I'm done!

I'm finished with Sub for Santa! The gifts were all delivered on Friday and all the loose ends were tied up yesterday.

I can't even begin to tell you the great feeling I had when it was all done. It was a mix between satisfaction and incredibly relief. It was a lot of stress, and I came to find that there are a lot of unreliable people that work here. Some people would sign up and then just not pick up their name/money, or they would not even care about what they were getting and just get a lot of lousy crap that wasn't even on the wish list. One person took the 80 dollars we gave her and got two t-shirts, and then put the rest on a $50 gift card to wal-mart. Are you kidding? Would it be that difficult to just spend that $50 and get a toy and some books? They were supposed to get two articles of clothing, two toys and a book, at least. If they make the money stretch farther then great, but at least get those items. There were a lot of people that had $6-$15 in change that they gave back. I don't know why they wouldn't just use that extra money and get something super cheap. OH WELL, what can you do?

Overall, it was such a great experience and I'm so glad that I was able to be such a big part of it. Knowing that we were able to bring Christmas to 142 kids that otherwise would go without this year is such a great feeling. I'm happy to work for a company that is so committed to helping the community. We are afterall a "family business" so to speak. Our mission is to connect families across distance and time, and that doesn't only mean through genealogy.

Here's a cool pic of the gifts gathered together in the lobby before they were picked up from the United Foster Care Foundation.

That is not even half of the gifts. Of the 142 kids we sponsored, 85 was for United Way families and were delivered directly to the families. So these are the gifts that go to 57 Foster Care kids. Pretty cool if you ask me.

My Christmas Tree

So, I have heard some people's tree erecting nightmares, so I thought I would share mine. (it's a long one, sorry!)

My tree took several days for the finished product, and multiple trips to the store. First off, let's go back to last year:

I really wanted a tree, and decided to get a cheap one at good ol' Walmart. So off to Walmart I go-a-skippin' and try to find a good tree that would be both inexpensive yet good quality. And thus I found a good one that was pretty cheap (I don't remember what "pretty cheap" exactly amounts to) and it was prelit! Which meant I not only wouldn't have to buy the lights, but I wouldn't have to string them either! I giggled to myself, and then my heart fell; the prelit lights were colored, and in my heart contained the graceful vision of a tree with white lights, color cordinated bulbs of white and red, and gold ribbon. I searched for a better deal, but one was not to be found. I sucked it up and decided to deal with the colored lights as it was better than no tree at all, since I couldn't justify a tree that was any more expensive. I went to get the ribbon, but couldn't find the right ribbon anywhere! Could Walmart really have sold out of ribbon? Seemed like it. So I made do with red and silver beads. Then I sought the bulbs, and there were no whilte bulbs (what is going on here?) so I had to settle with siler and red. Nevertheless, I was proud of my beautful tacky tree.

BUT, this year I was determined to have the tree I envisioned last year. I had considered buying a whole new tree, either prelit with white lights, or with no lights at all, but couldn't justify that cost, especially since I just got the tree last year. Then I thought of getting white lights and pulling out the colored bulbs, and replacing them with the white ones. However, it took me a good four minutes to get one bulb off, and I didn't have to do the math to understand that was not worth it. Then, I tried to pull the colored lights off, so I could restring it with the white lights, but they sure weave those things in there good and tight.

Then Jordan came into the room and in one second said, "Just don't plug the colored ones in, and put the white ones on." What a guy, I knew I married him for some reason.

I felt incredibly dumb, and then went to work on stringing the white lights. I was determined to make it thoroughly bright, so I took it apart, plugged in the first strand of lights, and strung them in sections to make it easier to get the lights on the inner layers of the tree instead of just wrapping it around the outside. I worked the lights until I was sufficiently satisfied with the arrangment and moved onto the second strand of lights, and second layer of the tree. I plugged in the next strand and went to work . . . and it wasn't long until I noticed the lights had a short and only the top half worked and the last half of the strand kept flicking off. Needless to say I was pretty pissed.

I went back to the store the next day and lo and behold all the lights I wanted were sold out (I wanted the longer strands). I just got several shorter ones to make up for it, and rather than gold ribbon I found this red ribbon with gold stripes that was much prettier than the gold one I had in mind, and went home ready to create my vision.

I finally got the entire things strung, and went to work on the ribbon, which Jordan protested saying a ribbon was too much and I think he thought it would be too femmy. When I finished with the ribbon Jordan came in to help put the bulbs, took in the ribboned tree and smiled. Ha, he totally loved the ribbon! Victory!

Per Jordan's brilliant suggestion we ditched the silver bulbs from last year (also dubbed too much, and this time I agreed) and kept only the red ones. Jordan and I adorned our tree with the red bulbs, and stood back to take in the scene.

It was better than my mental picture, but let's see what you think. . . .

Le close up.

And then, after all that work, here is Kea on her way to mangle the tree. I should have gotten a pic of Kloe, 'cause she's the one most facinated by the tree.

The tree has been up for maybe a week, and every morning I wake up and walk around the house collecting all the bulbs and picking up the lights and ribbon that's hanging down, and putting it all back on the tree. What's better than putting together a tree that leaves you self-satisfied? Putting it back together every morning!

Stay in the Mountains Where You Belong!

SNOW! And that's not a giddy shriek of excitement, that's a bellow full of terror. Prepared by the weather report, I woke up this morning fully expecting a blanket of snow, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it. I don't know why snow plows only come out to play until after everything is slushy, but pulling out of my parking spot I just prayed that State St and Center would be plowed. Well, State was a nightmare and Center was even worse. But, if you're curious . . . I made it to work alive. And if you were curious then you're stupid 'cause of course I'm alive- I'm writing this post aren't I? Golly!

On a happier note, I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. If you would have asked me an hour ago I would have said I was done with my Christmas shopping, but I ordered some stuff online last week, but haven't gotten one of them yet and found out that it is backordered and it won't come until after Christmas, so I cancelled the order and will just have to buy it locally. Which kinda sucks 'cause it was such a great price online. Oh well. At least I don't have to cross my fingers and hope it comes in time, now I know for sure I'll have it.

Normally I'm pretty good with Christmas, and am very adament that we wait until Christmas Day to open anything, and Jordan's the sneaky peeky wanting to open stuff, but this year there's a big ol' heavy one with my name on it and I'm desperate to know what it is. I've bee trying to make deals with Jordan, like you can open one if I can open one, but he hasn't taken the bait. . . YET.

What I'm most excited for is my family getting all together. My favorite thing is Christmas Eve we go skiing and spend the whole day out playing and come home exhausted to an awesome dinner. This year my mom reserved the mutal dell, which will be even more special 'cause my mom has been trying to get it for 5 years or so. It will be a lot of fun, and we won't have to cram into my parent's house again, which will be nice to have some elbow room. And it's looking like Jared is going to be coming up, and we haven't had the entire family for Christmas in a very long time. I think I'm most excited to have them up for Christmas and be able to go sledding with my neices hopefully.

What a crazy blog- I started out ranting and ended with sledding. That's weird.

Wedding Pics!

I finally go my wedding pics back! Actually I got them back about a month ago, but now I'm finally posting them! Hurray! I went nuts and posted a bunch, so enjoy!

Yeah, I'm kinda cheesy.

I really liked this one. I like the background of the valley, even it it's hazy

Tender tender

Super cheesy, but I like it anyway.

So handsome in his tux!

El Rings

The center peice on the table at the reception. Yes, I know it's not at the center of the table . . . this is the serving table.

Close up of the bouquet. Why not a full pic of the bouquet you may be thinking? 'Cause it was horrible! Seriously, it was the fugliest thing. It was huge and definitely not what I had in mind, especially since I wanted something small that I could just hold with one hand! Bah, still a little bitter . . .

The groom's cake, and wedding cake. Jordan really really wanted a chocolate wedding cake, and I was adamently against it, there was no way I was going to have a chocolate wedding cake, it just had to be white. So, he was super bummed about that, but I surprised him with super chocolatey chocolate groom's cake. He was so happy, and I was happy he was happy (and I got my white cake, so it worked out nicely).

Me and all my neices and nephews. I just loved their outfits! My mom made them all, what a clever little lady.

A personal favorite pic o' mine. :)

And off into the sunset . . .

Ok, well there isn't a sunset yet, but you get the idea.

Who's counting?

So lately I have had a really hard time going to sleep, I just can't turn my brain off. I'm constantly thinking of all sorts of things; what I need to do tomorrow, what I did today, things that need to get done, and just general thoughts on life, love and the pursuit of happiness. So, there was no way I was going to be able to just not think of anything, so I decided to try to direct all my thoughts in one direction, something that so menial I couldn't help but fall asleep. So, I started to count.

It didn't really work because then I was faced with the age old dilemma . . . do I count in hippopatamus, mississippi, alligator or one-thousand? So, it got me wondering, who decided how long a second is? Who decided how long any time period is? Someone sat around and said, ok there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour. So now I'm thinking what this guy had with the number 60? Was he 60 years old? Did he have 60 prize camels? 60 fantastic pairs of shoes to pay homage to? Why 60? And did he just decide how long a second is?

Now, here is my biggest confusion on the length of time a second is: If you count in hippopatamus that takes a little bit longer to say than one-thousand. So if you say one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, then you're going to go faster than one-hippopatamus, two-hippopatamus. And yes, I did have to look up how to spell hippopatamus to make sure that I was spelling it right (I was/am). One-thousand has 3 syllables, while alligator and mississippi has 4, and hippopatamus is bringing up the rear at a whopping 5 syllables.

So, my question is this- how long is a second really? I mean, really? Is it a one-thousand, an alligator/mississippi or a hippopatumus?

DON'T WORRY! I won't leave you wondering, I wouldn't do that to you. With my handy stopwatch in er, hand I watched the seconds tick away and I tested and retested each one. And the resutls are these; Hippopatus is way too long, mississippi took longer than alligator which was also too long. In the end one-thousand was just right.

Ok, now you think I'm a crazy person, but it was more idle curiosity than an adament burning craze to discover. And maybe others are curious so I thought I would share.

Not The Easierest Thing To Do

Yes, a coworker of mine actually used the word "easierest". The exact sentence was "Yeah, I think that would be the easierest thing to do." And she was serious, she wasn't trying to be silly and use crazy non-existent words like guesstimate, or fantastical either.

So the last couple days have been crazy. As I've mentioned I am the chair person for the Sub for Santa project here at work. When I agreed to do this, I didn't really stop and consider what an undertaking it would be. And when I started in on I began to understand just what I signed up for. Now that I'm up to my eyeballs in the darn thing I'm confident I would have chosen (hmm, what's a drastic metaphore to show my frustration?) to have my toenails plucked clean off before raising my hand and cheerfully offering my services.

Ok, ok I know what you're thinking: "Your toenails Bre, really? That's not only disgusting, but it can't be all that bad." All right, you caught me- the pain of a detoenailing probably wouldn't compare, but I maintain it's not far behind.

Thankfully I have some pretty awesome coworkers, and when I say "some" mostly I just mean Amy. Seriously, what a doll. Her and my FSE (Favorite Sister Ever) pulled through in crunch time to help me stuff packets and get everything all together. Amy has helped me a great deal yesterday and today and even taking some stuff off my shoulders all together. I had told her I would write a haiku in her honor and was totally kidding at the time, but it's starting to feel like a good idea . . .

Amy Makes My Life Easierest

You're so organized
You don't forget the gift cards
With nice handwriting

I think that pulled together nicely, 5 syllables isn't much to work with.

So, I handed out all the packets with the names, money, gift ideas and instructions and thought I was out of the woods. Then the onslaught of emails came in from everyone with additional questions and problems with their packets that weren't really problems at all if they had bothered to read the instructions.

Oh well. At this point all I can say is meh. I'm already past my fear of public failure, and i'm fastening my seatbelt for all the stress and problems I forsee coming with the delivery of the gifts.

And what it all comes down to is I'm proud to be part of such a wonderful company that is able to help out all these kids. We're sponsoring 142 kids, and the company is not only providing the money for each child, but we're giving $50 Maceys gift cards to each family to buy their Christmas dinner with. That's a lot of money when you think about it. I didn't have to think about it- I got to hold it all in cash with my grubby little hands. My hands weren't grubby until after handling all that money, just to clarify.

Originally I was told we were only going to sponsor 100 kids, but I pushed and prodded until the committee chair person said I could two more names. TWO? Seriously? So I prodded more, and a little more until he said I would add five more families. So I asked United Way for five HUGE families, and the United Rep said that she would be able to work of a specific child number that I wanted. I thought about it for a second, and tried to decide what I could pull off, did the math real quick and told her 42. Hee hee hee. I then emailed the chair person and said I hope you're ok with it 'cause I already did it! Luckily he was.

Turkey, cops and guitars!

It's been a long time since I have posted! Now that I have this new job I actually keep busy, which is nice but the downside is my blog suffers a bit. So, I've got a lot to make up for- so it's a long one!

Once upon a time, the indians and the pilgrims were having their first Thanksgiving. And yesterday me and Jordan had our first Thanksgiving! Well, as married folk that is, our first Thanksgiving was actually last year when he came to my grandmas, and then we went to his grandmas, and then his mothers the next day. Anyway, so yesterday was Thanksgiving, and it was awesome. We all gathered at my grandmas house and oh, I have a picture, why don't I share?

The world's longest table. you can't really see everyone, especially those at the front of the table that ended up behind the camera, but oh well. Nothing like Stove Top and Yams to bring the family together. AH, delicious.

Jordan looks like he's ready for his thanksgiving nap before dinner!

Ok, backtracking really quick, I left my pants on the bathroom floor for two minutes, and this is what happened:

Silly girls didn't waste any time moving on in! Too cute. And then Jordan and I were playing a little guitar hero while we were killing time before going to dinner, and Kea crawled up on my chest and took a nap while I played. She does this every now and then, but we finally got a picture!

A-DOR-A-BLE!

Alrighty, moving on, back to the actual Thanksgiving get together! Jared, Amanda and his cutsie wootsie little girls were able to stop by for desert, and it was so funny to see Celeste, (who is my oldest neice at 7yrs old I believe) 'cause she wouldn't come say hi to me and when I tried to say hi Celeste! She ran into the kitchen. When she fianlly came out she went over and was talking to Britney and was whispering in her ear and looking over at me. I couldn't figure out why the heck she wouldn't want to come see me! Then I hear Britney whisper "Jordan's such a nice person, you should just go say hi!" Celeste shook her head and hid a little bit behind Britney and I realized that I was sitting next to Jordan and she's never really had a lot of face time with him like my nephews and doesn't really know him! So she went into the kitchen again and I went in and asked why she didn't come say hi to me? And she gave me a big hug and whispered "I'm shy of Jordan". It was adorable. But, we all went out and starting tossing the ol' football around (I think a first for me) and she joined in playing and was running around tossing it to Jordan and by the end of the night she ran up and gave him a hug goodbye. Made me happy!

All the festivities ended and we were driving home and what would be the best way to top off a wonderful meal? Well, getting pulled over wasn't what I had in mind, but that's what happened anyway. He was possibly the happiest cop I have ever seen, especially considering he was working on Thanksgiving. He asked me how fast I thought I was going and I said "80?", he shook his head so I said "87?" he shook his head again so I said "86?" he smiled and said "You were going 90 in a 65 mile an hour zone, and that's a mandatory court appearance and they can take your lisense away for that. I also see that you've been pulled over once a year, and the last one was in a school zone, do you have a lead food?" I grudgingly admitted that I do, but I think he already knew that. Please imagine with me how far down into my stomach my heart was resting. Not to mention the fact that I could not find my proof of insurance, which was just perfect. I was confident I was screwed. Don't fret though, shed no tears on my behalf. He asked "What do you think I should do?" I told him to do whatever his heart may tell him, and he must have a forgiving heart because he let me off with a warning, and a stern talking to. PHEW! I could not beleive he let me off with a warning, especially after is talk about court appearances and the revoking of my license. My sparkling personality must have won him over . . . or he just didn't want to deal with a ticket. But the sparkle in his eye leads me to believe he was just a great guy being nice on the holiday. What a gent.

That evening, a couple of us gathered at Britney and Ross's apartment for an epic battle of Guitar Hero! It was great fun 'cause my dad, and two brothers Jared and Jeff have never played before so we got to teach them the joy of the game.

Jared and Dad going head to head. It looks like Jared is sabotaging Dad, but he's not.


My interpretation of the looks on their faces:

Britney: "Oh holy pumkin pie, I'm supposed to do what, how fast?! This isn't going well, how am I ever going to live this down?"

Jeff: "Heh, this is my first time playing and I'm schooling her on how to be a hero of the guitar! I hope she doesn't think she's going to ever live this down!"

The realy intense showdown was with Ross and I- we battled it out on Hard and were neck and neck the entire song, untill the last minute I pulled through only 1,000 ahead.

Oh, and there's Jared and Brit ever mature and attractive in the background. Fantastic.

I warned ya it was going to be a long one, but that was my Thanksgiving Day!

Best Weekend Ever

So, my weekend started early. I called in sick on Friday, and frankly did absolutely nothing, which was pretty fantastic. But having a day off was the least of an awesome weekend.

First of all, we decided that for Christmas Jordan and I were going to get ourselves a Wii. Mostly we wanted Guitar Hero. So, after thinking about it for a while, we realized that it would probably we hard to get our hands on a wii around Christmas time, and even if we tried to get one on black friday it was still going to be very hard. SO, we just got one early. HURRAY! So, we got a wii, and guitar hero and had ourselves an early jolly Christmas!

Next we were able to hang out not only with our family, but our friends too. It's been a while since we saw either that it was great to be able to hang out them. We went to dinner with Jordan's mom and stepdad and then introduced Guitar Hero to my sister and brother-in-law, who is now addicted. Go us! Then we were able to hang out with our friends (I feel like I haven't seen them in forever!) and caught up on some much needed Dexter! (the TV show).

All that was great, but it's nothing compared to the highlight of my weekend. Jordan's work schedule got changed back to days! I can't even tell you how happy I am! I wanna giggle like a little girl and jump up and down clapping. You have probably got a sense of my dislike for his schedule if you have been reading. He used to work from 10:00 pm to 6:30 am, which needless to say sucked rocks. Now he works 5:00am to 1:30. Granted it's not the "ideal" shift, but after the graveyard shift I am still very very excited about this. It's not awesome, but it's much better and you won't hear me complaining, 'cause anything that allows him to be awake when I am is ideal to me!

It was such a great weekend! I wanna go back and do it again! :)

Pic Tag!

Here are the rules:

1. Go to your pictures

2. Upload the fourth picture from the fourth file

3. Post
4. Tag four friends

Ok, so I wasn't sure if I should do the 4th item in ('cause the first two were folders of other pics) or the fourth photo in. So I decided to do both!

This pic is undeniably creepy. It's at work and we just had an HR metting on sexual harrasment, and those of us on my team decided that we needed to show what not to do, so people could learn from our bad example.

This photo is undeniably awesome. Besides how cool it is, I think we also took it so we could show mom what her kids do for fun, and where we went. This sign was at the top of a cliff before you climb down the cliff face to get to Mooney Falls. This was from the backbacking trip to the indian reservation of Havasupai I took last June with my sister and brothers. I know the tag says one pic and I've already done two, I can't resist showing you the horror of this trail that goes straign down the face of this cliff, and those of you that are afraid of heights (like me) can freak out (as I did).

Going down the cliff face, it's steeper than it looks and you just have those chains to hold onto.

Going back up. Are you freaked out, or am I just over exaggerating?

Totally worth it when you get down to this, Mooney Falls. This is the view from the top of the cliff we had climbed down.

Anyway, yeah. Overshare, but there you go.

I tag Amy, Jessica, Taco & Jenny. Yes, you. And anyone else that feels the urge to.

Hubby Tag

1. He's sitting in front of the TV; what is on the screen?

One of our TV shows on DVD we've been watching lately, Desperate Housewives, Taken, House,

Dexter- could be any number of shows.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?

Ranch. Pesto at Spaghetti Factory.

3. What's one food he doesn't like?

Tomatoes, onions & peppers, not a fan of mexican

4. You go to a restaurant. What drink does he order?

Mt. Dew if they have it, Sprite if they don't and sometimes water.

5. Where did he go to high school?

Ok, I get Timp View & Timpanogos mixed up, but I'm pretty confident it's Timpanogos

6. What size shoe does he wear?

10, 10 1/2

7. If he was to collect anything what would it be?

CDs, which he already does. I guess music in general

8. What is his favorite kind of sandwich?

Ham & Turkey w/american cheese

9. I don't think he's that nuts over any one thing. Oh, he's on a cosmic brownie kick right now though, and doritos.

10. What is his favorite cereal?

He has a ton of favs. Lately it's been cinnamon toast crunch, frosted flakes and strawberry mini wheats.

11. What would he never wear?

There are a lot of things he would never wear. How can I really pick one thing?

12. What is his favorite sports team?

He doesn't have one, he's not a freak about sports. Which I kind a like.

13. Who will he vote for?

He didn't vote. He's not into politics, and doesn't really care. He has the one vote doesn't matter attitude.

14. Who is his best friend?

Me. Other than me, his brothers and Nick.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?

Maybe buy DVDs, but honestly- he's just as guilty as I am. Or talk to strangers-it embarrases him :) hee hee.

16. How many states has he lived in?

2 I believe- Utah and Cali for a little bit.

17. What is his heritage?

I don't think he knows, but our dear old Ancestry.com tells me it's English and is a pet form of "David". Good to know.

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

19. Did he play sports in high school?

No.

20. What could he spend hours doing?

Playing with his itunes.

I'll tag whoever wants to do it. I thought it was kind of fun

Would ya like to take a survey?

So, rather than creating yet another ranting blog, I'm just going to do a survey!

Do you know anyone who has messed up your life?
Nope, I think anything wrong in my life I can pretty much take responsibility for.

What was the age difference between you and the last person you kissed?
1 year 1 week & 6 days

Do you have a best friend?
Jordan! And of course Maggie and Nick.

Do you have any siblings?
Sure do-Four brothers and 1 sister.

What are you doing tonight?
Probs nothing. I want to hang out with my friends, but it probably won’t happen. Stupid conflicting schedules, I miss them.

Wearing any jewelery?
Yes; earrings Jordan earings and a necklace Jordan got me to match the ring he got me for Valentines two years ago.

Who was the last person that slept next to you?
My awesome husband.

Where is your shirt from?
Mervyns

What is one thing you could eat all day, everyday?
I would say ice cream, but I would probably get sick of it, and I’m sure the brain freeze would be a damper.

Who was the last person who left your life and hurt you?
Um, I don’t think anyone left my life. I don’t have as many friends, but I don’t think that’s the same thing.

Have you ever made anyone laugh when they were crying?
Yeah, I have, but it’s not exactly fun.

Did you cry today?
No.

When did you last take a test?
About two years ago when I was at UVSC

Are you happy?
I am very happy.

Are people annoying?
Absolutely. I have a low tolerance for annoying people.

Where were you last night?
Home. My brother came over and watched a movie with me, it was fun.

Has anyone ever sang to you?
Yeah. . . . sigh . . . woah.

How tall are you?
5′5”

Have you kissed anyone since it turned 2008?
I have. Don’t be surprised.

Have you ever been to a concert?
Oh please. Of course I have.

Who will you be sleeping with tonight?
My hubby.

Do you have a brother?
Yikes, let’s pay attention.

Do you hate your ex?
No, just a little embarrassed that I dated him.

Do you hate the last girl you were talking to?
No, I love her!

Whose bed did you sleep in last night?
Mine

Ever kissed anyone 30 or older?
My Grammy? That count?

How many times have you kissed the last person you kissed?
8. Come on, way way too many to count

What are you listening to?
Brand New. I’m trying to drown out the downy that doesn’t have an inside voice.

Do you like summer?
LOVE IT!

What are you excited about?
I am excited to be able to go skiing, but I'm concerned I'll suck 'cause I'm so out of shape.

What’s a line from the song you’re listening to?
“Oh it’s so c-c-c-c-controversial. We are entirely smooth, we admit to the truth- we are the best at what we do, and these are the words you wish you wrote down, this is the way you wish your voice sounds- handsome and smart. Oh my tongue is the only muscle that works harder than my heart and it’s all from watching TV.”

Do you like to cuddle?
Yeah

Where is your number one person on your friends list?
At home slumbering away.

Do you want to see someone this very minute?
Sure.

Do you like anyone?
Come on now.

Have you ever done drugs?
Just prescription antibiotics. Woah I’m HC!

Who do you not get along with?
I usually get along with most people, but I’m having a hard time with this guy at work. It’s not like I’m at his throat or anything. Just give me a few days though.

Do you think you’re approachable?
I do.

Has someone of the opposite sex ever told you they loved you and meant it?
Yes. 2.

When was the last time you saw your father?
Today.

What is bothering you right now?
Nothing. Maybe how I'm going to blow another 2 hours of work.

What was the last thing you ate?
Granola bar.

Do you have a dog?
No I wish, but I love my kitties.

Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Gosh, how to put this . . . people sticking their nose in my business, and pretending they know all about me when they don’t. Oh, and I never get to see my friends 'cause our schedules the boys work in the evenings.

Do you eat healthy?
I try really hard, but I don’t always do so well. I have an ice cream weakness.

I was shot today!

So today work gave out flu vaccines. I got two, just for good measure. K, not really, I'm not that sadistic. Jordan came to work to get his flu shot too. We were both really nervous 'cause we're not fans of the whole ordeal, but it's definitely worth it 'cause I don't want to spend the whole ski season sick! I couldn't watch and I think that helped a lot. In fact I couldn't watch others get theirs either, but Jordan watched everyone ahead of us get theirs and I thought he was crazy. He hadn't had a flu shot in quite a while so he wasn't sure what exactly to expect and was worried that it was going to hurt a lot. It was adorable, actually. I was worried for him that he was going to be in pain, and then I would never get him in to gets shots ever again.

The nurse was getting everything ready and he was sitting there all tensed up and she had to tell him to relax, so he tried to loosen up. Then she started to fill the needle with the vaccine and he tightened up again and she told him to loosen his muscles. Then when she started putting the rubbing alcohol on him he tensed and she had to tell him to relax again. He laughed and said he was trying really hard to relax. When she said that it was going to be a lot more painful if he was tensed that did the trick and he loosed right up. Well, long enough for her to stick him that is. I was relieved when he said that it wasn't bad at all. Phew, we survived!

After that we went to lunch, which was a lot of fun. He used to come eat lunch with me at work every now and then on his days off. I absolutely love when he comes to lunch and I miss it a lot. Now that he is on this crappy work schedule he's usually sleeping and I wouldn't want him to stay awake just to get lunch with me.

So, all in all today has been a good day. Work has gone by really fast, even though there hasn't been a whole lot for me to do. I sure clocked a lot of hours playing settlers, which I can't really complain about. OH, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing about my skiing obsession, but Alta now has 34 inches of snow. That's another 17 inches since this morning! 34 inches in 2 days is freaking amazing! I feel a giggle rising in my throat!

A Couple Things

So, I have several things I wanted to blog about so I'm just going to do it all in one blog!

First off, an update on our work's decorating contest for Halloween- Yeah, we totally won! Go us! I was so excited 'cause we never win!

Second off, the snow! I'm sad that it was all over my car this morning. I thought having a car port was supposed to keep it off and keep frost off and such, but NO! What is the world coming to when a car port can't even keep your car free and clear of snow?! NOW-the next half of this subject is dedicated to my joy of the snow fall. Alta ski resort now has a base depth listed! 17 INCHES OF NEW SNOW! That makes me so happy I could very well pee myself! But, I'll be strong, and keep it together. Hopefully they will have a deep enough base depth that they can open on time, unlike last year! And with luck I'll be skiing Thanksgiving weekend.

Next . . . So America chose Barack Obama as our next president. I can't lie, I'm dissapointed in this result, but what can you do? I'm just going to try and hope for the best and support our President as best I can. But, to be honest, I'm terrified for our country. This man has very little experience and made a lot of promises in his campaign that he's not going to be able to keep. He said that he was going to be bringing the troops home right away and I just don't see that happening and I think that right there is going to be a very obvious lie to the American people when they don't come home. Who knows though, I could be wrong. He also said that he was going to lower taxes for 95% of the people which I also don't see happening. My biggest frustration is that the media was so biased that they used their influence to support Obama and turned him in this wonderful person. The media has such an impact on the people that of course whoever the media endorses is going to win, and it's just not fair. This group of people likes one person and so they only give out the good stuff on this person, and the bad stuff on the others. They aren't doing their job, and that is to present unbiased facts to the people and I'm very frustrated about that. Also, who cares what race he is? I didn't base my vote on race, but who was better qualified for the job. It's ironic, but it seems to me that Obama is more racist against whites than any white I know is racist against other races. So, now that we have a black man as the president I would hope this whole race thing will end, but I don't think it will because our president is racist. And he also said that he would side with the muslims if "the political winds shift in an ugly direction". I don't think that quote is 100% accurate, but you get the idea. So, he's more sympathetic to other people that is not in America's favor, and he's also pledged allegance to Africa. And let's not forget the fact that he refuses to put his hand over his heart for the flag or national anthem, which he wants to change to "Teach the World to Sing". Are you kidding me?! I'm just glad I voted so then when everything goes to pot I can say "I told you so!" Well, I don't to beat this thing to death, so I'm just going to stop there.

Super slammin' Friday

I was so excited to come into work today and see all your Halloween posts, and you haven't let me down!

At work we get pretty into Halloween, which I love. We have a decorating contest, which gets pretty intense, and they haven't announced the winners yet, but in my heart my department already won. We did a Willy Wonka theme, and it was pretty darn fanstastic. I didn't get any pics, but here's one I Hijacked off one of my work buddy's myspace:

That's the view as you walk in the door. Behind and to the left was a "chocolate" waterfall (it was really just light and dark brown butcher paper, use your imagination people) to the right on the wall was the flavored wall paper, seriously though it's not flavored, again the imagination, where the snozberries taste like snozberries. In front is the chocolate river with giant gumballs and lollipops all over, and when you turn the corner there was the fizzy lifting drink with bubbles everywhere and the tube with Augustus Gloop stuck in it, and the Eggducator Eggdicator, or whatever it's called. Then as you continue you get to the dark creepy tunnel where they go through on the boat with psychadelic lights and fog. And the whole time we had the movie playing on the projector so the music really set the tone. I am in love with it and I'm sad it all had to come down.

Punkin Carving!

YAY- I found my cable for my camera, so I can finally post my pumpkin pics.

After mucho scheduling conflicts, me and friends were finally able to get together and carve pumpkins. Jordan wasn't able to come 'cause of his pooey work schedule, which 'caused all the scheduling conflicts in the first place, and we had to just go ahead and do it with out him. He wasn't thrilled about doing it anyway, crazy boy. I was really sad that he couldn't go though and really wished he was there. I don't get to see him that much since he started working graveyard. :( But whining about that isn't the point of this post, now is it?

So Tue the great carving of '08 occurred at my friends' (Maggie & Nick) apartment, and here are our pumpkins:

Here are the three little joys
And here they are lit: This is Maggie's, it's a headless horseman

And here is Nick's: It's a spider in a spider web

And mine! Let's be honest, it looks kinda lame and one of the eyeballs fell out, but I'm still pretty proud!

Cross-eyed

Kea, one of my cats goes cross-eyed. A lot. I'm talking more than her eyes are straight, they are cross-eyed. Ok, you caught me, that's an exaggeration. But I have never seen an animal go cross-eyed before and found it quite humorous and sought out to take a pic. This is the best one I was able to get and I think it's a good one.

What a little down syndrome kitty I have. No offense to any downies out there.

Oh, and while I'm posting pictures- for those that read the dishwasher debacle from a while ago, here's a pic from that.

Mind you this is after the initial bubbly tide. I was preoccupied with keeping it off the carpet to rush and get the camera. You understand. So, it was coming from underneath the dishwasher and I had to just pack the towels up and let'er run. And then is started to come out a little bit from under the door, but you can see that, can't you?

Tragic.

Ok, BYE!

Cow-napped!!!

Someone stole my cow!

A little background . . .

Last Easter I got some plastic eggs for an Easter egg hunt for my nephews, and I filled them with candy and toys. Have you ever seen those capsules that, when you put them in water, they turn into little foamy things? Well, I think those are pretty fantastic so I got some that turned into dinosaurs and put them into the Easter eggs. After the hunt and the eggs were all collected I was lamenting that I hadn't kept one for myself and my sis-in-law kindly gave me one. I was pretty darn thrilled. I put it in my purse and thought of the possiblities- would this little blue capsule be a triceratops, or a raptor, or a brontosaurus? I desperately wanted it to be a T-REX!

I forgot about it until the next day as I was sitting at work bored and suddenly thoughts of a foam blue T-Rex danced merrily into my head. I quickly whipped it out, and dunked the thing in water and waited for my T-Rex to hatch. It took forever, we're talking like 20 minutes of anxious waiting for my T-Rex. As it was hatching I could see the back legs and was convinced it definitely was a T-Rex because it was vertical instead of horizontal like most dinos and had a very T-Rexy tail. I celebrated my T-Rex with my coworkers, who were considerably less excited. It slowly came out of its little plastic casing and as it did it became more and more evident that it was a T-Rex.

It was mostly out and I couldn't wait any longer! So, I finished taking it out of it's shell, wringed it out and held up my awesome foam T-Rex, jubilant! Then I noticed something strange on my T-Rex's belly; there was stuff sticking out of it, and then I noticed the front legs were the same length as the back legs, which couldn't be right. And then it hit me- My precious T-Rex was . . . a COW! With utters, and hooves and a tail that could be mistaken for a long dino tail if I may say in my defense.

Needless to say, I was crushed and utterly heartbroken, but here I was with a blue foam cow. After investing so much time and excitement, it felt wrong to disregard the poor thing. So, I put him on my desk as a reminder to either look on the bright side of things, or that life sucks and you don't always get what you want, I'm not sure, I think it really depends on the situation.

BUT SOMEONE STOLE HIM!!! Who would steal a little blue foam cow off my desk? I leave my ipod on my desk every now and then, but the cow is the thing that is stolen. I have looked all over my desk, behind my monitors, under my desk, and everywhere I possibly could. I think someone is holding him hostage somewhere and I’m determined to get to the bottom of this!

I think I need to send out an Amber Alert.

Work drama can actually be good?!

So, some of you know I was promoted at work a couple months ago. It's been a great opportunity in a new department and it's been a nice change of pace. But for those who read my work-venting post once upon a blog ago the pace had been too slow for my liking, and while getting paid to play online Settlers all day has been not too shabby mostly it's the environment and lack of personality of those I work with that has spurred my job disatisfaction.

From the time I left my last position (this is all within the same company BTW) my old manager has said that I've got my job back when I want it, and has periodically asked me to come back over the last couple months. I've also had pressure to come back from the members of my old team, and several people in my old department. One of the members of my old team is leaving in December and so I decided to wait to decide until December to see if this job sucks and if I would like to go back. It's been really nice to have the option to consider actually. That would give me five months (since I started in August), which is more than enough time to make an educated comparison of my old job and this one I have now.

Well, within the last couple days my old manager has layed on the pressure pretty thick. Well I find out that he has been talking to people on my old team that he has been trying to get me back on the team and getting their opinions and then drawing my sister into it asking her opinion and if she thinks I will and asking her what I have been thinking about it. He could have just asked me :). The best part of this is he sits next to my new manager, so of course she's going to hear the whole thing! So, of course she's going to say "What's this?" and she joins the conversation, and the little group of my old manager, my current manager, my sister and a member of my old team all sit and talk about my future, and different options for me such as moving my desk away from said annoying coworker.

I had no idea that this little Bre's Job Meeting went down, and all of a sudden there are two emails sent out that had me a little curious. One is a job posting for my old position, and the second email is a job posting for my current position. Then as I'm musing on the irony of both jobs suddenly opening I get a third email that is from my current manager, and saying that if I was considering applying for my old job then she thinks I should do what I think is best for me, and she would support whatever decision I may or may not be considering.

So, not knowing she knows I have been thinking about going back to my old job this is all I see. My old job being posted, my current manager suggests I take it while my current position is posted as well. So, I was thinking that she was trying to get rid of me. In a panic I email my sister and tell her my theory and she writes back "Funny story about that." Which of course I was dying to hear. After she unfolds the story of their little conversation I go into a panic because now my current manager knows I'm thinking of skipping out on them which I wasn't ready for her or my supervisor to know yet because I wanted to approach the subject delicately so as not to burn bridges, and not coming off like "thanks for the opportunity-but PEACE OUT!" And I wasn't sure whether I was leaving or not, so why get them worked up if I wasn't even going to? And of course I was still worried that she had sent that email suggesting that I take it because she saw an opportunity to get rid of me gracefully.

So, I was thinking this was the worst possible situation. So, I send an email back to my manager telling her very honestly my reasons for wanting to leave (and turns out she isn't fond of this personality challenged coworker) and my pros and cons for staying or going. So, I felt much better after coming clean and explaining my frustration with my job.

So, feeling a little better I go about my day, and then she comes and talks to me. We thankfully go away from prying ears and she says she completely understands and supports me, and offers me a better job should I stay on her team. So, she sweetened the deal which was great because it almost washed away the feeling that she was glad to be rid of me. And I was relived for her blessing because I didn't want to burn any bridges or come off as ungrateful for this job.

So, I send an email to my old manager saying that I was very seriously considering taking him up on his offer, and he replies that he had already talked to our HR guy and got him to agree that if I were to come back then I would be able to keep my same pay since my old job didn't pay as well. So he had sweetened the deal as well.

So, when this drama all cracked out I was two deep breaths away from a panic attack and worried that I had potentially burned bridges for two jobs, but it turned out to be awesome because I was dreading the conversation with my current supervisor and manager andwas extremely stressed about it, and their reaction and how that would end. But, instead she came to me first with her understanding and support, which was a large weight off my shoulders. And better yet, whether I stay or go I'm in a better situation than if I had just tried to handle this myself.

This is a really long post, sorry about that, but I couldn't just come out and tell you that I'm changing jobs without an explanation. So yeah- I'm going to go back to my old job and I feel really good about it. My main concern is that I hope I didn't close any doors on any advancement opportunities in the future. But I still feel pretty good. With my current job I come in, sit in my cublicle with huge walls surrounding me and stare at a wall for eight hours. Me and my coworkers clash a little, there isn't enough work to keep my busy and I quite possibly am losing my mind. My old (new) job is a lot more relaxed, the people on my team are awesome and great to be around (they actually have personality) and while the job itself sucks a little tinsy bit more, it's basically the same one that I have been doing now. And you can't put a price on a better work environment, actually that price is the exact same one as the crappy work environment since my pay will remain the same.

So I hope this won't come back to bite me in the butt, but I said that about accepting the job I have now and look what it got me. I think this will be good and I am so so excited to go back and work at my old job with awesome people.

P.S. After posting, this is a lot longer than I thought it was. If you read this entire thing, then you are as cool as twin pops in my book. And I really love twin pops!

Habitat for Humanity

For work I am on the Charitably Giving Committee, and we organize all the charity that we as a company do. I have had a lot of fun doing this so far, although we have really only had a couple projects in the last couple months since the holidays are "charity season". We have been working with Habitat for Humanity and sending groups of employees every Thursday for the months of October and November.

Last Thursday I was able to go work on a house with a group of people and it was an awesome experience. The house we were working on was pretty much done, and they had completed it in 9 days. That's incredible. I think of all the time and manpower it must have taken to complete that sucker in 9 days. And it wasn't just some refurbished double wide, it was really nice home. So because the house was pretty much completed all we had to do was build a fence. I am not a professional fence builder, but if you need a fence built, I totally can make that dream come true. It was the most beautiful fence I have ever seen, but I may be biased.

I actually have never worked a drill before either. I didn't tell anyone that, but I'm pretty sure they could figure it out. I got the hang of it, which I was way proud of and I became a lean mean drilling machine. I had to watch what I said 'cause I couldn't remember it was called a drill and kept calling it the "screwer" before realizing how that sounds and when I got the hang of the drill I said "Yay, I'm such a good screwer!" and two people looked at me like "Uh, way too much information."

I would post pics, but the camera battery was dead when I got there so I didn't get any, but if someone else finally emails me some pics then I'll def post!

We have a lot of little projects going, but the next big one is Sub for Santa, and I'm the committee seat on that project so it's my big project of the year that I'll be working on. I'm excited to have such a rewarding project to do and I'm a little nervous 'cause it's a big project (probably the biggest) and if I screw up the entire company looks at me like I'm seriously defunct. Which I can only imagine would be less than awesome. And it's a big company, so that's a lot of people to screw up in front of. That would be a 2.5 on the "Don't Wanna Look Like a Tard Muffin" scale, where a 10 is "Woah, I'm awesome!" and a 1 is "Holy cow, how do I survive the day without a helmet?"

Well, that's pretty much all that has been going on in my life. Besides me calling in on Friday and playing hooky, which was AWESOME! It would have been better if my awesome hubby was conscious, but he works graveyard now, which super sucks 'cause he's sleeping when I'm home. Which means I'm not only alone, but I have to be super quiet too. I hope he can get a better schedule soon!!! (He's kinda fun to be around.)

Conflicted

So I look all of your blogs, pretty much everyone mentioned the new snow fall we had. It was funny to see the range of emotion from super happy, to super sad. I'm really on the fence when it comes to snow.

I absolutely hate the cold, I hate driving in snow, I hate walking in snow, I hate the wetness and grayness it brings. But I love skiing so much and I'm so very excited for the new ski season. So When I looked out the window Sunday and saw the snow I went back and forth between exstatic and incredibly depressed. This only lasted about 18 seconds till I realized that it was going to be all melted by 2:00 pm anyway so it didn't really matter.

So, I have come to the conclusion that I love snow . . . in the mountains. Where it belongs. And as long as it stays there I'm thrilled. When it comes down where I have to live in it then I hate it. If I wanted snow then I would go find some in the mountains and have fun and play, go skiing or sledding. But when it's on top of my car before I have to go to work it's fun wears off pretty quickly.

So, it's starting to pile up at Alta, which makes me giggle on the inside with girlish glee.

I'm also really excited for this season 'cause I bought new skis!!! I wish I had a picture 'cause they are so awesome and much better looking and better functionally than my old ones. They were 75% off (bless you sniagrab) so I got an amazing deal on them, and were incredibly cheap for the value they are. They are double tipped and wider than my old skis so I'll be able to do jumps a lot better and handle powder easier and ski backward which I was working on last season but since my last skis weren't double tipped it was difficult.

I have a lot of goals for this season. One of them is to get a way cool action shot to be proud of. We haven't been able to pull that off yet since to take a pic you have take off your gloves and nobody wants to do that. Here's the best we were able to get last season. (don't get excited, they're lamey tamey) . . . yes I just used the words lamey tamey.

I also want to give snowboarding a try, though I don't know how well that will go. I will probably suck at it, and panic how my feet are stuck together and I don't have poles. We'll see.

Woah long post! Sorry 'bout that!

Let's clear this up

So, this guy at work asked me who was older, me or my sister (who also works here). I am so sick of people asking me that! We are 6 years apart people, 6 YEARS!

So, this is a crappy picture, but it's all I had handy. Give me your opinion; which one of us is older?

This isn't one of those "there is no wrong answer" types of things. There is only one right answer :).

BTW, this pic is a little older, but I just noticed we are standing boob to boob. That can't be normal.

Poetry

So I'm super bored at work, and while I actually have something to do I lack the motivation. So, I thought I would share an awesome poem left to me on the comments of my last blog.

My Butt is Numb and My Right Leg is Asleep by Bre Hillhouse

My butt is numb and my right leg is asleep
As I journey on this bus to davis to compete.
Copywrite 2002

I should get that published.
I have no idea where she found that, but it's not the first time people have given me random poems that I had given them years ago.

And here is an awesome one that my friend Maggie wrote to me once upon a time:

There once was a girl named BreAnn
She loved a boy named Peter Pan
One day while she was napping
On her window he came tapping
Then off in the sunset they ran.

She's got talent that one. Ironically I hate poetry.

Um, LOVE YOU!

I learned my lesson!

Saturday night Jordan was filling the dishwasher and was putting soap in so he could start it. He emptied the cascade box and didn't have quite enough. I said go ahead and just start it half full, it'll be all right. He was really concerned that it wouldn't be ok with only half dish soap, so giving it a split second thought I said "So, just put liquid dish soap in there". He gave me a funny look, which I admit I deserved. But we have used liquid dish soap, but the kind that was made for the dishwasher and I didn't really think it could make any difference. So, after asking me if I was sure twice, and I rationalized that it was made to wash dishes; he poured in some liquid dish soap and started it up.

Have you ever seen in the movies or on TV when in slapstick comedy someone puts too much laundry soap in the washer, and the whole room fills up with suds? Well, I thought that was something that only happens with movie magic. That is, until Saturday. Jordan started to panic and call my name, and I come around the counter and there is a tide of sudsy bubble spreading across my kitchen floor. I rushed over and stopped the dishwasher, opened it and it was completely filled with bubbles.

Now, I only tell you this embarrassment because I called my mom asking what I should do. She laughed her head off and told me to clean up the suds. "I've heard of this happening before, but I never thought I would hear it from one of my kids." Well, thanks mom. She laughed for a little longer and said "Oh, you are never going to live this down" I begged her not to tell anyone 'cause my siblings aren't the kind of people that forgets an opportunity to remind you of your stupid moments. ("21, sir. That's as good as it gets."). To my pleas she replied "Are you kidding, like I can keep this to myself!" Sigh . . . so I thought I might as well share with the rest of you, and (hopefully) tell my family on my own terms.

So after we had cleaned the floor, and tried to scoop out the bubbles, which turns out is not as easy as it might sound, we started the dishwasher again. It wasn't long until the suds began to flow again. SO, we gave up. There was no way we could get every last bubble out of the dishwasher and as you know bubbles begat more bubbles, so to speak. If there was just a little bit it would multiply to more bubbles. So, we layered up towels in front of the dishwasher to soak up the bubbles and let the dishwasher do its thing.



Wow, I feel pretty dumb.

Pic attack!!!

So a couple people have requested that I post some wedding pics, but because I haven't gotten them back yet I don't have any to post. It's super sad, I know, but my brother has them all and there's been something wrong with his computer where he hasn't been able to burn them on a CD for me. I was able to see some of them for the first time a couple weeks ago and they look awesome, my brother (Jeff) did a really good job.

Although I don't have any from the wedding, for the sake of sharing I will post some of our engagements and my bridals! BOY HOWDY! Oh, and if you're going to tell me I look like my mom I don't want to hear it. Also, my hair in my bridals is a little fuggers so just focus on the dress. I think that about covers it. K, here goes . . .

This is my sis-in-law. She was putting my train up, but really I think she just wanted an excuse to get up close and personal with my butt. She didn't need an excuse, I would have let her touch my bum anyway.

I was seriously taken advantage of that day. My mom tried to watch me dress, my sis-in-law Melanie found a new appreciation of my butt and Britney, my sister, tried to get up my dress. I had to go home and take a long hot shower.

The awesome people that came with me to help with my bridals: My brother Jeff-master of lens & light, my favorite sister Britney, My mommy, and melanie, Jeff's wife.