Breaking the Surface

I feel like today was the first time in several weeks that I finally took a full, lung-filling breath of fresh air. I feel like I've been under water for a while. One of my classes has been nuts with lame busy work, and I feel like it's been a waste of my time since I've learned nothing. I've been traveling quite a bit, which is great but also exhausting when combined with everything else. I was up until 3:00 am one night this week getting a group paper edited and ready to turn in for my awesome ethics class. I've loved my ethics class except that it has come at a tough time and created the perfect storm: I've had a disappointing situation with a loved one that I've probably over-analyzed because of my ethics class and the notion of forgiving and yet protecting myself. And then add onto that an entirely messed up routine because of everything that has been happening. So today I finally broke the surface and filled my lungs. Today I slept in - in my own bed! - did a little laundry, did some homework, had my car's oil changed, put away my Halloween decorations and put out my Thanksgiving decorations, went for a road ride with Kendra, had an Austrian-themed dinner with some friends to celebrate last week's Austria National Day, and then watched a movie. All of that has been so .... wonderful! So routine. So normal. So me. So just what the doctor ordered.  I'll be putting up some overdue blog posts and back dating them so look for them!

Coin Quilt Finished

One major perk of road trips when you don't have to drive: you get to finish hand-stitching the binding of a quilt, which is the last step before completing it.

Quickie Trip to Boise

This past weekend, my niece (Jen) and nephew (Spencer) and I took a quickie trip to Boise to go to the Boise Temple Open House. They recently renovated it and so it's having an open house before the church rededicates it on November 18. The weekend ended up being a very busy weekend since Jill and Mike decided this would be a good time for Spencer to receive his endowments in the temple. So Jen, Spence, and I drove up to Twin Falls Friday afternoon where we met Jill, Mike, Mom, and Wayne and Marsha. We all went to dinner at Sizzler beforehand and then Jen left to finish the drive to Boise when we went to the temple. It was a wonderful experience, of course, to be there with Spencer and everyone else.

Then on Saturday, I did some homework in the morning while Mom helped out at a funeral for one of her ward members. Then we met up with Jill and Mike and family to go to the Boise Temple open house. The open house was wonderful and beautiful. Mom and I were dressed in blue jeans while Jill and Mike and family were in Sunday best! We laughed that Mom and I would be their "investigators". Ha ha! While there, I ran into Barbara Dopp who was the wife of a bishop of mine and my seminary teacher from high school. It was so fun to see her and catch up. And then I ran into Sandy Embry, an old young women's leader of mine! She was so darling - hugging me and asking me what I've been up to. She also offered to set me up with some guy she knows that is moving to Utah. She got my phone number and email address ... so we'll see if anything comes of it.

I went to Mom's ward on Sunday, and her ward had a primary program in Sacrament! I so loved it. Afterward we met up with Jill and Mike and family again because Parker was receiving his Patriarchal Blessing and invited us to come along. It was such a great weekend.

First Snowfall in the Valley!

Outside my house. 

Looking out my office window. 

Houston, You've Got My Sister

This past summer, my sister, Joni, and her family moved to Houston and I promptly bought my plane ticket to come visit them this month. I flew in on Thursday night and they took me to their favorite restaurant for dinner, which was very yummy.  When they picked me up at the airport, Ethan was all decked out in his cowboy boots and plaid western shirt, which is apparently his normal attire now! He offered to carry my backpack like a true gentleman, but I had to laugh when I saw that he was carrying it in his hand by the handle and not slung over his shoulder. That's when Joni laughed and informed me that my backpack was too girly for him to carry normally. Ha ha! Ethan has definitely become a man's man or maybe more aptly a firearm's man as you will see below.

Friday morning, Joni and I sat around and talked for hours: catching up, decompressing, and all that good sisterly conversation stuff. Then we jumped up and went shopping. She was so excited to help me pick out and buy my outfit for the New Year's Eve Gala that I'm going to this year. We found a turquoisey lace shirt with sequins on it, a matching necklace, and these awesome glittery heels. You'll have to wait until New Year's Eve to see my full outfit.

Then that night Adam and Ethan took Joni and I to the gun range in Katy - where they used to live 15 years ago! We bought the most hideous zombie and hogzilla targets, and Joni showed us how it was done with the 357 revolver by hitting the zombie in the head repeatedly. The range worker told Adam he had better watch his back with her in the house! :) I shot the 357 too, as well as the 9 mm, but only a couple of times. I've decided I'm content to let the menfolk shoot the big, loud, kicking guns. Give me a field, some clay pigeons, and a 22 and I'll play along a little longer. But it was fun to see Adam and Ethan having such a ball.

Saturday, we all packed up and went to the Natural Bridge Caverns near San Antonio and toured them. They were really cool! And it was really hot - although not as hot as it could be for sure. The weather was supposedly pretty decent while I was there: 80s and humid. But it was hot to me! Then after that, Ethan and I went on the zip line outside of the caverns. We wrapped up the day by going to Cabela's. The guys checked out the guns and cross-bows while Joni and I roamed around the home decor, clothes, and candy. :)

Sunday was church, a nap, a video tour of their house, family home evening brought to you by me, and a very adventurous trip to the wildlife reserve. We waited until dusk to go check out the reserve thinking we might see animals - and we did! As soon as we crossed the bridge, we saw an armadillo cross the sidewalk and start digging into the ground. Ethan, and even Joni, took off running to get a closer look at it before it disappeared into the bushes. So I took off running too all while trying to follow Adam's mandate of keeping the flashlight on it so it will be paralyzed by the light. We got up within a few feet of it and just as I was about to take its picture, it jumped into the bushes. :( It was so cool and cute! Then we continued our walk for a while without flashlights and all the while it was getting creepier by the minute because I had visions of hogzilla (a wild hog as big as one ton) chasing after me or me stepping on a fire ant hill since we were on a dirt-packed path by then. We finally turned around and when we did, we think we saw a coyote on the path ahead of us, but we weren't sure since we only saw its eyes in the reflection of the flashlight.

On Monday, Joni and I went to Galveston and did a little shopping and went to the beach. Joni found the cutest little tea towels that had "Sisters make the best friends" stitched on them. She got one for all of us sisters since, truly, all of us are best friends. Then the beach was awesome! We basically had it all to ourselves since there was only one other family on it. The air and water temperatures were perfect! Not too hot and not at all cold. I never got goose bumps - even when wet and out of the water. I tried out Ethan's skim board - unsuccessfully. And Joni and I body-surfed or boogie boarded in the waves. It was such a pleasure to be there and just enjoy each other's company and not have to worry about anyone else being there and feeling self-conscious of what we look like in our swimsuits. Then that night was another adventure: Joni cooked up some of their alligator for me and the guys for dinner!! It was quite delicious! She cooked it up like chicken nuggets.

Overall, the weekend was lovely. I love visiting Joni and Adam!!

Time to Go Private

I've kept this blog open for ease of access, however, I think it is time to go private .... as in require my readers to enter a password in order to read my blog. The purpose of my blog is to chronicle my life .... kind of like a journal or personal history - for my friends and family and for my future posterity. I struggle to do that and keep my anonymity in order to ensure my safety. And apparently I have some readers from Russia and I don't know who they are. So, I've decided to go private on October 24.

Here is the good news: For those of you that follow my blog and I know you, please leave a comment, email me, or send me a Facebook message. Be sure to leave your email address so I can add you to my list of readers. For those few of you that receive my blog posts via email, you don't need to do anything - you'll continue to receive my blog posts via email.

Cheers!

A New Kitchen Faucet

It's kind of funny to me that the builders that built my condo gave it so many upgrades (granite countertops, knotty Alder cupboards, tile floors, 9-foot ceilings, brushed-nickel hardware) but then put in the cheapest chrome faucets they could find. Good grief. My kitchen faucet has been leaking a little and to shut it off you had to put the handle in just exactly the right spot. So I enlisted Mom's help while she was in town to pick out a new one and I installed it this weekend! I think I really like it. It just feels a little big for my shallow sink and in comparison to my old one, but I think I'll get used to it. It was a bit of an adventure to install it since I have a water filter system at my kitchen sink.... I still have to do a little bit more work to get my water filter system working again, but at least I have a working faucet. And... while removing my old one, I kind of destroyed it because of corroded nuts and screws and it being very cheap - so I was committed to installing my new one. There was no turning back! What do you think?

The old faucet

The new faucet close up

The new faucet, further away