Pancake Secrets

Ok everyone, so I've been a little busy, let's take it easy. Before I was pregnant, and perhaps always, I have had this love for pancakes. It comes and goes but sometimes all I want to eat is pancakes. And not just quick out-of-the-box pancakes, but real homemade pancakes. Last winter I seriously made homemade pancakes twice a week. Working at the St. Regis has made me love breakfast food since I'm always around it and their pancakes are to die for (I got the recipe once, but my conversion from grams to regular measuring didn't work out so well, so I'm not posting the recipe quite yet).

Whenever it's slow at work I try to hang out with the chefs in the exhibition kitchen. They're all pretty cool guys and are willing to answer all of my silly questions, or just chat. One day the question came up: What's the secret to good pancakes?

And here it is:

Cook them 75% on one side then 25% on the other side instead of the usual 50/50. This helps the pancakes to rise better and become more fluffy than if you had cooked them evenly on both sides. Genius, who knew?!

Use room temperature eggs and buttermilk. I never would have thought of this, but when you're adding butter to homemade pancakes you don't want it to ball up because the eggs and buttermilk are too cold.

And don't overmix the batter (heard that a million times).

Baby Cole

Here it is. I feel bad calling my baby an "it" but I don't know what it is yet. Boy or girl I mean. The picture isn't super clear because my baby is a mover and a shaker. It wouldn't sit still for the pictures, but on the screen I could see it moving its arms and legs and rolling around like a little monkey. I have a monkey child, probably like Brenan. With that kind of action, I think its a boy. Next month I'll get to find out what it is for sure, so we'll keep everyone posted.

 

The green arrow is pointing to the head, they yellow it's bum, the red it's face, and the blue it's arm. 

Who the pug do you think you are?!

My pugs. Oh my pugs. You've all seen them. These dogs, to say the least, keep me on my toes. These dogs also like to cause chaos. Here are the things they've done (lately):

1. Annie came around the corner with a cotton ball in her mouth. That she got from her bed. Yes, the dogs have decided it's time to eat their bed. Now the laundry room is full of little cotton balls. What is wrong with you? You have treats and toys! 
2. Annie figured out how to squeeze through the dog fence and sneak downstairs. Pugs are not allowed downstairs. They leave little "surprises" that we all hate to clean up. 
3. Annie (seems to be a lot about Annie...) sneaks up on the sofa behind pillows so we don't see her laying there. Pugs are not allowed on the nice sofas. They get their choice of my sofa, the leather sofa, or 2 wicker chairs; all that clean easy. 
4. Walter hides the dog bowls. Yesterday we found Dozer's bowl under a sofa (it had been missing for 3 days). He will take any bowl, carry it around, and leave it for later. Except there is no later. We never know where he hides them. Last week he took Annie's bowl and hid it under my bed, under the sofa, and under the kitchen table. 
5. Walter has become a food scam artist. Walter has a round metal bowl and Annie has a square plastic bowl. This helps them to know whose is whose and helps me to hear who is eating out of whose bowl. Annie was sitting at my feet and I heard the sound of plastic. That's right, Walt finished off his food and then ate all of Annie's while she was away.
6. Annie and Walter both take things like socks, food, underwear, DVD's, shoes, etc... and hide them under the bed in their little fortress. 
7. One of them, and I don't know whom, ate their wrinkle medicine. That's expensive and I'm a little frustrated. And yes, they have wrinkle medicine for when their wrinkles get infected. Grrrr...
8. To get in the Christmas spirit, Walter ate a candy cane. 
9. They collaborated in knocking down the large bag of dog food and eating it. Then they moved on to the trash. This was after we fed them dinner, so clearly they were hungry for more.
10. They bark and growl at the tv, mainly Jar Jar Binks (really, most of Star Wars), sirens, door bells, dogs, music, crying babies etc...

But aren't they cute?! 

Pearl Harbor Day

Dear World,

Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I don't know if that's the "official" title, but that's what I call it. For me, it all started on December 7, 2001, the 60th anniversary of the attacks. My then best friend Valena and I watched it together for the first time. We balled. A lot. My dad thought we were such freaks for crying during the movie. Every year since then I have decided that I would always watch the movie Pearl Harbor to remember the attacks of that day. For some reason, I hold this tradition really close to my heart. It's not like I was there, but my grandma and great uncle were alive when it happened. Plus, I have this ridiculous secret obsession with the 40's and 50's and WWII. Trust me, I have no idea where it all came from. Moral of the story is that I hope everyone took a minute to think about all of the lives that were lost that day and to think of the poor men and women that are still trapped in the harbor. It is my dream to go there some day to personally pay my respects. As President Roosevelt said, it is "a date which will live in infamy."

Sincerely,
Rachel

Selling Secrets

Alright everyone, here it is, the launch of my new segment Selling Secrets. Lately I've (and by "I" I really mean that people have been giving me great advice lately) come up with all of these great "secrets" that have come incredibly handy and I thought I should share. To me Selling Secrets sounds catchy, even though technically I'm not selling anything. So buckle up because here we go!

Selling Secrets volume 1

Brenan and I have a very interesting living arrangement. Our sofa was too big to fit into our "office" (which has really become a storage room/ pre-nursery area) for an office/living room area. Since it doesn't fit we had to move our TV elsewhere. This is a slight debacle when you consider the size of our room. Our 4-poster bed is in the middle of the room, nightstands on each side, with a dresser in one corner and a book shelf in the other. To top it all off  we have a large dresser at the end of our bed, giving us only about 3 1/2 feet clearance to the wall. We're crammed. So naturally, the TV went on the end of the bed on top of the huge dresser, with the Playstation and cable box. Super crammed. One night, out of no genius to me, we had a candle lit at the end of the bed as well (yes, though Brenan won't admit it, we both LOVE Bath & Body Works candles). As Brenan rounded the corner to the small little walk way, he bumped the TV which then bumped the candle and it did a flip onto our bed. Luckily it didn't catch fire, but it did leave wax all over my new coverlet. The thing about these candles is that they have a lot more scented oil in the wax than most candles, so naturally, it is a lot harder to peel off because the wax becomes mushy instead of waxy hard. After hours, yes hours, of scraping waxy gunk off of my new blanket with a spoon (suggested by a Google search) I was ready to wash it. 

Here's the secret:

When trying to get wax out of fabric wash it with a can of Coke and powdered Tide. 

Don't want to buy a full box of powdered Tide? Go to your local laundromat and buy a single serve box for $1.

Who knew.

Week 9

Alright everyone, here I am making the big announcement, I am pregnant! :) That's right I'm in week 9 and I'm pretty proud of holding on to this not-so-secret announcement for so long. I found out on the day of my birthday party (October 23rd) that I was expecting. Brenan kept thinking I was just having period cramps and to not get too excited, but it just kept dragging on and on without any sign of Aunt Flo. So tested at 5 a.m. (I had to work early) and then proceeded to wake up Brenan and tell him. I told my parents that afternoon once I was off work and they were both delighted. Thus far things have been mostly easy, except for constant nausea, a minor flu bug that sent me to the bathroom a lot (not so much the baby's doing)/not eating very much, and the tell all sign: my small pants don't fit anymore. And right now, my fat jeans don't fit either. I have to use a rubber band for my smaller jeans to keep them on without squeezing the baby too much. I do have pictures of the baby, but I need to figure out how to scan them in to the computer, but I will  post them. So, hopefully I can keep everyone updated and keep pictures up. And we do already have our names picked out. Oh, and I'm due 4th of July!

Good ol' George W.

There is something about George W. Bush that I find endearing. All politics aside, completely, I think he is the kind of guy you could just go up and hug. He very much reminds me of the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). If you haven't read this book by Roald Dahl, do it. Do it now.














Somehow, I also fell in love with George W. through Will Ferrell's impressions. Classic. If you haven't seen him, youtube it. You will die it is so funny.

This was all brought on while I was searching for Glee on Hulu and ran across the President on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I watched the interview with him, and I tell you what, he knows how to be a joker. He was totally hilarious the entire time and I salute him for being a champ about being made fun of to his face. I feel like the citizens of the US don't know enough about who George W. really is and that they hold a bias based only on his presidency. I think he's super cool. If you haven't seen the Jay Leno show with the President, check it out. It's highly entertaining. Fast forward to the middle (abt 20 min.) to see the segment with the President.

Joy is...

Freshman year a friend named Spencer freaked out that I had never been to Einstein Bagel. I'm not from Utah so it's not that big of a deal to me, but to him it was almost sacrilegious. From time to time at Banana Republic our managers bring in Einstein Bagels, usually during the holidays as a "treat" since we're so busy. I always thought they were fantastic until Monday when Lisa brought in her left-over Einstein with Pumpkin Shmear. This is beyond fantastic. I could literally eat the cream cheese plain. Needless to say, I'm in love. I love pumpkin flavored odds and ends during the holidays but this is the best! Today, after buying my tickets to a special premiere of Harry Potter, I made my first trip into an Einstein Bros Bagel store. It was heavenly. I knew immediately that I needed a bucket of 13 bagels (which I froze; the trick is to individually wrap them, then put them in a freezer bag) and my 2 shmears. Pumpkin was a definite foot in, no doubt about that, but what did I want my second shmear to be? Sun-dried tomato & basil shmear had me at hello. Once I got home with my wonderful assortment of tasty bagels, I opened my box to discover I had received a $5 gift card for my next purchase. I think that this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship and I will be returning to Einstein Bagels soon. Very soon.
 
The ever fantastic eat-it-plain shmear

And it's cousin the close runner up

Savvy Shopping

So a few months ago I read on my friends blog about saving a ton of money when grocery shopping. Through the links on her site I found some awesome places to get coupons- both digital (loaded onto my Smith's card) and paper coupons. Some sites you can print out the coupons right away, and some send them to you. I usually consider myself a savvy shopper and will literally research tons of products at different places making sure that I get the right price. Brenan hates this. Yes it saves money, but it takes a lot of time to get what we're looking for. Luckily for me (and him I guess), I do most of the shopping without him. Some stores make it easy to get great deals. Hence this weeks blog. Smiths is having a sale where if you buy 10 participating items, you get $5 off. Fiscally, to get the best deal, you buy the cheapest items that are participating, bringing your total down. For example: pasta, Campbell's soup, Propel, Del Monte canned tomatoes, and toothbrushes were a grand total of fifty cents to a dollar each after the $5 was taken off. So, 10 items, $5. Not too bad. Wait, unless you have coupons. I went to campbellssoup.com and got coupons for $1.50 off 3 cans of soup. That's swell since I was already buying them. So I printed 4. That meant that 12 of my cans were FREE. Then I got coupons off of coupons.com and smartsource.com for $1 off Colgate toothbrushes. Fantastic, the final price on those bad boys was FREE. Oh and razors you ask? $5 off plus they were on sale for $2.33- I made $2.67 on that deal. But what about the toilet paper? Smiths online site lets you add digital coupons to your card, so my already on-sale toilet paper was an additional $3 off. Now here is the big grabber- when a coupon says $3 off 3 of x items, pick the 3 of x items that are the cheapest. Why buy 3 frostings for $4.50, when you can get a cake mix and 2 frostings for $4. Hello savings. Whenever it says that you have to buy x amount, buy only x amount and buy the cheapest/smallest participating items. 

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures what I got, hence the 2 views, but I will list it off for you:

32 rolls toilet paper, chocolate chip cookie mix, 2 frostings, 1 cake mix, 2 toothbrushes, 4 bags of cheese, 5 Propels, 1 box finish dishwasher detergent, Olay body wash, 4 packages pasta, 4-pack razors, 16 cans Campbell's soup, 5 cans chicken broth, 10 cans vegetables, and 6 cans tomatoes.

My total savings was $85.81 broken down: $25.30 in coupons and $60.51 in Freshvalue savings.
Grand total?? $24.53 for 60 items. Now that's what I call a deal.

On a side note, if you use reusable bags at Smiths they give you 5 bonus points/bag. That's $5 you don't have to spend to get points. Target gives you 5 cents off per bag.

Check out shopnsmart.com for more tips/deals.

I have like 5 min to blog before I head off to the grocery store and then start my baking quest. Here is what I am making. Enough said.

My Birthday Cake

And helpful tips

Read it. Love it. Eat it.

Birthday Season!

Here we are amidst birthday season. We are currently 2/3 the way through our adventurous 2 months. Last night we celebrated the young mr. Alex's bday at Applebee's. Good times. Here's the video.

Last weekend we had a back-to-back birthday for my mom and Brenan. I made lobster, crab legs, and london broil for them. And yes, I did make it all. The only downside was that the pugs got attacked that day by the neighbors untrained German Shepard. Walt got the worst of it with a few holes in his leg and the skin detached from the muscle. Luckily he seems to be healing quite nicely.

Here are the cupcakes from the Cocoa Bean in Provo that I got for Bren/my mom. Raspberry cream cheese chocolate, cream cheese chocolate swirl, ultimate brownie, red velvet, banana chocolate chip, dirty turtle, and better than whatever. Can you say love?

Coming up next : Randy's birthday doubling as conference weekend and then, the ultimate birthday/Halloween party for me. I'm not giving out any details except for: it's going to be awesome.

Please hold and your call will be answered in the order it was received.

Unless we disconnect you. Then you have to call back just to be put on hold again, listening to awful music and ads. Lame.

Day off

Ok so let's be real, getting two days off in a row is a miracle. I get to bask in glory for two whole days before working like crazy this week. My plans: LOTS of sun tanning ( which is sadly determined by the weather), doing all of our laundry (probably not going to happen), finding black socks- I have like 50 pair and can't find ANY of them, and lastly catch up on sleep. Oh and not do anything more than I have to. Relax time.

To make things better, Brenan also has two days off too! With the exception of practice. Life is awesome! :)

Why yes, I am injured

Today's physical therapy = 30 min. shoulder massage. If this is "pain" count me in any day.

That's 2!

Bren and I have been married for two years now! Holy cow where does time go?! In two years we have:

• Moved 6 times
• Bought a pug
• Bought another pug
• Gone on 6 vacations 
• Had 12 jobs
• Bought 3 cars
• Sold 2 cars
• Managed to get Brenan on a rollercoaster, which he now loves
• Gone in/through 5 different temples
• Been in/visited 6 different states

12 days

Do you know what it's like to work 12 days in a row?! It's crazy. And ridiculously tiresome. Your mind turns to blob and funny/bad things happen. Here's a glimpse:

Fun/silly things:

• I finally, FINALLY got to see Inception. I feel like I'm the last person in the world to have seen it. I loved it. We sat in those new red seats (I think that's the name) and they vibrate with the action of the movie. It was pretty sweet. Downside: I was so tired that I couldn't fully take in the awesomeness/ think hard enough about the depth of the movie. However, I plan on seeing it again.
• Brenan and I got to get away on a couple of "date" nights. Movie, dinner, perusing. It was fun. We ate at a restaurant called Thyme Bistro in Park City. I give it a 6. Slow service, mediocre food, and it's over priced. However, the chandeliers made of forks, spoons, and knives was pretty cool. I wish I would've taken a picture. 
• Thursday, my favorite day of the week. You know why??? FARMER'S MARKET! Heber has a pretty good sized market and I love going. Brenan and I had dinner there (me, my favorite fish tacos and he had carne asada. I went back for more...) and bought some cool stuff. I got the BEST honey I have ever tasted. Lately, I have become a honey snob. I hope to never eat clover honey again. The local honey I bought is better for you (if you have allergies, which I don't) and it is a million times better. I tasted a high desert alfalfa honey, which was interesting; and then I tried an orchard honey (my fav), and a wildflower honey, also good. My physical therapist recommended that I get a hot pack for my muscles/tendinitis and I found the most magnificent rice/lavender bag there. I love it. A lot. Lastly, we got yummy local fruit and listened to the band.
• Watching the pugs run around on hardwood floors is more amusing than it should be. They can't keep their balance/grip the floor so they slide around everywhere/ run into stuff. I need to get a life.

The retarded side:

• I don't know what day it is. All of my days run together. I wake up, go to work, come home, eat, go to bed. Everyday. It definitely feels like a Friday, but I'm mostly sure it's Saturday.
• I keep typing words wrong. My brain is so gone that if I'm see some other word while I'm typing, I'll type the wrong word in it's place. Like "see it" came out as "season". Ugh.
• I'm tired. And I get grumpy and yell at people.
• My house is a mess. The only laundry I do is black socks and my whites. Separated, of course.
• I forget what to say on the phone. Multitasking is a no-no. 
• People yell at me for stupid things that I can't do/help them with. i.e. explain why we don't have buffalo wings, fish & chips, and chips & salsa. P.S. people, we're at a 5-star resort, not Wingers. I'm sorry you have the munchies, but our menu hasn't changed since you got here. Not that you'd know because you clearly haven't read it.
• I can't remember what I did this week. I have to ask other people.
• People at work can't function by themselves sometimes, so I have to stay an extra hour, leaving at midnight just to be back at seven. Which, doesn't sound that bad except I didn't get home until after 12, went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 5:30 after a 12 hour day.
• I don't get paid overtime. Since I haven't officially switched departments, they still consider the extra tips I make to make up for my overtime. Lame.

Tomorrow, glorious tomorrow is my first day off in 12 days. I will celebrate my anniversary with the hubs after church, and it will be magnificent. I even get to sleep in until 7:30!! How sick is that?

Favorites

I was thinking the other day about some of my favorite things. I like when other people tell me what they like so that I don't buy crap; so, here are my favorites:

1. Mascara: Mary Kay or Lash Architect
2. Breakfast: Oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries
3. Store: TJ Maxx and Petsmart
4. Eyeliner: Lancome- very creamy and easy to put on
5. Eye Primer: Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion, Original. I've tried a lot and this is the only one that works.
6. Yogurt: Smith's low fat yogurt (less calories/carbs than Yoplait)
7. Dog Accessory: A little red plastic brush from Target that has little plastic spikes to help catch the hair when you brush your dog.
8. Restaurant: Cheesecake Factory. Yum. The basil/cheese pizzeta is fantastic. Also, Maxwells in Park City.
9. Face wash: Proactiv. It's expensive but it works.
10. Scent: Island Margarita from Bath & Body Works
11. Boxed mixes: Harry & David Lemon Bars
12. Nostalgic treat: Kinder Bueno  You don't even realize
13. Vegas Resort: Aria, then Bellagio.
14. Board game: Catch Phrase. Then Ticket to Ride.
15. Toilet Paper: Charmin. Hands down.
16. Juice: Simply Orange or V8 100% juice --but not V8 splash, it's only 10% juice. Yuk.

A photo timeline

I feel like I've been neglecting my poor little blog by working too much and not nurturing the world of bloggers with cool pictures and witty banter. So, here is my quick attempt to show you all the cool things that have been happening via my Blackberry (which I LOVE).

Hello pugs! I came home the other day and they were just chillin' outside like little lion statues. Annie is hunched over because she's too fat to sit up straight like Walter. Any day now...


The puppies in their shirts. You can't see it but Walter's says, "The Ladies Love Me." Awesome. Under the bed is their new favorite hideout. We just hope she doesn't decide to give birth under there while we're not home/around.

.


My arm. Contusion, L elbow. I may or may not have walked into a door frame while holding a glass rack that slammed my elbow into the wall. It hurts. Still. Today was physical therapy and after 3 weeks it's still inflamed but she did some nifty work on it. Plus, she massaged my arm :)
 

4th of July Parade. Rather, 3rd of July parade. Utahns... This was the Scottish band that walked by. They were pretty sweet as.

 Crepelicious. Nutella and banana crepe with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I haven't had one of these since Paris. Paris me manque :( And Brenan doesn't want to go to Paris with me. WHO DOESN'T WANT TO GO TO PARIS?!!!! I just don't understand.

Sunset just before the fireworks. Pretty cool me thinks.

The real 4th of July. We're pretty patriotic, and yes, we had matching t-shirts. And yes, I know I'm not in the picture. I just had to let you know what I was wearing.

Red team vs. blue team. Actually, I don't think that was intentional at all. I don't know what the name of this game is,but it's something along the lines of dingle balls...that sounds wrong. Very wrong. It's like horseshoes, only you throw balls and try to catch them on the bars.

Cousin Ellie with Lexi. So cute.















Our BBQ we had on Sunday? Yes, Sunday. We got the most amazing sauce from Harry & David called the Jamaican Jerk. LOVE it. And we grilled mangoes instead of pineapple, mostly out of necessity since I couldn't find any pineapple, but it was surprising good. I also sliced strawberries and put them in some lemonade. And we grilled corn. It was a pretty "summertime" meal. I think Rachael Ray would have been proud. Or Martha.

More to come. I transferred memory cards on my phones so I need to find my old phone with the new card in it to get my pictures onto my new phone.

Idiots

So, sometimes I love technology. Except when my Blackberry erases all my memory, including my pictures, on its own. Or when the internet keeps telling me I'm not connected, when I AM! I can see all the wireless bars full right now as I'm connected to Wasatch Library. The Library! you ask? Yes, I'm using the library's internet because we just moved and a certain someone who may or may not work for the internet company is a complete moron. They told us they would be out yesterday. No. They sent us a letter with our info on it and an installation disc that does not hookup our internet. How long were we on the phone with them today? An hour. Did anything get fixed? No. They will be here between 12 and 5 tomorrow afternoon. Another day wasted waiting for someone to come hook something up. Why don't they set real appointments like real people???!! And like it matters. I can barely type without wanting to cry. If I had the picture I would show you what my arm did look like and you would understand the unbearable pain I'm facing right now just typing. However, at this moment my anger for idiots is stronger than my pain. Also, sorry for not using paragraphs. It bothers me but I don't have the time. Back to the arm now. I have a contusion on my urnal (?) nerve in my left elbow which runs from my shoulder through my elbow down to my wrist. All day everyday I'm in pain no matter how much I baby it and how much I take ibuprofen (which may or may not be around 1600 mg/day). Why are doctors idiots?! These cheap clinics just have under paid staff (who are rude) and over worked doctors dealing with idiots like me who hurt themselves at work. Yes, I called myself an idiot. AND another thing... why can't people just make up their minds about my promotion. After nearly 3 weeks after my interview, my boss gave me the greenlight to even apply. It took her 2 minutes to type the email and tell my, did it really have to take so long??? Plus, I am pretty sure our captain/new manager is training me for the position -- but then he tells other people that he wants everyone to know how to use the systems on the computer. So, are you just "teaching" me to know, or are you training me for the new position? RAAAAAAHHH! I need some sleep. And pain killers i.e. something stronger than ibuprofen. And maybe some more chocolate.

Official Dibs on Baby Names

Okay, first of all I am NOT pregnant.
Secondly, I'm posting my baby names so that I can say I have dibs. I know a lot of pregnant people and I don't want them stealing my names, like in Friends.


Boys
Jackson Theodore
Aiden Lee
Camden Alex


Girls
Julia Marie
Jasmine Eleanor


So, there are our baby names -don't steal them please :) They took a long time to come up with and are well thought out and they're family names. 

It's the little things...

Here are some great things that I have recently witnessed/had happen:

A ZEBRA in someone's back yard in Park City. Does it really surprise me? Not really. It was pretty awesome though. They also had a buffalo, donkey, and a mountain goat. I guess when you're rich and live in Park City, you can buy those sorts of things.

 This is a REAL picture of them!!!

The mouse story:

So I was at work at Banana Republic and I was bored out of my mind (strictly articulated) working in the fitting room. All of a sudden I hear a bunch of yelling over our earpieces, and the only distinct thing I could hear was "mouse at cashwrap." So they're all freaking out about this mouse...Hello, we live in the mountains and we're not food service. Chill folks. Then I hear, "she dropped her baby mice and they're all laying here." That's right, a mom and babies. So, while everyone is out trying to catch the mom I'm in the back laughing at their idiocracy. So, the lady that was returning her clothes who first spotted the mouse realized that the mice came from HER BAG! The momma mouse laid the babies in her shopping bag that had been sitting in her garage and the lady never noticed! People, honestly...

Buying honey butter at the Park City farmer's market. Best honey butter I've ever had. Plus, it's made with local honey which is better for you because it contains local pollens so your allergies won't be so bad. I don't have allergies, but still...

A lady finding the table that was exactly what she was looking for at our garage sale. Great, it's exactly what I wanted to sell. 

Keeping my window open at night and not smelling cigarette smoke or hearing our ex-special ed neighbor screaming all. the. time.

Having my papa come into town and having lunch with him. I hadn't seen him since July and he drove through on his way to Mexico and we had lunch with Tom and Alex at The St. Regis. Then they chilled at our house for a couple of hours. They needed a toilet close by. Apparently when you get older you DO need a diaper or toilet near by.

Making a trip to Home Depot (which I was pretty proud of, so was dad) and buying a tomato and cucumber plant for our new garden.

Alex thinking that when men got "fixed" they had their actual manhood cut off. No. No. No. So wrong. Men are not fixed the same way as dogs...

John thinking that since Annie has 9 nipples she will have 9 puppies. Wrong again boys. Which, by the way, I hope she is not pregnant but everyone seems to think she is.

10 things I'd do if I had more time

Sometimes life is crazy and we can't always do the things that we enjoy. I for one, do not enjoy working 11 days in a row, some of those days being double/triple shifts. So, to pass my time and bare through my work, I think of things I'd rather be doing.

1. Playing piano When I was in high school, during my last trimester I would play piano everyday for at least one hour. I love loved it. I only had one class/day so after that class I'd cozy on up in the practice rooms (which were soundproof, thankfully) and play away. I love to play and I find it really relaxing. We even have a keyboard and it's just collecting dust. It makes me a little sad.
2. Exercising There are some kinds of exercise I enjoy. Even though I'm technically "exercising" at work by walking around all day, I don't enjoy it or find it relaxing. Particularly working at BR. 
3. Baking I love to bake/cook. I'd rather make my food from scratch than by food from the store that is full of preservatives and junk. I feel bad that I have to resort to buying Brenan frozen meals to eat when I'm not home to make real food. 
4. Scrapbooking I love this particular hobby because it is relaxing (to me at least) and it brings back good memories. Plus when you make things for others i.e. cards, etc it makes them happy too! I have tons and tons of stuff that is just dying to be used, but I don't have the time. Or space.
5. Hanging out with Brenan I miss my husband. Either I see him early in the morning as I'm leaving for work, or I see him late at night when I get home. We may talk for a few minutes to catch up with each other, but I'd rather go and play with him. Ride bikes, play catch, video games, watch a movie, ANYTHING! 
6. Play with the dogs I have two sweet puppies that are absolutely hilarious. However, I find myself walking in, being annoyed at them jumping on me (because they're excited to see me) and them taking them out in a hurry so I can get some sleep. Poor pups. I love you :)
7. Reading I do like to read in my spare time. Do I have spare time? Not really. I read my lessons for my online classes...but that's not very exciting. I miss reading fun books for hours on end, or getting wrapped up in a new novel. Or, even reading my scriptures as much as I should. Sometimes 1 verse is all I get.
8. Domestic & Artistic activities Sewing, painting, etc... I miss being creative and artistic. Not to say I'm an "artist" but I like to draw/paint, sew, create, etc...     
9. SLEEPING! Fairly obvious. I miss sleep.
10. TBD. I gotta go to work. I needed to leave 3 minutes ago!

Presenting Annie Patsy Potts

Here is our new puppy Annie! She is 8 months old, calm yet vivacious, and the world's biggest cuddle bug. We are still trying to train her and she and Walter will be starting training this month. Even though she is a fawn like Walt, they look very different. She is much lighter and softer, and she looks like an angry china woman. She and Walt will be married soon, then she'll be Annie Patsy Cole, instead of Potts (which we totally made up).

Here they are taking a nap together :)

  

Our little china woman

Both of them napping on me.Yes, she wears clothes. According to Brenan, only girl dogs can wear clothes.

P.S. Here is a cool blog I found http://whatastitch.blogspot.com/

Life

I think that sometimes life comes at you too fast. And just when things settle down, you get thrown a curveball. Life is crazy and there are always tons of decisions to make and directions to go. A constant concern/thought/struggle that seems to reside with us is where should we work, where should we live, when are we going to finish school? Someday, somehow, I hope all of these questions will be answered.

Straight from dictionary.com

de·moc·ra·cy (or, what the US used to be)

 /dɪˈmɒkrəsi/ Show Spelled[dih-mok-ruh-see] Show IPA

–noun,plural-cies.

1.government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 

 

dic·ta·tor·ship

 /dɪkˈteɪtərˌʃɪp, ˈdɪkteɪ-/ Show Spelled[dik-tey-ter-ship, dik-tey-] Show IPA

–noun

1.a country, government, or the form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator.

2.absolute, imperious, or overbearing power or control.

3.the office or position held by a dictator.

 

so·cial·ism

 /ˈsoʊʃəˌlɪzəm/ Show Spelled[soh-shuh-liz-uhm] Show IPA

–noun

1.a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

2.procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

3.(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles. 

 

Think about what our country was, even 8 years ago, and think about where it is now. Do these definitions ring any bells? Read. Learn. Educate yourselves on the issues. VOTE.

April has been one busy and exciting month...

A- we are getting preapproved to buy a house/condo/townhouse... whatever we choose. We'll see what happens because the townhouse we want just went on the market on Friday and there have already been other offers. Plus, we don't know if we have our down payment arranged yet. Rachel, quit getting your hopes up. We live in 620 sq. feet with 2 adults and a dog. Our kitchen/dining room also boasts a "home office" and a piano (really a keyboard, but it's on a stand so it takes up space). Our living room is also Walter's bedroom. Our laundry room is a storage room, piled high, unfortunately. Not to mention that our apartment is handicap accessible, so everything is lower than normal. I'm sick of squatting to brush my teeth. Though the detachable shower head is nice for washing the dog.

B- April Fools. Oh the fools. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Needless to say I capitalized on my trickiness and told my pops I was pregnant. NOTE: I AM NOT PREGNANT. Once I broke the good news that I wasn't, he called me an a hole. The full word though.

C- I've been working 6 days/week for the past 4 weeks. When I get time off all I do is sleep and do laundry. I feel like Brenan only sees me in bed while I'm sneaking off in the morning and at night when he comes to bed; at which point I'm already completely out. It's crazy how much you sleep when you work too much.

D- Disneyland is only three days away. THREE DAYS AWAY! Finally, some me and Brenan time/ family vacation. I'm thankful that we get employee discounts at hotels on rates and food. It makes a HUGE difference.

E- My boss is letting me write our training manual and I will become our new floor trainer (promotion? raise??). My secret passion and desires are to work in In Room Dining, even though the money is lower, I'd get benefits and have more responsibility. But I might have to work more... I like getting paid the same amount for working less hours.

The Walt

The other day, someone told me that we love Walter too much. Can you love your first and favorite puppy too much? I think there are those obsessive people that feed their animals top of the line gourmet food and dress their pets and have them groomed weekly. We are not those people. We wash Walter when we remember. We feed him decent food. I only feed him wet food sometimes because I got it on sale. Super sale. We don't dress Walter everyday --only if it's raining or Halloween.

But, here are the things we love most about Walter:

• When we're gone he watches Law & Order and ESPN on our bed (our tv is on an auto timer so it turns on at 6 everyday).
• He is a champ about us taking pictures.
• He chases his tail when he is bored 
• If he wants to play, he will jump up on top of the sofa and drop a toy on our heads to get our attention
• He gives us kisses
• He naps in the crook of our knee when we're in bed or on the sofa (see pic. below)
• He can keep up with the big dogs i.e. Dozer and the stranger dog
• He buries his bones and toys in our bed/in blankets/the sofa
• When you wake up and are laying in bed, he will bring in EVERY toy & bone until you play with him

And the award goes to...

I would like to thank Brenan for staying close to the speed limit when we drove to CO and for taking care of me the past two days that I've been sick. Thank you for semi-embarrassing me at the wrestler's banquet...

Thank you mama Drea and papa Ted for giving us furniture. Now our bedroom looks like a bedroom and instead of vegging in front of the tv on the sofa, I now do it in my room.

Thank you St. Regis for being busy and giving me lots of hours since Banana Republic is gay and hasn't given me or Bren any hours since New Years. No, I do not like living off of one income. But I do like making $30/hour. Thank you Leon for giving me even more hours. I heart IRD.

Thank you George for giving Brenan a new job selling Farmer's Insurance. You the man!

Thank you mom for not getting mad at me when Walter chewed up a bunch of your paper while I was too busy online to notice. And thanks for giving me your antibiotics so I can get better.

Papa Ron, thanks for the entertaining conversations that we always seem to have while I'm in public; thanks for giving the people of Heber funny things to laugh at as they hear my end of the conversation.

Thank you random lady at the reception that told me I was pretty, then preceded to eat the decoration on the plate (that as I hear, was unwashed and just a garnish)...you made my night.

Thank you USA for having a Law & Order marathon on Sunday and for keeping me up all day to watch it instead of napping.

Thank you USA for winning so many medals at the Olympics and for not being as lame as the closing ceremonies in Vancouver. Catherine O'Hara, you're not a comedienne in any way, shape, or form.

X-Factor

So I've decided that everyday should have an "X" factor, whether it be a tender mercy, something small, something big, or just something that made me smile. Here is last week's X Factors:

• Dill on my Salmon lunch at IKEA
• Chef Chip giving me steak and chicken for lunch instead of corn dogs (am I 5? Don't think so)
  
• Seeing celebrities and not freaking out or peeing my pants
• Thick, rich, homemade hot chocolate (and by homemade I mean St. Regis-made)
  
• Walter cuddling in my knees and napping with me
• Brenan kissing me good night when he thought I was asleep
• Cleaning my house after not being home for nearly a week
• Hanging curtains (that I made myself)
  

The New Year

Well, sorry dear blog for the neglect we have given you. Brenan has practice everyday and tournaments every weekend through Valentine's weekend, not to mention working at BR. I work 4-7 days a week between BR and St. Regis. But, let's get real, St. Regis is where the money is at. Not to mention that I'm also taking 2 online classes now...busy busy. Our New Year's Eve "celebrations" were pretty low key. We didn't even stay up until midnight. Lame. I think the best part of the new year so far was  buying a carpet cleaner this week :) Which brings me to my next point: I don't think they really cleaned our carpets before we moved in. The mustard stains in the carpet are almost gone after I cleaned this week. Really? My $89 Bissell outcleaned a professional cleaner?  Not likely. They lied and gave us a stinky (literally) apartment.

Second best thing about this year: our favorite shows are back on (after the holiday break) and American Idol is back!! Yes, we love watching Simon torment the contestants.

Also, I chopped off my hair...pictures to come. Let's just say it's short. Short, short.

This week, Walter's face is sick. Maybe infected. We'll find out tomorrow after his vet appointment.

New Year's Resolutions: none. I don't believe in them.
New Year's Goals: plenty. I already tried a new food.

Stealing squared

I'm "stealing" this from my sister's blog, who stole it from her friend's blog. Why? Because it's freaking hilarious. Also, Mikaela, this is for you :)

• - "Long list of things you are no good at: your marriage, leading glee club and finding a hairstylist that doesn't make you look like a lesbian."
• - "All I want is just one day a year when I'm not visually assaulted by uglies and fatties."
• - "While they were in there, I told them to go ahead and yank out those tear ducts. Wasn't using them."
• - "You are about to board the Sue Sylvester express....... destination HORROR."
• - "You think this was hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they're going in another direction. That was hard."
• - "[Ramps] are what I call lazy-makers. They discourage able-bodied students from getting proper exercise by using the stairs."
• - "I, for one, think intimacy has no place in a marriage. Walked in on my parents once and it was like seeing two walruses wrestling."
• - "I like minorities so much, I'm thinking of moving to California to become one."
• - "It feels good to finally pop that zit known as Will Schuester."
• - "I don't trust a man with curly hair. I can't help but picture little birds laying sulfurous eggs in there, and it disgusts me."
• - "I'll often yell at homeless people: 'Hey, how is that homelessness working out for you? Try not being homeless for once.'"
• - "Not everyone is gonna have the walnuts to take a pro-littering stance. But I will not rest until every inch of our fair state is covered in garbage."
• - "I'm going to ask you to smell your armpits. That's the smell of failure, and it's stinking up my office."
• - "You think this is hard? Try waterboarding. That's hard!"
• - "I'm going to go to the animal shelter, get you a cat, and wait until you've fallen in love with that cat... then I'm going to break into your house in the middle of the night, and punch you in the face."

11

My youngest brother is 11. Here is one of the funniest things I've heard him say lately:

John: Dad, let me try this on you
Dad: No
John: You're a weiner!