Construction Progress

The end is in sight! The tile is in and they finished the grout today. Now they just have to put back and repaint all of the baseboards and then seal the floor. I think it looks really nice. The darker color will go better with the furniture.

The grout will be a little lighter when it dries.

Here is the hole I cut in the plastic tonight to get to the microwave.

Fun with Construction

They started the tile replacement project on Monday. On Monday they just came in and covered stuff with plastic so it wasn't too bad. But the last 2 days they were taking out all the tile and it has been super loud and dusty. Hopefully putting the tile back in will be a little quieter. We also haven't been able to turn on the heater because the intake vent is in the dust zone and would spray dust all over the house. So it is a good thing we live in California or it would be mighty chilly instead of just chilly. I'm hoping it doesn't really take 3 weeks to finish everything because not having a kitchen is already getting old. Plus I don't think I have enough clothes to last for 3 weeks without doing laundry. Here's our special plastic doorway to keep the dust out. There is a zipper in the middle that lets you in and out.

We can get in the fridge but everything else is totally covered.

Huge wall of plastic blocking off the living room. All of the furniture from the downstairs is in there.

Emily's Blessing Day

I went up to Utah with Mom and Dad last weekend for Emily's blessing day. I had to work while we were there but it was nice to see everyone and get out of town for awhile. Here are some pictures of the fam after church. The new and improved Higbee family! Now with 5 kids! Heather's kids are all the same age that we were when Ryan was born. I was Evan's age. I remember it was fun to have a new little baby around. Heather's kids really love Emily already. Little Lindsay has even learned to change her diaper. Hopefully they will help Heather out a bit so Heather doesn't go too crazy.

Grams and Grandpa with the new grandbaby.

The whole Stewart-Higbee group. Notice Jonathan has already untucked his shirt. His Grandma Higbee had just tucked it in before we started taking pictures.

Laurel, Lindsay and Evan. This is what Evan did when I said to smile. These kids crack me up.

Here's Dad about to throw Jonathan into the bushes. Jonathan doesn't look too upset about it though.

Pretty baby Emily. I tried to take one without the blanket in the way but she started fussing after this.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures that have been sitting on my camera for awhile.

My sister Megan's family came out to visit last week. It was great seeing them again. Here are Josh and Jane in Mom's bath. The kids did this several times during their visit. I'm not sure how Mom got the bubbles off. I didn't stick around for that part.

Here are Jane's toes with a pretty pink manicure. Kids toenails are so much easier to paint. Maybe because they don't mind if it isn't perfect. Jane is already a big OPI fan. Her mom's raising her right.

This is some seriously flattened broccoli from my disaster dinner about a month ago. I cooked the broccoli and then went to get the rice out of the rice maker only to find it had shut off sometime during cooking. I had to reheat the broccoli 20 minutes later when the rice really was done, and it wasn't pretty. I also forgot to pull it out of the microwave so it was vacuum sealed by the plastic wrap. These are more like broccoli wafers than real broccoli. Pretty much the only part of that dinner that turned out was the watermelon which I was only minimally involved with.

This is the bookcase in my room here. I am seriously going to miss it when I move. It is really deep so I can fit 2 rows of books on each shelf and it has doors that keep out all the dust. I hope my books are enjoying the good life because their next home will probably involve cardboard.

Here is my niece Ella with her piano. I think she is kind of outgrowing it but it was one of her favorite toys and she played with it every time she came over. She really likes music and likes to get down to her piano.

Two Time(r) Ideas

#1 If you set your alarm clock to the 24 hr setting instead of the 12 hr, you don't have to double check that you set your alarm for a.m. instead of p.m. so you don't wake up late.

#2 Even though setting a timer is initally more work, it is easier than doing crazy addition over and over again to make sure you aren't burning the cake.

Family Feud Part 2

I had just another crazy Family Feud question, further demonstrating my points from my August 2 post.

Question: Name something a lifeguard probably isn't allowed to do while on duty.

I actually got the first answer for this one which was "napping." But I some how managed to get three strikes without getting another answer even though I have actually been a lifeguard before.

Answer #2 - HAVE A COCKTAIL

I don't know why I didn't think of that. I guess I wasn't thinking that there would be a bar next to the lifeguard stand selling cocktails. Silly me. Apparently enough people thought of drinking a cocktail as a viable option for your average lifeguard on duty to make it the #2 answer.

Answer #3 - SMOKING

Maybe it's just because I'm from California and you can't smoke at most public places. Or maybe it's because I'm Mormon and don't think about smoking all that much. But seriously folks, except for the 2 guys who got fired for smoking marijuana the summer I taught swim lessons, I don't know any lifeguards who smoke. It just doesn't go along with the whole fit lifeguard image.

The last answer was flirting. Which I understand people answering. I think I tried "talking" as an answer which would include flirting.

US Open Day 3

Blech. Andy Roddick just destroyed my bracket. He isn't my favorite player but I was pulling for him to make a comeback at this tournament. For some reason I think that my bracket choices have a magical influence on who wins so I don't like to predict that the people I want to win are going to lose. And so Andy Roddick who I had going all the way to the semis just destroyed my bracket. Someone remind me about this in January before the Australian Open. It makes it even sadder that he has this Lacoste commercial that they have been playing nonstop on the Tennis Channel. Hopefully they don't make us keeping watching it.

Oh well, like I said he isn't one of my favorites. I am pulling for Andy Murray but I will be happy if any of the big 4 take it.

Disney Mickey's Magix = Marshmallow Mateys

That's pretty much all I wanted to say.

But the reason why I care is because Disney Mickey's Magix was my favorite cereal for awhile until it was discontinued. I originally bought it for my nieces Laurel and Lindsay when they were really small. It wasn't sold everywhere so I always bought it when I found it. But it eventually completely disappeared. The Mickey cereal was like Lucky Charms's much cooler older brother. The marshmallows were the same but while Lucky Charms has those dry sandpapery bits, the Mickey counterparts were frosted and had blue sprinkles. Far superior. I can't stand Lucky Charms but Marshmallow Mateys are much closer to the Mickey cereal. I am on my second bag now.

Dear Lindsay,

Here are a few guidelines to make speaking in church more enjoyable.

1. It is a good idea to start preparing your talk early.
2. Starting early means that you have to actually write something down. Just reading a lot of stuff on your topic doesn't count.
3. You should try to get more than 4 hours sleep so that you don't stutter repeatedly and incorrectly attribute something you thought up yourself to Elder Maxwell.
4. You are the type of person who needs to write down everything you are going to say - WORD FOR WORD! Don't tell yourself, "At this part, I'll just share that one experience. I don't need to write it down. It will seem more natural if I just wing it." That is how over sharing happens Lindsay. At the end of your talk you will sit down and wonder what in the world you said during that "winging it" part.
5. Get someone to sub for you in sunday school. Don't forget you normally spend sacrament meeting preparing your lesson and you can't do that when you are sitting on the stand so you might end up spending most of your lesson saying "um" while the class stares at you.
6. Wake up early and do some vocal exercises. Everyone else on the stand will probably be male, and your 9:00 am singing voice might frighten them.

That's all.
Love, Lindsay

Happy Birthday Little Linds!

No I'm not calling myself small and wishing myself happy birthday. It happens to be my niece Lindsay Higbee's birthday today. Not only does she have the coolest name ever, she also turned 8 today. She is such a sweet girl.

Family Feud

I used to have trouble winning at Family Feud on facebook. But then I discovered the secret. And if you follow these three tips, you too can win the feud.

1. You are not one of the people surveyed and they most likely are nothing like you.
2. The people surveyed are not Mormon.
3. These surveys occurred sometime during the '90s.

A couple of examples:

1. "Name a place you would hate your husband to be when you went into labor."

Survey says - JAIL!
True, but not the first place that came to my mind. (another popular answer was "at a bar")

2. "Name an actor most women would want to act in a love scene with."

Survey says - MEL GIBSON

Other popular answers were Tom Cruise and Robert Redford. I had a lot of trouble with this question. There appears to have been a typo. The question should have said - Name a 50+ actor most women would want to act in a love scene with. My bad.

You're welcome.

Daisy (Diablo)

Mom wasn't too thrilled with me changing Daisy's name to Diablo so I told her I would post some nice pictures of Daisy. Two of my favorite people. (Evan and Lindsay, not the dogs.) Daisy is on the left.

Daisy when she was just a little pup.

My New Job

Today I could have sworn one of my dictators was trying to prescribe a patient some rub-a-dub-dub. Turns out it was carbidopa-levodopa, he was just pronouncing it rub-a-dub-dub.
I've made it through 2 weeks of work so far. I think I'm doing okay, I am just way too slow so far. Hopefully I get faster so I can make more than $3 an hour.

You Have to Have a Porpoise

Possible porpoise grabbing technique.

There I was sitting in sacrament meeting. I have a bad habit of working on my sunday school lesson during the talks. Not because I am unprepared. I would never procrastinate anything. Um, well maybe. But anyways, I totally blame Dad. Not setting the proper example and all. Not paying-attention-to-the speaker wise that is, I think Dad is pretty much always prepared.

So I made it through the first talk. Not a big accomplishment because it was a youth speaker and only a few minutes long. But then I started wondering about the Twelve Tribes and how they are always referred to as twelve even though Joseph split into Ephraim and Manasseh making thirteen. But then the Levites didn't get any land and became the priests, so did that bring it back to twelve? Totally confusing but important for my lesson today.

After searching around for about 20 minutes, I was staring off at the back of someone's head thinking when I realized I had just heard the word porpoise. That snapped my attention back to the speaker in 0 seconds flat. Speakers should use more unusual words, it would help me pay attention. But I immediately thought, "Did he just say porpoise? Are we talking about dolphins today? What in the world is he talking about?" And then he said it again, but this time I caught the context. He said, "You have to have a porpoise." What the heck?

Several minutes later after more references to "porpoises" and "failing to have a porpoise" and an illustrative story about a man who missed his flight because he forgot his "porpoise" I realized he was saying PURPOSE. Alas I was sitting alone and could only snicker to myself.

proof that you can find a picture of anything on the Internet

Devil Dog

This is Diablo the demon dog. Six pounds of barking, yipping, pooping fluff.

Diablo's thought process: Did I just hear fireworks on the TV? I better start barking. Why is Lindsay sitting at that computer all day? Maybe if I bark at her she'll take off those headphones. Why does Lindsay keep trying to get me to go potty outside? I might get my dainty paws wet. Uh oh, I think someone might have walked by 2 streets away. I better bark at them. Is Lindsay trying to sleep? I better bark some more so she knows I'm here.

Mom please come home soon.

5 Down, Who Knows How Many to Go

I've been making my nieces and nephews afghans since my last year of college. Five in seven years so far. Not so speedy. Luckily my sisters and brothers aren't having their kids extremely fast. This is the first time I actually thought about taking a picture. Here is Jonathan's blanket. Notice he is already 4 years old. Hopefully Jane gets hers before she graduates high school.

Funny Videos of Josh

Poltergeist

I was awoken last night by low voices and flickering lights. I confusedly looked around and realized my TV was on which was weird because I didn't watch my TV last night and I can't fall asleep with it on anyways. I fumbled around, found the remote, and managed to turn off the TV. I fell back to sleep but a few minutes later I was awakened by the musical noise my TV makes when it comes on. I lifted my head off the pillow and once again the TV was on. I thought maybe one of the buttons on the remote was stuck so I tried turning it off and then quickly shoving the remote under the pillow. No luck. The TV came on again a few minutes later. I was almost awake now and figured I would have to take the batteries out of the remote. Unfortunately I had sleepy hands which weren't quite up to prying the batteries out. You know how sometimes you can't make a fist when you wake up? Try changing batteries with those floppy hands. After several attempts and a broken nail I managed to dig the batteries out with a pen. I then glared at the TV for a few minutes to see if it would come back on. It didn't so I went to sleep.

March Update

The big news is that I was laid off from Borders on March 4. I was planning on quitting soon anyway so it wasn't too terrible, just a big shock. I walked into work with no idea that anything was going to happen and 20 minutes later I was walking out to my car without a job. It took me about a week just to wrap my mind around the fact that I didn't have to get up and go to work. They did give me an extra week's pay and I am supposed to get some severance pay towards the end of April.
Except for being freaked out about not having a job, unemployment is pretty nice. I've already finished my medical transcription course. I turned in my final today. I'll find out if I passed within the next 2 weeks. I have lots of time to read, watch TV, work on my silly farmville farm, and finish Jonathan's blanket. I'm going to Sacramento to see the grandparents next week and then up to Utah the week after that. I've had time to do all sorts of things I've been putting off like giving clothes to DI, reorganizing my files, and renewing my library card. I still haven't deep cleaned my room or my car, mostly because I can't find my ipod charger and I want to be able to listen to my ipod while I clean. I may just have to tough it out.
Now I just need to pass my final and find a job. Wish me luck!

February Update

I only have about 100 reports left type to finish my medical transcription course. Of course I will have to take (and possibly retake) the final after that. Although I am anxious about starting a new career and a bit concerned about adjusting to working by myself from home, I am excited to quit my current job. Borders is doing its best to grind me down or possibly give me an ulcer. It's tempting to just turn in my 2 weeks notice now since I am so close to finishing but I am trying to have some self control and wait until I have secured another job. I will miss most of my coworkers but not my boss, working every Saturday night until midnight, and being ridiculously short staffed every day. I've made some good friends at my store over the last 3 years and I will of course miss my employee discount. Thank goodness for my Sony Reader.

Other than that, not much has changed. I am still living at home with Mom and Dad. Part of the reason for the career change is so that I can change that at some point. I am still teaching the YSA sunday school class in our ward, which sort of surprises me since I turned 30 in December and was hoping to be released.

I am toying with the idea of writing a book, but am rather intimidated by the whole process. I can't seem to think of names for any of my characters and it is rather hard to start writing when you have to refer to everyone by titles like: boy, girl, evil boy, fake mother, evil ruler, etc. No rush though since I am pretty busy between working and finishing up my transcription stuff.

I have a hard time imagining what my future will be like so I am just plugging away day by day and the future will have to sort itself out.

One surprising development is that I discovered a sport that I actually like to watch. I like playing sports and going to games, but you won't catch me watching sports on TV. I think I may have even used the word "abhor" to describe how I feel about televised sports. Until a couple of years ago when I somehow watched a couple of matches of the Australian Open with Dad. Now I'm hooked. I even bought a tennis calender (it was only $1) so I won't miss any of the slams this year. I still find it a little strange myself. But don't worry, I haven't completely lost it. I don't watch any other sports although I do make an exception for the Olympics. My go-to channels are still TLC and the Food Network.

Have you ever . . . ?

Dear female, married friends and family,

Have you ever . . .

- purposely not reached across and unlocked your date’s car door to send the message that a second date might be unwelcome?

- purposely crushed your date at a video game in order to get him to go home early?

- beat your date at bowling even though your Mom always told you to let boys win?

- repeatedly taken jobs which required you to work on Friday and Saturday nights?

- said no to a first date?

- broken up with a boy you liked because there were other boys you might want to date?

Just curious. This being single and 30 thing isn’t going over too well with me and I have been obsessing over where I went wrong.

Blue Nylons 2

A couple of years ago I suddenly realized, as I sat in Sacrament meeting, that I was wearing blue nylons with a black skirt and black shoes. I was pretty embarrassed but made it through church without anyone noticing.

And then suddenly today when I was setting up my Sunday School class I realized that I was once again wearing blue nylons with a black skirt and black shoes. The lighting in the classroom somehow made the blue really obvious. Why did I originally buy these blue nylons? I can’t remember, but somehow they keep showing up.  And I was so happy this morning when I found a pair of nylons in the back of my sock drawer because I was running late and didn’t know if I had any to wear today and I didn’t really want to show off my January white legs.

I don’t think I bought two pairs of blue nylons so these must be the same pair from a couple of years ago. They have been hiding in the back of my sock drawer all this time.

Needless to say, the blue nylons went straight into the trash as soon as I got home. There will be no Blue Nylons 3.

 

Borders Zone 14

Customer: Hi. I'd like to return this book.
Me: Okay, do you have your receipt?
Customer: No, it was a gift. They didn't give me the receipt/I don't want them to know I'm returning it.
Me: I'm sorry, we don't accept any returns or exchanges without a receipt.
Customer: Can't I just get store credit?
Me: No, I'm sorry. We don't accept any exchanges without a receipt.
Customer: Not even for store credit?
Me: No. I'm sorry, that is the return policy.
Customer: Well you used to take returns without a receipt. I've returned stuff here before.
Me: Yes, in the past we did. But our return policy changed about 2 years ago and we no longer take anything back without a receipt.
Customer (angry): Well what am I supposed to do with this book? I already have it/don't want it/feel like I am entitled to your store's money because I got a gift I don't want.
Me: I don't know. You could give it to someone else or donate it to a library or ask whoever gave you the gift for a receipt.
Customer: Well I never. I am never coming back here again. I can't believe this. I have never had such horrible customer service. (Customer storms out of the store.)

If I have to have this conversation one more time I am going to scream!