooooKaaayy... Glad THAT'S over with! NOW... Watch the master Chris Bliss juggling... GUARANTEED AMAZEMENT!! :)




Ahem...
I can see that I have a lot more practicing to do!


:)

Someday, I want to be THIS GOOD with Shadow Puppets!

Most of you have probably seen this before, so this is for the 3 of you that haven't!! :) I could watch this over and over.... come to think about it.. I pretty much have which is why I'm adding it to my Blog. This way I have it forever and can watch it nonstop! :) What a talent! His name is Raymond Crowe. Who knew shadow puppets could look so real! :) I'm gonna be practicing and developing my shadow skills.. and when I'm GOOD, I'll post my OWN video. :)

Happy Heart Day! Be Mine!!

"My Funny Valentine" by Butterscotch!! This is my favorite rendition! She is the voice, the percussion and the piano all in 1. AMAZING!!!! :) This is kinda funny cause the sound and video are slightly off so it kinda has that foreign film feel to it!! It's the BEST! LOL!
Happy Love Day Everyone! :)

I LOVE YOU! :) Ohh quit it.... I do too!!

Enjoy!

I digress #1 - Marbles Champion!

Okay, so I've been shuffling through some old memories of mine and now I want to journal them and add them to my Blog. Just silly old stuff.. nothing really that will benefit anyone but ME! But this is memory number 1!! :)

I won the “Marbles” Championship when I was in 5^th grade. I was awarded a trophy with this awesome glass boulder on top! Do you remember playing marbles when you were in grade school? If you don’t, then either your school was seriously lacking in the REAL academics area or I am MUCH older than you. We had the transparent marbles, the cat-eye marbles, the white non-transparent calico marbles, the peawee’s, the steely’s, the boulders.. etc. Marbles were a HOT commodity and we would trade with people on a daily basis. “I’ll trade you one of my big boulders for 2 of your steely’s.” haha.. wow, the memories. I still have that little wooden trophy somewhere, although.. for some reason the boulder is missing on top!! I must have needed it for an important game or something. Haha!

Stay tuned for "I digress #2" :)

My early morning commute PAYOFFS!!

As much as I REALLY DISLIKE getting up at 5:30 every morning and facing an hour of rush hour.. it does have a couple payoffs for me. :) I get to see the most AMAZING SUNRISES!! They are breathtaking at times and I find myself being very distracted by them. (and taking lots of pictures) :) I allow myself to gaze at them in wonderment while I'm driving because most of the time in rush hour, I'm NOT driving.. just sitting there wishing I was!

Another payoff for waking up so early is that I get to see all the birds flying over the freeway when I'm driving through the Reservation. I LOVE IT and I am captivated any time I see a huge flock. Mostly I see geese flying in the V formation. It's so fascinating to me. Why do they do that? It's so odd, yet amazing to me. I love it!

Also, I'm a big fan of rain, clouds and wind. :) I suppose you could say that I love the ELEMENTS!!! (well, the AZ elements...) One of my FAVORITE things about a really really REALLY windy day of driving on the 101 through the REZ is when the dry tumbleweeds are ripped from the earth and with FURY they get blown onto the freeway which starts a fun game of tumbleweed dodge-ball with all the cars!! hahaha! I find myself laughing so hard watching the cars try to slow down or speed up so they don't get hit! Once the large dry tumbleweed slams into a car it explodes and resembles a handful of pixie sticks being tossed in the air and blown away in the wind. It is my favorite thing EVER!!! LOL. I've lost the game a few times and have been hit myself with some tumbleweeds but it makes me laugh that much harder! :) Okay, so maybe I have to find things on my commute that ENTERTAIN ME!! :) LOVE ME!


hehehehehe.... tumbleweed

Only As....

My first completed puzzle, uhm.. EVER!!! :)

A while ago my roommate, Tiffany, started talking about how she really wanted to put a big puzzle together because she didn't ever remember doing one!! So she bought a 1000 piece puzzle and we used the only table in the house for our new project!! I hate puzzles.. actually, I only like doing one part of ANY puzzle and of course that would be the STRAIGHT PIECES!!!! Once those are all connected, Later! I'm OUTTA THERE!! It gets too overwhelming from then on! :)

But this time proved to be different! Once I got them connected, I actually kept working at it. I surprised myself when I ignored things I needed to do just so I could work on the puzzle. Tiffany and I would work on it together while watching movies. It was fun!! We actually finished it together and it was such a feeling of ACCOMPLISHMENT for us!! hahaha It was sooo hard because 70% of the pieces were blue! I was so proud that I had to post some pictures! :)




YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! The FINISHED PRODUCT!!!!!! SO PROUD!! SO SO SO PROUD! :) hahaha

An UPDATED slideshow of me and some of my favorite people!!

One of my many hobbies!

Family Christmas Party 2007

Our family Christmas party was a lot of fun. First of all, it was just for the Adults which is rare and soooo enjoyable. :) We had a DYNAMITE dinner topped off with a little Martinelli's Apple Cider. Afterwards, we played games that I fell in LOVE with and I really want to turn them into a Christmas Tradition! :) The first game we played is the game in the pictures above.. it is one that many of you may have played before. My sister wrapped a CD several times in different sized boxes and used lots of tape!! (usually a large candybar is used) We all sat in a circle and had to pass a plate around with 2 dice (di? die?) and any time someone rolled a snake eyes, they had to hurry and put on a coat, scarf, hat and oven mitts and had to work at unwrapping the gift. As soon as someone else rolled a snake eyes, they had to quickly take the gear off and the new person had to put it on and see how far they could get unwrapping the gift. I was excited when I was the one to successfully unwrap it, because it was a Trans-Siberian Orchestra CD which was AWESOME because just a couple weeks prior, I had gone to their concert and it blew me away! :) Amazing!! :)

Holiday BAKING!!!

Merry Christmas!! :) I have been in the baking mood this holiday, which is reeeeally rare for me as normally I spend as little time in the kitchen as I possibly can!! BUT! I've made magic cookie bars, yummy gooey chex mix, no bake cookies, funfetti cake... and my favorite treat this year HAS to be these delicious caramels! I am seriously not a fan of caramel, I never have been.. same with fudge. Ehhh... Not a fan. However, HOMEMADE CARAMELS... (oh, pardon me as I wipe away the drool) Yes, as I was saying.. Homemade caramels... mmmm. A piece of heaven with every bite. I just made my 3rd batch this evening. It's possible that I have eaten more than I've given out this season, but at least SOME are going out the door to people I love!! :) That's better than last year where I spent DAYS baking and then was too wiped out to deliver anything. :) Well, I better run.. I have caramels to wrap!! MmMmMmmmmmm!! :)

Laughing All The Way! Ho Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha!!

I heard this on the radio when I was stuck in rush hour and I laughed the rest of the way home. First thing in the door I checked it out online. It was just an audio file so I looked on Youtube and found this guy lipsyncing it. I'm pretty sure I could do better, (lol) but he looks MUCH better on video than I do! This laughing song totally cracks me up!! :) I HAD to add it to my BLOG! :)

CHEEEEESE!!!

This is my mood today. :)

This just makes me feel better :)

My friend, Tiff, emailed this to me the other day and I got a good laugh from it. I'm gonna try this later on tonight. :)

Embarrassing yet pretty darn FUNNY!!!

What's a road trip with out a little AirSupply... really!! I mean come ON! :) This is one of Tiffany and I's favorite AirSupply songs. We were driving home from Utah and when it came on we decided to lip sync to it. Tiffany is a natural born Actress as you can CLEARLY see. ME on the other hand.. well... There's much to be desired really. Okay, so I decided to sing back up and only AFTER THE FACT did I realize what the back up singers sing. One simple little phrase... yet.. I'm a bit embarrassed that my part in the song had to be THAT PHRASE!!!! Of alllll the phrases!! Anyways, we laugh so hard every time we watch it that I HAD to add it to my blog. Humiliating as it may be. :) Enjoy this 6 minute long AirSupply song!

And you all thought my 3 min laugh was long!!

Beat-boxing helps the food go down!

Here's Bethany and Matthew doing a dance that appears
to be some sort of chicken dance while Aunt Stacy throws
a little beat around. This video brings me JOY! :) :) :)