The Passenger

So, there's been a lot of sickness going around, and I'm sorry to say I have caught one. Or rather I was given one. That's right, through the joy of marriage, Johnny gave me a parasite. Luckily, this parasite isn't fatal, but it has caused a bit of swelling. It has also made it difficult to do everyday tasks. Well, see for yourself:

Yeah, socks are hard. So this little passenger is set to come out April 3rd, they tell me. Not that it's really up to me.

It's a boy. Danger will literally be his middle name. How cool is that. Though I don't want to tell him until he's older, because I really don't want to catch him trying to fly off the roof. I know, I'm asking for trouble. What can I do, I'm a glutton for punishment. Besides, it's too late to do anything about it now, this baby's only coming out one way, and he's able to pretty much survive on his own now, so I guess I'm going to be a mom whether I'm ready for superman capes, trucks, and exploding noises or not.

I really don't know anything about boys, can you tell?

Halloween

So, I really love Halloween. And this year, despite the fact that I was busy with play rehearsals, I managed to make the costume I wanted last year and couldn't find any where -- Alice in Wonderland.
That's the Cheshire Cat attacking me. Anyway, thanks to my Dressaday obsession, the night before Halloween, I suddenly decided it was absolutely necessary for the dress I had thrown together to have pockets. It was definitely worth it. That was one of my favorite things about it.

I was pretty proud of this dress because I didn't have a pattern, I combined a few and made stuff up, and it ended up working really well.

So, several people asked me if Johnny was dressing up as another Alice character, and despite my goadings to get him to be the mad hatter, he wouldn't. So he dressed up as nothing this year, not wearing nothing, of course, but with no costume. So sad.

I'm in a play!

Or rather, I was in a play. It closed on the 22nd. And I think it'll be the last play that I'm in for awhile. Mostly because I got back into theater to prove something to myself, and I have, so now I don't need to do it anymore. Granted, I still love performing, but I hate rehearsals and working with people who aren't as committed or serious as I am. And usually I'm done with the show before it even opens. So with the combination of fulfilling my goal and my distaste for the process, it's time for another theater break. Anyway, here are some pictures from the show.

Me, singing and dancing my heart out.

Me, not wanting to marry Johnny. It was fun to do a show together. We haven't done one together since high school. And then we didn't really interact with each other too much.

My sewing habit

So, one of the many reasons I have been busy lately has been that I have resurrected one of my oldest and most loved hobbies -- sewing. And after creating a skirt or two and fixing a few also, I decided to expand my horizon my trying a vintage pattern. I have discovered what I feel will be a deep and abiding love of 50s patterns, thanks to dressaday.com. My goal now is to be confused with June Cleaver and to ask myself "what would Doris wear" frequently. Here is my first vintage dress, the mockup in horrible Walmart cotton. (One day it will get the fabric it deserves).

I learned a lot from putting together this pattern, like old-fashioned button holes, fabric-covered buttons, and sleeve cuffs. It looks a lot better with a puffy slip under it, which I have acquired, so I get many more positive comments now.

So, since there was only minimal cussing when putting this together, I have decided it was worth it to try other patterns, and thanks to ebay, I now have a little stash of vintage patterns.

I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My mom taught me and the first thing I sewed was a handkerchief. I still lack the skill I need to do all the sewing I want, but I feel a lot better now that I'm sewing again. It's nice to have something to fill the void homework has left in my life. Now I can come home from work and have something to do!!

I'm alive

I promise. And I know, I need to be shot for not updating in months and months. And, of course, I don't have oodles of time to write now, but I thought I'd tell you what is coming in the next little while:

My sewing hobby resurrected
I'm in a play!
Halloween
The Passenger
and The Annual Pre-Thanksgiving day Feast

Most of them with pictures, which as you all know is why it is so hard to post. I really was going to update my blog this weekend, but Johnny was out of town with the laptop and the computer wouldn't turn on. All it would do was beep and me and flash on the screen that there wasn't a signal. So I'd turn it off and turn it on again, and that's all it would do.

So I tried people, I really did!

Bag Tag

Mostly this is just a good excuse to clean out my purse. My chiropractor will be happy that I'm getting rid of the extra stuff. So here it is in it's pre-clean glory:

I never thought that I'd be a big purse kind a girl, I have a lot of little purses, but I bought this one for my trip to Europe and I can just fit so much stuff in it, see:



Let's break it down by pocket.
Side pocket: chap stick (generic brand), key card for work, 4 bobby pins.
Front right pocket: 3 hair clips, 2 ponytail holders, 1 crochet hook, and a random tag from some shoe or something.
Other side pocket: keychain screwdriver, key to office, receipt for my co-worker's car problem (supposed to show that to my dad), 8 bobby pins.
Inside pocket (closest to camera): 5 playbills and tickets, 2 leftover passes from Johnny's last show, 1/4 sheet of blank paper, 2 map quest maps, one with notes from Stake Primary Meeting on it, last year's work Christmas quiz (2) and answer sheet (1), 2 audition monologues, 2 walmart picture packages with headshots, 2 empty gift card holders (used the gift cards a few weeks ago), the map to the outlet moll in Park City, legal pad with notes, Primary book, Stake Primary President numbers, yard scrap, Relief Society handouts, newspaper article about the differences between jam and its associates, letter from my missionary friend, 2 notebooks (my dream journal and a random one), 1 bobby pin, my current book (Prisoner of Trebekistan, very good, highly recommend it), random papers and notes, 3 pay check stubs, and 10 receipts.
Inside zipper pocket: stamps, coupons, shopping list, 2 addresses, and random notes
Other Inside pocket: sunglasses, gum wrapper, knee-high nylons that wouldn't stay up one day, cell phone, 3 packs of gum, small playdough, thumb drive, pen, 2 gift certificates to Costa Vida, business card, tickets, note, 2 parking hanging passes, small green blank piece of card stock, bottom of a lid of a drink (no idea how that got there, honestly), 3 drug bottles (fine, if you must know, Ibuprofen, Pamprin, and Loratadine), directions, old post-it notes, wallet, old but yummy candy, and 15 receipts.

Memories

Fine, I'll play

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments

At the risk of ranting commentators

So, I was perusing through the archives of A Dress a Day, and I came across this post in March of 2007.

http://www.dressaday.com/2007/03/i-missed-blogging-against-sexism.html

obviously, I couldn't add a comment, because it's well over a year old, but I thought about it all weekend and I do have something to say on the subject. I agree with Erin that although if anyone said this to me (I like it when women wear dresses), I would react with a (hopefully) gracious "Thank you" as if they were just giving me a complement, which is probably what they intended to do. But, if you think about it, they aren't really complementing YOU at all, since *my* appearance or dress or decision to wear a dress, isn't ever really mentioned in the phrase "I like it when women wear dresses". In fact, if you were to say "I really like it when people drink coffee" to someone holding a coffee cup, they would probably think "Okay, great. Why are you telling me?" So you see, it's not even a complementarily structured sentence, more like a personal opinion.

I agree with some of the commenters on dressaday, who say that it is sometimes difficult for men to say a well-meaning complement without the recipient feeling like they are being hit on. However, masking a complement in a blanket statement really makes it not a complement any more. "Nice dress" might be the way to go instead. Simple, you can say it while passing a person, which makes it not so much of a pick up line, also very much a complement.

That very obvious problem with this supposed complement aside, I do think there is something sexist in the comment. And although it may be unintentional, that doesn't make it any less wrong. I'll draw the analogy to racism for a moment, if I could (of course I can, this is my blog).

If a well intentioned person said about a Black man's success, "I'm so glad he was able to overcome his natural lazy tendencies", does their genuine happiness for the Black man make the statement less racist? No, of course not. And the well meaning person who said it may have no idea that what they just said was a racist statement. Does that make it any less racist? No, of course not. The person didn't mean to imply that Black people are inferior to white people or that segregation was a good idea. They were simply trying to give a complement. Does that make it any less racist? No.

The point, of course, being that it doesn't matter if you consciously understand all the implications behind a statement like "I like it when women wear dresses". It is still sexist. Does that mean if you say that to me, I will launch into a feminist rant that will last twenty minutes and leave you never wanting to talk to women again? No, of course not. But awareness is a huge part of the solution. Ignorance is not an excuse for anyone to be sexist (or racist for that matter). With some things it's important to keep up with the times. So if you know someone who makes statements like "I like women who wear dresses" or "I'm so glad that person was able to overcome their obvious racial defects", it is probably a good idea to gently say to them that the statement they just made was sexist, or racist. And then explain why. Well-intentioned folks will probably be willing to rethink or re-evaluate their paradigm so as not to give offense to others when they are just trying to be well-intentioned.

Update

Not so much on me, really, but on some things in my life. I looked in my archives and I didn't post about my new year's resolution to not be stupid anymore (I know, I know, the flogging will continue until blogging becomes a higher priority), but I wanted to let you know about the progress of this resolution. It is not going well. I would like to say that my overall stupidness has gone down, and that stupidity has been cropping up in my life (work, specifically) less often, which, though debatable, seems true to me. However, that could be because I don't remember much about the last three months, mistakes made by me in the hullaballoo could have been attributed to someone else, or that stress, paranoia and busyness have some how cut down on the stupid factor. But I learned today that the goal for me to not be stupid was most likely laughable in the first place, which is what people are probably already doing behind my back.

Why? Well, today I was getting ready to make copies of a series of bonds. They are printed on special green paper that costs a ridiculous amount of money and once they are printed, they pretty much represent the amount of the bond, which is over a million dollars in some cases. Anyway, once they are printed and signed, they are sacred. We make a copy of the bonds on regular paper before we deliver them and then stamp the copy with a stamp that says "specimen", then make copies of the stamped copy. I have done this process at least 20 times, probably more. Then today, I was asked to make a copy of a series bond, which just breaks the total amount of money into yearly bonds and basically means more green paper and more signing and more work. So I start stamping "specimen" on the amount and the signatures, only to have my boss ask what on earth I was doing. Why? because I was stamping the green papers. So bad. So stupid. Luckily, it wasn't unfixable. Because there were lots of signature pages, I could copy one from another bond onto the green paper to replace it, print off another copy of the front page, and have the bank representative sign another copy of his signature page. So, no real damage done, luckily for me, but I did feel (and look, I'm sure) really stupid. Why can't I just give it up?!! Why?!!

And the other update, this sign was finally changed in February as I learned driving to my play on a Saturday morning. However, it has not been changed since then, and it's another lame one. In case you were wondering.

Stress!!

So the last few weeks have been like this:

because we have been more short-staffed than usual the past month and a half. One of our assistants was fired, and then when we finally hire a new one, one of our paralegals quits and then the new assistant decides to take a job elsewhere.

So we've been walking around like this:

And it means I haven't had to time for the little, yet important things like updating my blog, getting over my cold, cleaning my house, relaxing, you know, the little things.

But I haven't forgotten about you, I'm just a little crazy right now.

Got to go, work calls . . .

Don't I have the best costumes?

Yes it's true, the best thing (maybe the only good thing) about Lina Lamont is her fabulous taste in clothes. And thanks to a costumer who has done this show several times, I got wear some amazing costumes. I started out the show in this one:
(This is me about to get a pie in my face, oh so many funny stage stories came out of that scene. One night she missed most of my face, but got my feather pretty good. It was still wet when I got there the next night for the show. Good thing I hate whipped cream.)



but with the fur in this picture:












This is what I wore for all of the 'film' sequences. Those hips are ginormous. In fact, though I know pitching in changing scenery and drops is an essential part of community theater, I couldn't really help for most of the show because I was either frantically changing my costume, or in these ridiculous hips. My job in the hips was to not knock anything over back stage. So I got to be my own prop and set piece during scene changes.









This one is my second favorite costume. I loved the way it hung on me and how it felt, but sadly, I only got to wear it for like half a scene. This is the scene with my vocal coach, Miss Dinsmore.








This is me incognito. The sun glasses rocked, but I couldn't see anything when the lights went out. I almost ran into various drops and set pieces or people every night before I got smart and took them off. I guess the blond hair started affecting me.












Then comes act II, where I discovered my voice-over was being done by my arch-enemy. You can't really see it in this picture, but the coat was pretty much the coolest thing ever. The arms of the coat aren't really distinguished from the main body of the coat until about the wrists. That made flailing my arms about really fun.












This is what is underneath the fabulous coat. I changed into a robe, so I was only wearing it alone for like 30 seconds, in which time my DH snapped this picture. However, it was pretty disturbing one night after the show when this old guy (like 70's) told me my 'form-fitting pink dress' was his favorite of my costumes. It took me a minute to realize he meant this, then I was really weirded out.












Then I got a scene all to myself that isn't in the movie that had a solo, yes, a Lina song. It was fabulous, though, to be honest, not my favorite song in the whole show. Strangely, for some cast members, it was. (Come on people, better than "Good Morning"?)



Oh, and I'm not really that blond, it was a wig.












This is the "people? people? I ain't people!" scene. The (sadly indistinguishable in this picture) hat I am wearing, was by far the coolest hat I have ever had the privilege of wearing. It made this last minute costume change addition (dress rehearsal, I believe) totally worth it.












And then, my favorite costume of them all. This green one. It weighs like 10 lbs. It was really heavy, but it had the most delightful swish and flounce. It really made one feel like a diva. I think it was the fringe . . .


(This is of course, me mouthing the song in front of the curtain while Kathy voices for me off-stage. Or as I liked to call this scene, the rise and fall of Lina Lamont.)








And lastly, the cast. They were so much fun to work with. This is with all our "Singin'" garb on from the finale.









So, I definitely had the best costumes, don't you agree?

Happy Second Day of Spring

Well, it was a rude awakening to snow on the ground (and falling from the sky) yesterday morning, the official first day of spring.

No, not that spring, silly. This spring:

Though, to be honest, it looked more like this where I live: Woohoo! more snow. Just what we need when we've had nothing but snow since December. Yeah, can you tell I'm a little done with winter? Well, I don't want to become a pessimist, so I thought with the end of winter I would make a list of the things I find enjoyable about the winter season. Because nothing makes you more nostalgic than the end of something you didn't really enjoy in the first place (i.e. childhood).

What I like about winter:

Dressing in ridiculous amounts of layers

Cute sweaters

Snuggling under blankets

Long hot showers

Having 7 blankets on my bed

Sleeping late in the morning because it is much warmer under the covers than in the room

Fireplaces

Reading a book when it's snowing outside

Hot chocolate

Soup

The way a big blanket of snow mutes the outside world

When everything looks like a Christmas card

Squishy snow

Crunchy snow

Snow angels

Little kids in big fluffy snowsuits

My diva coat (it only comes out when it snows)

How my car feels like a cave when snow covers the windows

Heaters

Boots

How everyone's yards look good snow covered (do dead grass eye sores)

Stews

Not having to worry about the lack of air conditioning in my car

Walking into a building after being outside

Happy Spring everyone!

Name Tag

Because I'm still working out some other posts, and I don't want to throw too many pictures at you at once, enjoy this tagged name game in the mean time.

THE NAME GAME

1 . YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Jordan Geo or Jordan Traker, either one sounds pretty good.
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Peppermint chocolate chip
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of last name) t-pec
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) pink llama (I think this sounds more like your villian/thief name in an old radio detective story.)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) No, no sillies, it's your middle name and the street you live on. I'm Jayne Van Ross.
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) pecta
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Blue Water
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Charles Horace
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Oh, I got an email with a much better system involving the third letter of your first name and the third and second letters of your last name. According to this system I am Sugar Heaven Tower
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Gentry Owen
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 6th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Young Yamoussoukro (capital city of Cote D'Ivoire)
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Thanksgiving Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now+“ie”) Strawberry Skirtie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Bagel Redwood
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Reading Rain Tour
16. YOUR CELEBRITY COUPLE NAME: (half of your name, half your significant other's name, mixed together in whichever order sounds best.) Tahnny

10 Years Ago: I was 13 and was starting what would be a 10+ year awkward phase.
5 jobs I have had: Albertson's sample lady, Alpha Graphics temp, Resident Assistant, Runner, Legal Assistant
What I would do if I became a billionaire: Live in several foreign countries, not at the same time, get 12+ graduate degrees, start my own business(es).
Bad habits: feeling guilty about things, procrastination, laziness
Things I enjoy: Reading, acting, singing, finishing a project, hosting dinner parties.

Home Remodeling

First of all, let me apologize for not posting in so long. I know how frustrated I get when I go to my favorite blogs and they haven't posted anything new in over a month, or a week, in some cases. (I know that somewhat assumes this is someones favorite blog, but don't worry, I have no such delusions.) Let me explain a little of what happened. I was in a show all last month, which kept my nights pretty much occupied. When that closed, I suddenly became crazy busy (probably all the stuff I kept shoving to the back burners during the show), then we fired one of the legal assistants at work. We were already short staffed due to new baby (congrats Carrie!) so everyone's been putting in ridiculous hours and all I want to do when I get home is crash. So as penance for my slothfulness, I bring you ... pictures!! Lots of pictures for the next few posts, I hope. But to start, my home remodeling. I have been repeatedly asked (yes Erin, I hear you) for pictures of the latest goings on in my house. So here you go. First: here's what the house looked like before we moved in.


The first thing to go was the carpet. As seen here:


Now, if you look closely, you can see the lovely window coverings (window boxes with pleated peach curtains) and the great paint job on the back wall. That darker section by the mirror is where bookshelves used to be that just didn't get moved before the last paint job. But before we tackled that mess, we decided to help the ceiling. Not only was there lovely faux wood paneling in the house:

But also a popcorn ceiling:

Pardon my mess. So we took down the lovely curtains:









And scraped off the ceiling, which went very smoothly thanks to some helpful advice from my bro and sis in Seattle who had also dealt with the mess of the popcorn (thanks guys!).
And underneath we found sky blue ceilings and spring green walls and all the settling and poor taping of the sheet rock, which the hope of concealing probably led to the idea of putting up popcorn in the first place. So after fixing what we could, we decided white would be too unforgiving to paint it, and we were done with texture at this point, so we went with lavender. It was a good choice. I really like it. You can kind of seen it in this next picture which is after we took down the faux wood and had to rebuild the wall since the wood paneling was glued to the untaped and unmudded dry wall. Oh and also, this wall, which creates a hallway in the house, is not actually attached to either of the two walls it connects to. Awesome.

So we rebuilt the wall. Then primed everything. Here's Johnny by his handy work.

Then finally, we painted the walls. We did white in this room and on the wall with the mirror a few pictures back, and on wall with the fireplace ...

Green!






I think the is best green known to man. Every light I see it in, it continues to make me happy. It's a very cheery green and adds some nice color to the house. There is still more to do. Lots more, but I will try to be better with the pictures from now on. Also I apologize if this takes forever to load. I wasn't sure what size the pictures were when I posted them.

Blond!

So I had to go blond for my show. And I was asked for some pictures, so here you go. First, the before picture.
Then I got blond highlights, hoping the director would just let it go at that. Also, you can see how much my hair grew in just a few months.


Finally, I had to get bleach blond curls to pull off the diva, ditzy look they were going for. Here's me all dolled up for the show. I think it was worth it to have a middle stage, just to ease into the blond thing. It is a pretty drastic change. And although you can't really see it in the second picture, I am more blond.


And I will say, the show was super fun, so maybe it's true that blonds have a better time than the rest of us. (Still think of myself as a brunette.)

Smell you later

So, I have a highly developed sense of smell. This means I smell things before most people (unless they also have a highly developed sense of smell), and can usually identify smells. This has occasionally been a problem for me, like the time I smelled dog poo in my car. I didn't smell it in my house, only my car. And I don't own dogs. I checked my shoes and they were clean, and I thought it unlikely that a neighborhood dog would have opened my locked car door and then pooed on my newspaper-covered car floor. I thought maybe it was on the tire, but I never proved this theory, so the mystery went unsolved.

Then, today, I was driving in the car with my husband and I smell vomit. And I know you know what smell I'm talking about because it's very distingishable. Since I'm not around children, who are normally the ones to vomit places other than the toilet, I'm not quite sure were this smell came from. Again, it was not my shoes, or my hands (yes, I check there too). And not even the smell of fresh bagels could get rid of it. And even as I sit here at work, I still smell the smell. Needless to say, I feel a little nausiated. I'm hoping it's not some chemical in my brain combining with the residual whipped cream that got all over me last night. (pie in the face. You know, for the play.) I also hope I don't have a brain tumor or something like that.

OCD + English Degree = Annoyances

Yes, I am OCD, a little, but aren't most people? (hey, a girl can dream ... and justify, right?) And yes, I am an English Major, which means that sometimes I get really annoyed or frustrated or just bugged by grammatical errors. Now, I don't mean to say that I go around correcting any one's grammar. Cause I don't. Speaking is a different kind of art all together. But if you are writing something down, something that a lot of people are going to see, like say, a billboard, you might want to have someone, a native English speaker perhaps, look it over for you first before you go advertising your lack of English skills to the world. Or at least the neighborhood at large. Maybe even the city.

So, what sparked this (mini, and not very mean) rant? Well, there's a lovely little church on the corner of a fairly busy road and the street I turn onto to get to my house. This intersection is right after the freeway exits onto the busy road. So there is a lot of traffic passing this church. This church, like many Christian churches has a sign out in front that they change about once a month to tell the community about choir concerts or events in the church, but for the most part the pastor puts punny little messages on it, that I will admit make me smile every time I pass the church on my way home. I enjoy a good pun. Perhaps it is because I enjoy this church and its sign so much that I have been so bothered by the recent message. Now remember I told you that the sign changes about once a month. Well, this particular sign has been there since November. Which is another reason why it has bothered me. I'm not really, really annoyed on the off chance that something sad and tragic has happened to the pastor resulting in the grammatically incorrect sign remaining on the side of the road for so long. I don't know, I don't go to this particular Christian church. And I wouldn't have minded it being up so long quite so much had it been one of their regular, delightfully bad puns on a Christian theme. But it says this: "Quit griping about your church. If it was perfect you can't belong."

Luckily for me, because of play practice, I don't go home that way much any more. But I'm really hoping that the next time I do, they are back on their regularly scheduled punny, grammatically correct, religiously themed sign that will make me smile.

Tagged Again

Rules:
1.You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Middle Name: Jayne
I have never been called for Jury Duty. In fact, I've never received a voter registration card, despite many promises. I typed up an amendment to Utah Law for my work at a law firm. It was for Municipal Building Authorities, so nothing anyone else cares about. I'm a little bit of a yes-man. I find it hard to tell people no. This is why I just hang up on telemarketers. I have never sworn in anger. It used to be that I had never sworn knowingly, but now I have incorporated some of the lower-end, less offensive swear words into my sense of humor. Also I had to swear on stage in high school, so that killed the unknowing aspect. I would one day like to know everything, but I'm pretty sure I'll have to be dead a long time before this happens.

1. Do you like cheese? Yes. In fact one of my strange life goals is to be a cheese connoisseur.
2. Have you ever been arrested? Nope
3. Have you ever shot a gun? No.
4. Your favorite song? Well, I don't have just one, but at the current moment, I love Blue October's "Into the Ocean" because I can listen to it any time and it relates to whatever mood I'm in and always makes me feel good.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes. I also get nervous during the appointment because I don't want to lie, but I always feel better when I actually make it too the doctor's office and I don't want them to think I'm a hypochondriac, but I also want them to fix whatever's wrong.
6. What do you think of when you eat hot dogs? "Try not to think of what's inside this hot dog. Try not to think about what's inside this hot dog. ..."
7. What's your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, but I hate it when it's done badly.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange Juice. It's the best of the morning drinks.
9. Can you do push ups? I used to do 50 in dance class, but I had to do them on my knees or against the wall. My legs are much stronger than my arms.
10. Is your bathroom clean? Yes, but it's residual cleanness from Monday when I cleaned it last. I haven't had time to clean since then.
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My pearl necklace my friend gave me.
12. Favorite Hobby? acting? maybe. Reading, sewing, watching movies, reading blogs.
13. What are you listening to right now? the blowing of what I can only hope is the heater and not the air conditioner. But it might be the later. Brrrr.
14. What is the last thing you ate? a Bacon Swiss Burger, and I'm trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Don't want bad breath you know.
15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? My almost complete lack of assertiveness.
16. Middle Name? Jayne
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I'm glad I look busy typing all this. I'm so cold. I wish I could leave early.
18. Name the last 3 things you have bought. Rubber duckies (for Primary), toothbrushes (for Relief Society) and shampoo (to keep my hair blond).
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Water, milk, hot chocolate.
20. Current worry right now? What is going to happen to my hair when I go platinum blond? I hope it doesn't ruin the current healthy state of my hair that took 23 years to achieve.
21. Current hate? driving to Utah County for work. I'm not the runner any more people!!
22. Favorite place to be? In the Redwoods. It's my happy place.
23. How did you bring in the New Year? I chilled and watched movies at my house. I was burnt out.
24. What is your quirkiest habit? Correcting people when they sing the wrong song lyrics. For some reason, that really bothers me.
25. Name three people who will complete this and return? how about 3 people who have already done this? Tea, Morgan, and Erin.
26. How many siblings do you have? 2 sisters, 1 brother
27. Do you own slippers? Yes, 2 pairs, one is microwavable.
28. What shirt are you wearing? I'm currently wearing 3 shirts (yes I'm still cold): a dress shirt with blue, green and brown stripes; over that, a long sleeve blue ribbed shirt; and over that, a brown suit jacket with tan and grey pin stripes.
29. What shampoo do you use? since my recent purchase, it's Pantene Pro-V for blonds.
30. Favorite colors? all of them that look good on me.
31. Would you like to be a pirate? No.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't really. I just enjoy the hot water. If I do, it's whatever song is stuck in my head.
33.Favorite female name? I think Tara's okay. Classic, but not overused.
34. Favorite male name? These have always been harder for me to pick.
35. What's in your pockets right now? I don't have pockets. *sniff sniff*
36. Last thing that made you laugh? my horrible singing during voice overs for rehearsal on Saturday. It was truly awful.
37. Best bed sheets as a child? The red flannel ones. We always fought over those. You had to be first in line after laundry day to stay toasty warm in the winter.
38. Worst injury you've ever had? Tearing my rotator cuff in my right shoulder doing maid work at Mack's Inn one summer. I still have pain and unpleasant effects from that one.
39. When's your birthday? July 11th
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 1.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Morgan
42. There is no 42. That's lame. How about a question anyway. What is your favorite body of water? Hmm. Good question. I'm going to have to say . . . the Mediterranean Sea.
43. Does someone have a crush on you? Yes. His name is Parker and he's 6. He plays young Cosmo Brown in the play. I know this because a) his dad (R.F. Simpson) told me, and b) he tied me up backstage to keep me from going on. Think about it . . . remember he's 6 . . .
44. Do you wish on shooting stars? Never have. I'm not a good wisher.
45.What is your favorite book ? Oh, so many. To Kill a Mockingbird. Gone with the Wind. Mama Day. A Return to Modesty. The Chosen.
46.What is your favorite age? Any one that isn't a prime number over 17.
47. What song do/did you want played at your wedding? I didn't care, we don't really have "a song", however I did play awesome 80's tunes and that rocked.
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? I don't care. It's hopefully going to be really simple.
49. What were you doing at 12 am this morning? sleeping.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Why am I so tired?

As far as tagging: I think all 5 people who read this blog have already do this. So let's let this blogging virus end right here.

Happy New Year

Welcome everyone to 2008. I would have posted sooner, but I didn't have a very good start to the new year. Not that I think that is in any way an Oman or means that 2008 isn't going to be awesome, cause I think it is.

Anyway, here's the story. I got up early (considering I stayed up past midnight like the rest of the world) and started doing the dishes. Now, it's not that I hate doing dishes, it's just that years of grudgingly doing them at home, then not having a dishwasher for almost a year in college (not that we didn't actually have a physical dishwasher, just that the landlord never replaced it when it broke), and then finally getting grossed out enough by my roommates to do their dishes my last year of college, not to mention all the cleaning checks I had to do--has kind of turned me off to the idea. Plus, my husband doesn't really mind. Do I take advantage of that? You betcha. So, after cleaning most of the house New Years Eve, I decided to be extra nice to start out the year by taking care of the dishes so my lovely husband wouldn't have to. I got the dishwasher loaded and started, then proceeded to the many hand-washed dishes stacked and waiting. I started with the slow cooker. It had been soaking for awhile, so it wasn't too bad, but I didn't have my glasses on (it was early ...), so I wanted to make sure it was really clean. This meant a good soaping. Which I did on the counter. When that was done, I lifted the (moderately) heavy slow cooker into the sink for a rinse. Now, did I mention it was early and I might not have been up to my full strength? Well, it was heavy and slippery, and sure enough, I dropped it in the sink. And sure enough, it shattered. I was in shock. I felt like crying, and not really cause my hands hurt. I brushed some shards off them, and then they started bleeding. And when your cuts are already wet and start bleeding it's hard to make them stop. So I grabbed a paper towel and sat on a stool and tried to figure out all the places I was bleeding from. There were five. Three on my left hand, and some other non-bleeding scrapes. And two on my right. In different places and very painful. So I spent most of the day nursing my hands, and we didn't get to paint the walls like we had planned. But on a happy note, I'm banned from doing the dishes.