I had promised Erica to write a post just for her, because I was “messing up” her “blog checking schedule.” I’m supposed to write about her “awesomeness”. Okay. Here goes.
Why My Little Sister, Erica, Is Awesome
1. She lives in Boston.
2. She now uses the word wicked, as in “Erica is wicked awesome.”
3. She has naturally curly hair, which is something that those of us with board straight hair that barely holds a curl always wish we had.
4. She is a hockey goalie.
5. She can cook.
6. She sends cool stuff to her nephews.
7. She knows all sorts of wierd, random facts.
8. She has pretty good taste in music.
9. She plays (played??) the trombone.
10. She is an amazing writer.
11. While it drives me absolutely insane and I just want to kick her in the head, Erica is opinionated and sticks to her guns.
12. She is interested in all sorts of cool things.
13. She likes the color orange.
14. She has a cat named Fleury, who is apparantly a really great cat (I wouldn’t know as I have never met Fleury, or his brother Todd. They live in Ohio with my parents and brother).
Erica, who’s favorite number is 41 but her back up is 14, I bow down to you and your awesomeness!
Archive for October, 2006
Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid
Halloween Meme
Edit: Thanks, Kris, for pointing out that there was no #7. Somehow I skipped that! It’s in there now.
Sariah in Vancouver tagged me, and while I seem to have taken forever to actually do this, it looked like fun. Here goes!
1. What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
I actually scare very easily, so I tend to not watch scary movies. However, Scream freaked me out a bit (I didn’t want to answer the phone for a few days), and The Blair Witch Project had me sleeping with the lights on for a week. Oh wait, no, I spent hours the next day online just making sure it wasn’t real. What kept the lights on was, I believe, The Sixth Sense. I enjoy that there is closure in that movie, so it’s not too bad. And I actually screamed in the movie theatre during What Lies Beneath. Oooooh, a very scary Harrison Ford!! I have never seen any of the Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Poltergeist movies, nor do I plan to.
2. What was your favorite Halloween Costume from childhood, and adulthood?
I remember being Maid Marian one year, and that was really fun. And I was a witch one year and I got to spray my hair black and wear really long fake nails. That was really exciting for this little 4th grader! As an adult, I always want to dress up, but don’t have the cash. A few years ago I was Homestar Runner, and that was fun (even if only a select few teenagers knew who I was), and in college one year I just dressed normal so when anyone asked what I was, I replied, “I’m a serial killer. They look like the rest of us you know.” It worked.
3. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your Fantasy Costume be for this Halloween?
I would go all out with a period costume… like Scarlett O’Hara or a Renaissance Princess or something. That’d be so fun. I’ve always wanted to be a pirate wench, but those costumes tend to be so slutty looking, and that is SO not what I want, so I would have someone make me a really cool costume with that theme. And I would make my family all dress up in the same themes as me.
4. When was the last time you went Trick Or Treating?
Wednesday night. It was the ward Halloween party! And we’re going for real tomorrow night. But then again, that’s not for me. It’s for the kids. Last time I went and got candy for just me? I honestly don’t remember.
5. What’s your favorite Halloween Candy?
Anything chocolate!! (with no nuts) Once again, the darker the chocolate, the better. And candy corn (because that is a Halloween staple, right?).
6. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.
I had one a couple years ago where someone had broken into our apartment and did something to me where I literally couldn’t move (and also couldn’t wake up from the nightmare, and when I did, I still couldn’t move my body for several minutes for some reason) and I had to watch as they killed Ches and went after Aiden (I was pregnant with Dallin at the time). I couldn’t even scream to Ches for help before he was killed.
7. What is your Supernatural Fear?
Anything to do with ghosts. I seriously believe in them, and they scare me more than anything. Oh, and I’m a little nervous about vampires (I’ve watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes waaaaaay too much to be healthy for me!).
8. What is your Creepy-Crawlie Fear?
Any bugs crawling on me and through my hair. EW!!! I had a cockroach actually do that once, and I’m still completely freaked out about it.
9. Tell us about a time when you saw a ghost, or heard something go Bump in the night.
Well, thankfully I haven’t seen a ghost (that I remember), because that is one of my biggest fears. However, one summer Ches and I were driving from southern California to Utah, and we got to stay in a friend’s condo in Mesquite, NV for the night. In the middle of the night I woke up, completely freaked out for some reason, and I couldn’t settle down. I felt like either something was there or something really bad was going to happen. I finally woke Ches up and said, “We have to leave, now.” He was so confused, but indulged me. We got some donuts and drove around for a little bit until I was calmed down, then went back to the condo. I felt fine, and we went back to sleep.
10. Would you ever stay in a real Haunted House overnight?
Heck no!! I’ve seen those programs on TV, and that scares me enough!
11. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O’Lantern Carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?
Pretty much just a traditionalist, but I think next year we’re gonna do all sorts of crazy stuff!! I really like Sariah in Vancouver’s pumpkin from last year, and I’d like to try that out.
12. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween?
Not much… yet. We are slowly getting things, and someday I’ll have the coolest house in the neighborhood. After we have our debts paid off.
13. What do you want on your Tombstone?
Beloved wife, mother, friend.
Okay, I tag Alyson, Dana, Kris, and Laural. I won’t be hurt if you don’t do it (since tomorrow is Halloween and all), but all y’all would sure be fun to read!!
How Beauty is Made
Wow. Check this out and let me know if you can think of anything to say besides “wow”. (Guess I’m not the intelligent one in the group if that’s all I can think of!! heh.)
Making Cookies
I seem to have some kind of cookie deficiency. I mess them up almost every time. Today Aiden and I made chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmmm. I even added extra chocolate chips just for the heck of it. Heavenly! They turned out great… until the last batch. I forgot to set the timer, and I forgot I even put them in the oven. Luckily, I remembered before they turned into hockey pucks, but that is a rarity. Usually the last batch is always black and hard as a rock.
***
When Ches and I were first married (like a few weeks), one Sunday afternoon I felt like being all domestic and stuff, so I decided to make some cookies. Ches had gone to take a Sunday afternoon nap (aren’t those the best??) and I opened the cookbook and started to pull out ingredients. Then I decided to go to the bathroom. When I was finished with my business, I returned to the kitchen for my cookie making. I was going down the list and following the instructions. I thought some of the ingredients a little odd for chocolate chip cookies… like, cinnamon. I didn’t know you put cinnamon in chocolate chip cookies! But maybe this was a recipe I had never used before. So I kept going.
Then I got to “One can pumpkin.” Wha–??? Pumpkin?? I looked around the cookbook, and that’s when I realized I was not making chocolate chip cookies! I was making pumpkin bars!!! Somehow, while I was in the bathroom, the page had flipped in the cookbook, and I never checked the title of the recipe, assuming I was still in the same place as before.
HOW was I to fix this? I didn’t have a can of pumpkin. It’s May, for Heaven’s sake! I can’t go to the store to buy any because it’s Sunday and A) I don’t go shopping on Sunday for religious reasons, and 2) this is Rexburg, Idaho, and the stores aren’t open on Sunday anyway (because just about everyone in town has the same religious beliefs and not only won’t go shopping, but won’t work on Sundays). What was I do DO??
I looked at the recipe some more, and saw that you could substitute the can of pumpkin for a jar of applesauce and make applesauce spice bars (although it turned out to be more of a cake than bars). Luckily, during my grocery shopping trip the day before I had bought a jar of applesauce.
I finished the applesauce cake and put it in the oven. I went into our bedroom and flopped face down on the bed. I was so MAD! I wanted chocolate chip cookies, after all, and I felt pretty stupid for the mistake. Ches woke up and said, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m making chocolate chip cookies,” I replied very angrily.
“And what’s wrong with that?” my dear, new husband asked, quite puzzled (and understandably so!).
“You’ll see in about 30 minutes.”
The cake came out, and Ches said it was very good. It looked and smelled good. But I don’t think I had a single bite. I was still angry at that cake for not being cookies.
I have made the applesauce cake several times since then, and enjoued it every time. We call it Sariah’s Chocolate Chip Cookies.
***
My last year at Ricks College, I was on the Band Council. I helped plan the parties and such, and for one party we had assigned everyone to bring cookies or desserts or something. Treats to eat at the party. I decided to make Snickerdoodles. I don’t know what I did wrong, but every single cookie was hard as a rock. I was runing late to the party and didn’t have time to make new cookies or even go to the store and buy something (especially since I didn’t have a car!!), so I brought my snickerdoodles anyway. I put them on the table and explained the problem, not expecting anyone to even try one. I figured we could find another use for the things. I mean, get a bunch of Mormon band nerds together, and who knows what could happen! We go crazy!! Seriously!
Candi Cannon, bless her heart (could I BE more southern?? heh), felt bad for me and proceeded to eat my snickerdoodles, claiming they weren’t that bad! She ate several of them. She said “I like my cookies a little overdone.”
She has always been close to my heart since then. I mean, I knew she was cool before, but this was the clincher. Candi is the coolest person I know. Or one of them, anyway! 
p.s. check out the Recipe Exchange for the recipes for Sariah’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and for Snickerdoodles. I made snickerdoodles a couple of weeks ago, and they were very yummy. Not a hockey puck among them.
Zufälligen Freitag
We have termites. Blech! We discovered something weird growing from the ceiling in our bedroom. Ches took down the weird looking things, and discovered some gross bugs. He went online, and sure enough… termites!! This house had just been treated in January for termites, so we called the company and someone came out yesterday to have a look.
Turns out there’s a lot I didn’t know about termites. You see, these are subterrainian (?) termites, so while they are traveling up a beam in the back patio and into our ceiling, they have to return every 12 or 24 hours (I forget what he told me exactly) for food and water. When they sprayed the poison in back in January, it killed off the colony of termites. However, these little buggers leave a pheremone trail, and a new colony of termites moved in and followed the eaxact same path as the previous inhabitants. Luckily, the poison is still working, and this colony is dying off, too.
The things growing from our ceiling are their little tunnels that they build. Termites are really quick, and once you take one down they will immediately start to build another and you’ll see it within a few hours… and it won’t be just a little spec of a tunnel either. Our tunnels took them a while to rebuild after Ches took down the initial ones. Also, the termites keep their tunnels moist, and these were very dry. They almost turn to powder when touched, so we know the termites just aren’t surviving. The termites have been crawling through this poison without knowing it and spreading it to one another, so now this second colony is almost gone. Yay!
So much I didn’t know. I’m still so grossed out, though!
*****
There is this song on Noggin that the character “Moose” has been singing lately about Halloween. It talks about all the great things Moose likes about Halloween, but then he sings, “But I don’t like candy corn.” It’s a really cute song, and Aiden has taken to singing along.
I think it’s sad that Moose doesn’t like candy corn. It’s such a Halloween candy must-have! You knew it was fall and almost Halloween when you saw the bags of those delicious litle bits of orange and white. It seemed like you could only handle eating a few at a time, but would find yourself popping more and more in your mouth.
Now that candy corn comes in pastel colors at Easter and Christmas colors at Christmas, candy corn doesn’t seem quite like the Halloween treat it once was. If I eat candy corn at other times of the year, I feel like I’m being unfaithful to Halloween. It’s the same as Peeps. Peeps are for Easter, so why do they have them in different shapes and colors for other holidays now? Soon we’ll be seeing candy canes in red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July, and maybe the red, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates that you get on Valentine’s Day will turn to purple hearts for Veteren’s Day. Okay, that’s going too far. I sure hope that doesn’t happen!!
*****
Last night I was awake about 1:30 am (any guesses why? Just kidding). We have turned off the air conditioner about a week ago and have a window fan in our bedroom window. It’s quite nice and cool. The only problem with sleeping with your windows open and a fan bringing in the air is that it also brings in other smells from outside. Our neighbors were hanging out in their backyard, smoking. I’m pretty sure I smelled some pot, too, but then again I was half asleep, so what do I know? The cigarette smoke smell gave me a headache, but what can I do?
“Hi, I know you are in your yard and there is nothing illegal about smoking cigarettes, but could you stop? I really hate the smell. Thanks.”
Yeah, I’m sure that’d go over well.
*****
Yesterday afternoon Aiden wanted to go check the mail, so I walked out with him. At the same time, a woman and her son (who looked to be about a year younger than Aiden, maybe) were out checking their mail two doors down from us. The little boy was wearing a full-on Batman costume. He was running around, swishing his cape, and making funny sounds, which I assume were swishing, Batman sounds. I chuckled to myself and thought, “Boy, does that look familiar!”
Aiden, of course, noticed Batman, and got kind of excited. We may have to make some cookies and meet them.
*****
The school year starts so early here (Aiden started Aug. 7th, Ches’ kids started Aug. 16th) that in October the schools give a Fall Break. You know… like Spring Break, but in the fall, not the spring. (Can I state anything else more obvious for you??) Aiden’s break was this week, and Ches gets a few days off at the end of next week.
Maybe Ches will have some time and we can do something about getting some grass in the backyard!
*****
You know what I hate about election time? It’s not so much all the ugly signs everywhere saying thins like, “Vote YES on Prop. 103!” when you have no idea what Prop. 103 is (I figure that can’t be too hard to look up). Well, it’s kind of annoying, but I’ll get over that.
No, I really hate all the ads on TV. None of the ads actually tell us anything about the candidate. The are all attack ads and rebuttal attack ads on the candidate’s opponant. Everything is half-truths and statements taken out of context and/or twisted in so many ways. We aren’t learning a thing about the candidate. It’s no wonder so few people vote anymore. We’re too confused about who stands for what.
*****
I want to see the movie “Man of the Year“, starring Robin Williams. The idea of a comedien becoming the next President is highly amusing to me.
*****
Quote of the day:
You don’t have good grammar when you type with your fists.
–C.F. Payne, as quoted in the October 2006 Reader’s Digest
I Have Work Enough To Do
If you didn’t do the job you have now, what would you do instead? Or what are things you have seriously considered for jobs? Or maybe not seriously considered, but thought for a fleeting moment that it’d be cool? Here are some of my “dream jobs”, or just “heh, that’d be fun” jobs:
1. English literature teacher in honors classes in high school
2. Sign language interpreter
3. Flight attendant
4. Undercover cop in a high school
5. Waitress at the Hard Rock Cafe
6. Famous columnist
7. A writer for the evening news
8. Studio musician for Disney
9. Broadway musical pit orchestra member
10. Conductor of the Boston Pops
11. Novelist
12. Extra on a movie set
13. Cake decorator
14. Wedding planner
15. Choreographer and instructor for a drum corps’ color guard
16. Professional dancer
17. Model
18. Artist
19. Graphic design artist
20. Bass player in a really cool band
**Edit** Here are a few more that I forgot to put on here. Don’t ask me why I forgot. I guess I needed a little memory jog and I got that from talking to some of you or reading your blogs and comments.
21. Studio photographer
22. Professional student
23. Something in a bookstore
24. Interior designer
25. Photo journalist
Bored?
Are you bored? I won’t admit it if I am… I don’t have time to be bored, what with three little boys to chase after and a house to clean. However, if I ever had the chance and might end up a little bored, I would check out this site. Lots of fun. (Not that I would know. I’m too busy to be bored!!)
More of The Wisdom of Aiden
Aiden and Dallin were watching “Blue’s Clues”, and Aiden came to me with this observation:
“Mom, if this were in Spanish, it would be Azul’s Clues. But it’s not. It’s Blue’s Clues.”
*****
Aiden had a bad dream the other night about two scary boys that took Grandma’s birthday cake. Last night he was talking about the scary boys again, and Ches asked what the scary boys looked like:
“The scary boys look scary. And they have big, funny heads. And when they come to me I said, ‘No! You’re really scary!’”
*****
A local radio station is giving away $10,000 in cash, but you have to fine the “fugitive” that is holding the money. They said this fugitive took the van that was delivering the cash to the radio station, and when the van was later found, it was trashed but missing the money. The fugitive called the radio station and said he would call at certain times with clues. If you found him and asked him if he is the fugitive, you get the money. Aiden heard all this information on the radio, and was quite concerned:
“Mom, the man with the scary voice took the van and all the money! We have to chase him!”
Later, Aiden was a little worried for the sake of our family minivan:
“Will the man with the scary voice take our van and all our gas and all our money? We need our money. I’m going to go to college someday. When I’m grown up.”
