you just never really know

I don't really know why I'm back here posting. I just feel more comfortable over here, I always come back to this blog, after every single drama that I have. This isn't to say I'm abandoning my other new blog, but I just wanted to come back and just blog about real life again. Probably no one is still reading this. I don't know. Anyway, today was a very interesting day. I went to Church and found on that a lady that is a new member (probably about five plus months) was in the hospital. A friend of mine and I were very concerned as we had not heard anything and immediately wanted to visit her. We then found out that the reason she was in the hospital is that she had tried to commit suicide. I was floored. We still wanted to visit, but I was so unsure as to what we should say. I still don't know if what we said was the "right" thing to say, but she seemed really glad to see us and told us that she felt very loved. The thing that was so sad to me is that the week before she had been in Church and seemed fine and even spoke about how grateful she was for the gospel in her life. Of course I realized that we really really never know how people are doing on the inside. It reminded me of this quote:

You really just don't know. I need a reminder every now and again. How are you (whoever you are) doing these days? I'm available for hugs at all hours, just so you know.

is anyone still here?

because if so, you should be here.

hi old blog, i miss you a little. i got more comments and all that back here. please come over and visit at the new place.

Last Call, all aboard!

I know I've missed a few people (and I tried to email you Marion but your email address didn't work for me?) So if you've emailed me and I haven't responded to your request to see the new blog, would you mind leaving another comment with your email address or emailing me again, because I got a bunch while on vacation and don't remember who I responded to and who I didn't. Muchas Gracias. :)

R.I.P. blog

After having this blog since 2006 I have decided that I need to completely switch over to a new blog. I've got lots of reasons for doing so. Send me your email if you would like to continue on the journey with us. Otherwise you'll see this blog put to private because I don't want to take it down until I have finished making all of it into a blog book. Any nice lurkers feel free to let me know that you're there and if you'd like to make the switch. I don't mind invisible readers as long as they are here for the right reasons.

I'm done

I was so irritated with the last post that I deleted it. I don't want to fight anymore. I had no idea that this would turn into such a spectacle. It's frustrating and making me anxious. I commented back to my anonymous commenter because I think what she said is beyond silly, but honestly, it's just not worth it, so I deleted the whole thing. I am still battling with a broken a/c and all other sorts of anxieties and don't need to add this one to the pile. I think I'll revert to my private blog for a while. It seems like that's the only place I can't quite get myself into trouble. ha

Here's the dealio

I think I'll be posting a couple of posts today in all probability, one of which will be my existential crisis with turning 30. Actually, no crisis, just my thoughts on this landmark achievement. ha :)

But first, some photos that I have been saving up. My birthday was on Friday and we re-used John's thirty candles for my cake. Maddy and Grant were entranced by the bright glow.

Maddy tried to blow out the candles over my shoulder, so I had to move fast. I had serious wishes to make, couldn't let that little usurper get my once a year wishes.

 Here's a close up of the usurper. She's cute so I keep her around.

Here is what is not all that cute: Me, after a hectic day of having not very great air conditioning with two little kids. But wait, you say, you have new air conditioning. I'll get to that. John took me out for a date night on my birthday night. We walked around an outlet mall and got Rita Italian Ices. Fabulous.

Continuing on this journey of a random blog post, this was a night that I made a really delicious dinner and was pretty impressed with myself. One day out of the blue I remembered this glorious flatbread concotion that I once had in Salt Lake from a restaurant named Trio. (highly recommended bytheway). Anyway, I set out to google the recipe based on the ingredients I remembered and found one that was really close. It was great. I modified it a bit and added tomatoes. Even better.

I can't resist a good close up. Look at that luscious sea salt and goat cheese. I bought naan bread for the recipe and have made myself a simpler version of this for lunch a couple days this week. Also, I have to mention that I really strongly dislike feta cheese and thought all goat cheese was like that, but straight up goat cheese is heavenly. So if you don't like feta, don't brush this off, you just may like it. Especially with the balsamic reduction.

I bought myself some sunny yellow mini roses to cheer myself up about the air conditioner. Yeah yeah, I'll get to it.

She painted (with watercolors thank goodness) and made her dress a masterpiece instead.

We got a new air conditioner. It's more effecient than our old unit by a huge amount. It is larger than our old unit. It also happens to hardly work...just like our old unit too!

Let's say it all together. UUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.
I'm so over this people. They are working to figure out what the issue is. They have been doing so for the past week. They have determined it is an issue with one part of the duct work and haven't been able to schedule us to fix it until tomorrow. That will make a week since we had it installed. My blood pressure has risen so much because of this. That is why I have been blog absent mostly, because I am so tired of this air conditioning drama that I didn't even want to write about it. If they don't fix it tomorrow, I think I may be telling them a few choice words, such as, "larger unit," and "your dime."

John got me a little contraption for my birthday called a light scoop. It bounces your flash off of your ceiling and makes indoor shots much more natural. Here are a couple of really fast examples. Above is using a flash.

This is using the light scoop.

Flash

light scoop.

I need to play around with it more, but so far I like it. It's that black thing above.

He also got me one of these. You know, a toast rack. It was love at first sight. I've already used it of course. It's amazing. I also got breakfast in bed with my favorite eggs benedict and orange juice. I definitely got spoiled on my birthday. Now if only I could get spoiled in the "my house is too cold" department I could probably die a happy woman. :)

this post may not be as cool as my cold medicine tells me it is

I have a head cold in the middle of summer. Well I guess technically it is nearing the end, but summer here lasts a lot longer than most places, so I still call it the middle. Here is one upside to having a cold right now: our house has some sort of unholy smell to it and it is strong enough that I can barely smell it with my cold, so I know it must be horrible in real life. Not sure what it is, it started in the laundry room and is spreading. I can't describe the smell to you accurately, and every time I ask John to describe it he says, "Um I dunno, it just smells kinda...sour?" He answers it in a question form which leads me to believe that he doesn't have the word to describe the putridicity of the smell. I am hoping it is a mouse and that the smell will go away by the time my nose is working again.

Also other pluses to being sick today instead of later? Hopefully this means I will not be sick on my birthday (this weekend), and hopefully it means that I will be hale and whole by vacation time (end of the month). I read in my Parade newspaper magazine today that half of the pleasure--or something like that--comes from the actual planning and anticipation of the vacation. At this point, I would believe it. I go to a pretend happy place in my head at least once a day. The real vacation won't have anything on the vacation I've been having in my head. And that's okay honestly, it has given me a little escapism during a few hot and muggy days.

Speaking of muggy, we are replacing our air conditioner. Yes, that's right, after hearing me mope and whine about it for over a year, we are finally replacing it. The angels are singing, our bank account will be weeping, but we figure we have to replace it to eventually sell the house, so we might as well enjoy it a bit ourselves. Maybe it will convince us to stay a bit longer. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. I plan on keeping this house a bit warmer than our fridge. It will be heaven. All of my dreams will be coming true......wait for it.....tomorrow!! I can't wait. No really, there is a heat advisory for today and our house is cooking me and my head cold like a honey baked ham.

Meanwhile I have decided that I have been whining way too much lately and I'm sorry about that. I know that we are so very lucky for the "problems" that we have, and I'm sorry if that doesn't come across. Some days a girl just has to vent, you know? Either way there are some exciting things coming our way--a/c, my birthday, vacation, and then for every six weeks after that there is something out of the ordinary--mini-Orlando trip, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!! Seriously I know that sounds funny for someone to say that Christmas will be here before you know it, but I know that it will be. I've already started (and hopefully finished) the kids christmas shopping and am working on finishing our adult family shopping too. I like a stress-free holiday time, and nothing says stress-free like getting your gifts early and at good prices. (I'm really excited about the gifts I'm giving the adults of my family. They are all similar, but unique to each specific person. I hope people like them!)

Okay, this is just me rambling. Or it's the cold medicine talking. That stuff is like truth serum.