7 Women + 3 Boyz = Men!

One fine evening 7 Women from Utah went out to Play.





Then ended up in Nevada in a place called Wendover



There was a Concert...



But the concert was all sold out. "Hmmmm!" Thought 7 women in Wendover! "How do we get to see this concert? It is sold out and we do not have tickets"


7 Women in Wendover met a Lady from South Jordan Utah



She had 3 extra tickets so we bought them.

7 Women in Wendover found another lady who had 4 extra tickets. So we bought them too.




2 seats were together on the floor. 1 seat was in the middle of strangers on the floor

4 seats were all together on the next level up. None of the seats were bad. All of the women were happy.


7 Women in Wendover went into a Concert



And this is what happened:



















AND...





























They kissed and held my hand (yes... all 3 of them)
They gave me a rose
AND they told me to call my mama and put her on the phone. Then they took my blackberry told my mama who they were, that I was at a concert having a good time and that a song was dedicated to her ... then and sang to my Mama in Michigan while onstage in the middle of the concert."Mama...Mama You Know I love you! You know I love you Mama!"


AND THEN after the show... this happened:



V.I.P Passes(Autographed)to the V.I.P Lounge




My Daughter with the Menz



Myself with the Menz



My Womenz with the Menz



This is our story and we're sticking to it!





THE END!~


PS: Anything can happen with 7 women from Utah in a Friday or Saturday night!

Ghetto Christmas Elf!

This year, I'm a ghetto Christmas elf. One of my friends called me up the other day, she was getting out all of her christmas items and taking them to D.I. (Deseret Industries) which is the equivelent of the Salvation Army for those of you who don't live out west. She came across at Christmas wreath with a Raggedy Ann on it. Those who know me know I LOVE Raggedy Ann & Andy. So I told her "of course I want Raggedy Ann." And told her I'd come by to pick her up. When I eventually got there she had boxes and boxes of christmas decore. And this was really cute stuff. She said feel free to take what I wanted.

Since there was so much to go through I told her I'd just take the stuff and after going through it, I'd take it to D.I. Got the boxes home and there was some really fun stuff in there. Alot of it, not my style I was most interested in the pine garlands with lights and pine cones. She had a couple of Black Santa Clauses and Angels that I liked. As I was going through the stuff some of the names and faces of my neigbors started going through my head. I thought to myself... "How funny would it be to wake up and find extra christmas decorations in your yard and not know where it came from?" It cracked me up. The ideah was just funny and ghetto enough for me to be able to pull off.

Oh, don't worry, I'm safe in bloggin, my neigborhood doesn't blog really. Most of them say... "what's a blog." I probably won't be found out until weeks after Christmas. By then it'll be packed up and put in the storage for them to display next year. Actually Monday I did a Ghetto Elf Drop to 3 neigbors. I've passed their homes everyday and although they've added decorations to their yards, the one's I've added are still where I've left them. Soo Funny! I can't wait to hear the reactions from the neigbors through out the season.

It's going to be hilarious when people start talking and noticing. And even if they don't notice, Then I have a little Secret with God.... which is sometimes the way I like it best.
Now Go out and do some Ghetto Elfing yourselves!

It's The MOST Interesting Time Of The Year!

For the next 9 days, I'm a twin. I happens this time every year. I could use that next time someone says "tell us something interesting about your self." I can say "I'm a twin 12 days out of the year!

My sister and I are 11 months apart. And there's a 12 day span when we're both the same age. Does anyone care to ask u our ages any other time of the year?

*SIGH* Nope!


After all these years I don't even care to elaborate anymore. When people say "Oh! Twins!" I just say, nope she's having a birthday in a few days and I'm not. It's fun to watch them figure it out.
Here's a Kicker! Growing up there were two brothers we knew. They were part time twins also, one brother was a day older than my sister and the other brother was a day older than me. We went to the same Jr and High School. I wonder if our moms were in the same hospital? That woulda been cool. I know the older one's were in the same kindergarden and first grade class and then us 2 younger one's were in the same kindergarden and first grade class. Then my family moved away but we ended up in the same schools after 6th grade.

K, so My birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year. I spent it camping out at best buy so I could purchase this groovy lap top w/printer for 375$ That, my friends is a bargain! And it was a fun night. (you can read about it on my other blog: http://www.ablackmormongirl.blogspot.com/ )

I got home about 6:45 am and slept almost til noon. I was awakened by a phone call... My neice was in Labor! They were all going to come here for the weekend but instead stayed in and behold: a little neice was born on my birthday :)

That's way cool but it's also the icing on the cake! I had a nephew born on my birthday 14 years ago. Oh, and I was born on my cousin Paul Warfield's 28th birthday. You know he was an NFL wide reciever with the 1972 Miami Dolphins world Champions.

My sister is a little bitter. She says I'm greedy and selfish with family being born on my same day. I don't think so. Now if they were ALL left-handed like me.... THAT would be greedy and selfish. HA! I have 2 cousins who are left-handed like me and their mom and I favor each other. You can defineately tell we're related. lol.

I did have a neice come close to my sister's birthday. But she decided to come 3 days early and was born on my sister's roomates birthday instead. Another neice was born on her mama's birthday (My sister in law's.) That seriously cracks me up, sister can't get a break.

I also get all the breaks when we go out around our birthdays. Typically we used to go to Vegas the first weekend in December which is the weekend between our birthdays. But I would get ALL the breaks: Free meals, slot machine jackpots, finding money on the floor and in ash trays. Oh I don't gamble anymore but I've been pretty fortunate when I did. I would never spend more than $40. When that was gone I was done. The thing is, It was never gone. I'd spend $2 on Nickels and win $50. Put my $40 in my pocket and play with 10$ . Turn that into $100 on the dollar poker machine, Pocket half of that, then spend another $5 and go win another $60 in Nickels again, then pocket half of that and go spend $10 in quarters and win another $300 on that.
*SIGH* GAMBLING IS EVIL, DON'T DO IT! Besides, your friends and family will turn on you when you keep winning and they don't. I'm proud to say I haven't gambled the last 3 times I've gone and it's been just as great of time. Maybe it's just birthday luck? Naw, I have a system. It works. Cuz when I taught it to my sister's roomate, she turned $20 in quarters into like 750$ in quarters.

*SIGH* Gambling is evil don't do it!


For the most part having a birthday this close to 2 holidays with a sister's brithday so close, its kinda sucks. Ok it REALLY sucks. Most people are out of town for the holidays, students are rushing back to take finals before christmas. People are shopping like crazy, or in a turkey coma still or they've just plain forgotten. But I make the most of it. I am finding ways to make it interesting and have learned how to enjoy it!

My poor sister though. Hey if anyone out there has a kid on December 9th, let me know. lol


Happy Holidays !

OH NO HE DIDN'T

I'm listening to the first press Conference for Barack Obama.
They asked the man about the dog he's getting his daughters. He wants a hypo-allergenic and "a mutt just like me." Is what he said.

The President elect just referred to himself as a "MUTT." WHAT THE CRAP????

I'm not sure I like that. Y'all know how in parts of the black community we have people who call themselves "Negro" and "Nigga" and things like that? But someone else do it, there's hell to pay.
Just so we're clear, I don't like it. I know if I use those words, society takes it as being ok or permission for them to do the same. I fear President Obama just opened that door. Yeah, yeah, I know you gotta be able to laugh are yourself and have a sense of humor. And boy if anyone needs it he sure does. So I guess maybe I'm more shocked than anything. I'm trying to think back in history and see if I can remember anyone else referring to themselves as a redneck, or adulterer, or hick or anything of the sort. There probably is.

Anyway... I guess I wasn't expecting it. Or maybe I was, but not so soon? I dunno.

But just so we're clear..... Just because the President Elect refers to HIMSELF as a mutt..... don't give you permission to refer to it.


Capiche? ;)

Yucky Week Ramblings.

I've been kinda blah all week. Im soooooooo freakin tired. I wondered if I were still on Michigan time. Who the heck knows.
So, this is my story for today:
Back in the beginning of August I slipped down the carpeted steps in our house. It hurt like a MUTHA! For 10 minutes all I could do is sit on the stairs and rock back in forth in pain before I even attempted to put any weight on my leg. after about 15 min I could stand on it. It hurt, but little by little the pain subsided. I was to be a chaperone for the youth at church to the local Amusement part. I prolly should have just stayed home and went to the Dr then. But I was bribbed into going about 9pm the night before and it was an AWESOME bribe: A black forest cake and a $100 bill. So I went. It's only about a 30 minute car ride if that long. So by the time I got to the amusement park my leg was stiff and painful. I eased my way out of the car and went about the day. I put ice on my swollen knee and ankle when I could, rested when i could. For the most part if I kept on moving or didn't stand or sit for too long or angle my knee and ankle too much I was in good shape.
The ride home, it was pretty stiff again. So when I got home I elevated it and iced it and stayed off it for a couple days and just took it easy. The swelling did go down but it's never really stopped hurting and still stiffens up when I'm not on it. Night time is WORSE, it not only locks up and becomes stiff and painfull, it throbs and shoots pains up my let to my pelvic area.

*sigh*

So anyway I just figured if I take it easy and keep it iced it would get better. 10 days after it happend I was on a plane to michigan and there I remained until about a week ago. In michigan it got worse. Humidity will do that to joints and sometimes it got cold to me and that didn't help. I had taken some pain meds and rationed them out for the 3 weeks. At night when I just couldn't take it I would resort to lortab and ibu 800. That would keep me through the night.


Well this passed week it's gotten to the point where I CAN"T TAKE IT ANYMORE! To this afternoon after my meetings and what not, I venture to the Dr's. I explained what happened a month and a half ago. They're pretty sure its not a fracture or a bone chip or anything like that but they take exrays to make sure.
Then the diagnosis: Torn medial Meniscus. yeah, I had to look it up too, y'all. basically that means the tissue on the inside of my knee is prolly torn and starting to heal with broken scar tissue and cartilage hanging around it. I'm picturing a chicken leg with shredded meat off the bone. It's probably not that bad but that's my mind for ya.

So he writes me a RX for some anti inflams that BETTER WORK DOGGONE IT! Cuz it wakes me up most nights.
Then he gives me this really AWESOME knee brace! It's got the metal braces on each side of the knee, it's fitting so it applies pressure where the pain is and is holding the tissue together and it's got velcro straps around the back and front to keep it secure on my leg. I'm excited to be adding this to my Klutz Kollection. ( I have air cast, broken foot boots, ankle braces, knee braces, neck braces, finger splints, crutches... )

So I was given the names of 2 orthopedic surgeons to call and go see on Monday. They're pretty sure I'll need surgery. :( I'm not too crazy about that. If I do need it, I'm gonna try and knock it out here in the next couple to three weeks and if that's the case I may as well get that cateracts surgery done at the same time since I'll be down anyway.
In the mean time the Dr put me on RICE. RICE=Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. And to avoid taking the stairs if I don't have to.

Poor Dr has never been to my house. I had to laugh. All (and I mean ALL the bedrooms AND bathrooms are upstairs. 13 stairs. You do go down 13 stairs and you hit the living room. then you go up one stair and there as small landing. if you turn left you go down 6 more stairs into the family room. if you go straight you go up 1 step into the kitchen. The washer and dryer are in the basement.

I can't see living upstairs close to the bathroom from now until whenever. But i can't see just living downstairs w/o the bathrooms.

ya gotta love it.

Right now I'm in my bed on my sister's lap top with leg elevated. She doesn't care but I like feeling like I'm being sneaky. she feels bad because I wanted her to drive me to the doctors since it's my driving leg that's messed up but she didn't want to go. I told her not to worry about it. But older sisters are supposed to I guess, it's their JOB. (besides she's only 11 months older)


So I've been thinking about this summer as a whole. It's been pretty stinky in some ways and absolutely awesome in others.

before I left for Michigan my wedding dress was a little tight. Now it's too big. They made me put it on as soon as I got back. And before I could suck in the thing was zipped up and hanging off me in front. Adonis is the best diet Ever :)

Oh, Did i mention I chipped a tooth on Monday? My front left tooth chipped off. I got that taken care of yesterday. My daughter and I were in the Dentist office from 8 am til 11 am. What's really cool is they had to put a crown on my daughters tooth and they made it on the computer, sent the image to a machine, and the machine made it right there in the office.

I also lost my phone Tuesday afternoon and some guy found it and got it back to me late thursday night. To make matters worse, Verizon towers were having trouble in the Cache country and wasatch front areas. So verizoner could get texts but not send them. I was proud when I got my phone back it had 1 bar left. Nice. To bad it's now dropping calls and peoples voices are sounding choppy for the most part when they call. It takes for ever to send a text it says "sending" a good 3 minutes before it says failed or message sent so I've all but been ignoring it today.


geeze anything else happen this week? Oh yeah, I found out my neice fell down the fire escape 2 nights before I left michigan. the family didn't tell me, because they knew I would have cancelled my flight home and stayed another week with them. She had a concussion and has a broken nose and what not. I feel sad i didn't get to see them much while I was there. I guess she fell 12 feet straight down a fire escape and landed on her feet, but she landed on a basket ball which caused her to fall straight backwards onto the cement flooring. The empact broke her little nose. She's got 2 blackened eyes and her teeth went thru her lip (just like her daddy, my brother, did when he had an accident as a kid)


blah. I'm sore. I'm tired. I'm frustrated. I'm anxious and nervous about this knee thing. I'm supposed to be job hunting this week. I'll do that inbetween dr appointments i guess.

Right now I'm gonna crawl downstairs... (shhhhhhhh! don't tell on me..) get some ice for this knee, crawl back upstairs grab my little personal dvd player and hang out with Harry Potter the rest of the night and enjoy some apple pie "ontha mode' ;)

To you I say RELEASE THE PEACE!

Will Work for Food!

Seriously, because trying to pay for food didn't work at all tonight.

2 of my friends had birthdays today so a gang of us went out to dinner for celebration. We got to the restaurant at 6:30 and were finally seated at 7:15. The joint was hoppin and there was hustle and bustle all over the place. You would have thought it was rush hour on i-15 the way traffic was running through the dining room.

The waiter comes and takes our drinkk orders. There's a party of 12 of us and all but 2 of us have seperate checks. Our waiter was on it. I was unsure of what to order and he actually sat next to me as we discussed the 3 options i couldn't decide on. I like that he took the personal time to hang out with me for 5 minutes and discuss the details of tuscan potates and actually what capers were.

They bring us our salads and bread, and other appetizers and we pass the pre foods around the table. I'm anxious for the chicken dish I ordered sauteed in onions and mushrooms with red potatoes and so on. Each person's meal comes. He places mine in front of me and I'm staring at my plate... my red potatoes are blackened, my onions resemble black potatoe chips and everything tastes burnt. I stared at the waiter rushes of to get the other dinner plates and take care of his other tables. finally when he returned I have him check out my plate.
" Sooo, tell me Sean" I said... "does this look burnt to you?" And he gasps in embarrasement.
"well, let me take that back and have another one made up for you, or would you rather try something else?" "well, since this dish didn't work out so well, how about i try that 2nd dish we talked about?" " I'll get that right in for ya..." he said and off he rushes to the kitchen. Most everyone else is 1/2 way through their meal except for my sister who asked for medium well stake and was staring at a very RARE peice of beef... he takes her plate back as well and has them recook hers. By the time our dinners come out, we're full on famous salad and breadsticks and ask for our dinner to be put into a box.

Sean brings out our dinners, asks us to check them to make sure they're to our satisfaction. They look wonderful! So our waiter, who was actually on point for most of our stay, gets the boxes and begins to box our dinners. He gives my sister her dinner and begins to box up mine.

Im conversing with my dinner companions and the half of the table facing Sean breaks into a big "GASP!" I turn and look. A customer knocks into Sean and my dinner is now half in the box and half spilled on the tray. Everyone looks at me and I just laugh and think "oh well, it happens."

Good Ole Sean apologizes profusely and heads straight to the manager and asks her to comp my meal. He then comes straight over to me and lets me know he has the cook preparing a 3rd meal for me and he's having it boxed right ups and there will be no charge for it. I thanked him and assured him that he did a might fine job. I left him a 7$ tip on a 3.50 bill cuz Really, it's hard to be a server when the kitchen is off, and quite frankly, I LIKED SEAN THE SERVER.

I get my packaged food and my sister and I head home and I'm hungry. So I call my daughter who chose to stay home and back a store bought pizza. We're 1/2 a mile from home and I ask her... ' Hey is there any pizza left?"
To which she says... "umm aren't you at dinner? I the pizza isn't cooked yet because I didnt get hungry til now."
I tell her "put the pizza in, I'm starving!" I tell her.

She says... "lady what is wrong with you, you just spent 3 hours at the restaurant and you didn't eat?"
I told her I'd explain when I get home.

I explained when got home and we just laughed about it. True I had my "to go" dinner but decided to save it for tomorrow and I was quite looking forward to walmart pepperoni store bought pizza.

I'm sitting in the living room about 10 minutes later and I hear a very loud "AUGH!" come from the kitchen.
My daughter dropped the pizza on the oven door. By this time all I could do is laugh.
I've decided to give up on dinner tonight and just pray so it's called fasting and not starvation.

Anyway, if you know someone will an extra plate and some leftovers tell them you know someone who will work for food.
:)

Hell Has Frozen Over!

Utards, notice how it's June 11th and when you look into the mountains there is still snow? I know, I know, that hasn't really happened since 1992.
I have an explaination for that.
It appears that Hell is freezing over. I'm sure it has everything to do with my setting a wedding date.
I wrote earlier this year about a young man I knew in high school. Well he convinced me to marry him. I guess I got GOT. The date is set for sometime in September so far. We're working out logistics as he's in Michigan and I'm in Utah so we're finding ways to make things work out.

If you wanted to keep updated on how things are coming along our blog (yeah, we have a joint blog) is www.ak-collaborations.blogspot.com
I'll throw a link in my web hood menu.

Anyway, bundle up, it's going to be a frosty year.

It's THAT time again........!!!!

This is a Reprint from about this time last year! Since it's THAT TIME AGAIN... it's worth a repost cuz on Friday night..... IT IS ON! ;)


"Some of us have been talking about going to the Midnight drag races for sometime. Last night was the night! We started the night at the Flying J on 2100 for Steaks. The service was bad. The waitress was worse. But the steak when it game was good eatin. Afterwards we ventured west to Rocky Mountain Raceway, Home of the Discount Tire Midnight Drag Races! We traveled through the maze to get to the parking lot and found a space not too far away from the entrance. The ticket lines were long... and the people in those lines were Redneckishly Ghetto Fabulous! For 7$ you could do all the people watching and drag race watching you wanted. One of the things I liked best was the Local R&B/Rap Station was not only broadcasting live, they had a DJ set up and spinnin in a show room garage. You could dance til your heart's content. My friends and I waited in line to purchase our tickets. While in Line we came across a Ghetto Fabulously Redneckish sign that said: Any children under the age of 8 not accompaniedby and adult will be evicted from the park at 1:00 am.

I loved it! You gotta love an establishment that will make a six year old hanging out by himself jump on his bigwheel and peddle home at one in the morning if he's not with Mamma or Daddy. On the same board a 2nd sign read: Due to West Vally City Curfew ordinance anyone under the age of 15 must be accomanied by an Adult. Does that not negate the first sign? I'm telling you, the night was full of it's Redneckishly Ghetto Fabulous self. While standing in line for our tickets, I watched a family smooze their way into the stadium by paying off the security guard with a $20 bill. Let's think about this. It's $7 a person to get in. This was a family of 3. It cost them $21 to get tickets, then another $20 to get in. Just so they didn't have to wait in a 5 minute line. 5 minutes. it was actually 3 minutes because it was going so quickly. Do they realize they could have taken that $20 and added a 5$ bill to it and drag raced their own car all night long? We entered the stadium and the night was perfect for a new adventure: The smell of burnt tire rubber and diesel in the air. A plethora of teenage kids scantilly dressed and hanging off each other. There were hairless grampies and legless grannies in wheel chairs. There were babies and babies daddies and babies mama's and even Baby Mama Drama! The Latino's and Asian and African- Americans and Polynesians and Caucasian were all there, and all getting along! It was a ghetto fabulously redneckish melting pot of diversity all coming together for the same cause: TO GET OUR DRAG RACE ON!

We made our way though the stadium to our seats. The air was thick with.....the sounds of engines revving up and tires squealing and alla that. The racing vehicles....were the most eclectic assortment of match box cars and trucks any small boy would be proud of.We watched Chargers and Mustangs and Coupes. OH MY! There were Dodge Rams and F250's and Diesels dragging. Sentra's and Civics and Corolla's. Bullet Bikes and Old school Roadsters. There was no vehicle too proud to drag. I must say my favorite.... The VW Rabbit and the GM Pacer! I got a tear in my eye with pride for my country when these two cars stepped up to the mark to claim their place in drag race history at the Rocky Mountain Raceway Discount Tires Midnight Drag Races! Is this not what American is all about? Any car any where has the opportunity for success at RMR Discount Tire Midnight Drag Races.There is no Vehicle too big or too small, to old school or new, too rusted or polished, to loud or quiet to Drag race at the "RMRDTMDR."

It was a night I will not soon forget. So if your on the Wasatch Front and find yourself sitting around on a Friday on some summer night just remember, The Rocky Mountain Raceway Discount Tire Midnight Drag Races start at 11pm. (they go til about 2am.) Make sure your 8 year old is accompanied by an adult or he will get kicked out at 1:00 am. Head on out 2100s west and follow the signs for a Redneckishly Ghetto Fabulous night out! You'll LOVE IT! See you there :)"





Sooooooooooooooo Guess where I'll be Friday night?

Raising The Bar!

Nooooooooooooooo, not THAT bar. Not the Liquor bar either.

Bring on..... the Cereal bar. One of the fun parts about my job is as a Senior Customer Support Rep... at least for now... we get to do things to bring up the department morale and promote unity and achievement of shared goals.
For November/December, it's MY turn to be the chairperson of all of that. Last month we hit the Octobefest theme really thick. I'm suprized I didn't gain 50 lbs with all the bratwurst, crackers, cheese,pretzels and apple beer floating around the department. And we topped it off with, of course, me as the beautiful butterfly for halloween!
Im happy, because I actually lost weight. Gotta love it when that happens.




Well for November I am absolutely fooded out. So what did I plan? Another food thing of course. But nothings as heavy as what we had for October. I just wanted to lay low and take it easy since it feels like we've been playin catch-up all year.

What i proposed was Cold Cereal Bar! Oh I have a special love of the cold cereal. My Daddy worked at Kelloggs, ya know. I'm really tight with tucan same, Cornelius, Snap, Crackle, Pop, Diggem' and Tony Tiger. Theyz my homies and have been a part of my whole life!
I took a Poll and asked everyone in the department their favorite cold cereal. Never in my life did I realize there were so many other NASTY cereals out there. I AM partial to kelloggs. Kelloggs and post are less than 5 miles apart in the city I grew up in. And you could tell when Post burt the post toasties :-P the city stank for days.

When I went off to college, my daddy sent me a case of the mini fruit loop boxes, a case of the mini raisin bran boxes and a case and a half of the Strawberry Frosted PopTarts. He called it "breakfast food storage." I called it "INCOME!" That's right I sold off much of my stock to those poor college students who where broke but shared a love of the Cold Ceral like myself. Oh I was my best marketing director.
My roomate Pam sitting at the breakfast table eating her yogart. Me, munching down a couple small boxes of Fruit loops.
"Hey Pam" says I

"You need some fruit loops with your yogart, girl."

"Huh?" she says?

" You're missing the fruit loops with your yogart" I repeated.

"I'm not sure what you mean" She says.

BIG SIGH! "WHAT?????? you mean you don't crush up fruit loops in your yogart? Girl, where are you from? You put peanut butter on pancakes, but not fruit loops in Yogart?"

I walk over and crush a couple of fruit loop on her spoon full of strawberry yogart.

"Go ahead, give it a try..."

She obeys.

"Hey that's yum! I really like it!"

Well you know it's only 50 cents a box. Did you want one or two boxes?

"gimme 2 of em."

CHA-CHING!

Eventually 1/3 of the apartment complex are regular customers

I'm walking through the courtyard and I see good ole Bubba.
"Hey BUBBA! What's up my southern Studd!" I call out.
"Hey Sweet chocolate, come and gimme some sugar!" man I loved them southern boyz.

"Bubbz, where did you say your brother is on his mission?" I ask

"Oh he went to France." he says.
About this time I start cracking up trying to picture a southern boy speaking French.

"well you know, they can't get the stuff they're used to over there. Why don't you come by and buy a couple mini boxes of Cereal for his care pkg. I'll even throw in a box of strawberry frosted Poptarts for free, since he's doing the Lord's work!"

" Sweet chocolate I love the way you think! I'll be by directly!"

CHAH CHING!

***Side note! I luvz me some southern boyz. That apartment full of southern boyz was very very good to me! I had a car and that is a luxury at college. People would want to borrow it to get groceries and things and I would cost 1$ to get my car keys and then another dollar for everyone who was riding in the car.

CHAH CHING!

But them southern boyz after the first time they borrowed my car, I stopped charging them. Because when they returned my car, the gas tank was willed, the car washed inside and out and if it was time th oil would be changed too. Did i say I luv me some southern boyz? After a while I stopped charging them period.


Ok back to my cold cereal bar. Wendesday we had a cold cereal bar for work. IT WAS AWESOME! there were about 10/15 diffent kinds of cold cereal to choose from. There was so much cereal left over, we had cold cereal bar this morning at work too. And there is STILL some left over, so for tomorrow, YUP, cold cereal bar. Everyone loves it!
Who doesn't like cold cereal?
Think about it. It's the middle of the night you can't sleep. The late show, late late show, and much too late show have just gone off. The only thing left are your insomnia and infomercials.
Your stomach growls a little so you grab a bowl, get the ice cold milk, open the cupboards and pull out a box of.. mmmmmmmm!
Sugary sweetness!
Fruit loops, Strawberry Shredded mini wheats, Captain crunch w/ crunch berries, I gotta have my pops cuz I am coo koo for cocoa puff, they're Grrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaaaat!

So what if the spoonful was so big that the cereal is tearing up the roof of your mouth! It takes you back to saturday mornings in your pajama's watching the superfriends at the hall of justice.... wondering what the wondertwins marvin and wendy are going to "Activate" into now, or if Pinky and the Brain will EVER figure out how to take over the world.

I recommend a cold cereal bar. Suggest it at work next friday. If your office doesn't have a budget for it , then just tell your people to bring their favorite cold cereal and a bowl, and you'll supply the milk. I bet your office will soon be after your lucky charms!

200 lbs of Red Potatoes!

300 lbs of red potatoes! That's what's in my "Bu" right now. "Bu" is the name of my car. And she's got 3/100 pound bags of potatoes in her back seat.
My supervisor at work mentioned her neighbor has a potato farm and is selling 100 pound bags of potatoes for 20$. That's a lot of funerals. I decided to get me a bag, or two. The third bag is for a friend. She likes potatoes!
I thought wow, I love me some red potatoes! And I have some friends who love them some red potatoes too! They probably wouldn't mind a pound or two.
I don't mind sharing with my friends and family. WOW 200 pounds. That's alotta potatoes! I can scallop them, au grauten them, fry them, bake them, mash em smash em. There's potato casserole, potato pancakes, potato chips. Ohhhhhh, cream of potato soup! I have the most amazing recipe for it! MMMM Cheesy cream of potato soup, even better. Potato logs, twice
baked potatoes.

Fries! Curly Fries! Seasoned curly fries! Potato dumplings. Potato Salad. German Potato Salad. HASH BROWNS :)

Let's think, some other things you can do with potatoes:
You can put it in someone's exhaust pipe, Drop it from the top of a skyscraper, play dodge ball with them. Mash them and have "snowball" fight! carve them into little sculptures and figurines, use them as stamps or stencil on artwork, I found a link for mashed potato cookies:http://www.recipezaar.com/27684 I ain't trying it but if someone out there does, let me know. I hear if you mash them and make them stiff enough and add food coloring you can mold things: Mountains, ashtrays, cups, candy dishes. I guess if you let them sit long enough they will be the 'mold" thing. Bwahh haa haaa!
A long time ago one of my friends made a spud cannon! SPUDZUKA! Wow, or a catapult would be cool, and sling shot them at targets in a field. You could do that, but that would just be wasteful.

Potatos, potatos, Potatos. I LIKE POTATOS! "Specially the red ones. I feel sorry for you die hard atkins diet freaks! I like the atkins diet actually, but I know when to aktins and I know when to eat potatoes and this winter, is all about sharing the love of carbs.
You may think what in the world is she going to do with all those potatoes?

Welp lets see
I can give 200 friends 1 pound each. Or I can give 1oo friends 2 pound each. I can give 4 friends 50 pounds or, I can give 3 friends 50 pounds and keep 50 pounds myself. I can make potato starch alcohol and sell it in the back woods of Benjamin :)

I could build a model of the solar system with potatoes. Someone suggested I make the world's largest potato salad and get in the guinness book of world records. I could invite all my friend over for a potato bar dinner. Hey, just bring the toppings, I have the potatoes.


What can you top a potato with?
Chili, cheese, and chili-cheese, sour cream, ranch dressing, bacon, cream of mushroom soup, gravy, cream chip beef, cream of chicken, taco meat and other taco fixins, broccoli and cheese sauce, Chicken ala king, Delux that baby out with green onions/sour cream/cheese/bacon/chives, cubed steak/onion/mushrooms, stroganoff, chicken ala king!

WOW. You can do so much with potatoes, who knew?


MMMM! Potatoes. Guess what my friends are getting for Christmas? :)


What would YOU do with 200 lbs of red potatoes?

Halloween @ The Office

Wordless Wednesday

Fall out boy and Fireworks

It's funny but for a month now, I've had the latest Fall Out Boy album as back ground music in my head. It goes well with most things going on around me, video games, work, especially house cleaning. They're giving Def Leppard a run for their money in the cleaning department. When I get into house cleaning mode it's ALL about Def leppard or Totally Awesome 70's. ON them sad days it's all about the Barry Mannilow and Karen Carpenter. On those summer days when I'm feeling.... "frisky" as my Aunt Joyce used to call me (meaning mysterious and mischievous. Ms chi-vi-us!) I'm all about jazz. Radio stations 97.9 The BREEZE! There's nothing like the sensual slow moan of the saxophone.

Yesterday was Independence day. That's right July Forth. Unlike my father who could listen to Neal Diamond sing "we're coming to America" all day, or "God Bless the U.S.A" by Lee Greenwood all day I went a different direction. To be clear there is absolutely nothing wrong with Neil Diamond or Lee Greenwood ESPECIALLY on Independence day. More people prolly listened to them then what I listened to.

But I Gotta tell ya folks, I plugged in my Fall Out Boy Cd when the fireworks began and it was like Magic! I felt like I shot up like superman, the sky my play ground. Sparks of Red, white and blue popping off and shooting up as if through my finger tips. I could actually feel them tickle my skin as they landed and faded into the darkness. I've seen fireworks before, but never like this! The energy from the music and my freedom and independence radiated with each spark that hit the sky. FALL OUT BOY and independence. Hand in hand Like Apple and Pie. ON your next celebration with fireworks, Crank up the F.O.B and fly!

What WAS I THINKIN....??????

*sigh*

So one of my good friends got surprised yesterday and had family drive in from Oregon. She hasn't seen this family for YEARS! Aunty Faye and family has arrived in UTAH!

Basically when something of this magnitude happens (at least in my culture) we have a HUGE party and the Matriarch will cook up a huge feast for family and friends.

Oh it made me soo homesick for Grandma and Papa and the cousins. Aunty Faye cooked up a STORM! And every thing homemade! She called me into the Kitchen to sample! (cuz you know I know a li'l sum'n sum'n about cooking and stuff)

She made this fried catfish that was AWESOME! Restaurant Quality. It was sooo goood! The bone head part? I only took a small bite of it. And when I say small I mean it was about 1 inch by 1 inch bite. Why, might you ask, would I only take such a small bite if it was SOO good?
I have SEVERE reactions when I eat catfish. We didn't find out the link to catfish til about 2 years ago and then it was just speculation. Who would have thought that such a small bite would send my stomach inside out? When I say severe I mean my body VIOLENTLY reacts. To the point where even when your stomach is empty..... it's still trying to purge up to 12 hours later, leaving me sprawled out on my bathroom floor huggin the porcelain God begging.... "please, Oh great porcelain one... there is NOTHING left to offer you but the bitter bile! My stomach is empty! Have mercy on me, PLEASE!!!"

yeah, I love you Aunty Faye! And you can cook some catfish like God make it personally for YOU and you alone to cook!

But I'm NEVER touchin' that stuff again!

My daughter.... she cracks me up!

Seriously she does! She was supposed to write a paper today with a "Utah Flavor" to it.
It's so "Utard" you have to laugh. Anyway, I thought I'd share it....

Carrots In My Jell-O

You really shouldn’t ever try to pick the carrots out of your dad’s famous “Jell-o Salad”. You especially shouldn’t try to do this at your annual Pioneer Day family reunion.
My name is Sarah Young, and this is my story.
I awoke the morning of the reunion and started dreading the day. This was the Pioneer Day in which I would have to sit at the adult table. The table where I would have to answer questions about past prom dates, college majors, and BYU admissions. The table where I would eventually have to partake of my dad’s grody Jell-o salad.
Now, this was no ordinary salad. Sure, he starts with the regular mix but then he adds marshmallows, peaches, prune juice, and carrots. I don’t see what so wrong with just eating regular Jell-o but my dad, he’s a dreamer. You see, he imagines that everyone loves his flippin’ salad so he keeps making it. The dog, Moroni, wont even eat it, but its tradition that everyone at the adult table has some.
So I got out of bed, found my cap sleeve t-shirt and put on some knee length shorts. As I came down the stairs into the kitchen, I saw all of my dad’s ingredients laid out on the countertop.
“Look Sarah,” he said, “I’m making a double batch!”
“Great….” I mumbled under my breath. My mom came down the stairs then, asking me to take the minivan and pick my grandparents up from their rest home. I grabbed my flip-flop sandals and ran out the door. I started to drive to the rest home, and all of a sudden a ball hit my side mirror.
“What the fetch?!” I asked as I got out of the car. I soon saw my cousins (who were also my neighbors) running around in their front yard.
“Sorry Sar! Oh my heck! Is that a dent?!” My 8 year old cousin Matthew hollered.
“Ooo, Im telling uncle Carl that you did it, Matthew!” His little sister Megan taunted.
Walking into my grandparents apartment at the home, I heard my grandmother first. “Tom, what in the world is taking you so long? Sarah has been waiting forever!”
“I’m comin’ Berva, just help me find that celery phone thingie.” When we got back to my house Mom, aunt Cheryl, and Grandma took over the kitchen. Dad, Grandpa, uncle Dave, and uncle Pete took over the grill.
The women were making the side dishes and desserts; Funeral potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, something with cornflakes on top of it, pound cake, and macaroni and cheese. “Sar, grab the celery from the fridge for the Mac.” When I opened up the fridge, there it was. If it had eyes, I would say it was staring at me. But there it was, just chilling in the fridge on the top shelf. Dad’s famous “Jell-o Salad”, haunting me. Gagging, I quickly grabbed the celery and shut the door.
“Eatin’ time!” Dad called. All of my starving siblings and cousins rushed outside followed by the mothers, to greet the men of the family. “Sar, grab the Jell-o, will you?”
So there it was, just me and the Jell-o. I was left alone in the house with the salad…. I could drop it and claim an accident. I could say I couldn’t find it. Thinking better of those scenarios, I grabbed my dreaded fate out of the fridge and trudged to the backyard. Putting the bowl on the table seemed to seal my doom.
“Matthew, will you please say the prayer and don’t forget to give thanks for this wonderful food.” Grandma asked. After Matt’s prayer, the children all got their food. Like me, they had learned to bypass the carrot Jell-o. When it became my turn for the food table, the Jell-o had still been untouched. Trying to scoop my spoon around the carrots and marshmallows, I managed to get a small portion of Jell-o and peaches on my plate. All of a sudden there was a big plop of the Jell-o-ed mess on my plate. “Don’t be shy Sar, take as much as you want!” My grandma practically hollered. Feeling defeated and irritated, I walked to the adult table and plopped down in my chair. I took my napkin and placed it in my lap, trying to hide the carrot bits I was putting into it. I guess I wasn’t slick enough.
“Sarah Elisabeth Young, what the heck do you think you’re doing?” My mother yelled from across the table. She then proceeded to grab me out of my chair and march me to the kitchen with my plate and napkin of carrots. She then threw the carrots back into my Jell-o and yelled as she walked back outside, “You will not eat outside with us until you have finished everything on your plate. It is offensive to pick at the food someone else has made for you.”
Because I had been staring down at my plate, I never realized that grandpa was sitting right across from me. In fact, I didn’t remember even seeing him out at the table. “Grandpa, what are you doing in here. Everyone’s outside.”
“Eight years ago, I decided to pick out the carrots…”

Picture it..... Sicily!

OK, so it's not Sicily, it's Ogden. And it's not Italy, it's Utah. It's late-ish. The Family estate is calming down for the evening. No where near ready to bed down for the night because we roll pretty late around here, but just taking it down a few notches for a mellow evening on a FREAKIN COLD night. I'm Antsy. I went into the kitchen to grab some dinner... but realize I really wasn't hungry. I returned to the living room to watch some tv with the sibs, but wasn't into the show. I grabbed a book to go read... but then sat back down in front of the tv. Yeah... Antsy. Something wasn't quite right and it was annoying me. I couldn't figure out what it was but indeed, it was. I sat on the couch and decided to try and zone in on what was going on inside my head. I had a feeling I needed to go out for a bit. I was just telling someone not 10 minutes earlier that it was cold out side and I wasn't going out there, and its rolling up on about 11 at night. I sort of pushed that thought to the back of my mind. It's about 8 degrees outside AND the wind was blowing. You could feel the breeze around the doors and windows of this old house. My gaze fixated on the TV...."the Dog whisperer" was on and I wanted to see how he was going to convince this dog not to be scared to go out walking or scared of the wind. The longer I sat the more unfocused on the show I had become. That Gnawing feeling I had earlier would not let me sit another minute. I jumped up, literally jumped up and announced.. "I'm Going For A Drive!." My daughter looked at me like I was crazy. My sister looked at me and shrugged. My brother was probably wondering... "typical , hella cold out side, out the door in only flannel jammies and slippers roaming around in the middle of the night on the streets of Ogden." I jumped in the car and didn't know where I was headed. I just went on some instinctual navigation system inside of me that had been lying dormant for a while. I headed south on Washington Ave... turned down a street called Chester. I've never been down this street before, had no idea why I was on it now. So I rolled down Chester until I came to a street called Porter. I rolled down Porter street for about a block and then turn down Cross. I took Cross street all the way back to Washington and then headed north on Washington back toward the house. Typically I turn down 6Th but this time I turned at the gas station by 7Th and saw an Older woman who appeared to be pushing her car. The street light was out. The gas station was dark and vacant. She was pushing at the back of her car and her driver side door was opened. I drove by her and did a quick turn Down the next street Adams st. I figured the house is just a couple blocks away I'll go get my brother to help. Then I thought: "hmmm an older woman, middle of the night a big black man... that may not set right with her. So instead I got on my cell phone and called my sister and simply said... "hey, meet me in the drive way right now...." I pulled into the drive way and she came out of the house and jumped into the car. I told her I saw an old lady pushing her car a block away and she may need our help. So I pull out of the drive way go around the block to the gas station and the car is gone. My sister is looking at me kind of like I'm trying to pull a joke. From the time I left the house in the first place to the time I saw the lady was maybe 10 minutes. From the time I saw the lady from the time I called my sister, picked her up and came back to where I saw her was less than maybe 2 minutes . I'm baffled. You know how you know that you saw what you saw, but now you only think you saw what you Know you saw??? Yeah, it's like that. I'm staring blankly at the spot where the lady and the car was. My sister turns to me and says... "uh.... so what color was this car?..." I said.."red." "and where did you see this car?" "right here." "uh huh, I see..." We were both quiet. I guess I felt that if I sat there long enough she would materialize in front of my eyes. So I just sat there for a few seconds. ( this is reminding me of when my car was making loud crazy noises the week before Christmas. The whole week before Christmas. And when I took someone for a ride so they could hear it and try and figure it out.... nothing. The noised disappeared.) I sighed. I headed east up 7th then turned north up Adams... driving very slowly. Cuz who ever she was, if she was having car trouble, she can't have gone that far. And it's freakin 2 degrees out, and the wind is blowin.... and I'm just cold thinking about her out there somewhere. Just as we're coming to cross 6th street my sister points and says... "right there!" I looked, and there was black silhouette of a car and a person. I tear around the corner and pull up the car. You could tell it had stopped in the middle of the road and she was trying to push it towards the side, but couldn't because there was no way for one person to steer or push at the same time. "ma'am can we help you?" I asked. She stayed by her car and called back that she was fine and that no, she was almost home and if she lets her car sit for a while it will start up again and she could drive it home. "well I'm more than happy to take you home and you can take care of this tomorrow." Shoot it was after 11pm. Suddenly my sister said... "Sister Jones! Hey It's Lyn, this is my sister" Lyn was the first councelor in the ward Relief Society so she knows EVERYONE in that area. Although Sister Jones was not really familiar with my brother. So getting my sister was the right vibe. They start talking a little about ward business. She's standing out in the freezing cold... for who knows how long it's freakin -12 degrees out and they wanna chat about ward business in the middle of the street in the middle of the night? FOCUS PEOPLE! "Whats with the car, sister?" I asked. She explains that she picked up her car a couple hours earlier from the repair shop and the battery light kept coming on.. and now she knows why. Her car would run for a short time and then stop. But if she lets it sit long enough, it would start up again and let her drive a little bit. So when it stopped, she'd push it to the side of the road if needed and then let it sit for a few minutes and then drive as far as she could. She had been doing this since about 20th street. (We were sitting on 6th street). She'd been doing this for a couple of hours in the dark and cold. I'm flashing back to this summer. A few friends of mine and I were doing a relay for life walk for the cancer society. I was team captain and was in Ogden going back home to Provo for the big day the next day. Sooo much to prepare for. As I headed down hwy 89 my car over heated. I kept putting water into it and it kept over heating. I could go maybe 2 miles before it would cut out on me. It was 98 degrees outside and thermometer in my car was registered at 103 degrees. within 30 minutes I had gone less than 3 miles and had poured 2 gallons of water into my car. I had 1 gallon left. I could either drink it or put it in the car. Normally I would just lock up the car and walk someplace. However, I had broken my ankle about 3 weeks before and although I was not using crutches, I still had it casted. So i couldn't even hike out. The portion of the highway I was in was sort of like a bowl. you come down a Huge hill just to go back Up a huge hill. This was the route that truckers take to and from Wyoming and various other forlorn places in the state. It's also the spot where your cell phone doesn't work so well. I remember sitting in my car, hood up, my t-shirt was dripping wet with sweat. I could wring it out. My arm rest was actually muddy from my sweat and the dirt from me dinking around under the hood. My bother wasn't picking up his phone. 2 other friends offered to come help, both at work. The one, I KNOW would have come as soon as they could. The other... well you know you have those friend who offer, and they'd help, but for some reason you feel guilty about it? yeah well I figured there were both anywhere from an hour to 30 min away and there's no reason why they should have to rescue me. I knew I was on my own because I knew no one would stop to help. And I was right. (remind me to blog that story sometime for the conclusion) Tangent, sorry. K, so anyway... she had been doing this drive, stop push thing for a couple hours in the cold. Lyn is talking to sister Jones about what's going on. And then I tell her to call our brother to come and help. She says..."he won't come, will he? I wouldn't come on a night like this.... Lyn says.. "yeah he will" "Well he's sleep isn't he?" "Sleep? are you kidding me? Naw he ain't sleep!" She dials our brother and tells him.. "Hey, jump in my car and come up 6th street. Oh yeah...you need your coat and some long pants... this may take awhile..." I park on the side of the road with my hazards on. Lyn and Sister Jones are outside trying to see if they can just tighten something up or jump the battery or what. within 2 minutes we see my sister's car turn out of the alley and come up 6th street and park just behind me with the lights on. Lyn explains what's going on. I tell her to have Sister Jones come sit in the car and warm up. Her car is warm, she insist that we don't need to make a fuss about her and she'll be OK. I had to explain to her... "Sister Jones, we can't just leave you here, our parents would be so disappointed if we did that... we just didn't grow up that way. We need to make sure you get home safely even if we have to take you there ourselves. My mama would be HIGHLY ashamed if we left you in this situation...and you don't want to have that on your heart would you?" She kind of laughed.. by this time my brother was out of the car and my sister was explaining the situation. I was sitting in the car running the heat full on because I get hives when the weather is really cold...and another trip the E.R for me because of hives was out of the question for this day. I had broken out in Hives earlier today, twice... and that was enough for me. I guess they were going to try jumping the battery but decided to push her car where I was sitting, so she wouldn't get a ticket since she was diagonally parked facing east on the west bound side of the street. I moved my car. Sister jones convinced them to let her try and start it again since she was soo close to home. The siblings obliged and let her know we were be right behind her to make sure she got home. We all got in our cars. I had flipped my car to the west bound side of the street prepared to give light to their 2 cars for the jump. And they were now facing east toward where Sister Jones lives in "The Village" apt. Sister Jones started up her car an away she went... Eric and Lyn right behind. I flipped a u-turn and pulled up from the rear. By the time they got down to the street to the sign that said.. "dip" Sister Jones' car stopped again... (less than 1/4 mile down the road). By the time I got down to the "dip" sign my brother was pushing her car into the parking lot of the Village Apartments. My sister had parked her car at the office. My brother pushed her car into a slot bedside my sister's car and I pulled up on the other side of Sister Jones' car. Sister Jones jumped out of her car and thanked us soo much for our time and for helping her on a night like this. Now in true.. "Dudley" fashion... Lyn had enquired where exactly where she lived so we could make sure she was inside safely. We made sure she was home safe. We then got into our cars and headed back to the family house. Prepare for Mama Lecture: ***On a side note... My parent's seriously trained us to be a certain way. If I had told this story to my mama and I hadn't stopped, her backhand would have left Michigan, slapped me up in Utah and been back home in Michigan in less that 3 seconds. You never LEAVE somebody: If you are some place with a friend and only 2 people are left and you are one of them.. you don't leave them alone, you leave together. If you take someone home or drop them off... you don't leave until you are sure they are in the house. ( flash the porch light as a sign that you are in and things are ok if they drop you off) For my sister and I... If we are some place with a Man and he leaves us, or leaves before us or doesn't make sure we are safely on our way before he leave on his way...that's not your kinda man. My brothers... make sure your ladies are home when they are supposed to be and safely in their house when they get there. Don't ever expect more from anyone than you are willing to do yourself. Mama lecture part 2 Sometimes the Lord needs people to go above and beyond what's expected to get his work done. Be that person when you can. It's not bad to expect alot from people if you give alot to people. (where much is given, much is required) but don't hold them to your high expectation or you will feel failed (amen on that one.) Hold them to the expectation they set for themselves. Hold people accountable for keeping their word. Don't say things you don't mean or make commitments you don't intend to keep. Never leave people or plans hanging.... oh I could go on an on. Sadly enough we all do those things that we probably shouldn't. Human nature tends to get in the way of what we should and shouldn't do. I think as long as we don't leave ourselves satisfied with.."oh well, everyone does it.. or that's just human nature.." and stop trying, we're allowed to slip as long as the slipping isn't the rule. *** MEAN WHILE BACK AT THE RANCH.... when we all get into the house... for some reason... we all burst out laughing at our adventure. My brother looked at me laughin and said.... 'How come your vibes and promptings always put "US" in the middle of something?" I started cracking up... "well I was antsy and some thing kept telling me something was wrong.. so when I got the vibe to go for a drive, I went for a drive... you don't ask questions.. you just do what you're told and you know it's in his hands." Lyn chimed in saying..." well you know how she is! When that girl get a prompting she is all over it, no questions asked. I learned to trust it. I don't even question it anymore. Cuz it's amazing to see it in action. It happens with her all the time and you just don't fool with it." Eric went on to say "Sister Jones was soo cold and tired, she had already exhausted her energy and couldn't get warm and was shaking so badly already." This was how things were on His end... Eric was saying how.. it was weird.... "First Karyn jumps up and announces she's going on a ride. Then less than 10 minutes later Lyn's phone rings and she's out the door gone. Then less than 5 minutes later my phone rings and Lyn is telling me to just jump in her car and bring it around the block... I'm thinking what kind of mess did Karyn get into this time... that Lyn can't get her out of. And then I thought.. wait.... in the movies... everyone start disappearing one by one...getting killed off... I didn't know what to think but I knew whatever was going on... I had to come... and if something happened to one of us... it better happen to all of us... or else mom would kill me anyway cuz I'm the oldest...." We bust out laughing shaking our heads in agreement again... Because as soon as we tell mom the story... I can hear her now.... Talking to Lyn.. ." you let karyn go out in that weather alone at night?.... Why didn't you go with her?" ( growing up, mom would not let me go anywhere w/o lyn or let lyn go anywhere w/o me. I can remember getting back handed when i said.. ."why do I have to follow her outside to the garbage can, it's JUST right there.. you can watch her from the window..") And then I can hear lyn saying back to her... "well I did go with her when she came back 10 minutes later and picked me up.... and then 2 minutes after that i called Eric and then came to where we were.....cuz he's the oldest.. and he knows that if me and Karyn are in trouble, he's accountable to you if something happens to us....(pause)... Yeah we did leave the baby (ali )in that house alone... there was no need to bring the baby (Ali) out in that weather, Ali was locked the the house and the dog was there...". (the "baby" by the way, is 16 years old.) My mama is on the ball and WILL make sure all her bases are covered when it comes to her kids. Even though we're grown. I stood for a minute in stillness... and there were no longer any antsy or unsettled feeling. I took a deep breath made some hot chocolate to ensure I would be warm enough not to break out in hives and settled in for the chilled out and relaxing night. Yeah.... it's like that!

I'm No Longer A Virgin!

Give it up for me! I'm no longer and Tamale Virgin, I had my unflowering this evening. It started out pretty rough though but I have to give props and shout outs to my Homies at Javier's in Ogden. Big Al and I traveled thru hell, high water, sleet snow, jacked knifed trucks and a plethora of accidents to get to Ogden today. I'm here because well a few reason: Ali is out of school for the next 4 days and I didnt want a teen home alone for I have a Martin Luther King Luncheon tomorrow in South Jordan from 11-1 tomorrow. And then I'm up at U of U @ 3:30 and then if they don't keep me I'm at west Minster college around 6 or 7-ish, and then back in ogden from sat-sun. And my schedule... has nothing to do with Tamale's but that's why I had them in Odgen. :) K, so anyway I walk up into the family home like I own the place and announce to my older sister... "I WANT TAMALES CUZ I"VE NEVER HAD THEM!" So she and my daughter embark upon a mission to find a great place for Tamales. Ogden is FULL of Mexican restaurants so this shouldn't be hard at all, right? We call my brother, because he coaches one of the high school basket ball teams up here and has a couple of students who have the download on good mexican food. He says he's going to hook us up and call us back. When he does he informs us of a place called Rosa's Bakery on Washington and 31st (or is that 38th?.) So we head down to the bakery and walk inside. Now I dont know how many of you have ever been into a Latino market, but their bake goods in size alone.... WOW. They had donuts, cookies, muffins and what nots the size of my head. 3 leche cake, Spices, beans, cilantro, all manor of other vegitables and goods that actually made me feel I was back in Mexico. It was cool. The front of the store was a bakery, The back of the store was a butcher and a... well... grill? Kitchen I guess? I dunno what it was, but whatever it was, it was there. My sister, daughter and I have our little basket.. and I dont know why I picked up a basket.... you dont need a basket of Tamale's right? RIGHT! I was giddy with wonder going up and down the small isle and then circling around them going up and down again. After a while I was thinking.... Ok where are the tamales? We looked in the food cases, and found none. I tried to get my daughter to read the really bad hand writing on the back boards at the umm....grill (?) to see if she could see anything that said Tamale. Nope, not tamales. After a while the smell of the fresh butcherings started getting to me. I looked in the case and saw.... Well I still don't know what I saw. I think there were some pork rinds, and maybe some tripe (cow stomach) and ....well, yeah I have no ideah but it was starting to make me nauseated. I looked on the top of the case and saw.two big jugs of... some sort of.... entrails... submerged in some sort of... liquid solution. That was all i could take. I did purchase my favorite spice in the world... Adobo and I also found some Sazon that I've been searching for for YEARS. After we left the Bakery it occured to me that my brother misunderstood what we were looking for. He inquired with his informants about ingredients to make tamales, not where to purchase them already prepared. (Bone Head) So we decided to travel up and down the streets of Ogden and just pick a mexican restaurant and go for it. Well we head down Riverdale road and then take a quick turn down wall street and I see this place and their sign say... Tamales. My sister zooms right passed it, takes the next sharp right turn and circles the block back to this place. I go in and I'm reading their Hand written board. It says EVERYTHING.... Carne Asada, Chips Salsa , El Pastor, Flan.... you name they have it... except Tamales. The Cashier asks if she can help me. I tell her... "YES! Do you have Tamales? I've never had one before and tonight is my lucky night! I will no longer be a tamale virgin after tonite!" The latin guys in front of me started laughin and giving me my congratulations and their offers to help me with that virgin thing! The Cashier says... "we have el salvador Tamales they come wrapped in banana leaves, but we don't have the Mexican Tamales, we're out" I'm sure my face deflated. I turned and looked at my latin guys and they sort of turned up their nose giving me the.... "no that's not what you want" look. I told the cashier that I was looking for mexican tamale but thank you anyway. I turned to go and my latin guys called "good luck" to me after wards. Well by this time i'm feling a little defeated :( And then I remember.. HEY, this night I will give up my Tamale virginity or else! I told my sister... you know... we prolly should have just walked the 1/2 block to that place across the street from the house. We headed back that way. I'm not going to tell you how many mexican restaurants we passed going back home... nor will I tell you how many are in walkin distance from the family estate... because it's EMBARRASSING! We ended up going to the place across the street from the house called Javier's Mexican Restaurant. I walk in and am greeted by a Handsome older Latin man.... Javier Himself! He smiles and says in this dreamy accent.. "Hello, how can I help you this evening ladies?" I smile and say... "Well, do you have mexican tamales? I've never had one before and TONITE will be the night I will have my first one!" He smiled and said... "yes we have them, of course!" I told them I would like to place a to go order and could I see a menu to check out the rest of the goods?. He gave me a menu, and we took a seat and combed over the menu. Tamale were 2.95 a la carte. well I dont know if that's expensive for one, but HEY This was a special occassion, right? So my sister decides. were going to get 10 of them! Oh and 2 sides of Beans and rice! We step up to the counter and place our order. The cashier informs us... Well if you get them ala carte, they're 2.95 each. But on the "to go" menue they're 12 for 15$! BONUS!!!!!! We'll take it! Oh im so excited by now. AUTHENTIC MEXICAN TAMALES! My friend to make sure i got the real thing cuz the gringo version just wont cut it. As we're wating for our order... I look around the restaurant and there's news articles and old and current high school graduation announcements on the walls and bulletin boards. I check themout. Sir Javier is.. or was a track couch at the St Josephs' Catholic School up here in Ogden. And he's good! His Track team has been champions for like 6 years in a row or something like that. Impressive. Also are acticles where he was the motivational speaker as well. Neoto! Tamales and track! It doesn't get any better than that does it! The cashier tells us our tamales are ready and to becareful because they're hot! She gives us the bag and they are steaming and smelling all kinds of delicioso! I can hardly wait to get home and try it. We get home... and make all the special preparations... wash hour hands... cleare the dining room table...fold our arms and bless these special tamale's and the hand that prepared them and to give us strength and nourishment... all of that stuff on this special night. I open the steaming hot bag and before me is.... a zip lock baggie full of a dozen of Javiers best tamales I'm sure. And I gasp in amazement... "OH MAN I KNOW THESE ARE THE REAL DEAL... THEY ARE IN AN OLD SCHOOL ZIP LOCK BAG JUST LIKE ANY REAL MAMA WOULD HAVE PACKAGED THEM FOR HER BABIES TO TAKE FOR SCHOOL LUNCH OR SOMETHING!" Im excited, I pull one out... and then figure heck..... Why not... and pull out another one. I went for two! Unwrapped the corn husk, placed them just so on my plate. Opened up Javiers special homemade salsa and poured it over my special dish. I cut them bad boys, closed my eyes and took my first bite. I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA THROW UP! HAHA JUST KIDDING! I loved them! LOVED THEM! They taste of corn, shredded beef together with that salsa! Taste soo good it'll make you wanna slap somebody! I ate my two and were immediately stuffed. And sufficiently happy. Yes I do believe 2007 will be the year of the Tamale. I may even try the Salvadorian one's as well and making them myself. VIVA TAMALE!

Forty And FABULOUS!


On November 28Th. I will turn 39 years old. (yeah I know I look awesome for an old lady!)

Here's a good chance to learn at least 40 Krazy things about Kaydee.

1. I Love My Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ
2. My Daddy delivered me when I was born
3. I used to have a herniated navel and looked like a little boy til I was about 4 years old
4. I love the snow
5. But I get hives if I play in it
6. So I took up playing the violin...but only for a year
7. I was an art major in college
8. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up
9. I like to give things away
10. I'm too loyal sometimes to people who aren't loyal to me
11. I'm scared to fly since 9/11
12. I can't sing but I'm always singing and dancing while doing house work
13. I have 9 siblings if you count the step-siblings
14. My favorite flowers are Calle Lillies
15. I'll dance by myself on the dance floor
16. I have a groovy Daughter that teaches me more than anyone I know
17. I take my emotions too seriously
18. I am an impressive cook.
19. I snort when I laugh really hard
20. Sometimes I'll laugh till I get bad stomach cramps or throw up
21. I'd rather go thru 9 months of childbirth, 12 hours of labor and deliv than throw up once!
22. Def Lepard is my favorite band of all times
23. And their one arm drummer inspires me to "go for it" when I'm down.
24. I'm addicted to chicken! (I'm gonna grow wings one day, I know)
25. I'm scared of Spiders, Snakes, tight spaces and the sight of dead bodies, coffins and hursts.
26. I hate people who suck up and brown nose.
27. I will over analyse a situation until I think it's solved.
28. I always have an urge to flip the bird or stick out my tongue when I take pictures
29. I love college football! (go Michigan Wolverines)
30. I' broke my left ankle 3 times: Play'n jump rope, steppin' off a curb, walkin' down steps
31. I can make money cooking my favorite recipes
32. My favorite color is the color of shrimp
33. I love taking pictures
34. But I suck at it!
35. I like to create traditions with friends and family
36. My favorite TV show is One Tree Hill. I watch it with my daughter
37. I want a puppy doggie sooo badly :(
38. I want more kids too :S
39. I'm afraid to be in a serious relationship
40. I can forgive anything. ANYTHING! But I won't put up with feeling disrespected

And now. here are 40+ things I want to do before I'm Forty!

Read 40 books
Drop 40 pounds
Walk/run 40 miles
Visit 40 different places
Pick 40 people to remember in special way
Learn 40 new things to do
Read 40 full books of Scripture
Decrease 40 hours a month TV/computer time
Forgive 40 times
Compliment 40 times
Spend 120 hours enjoying Nature( 40 x 3)
Take 40 Great Photo's
Put into play 40 great ideas
40 hours of service
Write and mail 40 letters
write 40 pages in a Journal
really learn about 40 relatives
Do 40 pieces of creative art/craft work
Save 40$ a month
Drop 40 negative things from my life


(twenty Things to do at least once )

Pedicure
facial
rock climbing
cliff jumping
Catch a fish or hunt
cook and eat wild game
fun raiser
help build a house or refurbish a house
learn to change my oil (other car maintenance)
Sew an outfit
Build a quilt
tubing (water and snow)
Attend a semi pro or Pro sporting event
Meet Julez!!!!
travel part of the Oregon trail
Visit nationally Historic place I haven't seen before
learn to cook an exotic dish /delicatessen
Sell one of my recipes
Sell one of my t-shirts
Host a big FABULOUS party!


*Well there you have it! Starting Midnight November 28Th, It's ON! November 28 2007 we'll all meet up at some FABULOUS party and see how well I did. I'll try and take as many pictures as I can.
Some of you have opted to join me in some of my efforts and I say... the more the betta! How will you be fabulous next year?