My cup runneth over

*EDIT #1- Note the new hyperlink to Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. You'll love it.


I'll admit it: for the last couple of days, I have been mentally crafting a positively brilliant post (if I do say so myself), full of my ever-present wit and charm (tempered with my loads of humility, naturally), detailing the woes of my ridiculous working schedule of late and the consequential mounds of laundry and dishes to be tackled.

I've changed my mind.

I heart President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

So instead, I'll spend the time I would've spent crafting snide little remarks re-reading his talk. But first, this list of small (and not so small) things I am happy about.

-Those little booty-things that allow me to wear flats without visible socks.

-My sweetheart, who tackled the mounds of laundry and dishes for me, made me a deliciously naughty quesadilla at 12:25 last night when I was finally home from work, and makes the best darn CrystalLight anywhere.

-Yesterday, I had exactly 10 minutes to be at home between hospitals of employ. And I had exactly 10 minutes left of an old Jon & Kate Plus 8 episode left. Tender mercies, indeed.
-My dog drinks out of the toilet. And she loves me.

-My new discovery: Light Chocolate Soy Milk.
-Down comforters
-Last Friday, I needed a sewing machine. Last Thursday, Kinzy bought one. BFFs, indeed. (And see what she did over the weekend, here!)-My toenails are painted red.

-My new office has a blank wall crying out for my framed degrees. And I'm hanging the Utah State one on top. Go Aggies!
-For my one year anniversary, the company I work for gave me a blue, rubbery alien man with a digital clock that doesn't keep time. (Anyone remember the light egg?) I giggle everytime I see it. Oh, and I can bend his arms and legs. And his head can double as a paperclip. Simple joys, indeed.

-It's September and still 80 degrees. Warms my heart, and my toes.
Happiness is my heritage.

How you know the employee parking sitaution is just silly

So I'm hiking out to, oh, maybe Magna to get to my car today, and an adorable old woman in a car that doesn't sound so great slows down, unrolls her window, and shouts, "Honey, do you need a ride somewhere?"

I'm being serious. This just happened.

On the up-side, apparently I don't look much like an axe murderer.

Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

I have something horrible to report.

My dear darling brother (obligatory Cleo reference? check.) is in the MTC on his way to the Philippines. I'm a sucky sister and I know it because I have yet to blog about him, blah blah blah. I'll get around to it, I swear. That's not the horrible part. For that, I have to share a portion of his latest letter to his favorite sister.

So I don't know if I already told someone this, but I'm going to tell you. (He knows me well and wants to share the following atrocity with me first for ultimate shock value.) I asked my teacher all about the Philippines and one of the questions that I asked was about how many spiders he saw. He told me that he saw tons, but not to worry because they all lived up in the power lines. When I asked how he could see spiders if they were all the way up in the power lines, he said "because they're about this big."

Now imagine your average 5'4" half-Chinese guy making as big of a circle as he can make with his birdie fingers touching and his thumbs thought, and then he opened it up about another inch or two. That was the size of the spiders he saw. (I want to throw up a little.) When I asked how a spider that large sustains life (life lesson I apparently forgot to mention to Tommy... don't ask if you don't want to know the answer) he told me that they eat birds. I'm going to go ahead and say that again for emphasis. FREAKING SPIDERS THAT EAT BIRDS! I wish I was kidding. Pray for me.

I am speechless. I am without speech.

I thought about googling "spiders, Philippines" to post a picture, but I think I'll save that fun little tidbit for later.

I'm bound to get a real-life giant spider portrait from Tommy in a few weeks.

Classifieds

WANTED:

Someone to teach me how to properly fold a fitted sheet. Must be able to fold queen size sheet into a neat square. Must not show yucky elastic parts. Ability to maintain level surface as to not disrupt even stacking field for additional folded linens preferred. Applicants wearing socks with sandals need not apply. Flexible hours available with some sock-pairing required. Salary varies based on experience and/or willingness to iron.

(Disclaimer: For her benefit, I should note that my mother can do this perfectly. I'm reasonably certain she has a few linen cupboards full of sheets she doesn't even use but can't bear to throw out due to their extreme neatness and stackability.)

Paddy and Daddy

There are a few lucky moments in life-- moments where the planets seem to align, where your heart skips a beat and it seems all is right with the world. Moments were the joy in the air is tangible and all the tough times suddenly seem worth it.

Paddy versus the Papanwa in an epic Wii bowing match? Definitely one of those moments.

Staged at halftime during last week's BYU game in our poorly lit basement, the two need no more than a couple of cold ones (Diet Coke with lime) and an old bag of Red Vines from Daddy-o's truck to fuel frame after frame of giggles from their only spectator. Their lightening-quick moves were too much for me to capture with a mere photo.

Possibly Daddy's first interaction with any game controller anywhere. Ever.

Looks pretty tough for a guy using an animated Mii designed after his sister. He only won because Daddy's Mii was patterned after Braden's girl friend, who happens to be 90 pound Asian girl. (Thanks, Mich!)


Can you believe there is no blood relation between these two? Neither can I.

Thank heavens for those wrist straps. I thought both of them were going to bowl those controllers right through our Vizio more times than once.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again:

Life is good.

PostSecret

I think I might be without secrets.

Almost.

Brown paper packages tied up with string

Life is good.

These are a few of my favorite things, in no particular order, with an incomplete sentence and brief description for your viewing pleasure.

My adorable German neighbor. He gardens in his dress socks and floppy hat and hates our dog but loves us nonetheless. Bless his heart, and pray Lupe never accidentally gets to one of his hand-painted gnomes. Germans are tough; it wouldn't be pretty.

My fleurs. I planted seeds this year. I think I planted them too early in my excitement to be a new home owner, though, and nothing happened for months except some spotty looking plants that looked suspiciously like tomato bushes. Without any warning at all, they exploded into these beautiful orange flowers. Isn't it great?

Our place in line (after 45 minutes of waiting) when De and I went to the Layers clothing warehouse sale . It was 150 degrees in there, and smelled of Mormon women. It's a sister-in-law-ly tradition to go to these types of things in our pajamas and laugh at the girls with giant hair who got up early to put on their makeup.

Beto's. Always good for a laugh-- and a burrito that tastes great going in and is likely to hurt coming out. Sometimes, it's a risk you take.

This grainy cell phone photo of a water spot on black pavement in the dark. One time, we were hanging out with Bri and Kinzy, and we just might have been wandering out onto a freeway overpass to laugh at an obscene teenage stunt. On our way back to the car, it's possible that we may have seen a full grown woman pull down her pants, squat against her truck in the parking lot and, while delicately balancing her cigarette between her lips, urinate right out in public. And I might have taken a picture of it with the sole intent to blog about it later.

Finding out the 'fireworks' setting on my camera lets me take wicked sweet campfire pics.

This empty room. It's meaningless to the rest of the world, but priceless to me. You see, this room has been crammed with junk, garbage, clutter, and miscellaneous items that didn't really belong anywhere else in the house since we moved in. In March. Today, as part of my Labor Day Weekend Goal List, I have finished organizing it. I was way too embarrassed to take a picture before I started today, so you'll just have to trust me-- this is a big deal.

The way taking a Jeep camping always makes it look like it belongs in a Jeep brochure or something.

Simple pleasures, indeed.