Stuck

I am currently trying to be a good little home-maker and do my weekly loads of laundry and I seem to be at an unfortunate stopping point. Our washer and dryer is one of those space-saving, stackable numbers, which is thereby incredibly heavy. It is conveniently tucked behind a few sliding doors in our hallway. For the last several weeks it has been inching its way to a less convenient place behind those darned sliding doors. Today when I went to switch out the laundry I found it completely stuck behind the door. No amount of pushing would get it to budge. So now I wait until Matthew comes home, thankfully he comes home for lunch, and hopefully his super manly strength can help a wife out. Nothing too spectacular, but what do you do when life hands you some lemons? You blog about it.

Random Post and Even More Random Images

Do you ever get in a strange picture mood? For some reason, it struck tonight. My little brother and I used to hang out taking random pictures of ourselves. Who knows why. Here's a small sampling of my vast range of emotions. Can you tell which emotion is which? Funny pictures are so much more entertaining than a plain Jane smile.

These other pictures are here to show you a little glimpse of our apartment. Unfortunately you don't get a chance to appreciate our pink carpeting. I like the picture of our couch because you can't see all the fuzz from some fabric I was cutting earlier in the week. So this is one side of our living room. The second picture is the other side, literally a foot or two apart. It's Matt's little entertainment corner. He's got three instruments and his super cool computer all tucked into one area of the apartment. If he's home, there's a good chance he's there. He declined pictures. So this is all you get. I guess he didn't grow up taking random pictures with his little brother.

Stolen and Restored

Last Friday afternoon (don't know where I was) Matt's back passenger-side window got smashed. Our temple bags were on the backseat. I'm guessing the culprit greedily thought they were laptop bags but ditched them when he/she/they realized they weren't going to profit from their find. At the time we didn't think they had taken anything else, including his CD's hanging out next to the driver's seat.

A day later we got a phone call from a member of our ward saying he had our scriptures and would bring them to us at church the next day. Apparently, this man's dentist found them on the side of the road as he was biking to work. He figured they probably belonged to a Mormon and called this Mormon friend to help return them to their owner. Thankfully Matt's name is written in the scriptures and thankfully this Mormon friend is a member of our ward. So we were able to get them back almost before we knew they had been taken.

The best part of the story is that this is the second time this set of scriptures has been stolen and providentially returned. The first time being on his mission in South Korea.

The worst part of the story is that it's going to cost more than $200 to get the window replaced. Definitely not what I want to be spending $200+ on right now.

Wenatchee goes Jewish

Last night, Matt's boss took the firm (all three of its employees and their spouses) to see Wenatchee High School's production of "Fiddler on the Roof." I wasn't sure what to expect, it had been talked up quite a bit but was just a high school play. I've seen some good high school productions but was skeptical. But as soon as it started Matt and I were both astonished at just how good the singers, the acting, the set, and creativity were. All for only $10! I was thinking if I wanted to see a professional play, it would cost more than $10 just for the ticketmaster fees. And we were home within minutes of the show ending. Now, I realize the play wasn't up to professional quality, but all factors considered, I think I enjoyed the high school production more than a Broadway play. The absolute treat was seeing 13- and 14-year old boys trying to pass as men with facial hair. Some of the boys pulled it off reasonably well, but there's just something so cute about a super baby-faced boy with black make up hanging out around his chin.

I'm totally looking forward to what they do next year!

Gratitude List

A few years ago, I got involved in a group of friends who emailed gratitude lists to each other. I've kind of fallen off the radar, but I wanted to share my list with you. I need to remember the random things in life that make me happy, because I really do have so much to be grateful for.

1. I couldn't start this list off without being grateful to my husband. He simply is possibly the best thing, barring my membership in the church, that's ever happened to me.
2. Not having children. Didn't think that would make the list. But I'm thankful that I have this very special time in life when I'm only working part-time from home which gives me the chance to say yes to all the RS emails that go out looking for help. I've decided this is my year of service.
3. My Bosch mixer I got for my birthday. I made my first cinnamon rolls and and they were soooo good.
4. Having enough to share. With only two people, there are only so many cinnamon rolls you can eat by yourself so it's the perfect opportunity to share the wealth.
5. That being said, finding out that you can freeze cinnamon roll dough like you can cookie dough so you only bake as many as you want.
6. Fine fall weather in the Wenatch. It's raining now, but we had be-autiful weather for a solid month.
7. Falling gas prices. Even though I don't drive now nearly as much as I used to, it's still fun to see them continue to fall.
8. Having to travel to shop at my favorite stores. Now I have to drive 2+ hours, and I tell you, it's done wonders for my credit card bill.
9. My ward here in Wenatchee. We've been invited over to so many families houses for dinner. It's always nice to feel loved.
10. My calling as Gospel Doctrine Instructor. Another odd thing to make it on the list. But I'm thankful because it is forcing me to learn and grow in all the ways I always wanted to but was too lazy to before.

Halloween musings

This year, Matt and I were Halloween recluses. We weren't in the mood (which means that I didn't feel like putting on mascara) to go to our ward's Halloween carnival and we knew we wouldn't get trick or treaters so we turned off our lights and spent the evening together.

However, that doesn't exempt us from making some observations on Halloween.

First off, Matt works in downtown Wenatchee along "the ave" which, when he left work on Friday was lined with children getting candy from the local businesses. I say, getting candy instead of trick or treating, because from the way Matt tells it, they weren't actually saying the words, "trick or treat." He said they just mutely held out their little bags while the line moved on to the next store. Almost like a conveyor belt of children; a kind of hum emanating from the sidewalks as the whirring of the belt processes the kids down the avenue one after the other in a long stream of “gimme freebies.” To which we say, where is the work ethic in today's children?

When we were young we went to each and every house where we had to actually ring a doorbell, wait for the door to open, yell "trick or treat," stand there expectantly waiting while the man or woman commented on our outfits and asked what we were. We would excitedly answer that we were a pirate or a princess and then they would put some candy in our bags, to which we would yell our thank you's to them while running to the next house. It was a process that everyone knew and cherished.

But now, all you have to do is line up on the ave with a bag and a costume, the latter being optional, and submit to being herded along the conveyor belt along with the hundreds of other noisy children. I'm sure it's a lot easier and safer for the parents but if they don't learn how to beg for candy here what are they going to do when they enter elementary school and have to start asking their family and friends to buy random things to earn money for their school? They'll probably end up like my sister's children who just send out a mass email (sorry Megan, but I expect a phone call). Okay, this soap box has ran on a lot longer than I thought I would. Let's just say, that in my mind, trick or treating isn't trick or treating unless there are doorbells and the spoken words of "trick or treat" involved.

The second observation, which is really just a funny mental image, came when I went for a walk Saturday morning. I noticed some candy abandoned on the sidewalk and gutter and it conjured up an image of swarms of small children stumbling around the streets in a sugar-induced drunken haze after a long night of whooping it up, reminiscent of New Year's revellers fumbling around the streets in the wee hours of the morning. I imagined groups of children jumping on cars, lighting garbage cans on fire and throwing rotten eggs at homes who either didn't give out candy or didn't give out the good stuff.

And I guess if I were to pick which experience I wanted for my children, a night of unrestrained sugar-fed debauchery or a tame evening of dumbly following a line of a hundred children down a street to collect some safe candy, I would probably choose the latter. Even if it meant my children didn't get any support from their aunts and uncles because they never learned how to beg properly.

Reader Roll-call

I'm just curious to know who reads these ramblings. If this is your first time or you check in every week to every three months, would you just leave a comment telling me who you are? Just a name would suffice, I promise. Although if I don't know you, which, let's be honest would be rare since I'm pretty sure my blog isn't that popular, would you please introduce yourself? I love meeting new people!

Please know that knowing who you are would completely make my day!! Thanks everyone!

Love from Wenatchee.