The Fourth Day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

4 calling phones

3 final tests

2 Praxis scores

And a mid-Atlantic winter snow storm

As far as cellular service is concerned, I've been with T-Mobile for five years now. And it has been adequate. I've had my share of faulty phones replaced, but who hasn't? Well, my contract with them expired last week. Lewis and I were planning on having me pay month to month until April when his contract expired and then join AT&T together so we can (eventually) get iPhones. But then circumstances facilitated the need to save as much money as possible, so we decided that the best thing to do would be for me to join the cellular telephone plan belonging to Lewis and his mother when my contract was up (they're with Verizon).

As a bonus, Verizon said it was time to let Lewis upgrade with a new agreement, so we could get it so our time in their hands expires together.

So today, we headed over to our neighborhood Verizon Wireless store to check out the phones. While there, I narrowed my selection down to these four:

1. The Samsung Intensity

Lewis and I actually walked into the store with the plan to each get this phone. It's a pretty basic phone, no special bells and whistles (which is all we really need). It has a slide out qwerty keyboard, which is cool. However, as we discovered when we got the chance to actually hold it rather than just look at a picture online, it feels flimsy and like it will break with one fall. And if you know me, I have a bad habit of either dropping my phone on accident or throwing it across the room when I'm angry. Although I don't do that as often as I used to.

Plus it was hard to type on the keys at the top of the keyboard.

2. The HTC Driod Eris

We spent a lot of time looking at this phone. It's what Verizon wishes was the iPhone. It's a touch screen with lots of applications (or "apps" as the kids call them). Overall, it's a pretty sweet phone. However, it's a smartphone, which adds 30 bucks a pop onto our bill, and that just didn't seem too practical considering the whole point of this is to save money. And the good graces of Lewis' mom. So that was a no.

3. The Samsung Alias 2

I looked at this one mostly just because I found it to be intriguing. If you open it like a regular flip phone, the keys are one way, but if you open it on its side, the keys change. And then they change again if you want to send a text. It's pretty neat. (And if none of that made sense, just watch the video from the link). In the end, though, I decided that the changing keys were just too confusing. Cool idea, but meh.

4. The LG enV3

This one was our winner. Lewis has an enV right now, which he admitted is a quality phone in spite of the fact that it likes to shut itself off randomly and without notice. As far as design is concerned, the enV3 seems to be a good improvement from the original enV, so that's good.

The only trouble now is how we are going to tell our phones apart. We both picked the phone in slate blue because the other option was red and well, you know... red. Blech.

So that's that. Actually, we ended up stressing ourselves out about the lack of desirable phones while we were actually at the store, so we ended up going home and just ordering our phones over the phone, interestingly enough (I'm convinced that the reason we didn't just end up getting the enV3 in the store is because the one they had on display was of the red variety. That and the fact that you had to mail in a rebate to get the upgrade discount at the store whereas it's instant online or over the phone). They will be here on Friday. Which is great news for me especially because I haven't been texting since October, so basically my phone has not been used much at all. I realized that I don't get very many calls. But that's okay. It's been a busy few months at school, so the lack of cell phone usage is probably a very good thing.

Happy fourth day, everyone!

The Little Things In Life

Some good advice I've heard is, especially when times are tough, it's important to enjoy the little things. So here are some little things that I enjoy:

1. Crunching leaves (although I get mad when they are soggy)

2. Tackling Lewis and being astonished every time he is able to stand up with me dead weighting trying to hold him down

3. PB&J or just J sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, Kraft macaroni and cheese, tomato soup and grilled cheese - tastes like childhood! (PS: Lewis, I just thought of what we should have for dinner tonight)

4. Lewis said he likes me cause I'm just as big a dork as him - how true that is!

5. When we walk to school together, even though I am glarey cause it's cold (glarey does not equal grumpy)

6. ESPN Game Day will be in Provo, Utah, at LaVell Edwards Stadium: This. Saturday.

7. One of my classes finished today

8. Last Saturday, we shoot our nephew, Caiden, with Nerf gun darts over and over again while he ran around in circles over and over again

9. Sometimes Lewis starts singing the very song that is in my head - it's weird.

10. Waffles with two different kinds of homemade syrup for Sunday dinner (we have three recipes for syrup now - maple, buttermilk, and blueberry)

11. We tried out a new cookie recipe - straight from the introweb - and it was actually really good - in both dough and cookie form! Thanks, Kitchenaid and internet.

12. Yesterday I figured out why the division of fractions algorithm works (I'm turning into my dear aunt Holli)

13. Google Voice

14. Our insanely comfortable bed, especially when it's cold because I can snuggle up under all the covers (sheets, duvet, and quilt) and make Lewis complain that I hog the bed

15. The smell of Lewis' deodorant and/or cologne

I could go on, but there are probably at least a million little things I could think of that I have started to enjoy more since really taking that advice to heart. At least! It certainly makes life more fun. I like it, anyway.

PC: Politically Correct, Personal Computer, Park City

We're in Park City.

It snowed.

Conference was grood.

Lewis made me pumpkin pie.

We're going to take the Alpine Loop home.

There's a fire in the fireplace.

Austin Collie caught a touchdown in HD.

I'm going to take a snap.

I love life.

How Was YOUR Birthday?

Cause mine was awesome.

Warning: if you don't like me, you probably won't like this post. It's braggy.

On top of the glorious silver Kitchenaid, Lewis gave me season 1 of 30 Rock and a gift card to Shade clothing (which I will be spending today, cause they're having a sale. Or a sell, as they might say. It's a Utah store). Pretty much, my husband is the best husband of all the husbands.

Even school and work were great for my birthday. I only had one class, and it's a really good class. We had a hunger banquet (because my teacher does cool activities like that), and I was part of the second world. Us second worlders got to eat oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon. I haven't had oatmeal for years and I remember absolutely loathing it when I was little. Turns out, it's not that bad. It certainly fills you up.

Maybe this is the vicious cycle of oatmeal. Parents give it to their kids, who hate it, and then the kids grow up and discover it's not actually that bad so they decide to give it to their kids because it's easy and nutritious. And the kids hate it, just like the parents did when they were kids.

Anyway, after class I went to work where I was surprised by a bag of mini-Toblerones by my good friend Paul. I love Paul. Thanks, Paul.

Also, my great boss, Jim, gave me a stylish BYU t-shirt. And a coupon for a free Jamba Juice. I have several of those. I haven't had to pay for a Jamba Juice in a long time. It's great!

My fantabulous parents sent me a bunch of cards with animals of Africa on them (all pictures taken by my talented mother, Mom) and some money. I might take that money with me to the mall today when I go to spend my gift card. I could use some new clothes. Thanks, parents! And grandparents, too, for the card from you!

While the gifts were great, the second best part of the day was getting to talk to all my family! My parents and brother called from Kenya, my sister called from Oklahoma, my brother called from Provo, and my other brother texted from Salt Lake City (we're diverse). And that's just my immediate family! I also got a call from my auntie dear in Idaho and boundless facebook love from a bunch of friends and family members. I'm not very good at calling my beloved peeps as often as I should, so I was really grateful they all thought to contact me. Hugs and kisses all around!

The best part of the day, however, was watching BYU beat Utah State. For having only won one game so far this season, Utah State is actually a pretty decent team. It was an awesome game to watch. We had extra room around us, so several of our friends came to watch with us. I really, really, really love football.

When Lewis would tell people that we were going to the game on my birthday, they would get kind of shocked and say something like, wow, that's so nice of your wife letting you go to the game on her birthday. Yeah, right, like I'd rather be anywhere else.

The game was less fun for Lewis. He bet a friend of ours, Matt Tison (a freaking Utah fan), that BYU would win by more than 24 points. Loser buys the winner lunch at Bajio. Well, Lewis thought he had the bet in the bag. We were up 35-10 until 2 seconds left when Utah State scored another touchdown. Sad day for Lewis.

The birthday greatness has just continued today. We got up early to go get two-for-one massages. I'd never had a real massage before. Oh em gee it was so great. I think I'm going to lobby for my future school district to provide massages for its teachers at least once every other week. They need 'em. I just decided.

Later tonight, Andrew is taking me to a movie. We're going to go see "Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs." Should be good times.

Speaking of Andrew, he read my blog about the weather from the other day really quickly and gathered from it that I wanted it to snow on my birthday instead of be nice and lovely and warm (PS, Weather, you were delightful yesterday. Thank you). Because of this, he planned to go find me some snow somewhere and surprise me with it after the game. But, he didn't get off work in time. I was really touched that he planned to do that, even though it wasn't actually what I wanted. It's still really sweet. I've got some swell brothers, I do.

Well, this post about my birthday awesomeness is long enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it such an amazing day. You're collectively the bomb-diggity.

(PS: did you know that Red Robin'll give you a coupon for a free burger for your birthday? Just sign up online. It's great! Lewis ans his mom and I went and cashed in on that benefit yesterday.)

It's My Birthday and I'll Cry If I Want to...

...But I don't want to!

I love birthdays. It's when everyone calls and tells you how much they love you and it just feels so nice to be loved. I love love. And, apparently, attention.

Speaking of love Lewis and I love surprising each other and birthdays are the best opportunities for doing that (scaring each other in the shower with cold water is equally opportune). I was really sneaky a week and a half ago with all of his birthday presents and he has been equally sneaky this week. As much as we drive each other nuts taunting each other about the upcoming presentations of gifts, it's a lot of fun. I like us.

Anyway, he gave me my "big" gift last night because it was from him and his parents and since there's a home game tonight, I don't think we're going over to their house again. (PS, how lucky am I that I get to go to a BYU football game on my birthday? It's the bomb-diggity.)

So the gift was.... a Kitchenaid! Dum dum da dum!!! For the past year or so, I've been using my sister's mixer, but she asked for it back so we were left without. Also, Kitchenaids are amazing. I am so excited to use mine and to bake and bake and bake. (Of course, with my workload the way it is, that baking might not occur until Christmas break.) Lewis is especially excited because A) he gets to reap all the benefits of my baking, and B) he can just get me attachments for my Kitchenaid for every birthday and Christmas from here on out. Win-win-win.

(This is my Kitchenaid, bowls, digital timer, and all!)

'Smatter of fact, my Kitchenaid came with a freecv attachment, but I have to pick between a meat grinder and a vegetable slicer (which I found out can also slice hard cheese). Any suggestions from the peanut gallery would be welcome. Although, I did get some monies from my parents for today (thank you, thank you, thank you) so maybe I'll get both.

Pretty much, this is turning out to be a fantastic birthday. I got to talk to my parents, brother, sister, and niece (who shares my birthday - she's three!) today, and I loved it all.

So... yeah. If anyone wants to come over for some baked goods OR if you have a recipe you'd like to share (I love recipes. And cookbooks. The Kitchenaid came with a cookbook, which was almost as exciting for me as the Kitchenaid itself) OR both, please feel free.

October, October, October!

It's October! Even though the weather is being less than cooperative, I won't let it get me down because it's October! Do you know what October means?

Pumpkin is in style. That means: Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin carving, pumpkin seeds, and more pumpkin pie!

Tackle Football is on TV, Thursday-Monday.

Lewis warms up my side of the bed when it's cold at night.

Crunchy leaves that you don't have to go out of your way to step on.

My effing birthday. And Evie's! She'll be three tomorrow!

Lots of apple cider and hot chocolate. I need a kettle.

And last but far from least: Halloween. And everything that goes with it.

(Speaking of which, I need costume ideas. I'm going to be doing my practicum during Halloween, and I need ideas for an appropriate costume for the elementary classroom.)

The only downside of October is the fact that it is when it starts to get really cold. I say all the time how much I hate it, but (this is off the record, m'kay?) I actually do appreciate the changing of the seasons, and sort of a little bit like it when it turns cold. Shhh.

To commemorate the blessedness that is October, here is a picture of Lewis, on the night we met (Halloween '07) and Luke, who hosted the party we met at. I mean, how could I not fall for that?


Yeah. I love October.

PS: Everyone should go here to watch the video I made for my technology class, and then validate me. Thanks!

Motivation

Is it weird that one of the reasons I want to be a teacher is so I can eat school lunches? Maybe it's because it was so rare for my mom to give me lunch money instead of a packed lunch, but I LOVED eating school lunches. And I get to do that for the rest of my life. Seriously. Little cartons of chocolate milk that I never got the hang of opening properly, every day.

It's only elementary school lunches, really. Lunch at my high school tried to hard to be hip and give the people want they wanted, or what the Prince William County School District believed we wanted, anyway. What I actually wanted was frozen lasagna and fruit churros, not underbaked pizza, thankyouverymuch.

Also, the smell of baking bread in the morning at schools makes me happy. When I was doing my internship for MFHD at Farrer last winter, I would smell the bread baking in the hallways and my mind would be flooded with memories of happy times in elementary school. And then my mouth would water and my stomach would grumble and I'd get really bitter that I was only at Farrer in the mornings and had to go back to BYU before lunch. Lame-o.

Yeah, go 'head and said it. I already know I'm a nerd.

Disneyland 2009 - the Good, the Great, and the Ugly

As you all know, no doubt, we just got back from our anniversary celebration at Disneyland. In a word, it was awesome. In several words, here are the highlights and the lowlights:

Highlights -

*Nancy, the lady at the ticket booth from Cleveland, Ohio got us a great deal on our tickets. We got two-day passes from Lew's parents' credit card reward points and we wanted to upgrade them to four-day passes. Well, Nancy pulled some strings, saved us sixty bucks, and gave us a Magic Morning (meaning we could get into the park an hour before it opens officially on one of the days).

*Pirates of the Caribbean was the very first ride we went on and it just may be my favorite of all the rides. I love me some pirates.
*Minnie Mouse ears for me and a backwards Pluto hat for Lewis.*The fact that fastpasses can be used any time after it says to use them is not understood by many people, but is understood by Lewis and me.
*We met several really neat people while we were in line including
-Blake, a little kid going on the Indiana Jones ride by himself, while his parents waited at the exit. We rode in the same car as him and Lewis screamed the whole time. After we got off the ride, Blake informed Lewis that he shouldn't do that next time because "you spooked me!"
-A Canadian family that was comprised of some of the most polite people I've ever met. We were surprised when they told us they were from Canada because they had Indian accents/looked like they were from India. But I've never been to Canada.
-A group of little kids that rode the Grizzly River Run with us. Our boat was so light, we just spun in circles the whole ride.
-A UCLA fan who we joked with about the "schlacking" BYU gave UCLA at the football game last year. His words, not mine.
-The little girl in front of us on Star Tours who asked her parents if it was really just a movie. They said yes, but then she asked, rather fearfully, "then why are there seat belts?" Apparently, she had just ridden, and was less than pleased with, the Tower of Terror.
-TONS of BYU fans. We're everywhere you want to be.

*We went to Mickey's house. And only stood in a five minute line to meet him. And we got a picture with him. And an autograph. And then Lewis did an impression of him and he got mad and gave Lewis a surprisingly dirty look considering his face can't change expressions so well. But then he forgave Lewis when he told him it was our anniversary. Then Mickey gave me a hug and all was well.
*Most of the cast members we passed wished us a happy anniversary (we were given buttons to wear, so they knew). If they could, they asked how many years we were celebrating. After we told one cast member that it was our first anniversary he snorted and said, "For our first anniversary, my wife and I went to In-N-Out Burger."

*The happiest (and tastiest!) corn dogs on earth. Also, a really good caramel apple with white chocolate and cinnamon.*Fantasmic and fireworks. 'Nuff said.

*Riding Splash Mountain seven times and riding Indiana Jones at least that many times. Have I mentioned that I love fastpass?
*Paying attention to the Ridemax tip that told us to hover by the Magic Morning entrance (on the day we didn't use it) (Magic Morning is only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays) because it changes over to a regular entrance at 8 o'clock. Best. Advice. Ever. We showed up at 7:57 and the lines to get into the park stretched almost all the way over to California Adventure, but we were first in line and hence got on Space Mountain at 8:06.*Our hotel was less than a quarter mile from the main entrance. We went home every day and took a two hour nap, no problem.

*Jedi Training Academy. Just for Lewis.*We stood in the single rider line for Toy Story and then got to ride it together anyway. Thank you to the nice lady in front of us who let us go ahead when they were looking for two single riders.
*Also, Toy Story Midway Mania is a freaking sweet ride.

*Getting stuck on the Indiana Jones ride right at the end and then getting to ride it all over again without getting off.
*Getting a private cruise around the world on It's A Small World. When the cast member said she was letting us go by ourselves, I thought she meant we would be getting our own row on the boat. But no, we got our own boat cause it was our anniversary. Less awesome was the fact that they started adding more boats throughout the ride while we were on it. Imagine seeing the boat in front of you, full of happy and laughing people one second and then the next second the boat in front of you is empty and so is the one behind you. Where did all the people go? Are we next?
*Did I tell you that we met Mickey? Because we did.

*We saw these two people.

*Finding hidden Mickeys on all the rides and all over that park. That was fun.

*Getting to ride in the ONLY boat in the Jungle Cruise that has a hidden Mickey in the first place.

*We rode Autopia the only time that it's not lame - right at 8 o'clock, before the line grows to ridiculous.
*We rode all but four rides in Disneyland (not including California Adventure, because we didn't care about a lot of the rides there): Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Astro Orbiters, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, and Gadget's Go Coaster. The only one of those we even considered riding was the Astro Orbiters, so we're good.

*Peter Pan was the last ride we rode. This is especially cool because it was the first ride we rode last year when we came with Daniel, Mary, and Becca. And the next time we go to Disneyland it'll probably be A). a long time from now and 2). when we have kids, so it won't be the same. Peter Pan opened and closed an era, really. Unless we go next year with all the Youngs. In that case, never mind. Maybe we'll ride it last then too.

As we all know, there is opposition in all things, even in Disneyland. The lowlights -

*Our cab driver from the airport to our hotel tried to stiff us. He (and the guy assigning people to taxis) told us that it was a flat rate of $45 to get from the airport to Disneyland. Also, there was a sign in his car, located right in front of my face that said that same thing. And then we got there and he ran our card for the $72 racked up on the meter. When we cried foul, he tried to tell us that the flat rate was for cash only. We told him, no, that's not what the guy at the airport said and that there was a sign right there that said different. He acted all confused like and then asked if it was okay to give us cash back as a refund. And then he had the nerve to ask us how much we wanted to give him as a tip! I was about to tell him zero dollars, but we really wanted to get in the park so the jerk ended up getting a $7 tip cause he "only had a 20". Yeah, right. However, the $72 charge has yet to go through, so maybe he did that wrong and it'll never go through. Would serve him right, the scammer.

*Zicam did me nothing! I got the cold on Monday and was technically sick all week. I didn't let it hold me back, though. I mean, it wasn't that bad of a cold, but that freaking Zicam was worthless. Don't worry, I'll be getting the best of Zicam yet.

*We thought we got away from EFY by leaving BYU. But then an enormous group of EFY counselors showed up at the park together, doing the same cheers as they did back in Provo. What the what?

*It was the first week that annual passholders could use their annual passes, so the park was filled to the brim. I shouldn't complain too much about that, though. We never stood in a line longer than 40 minutes, and only one that was that long. It was Toy Story, if you're wondering, but not the single rider line.
*A lady ran over my pinky toe with her stroller.

*I dropped my bag on Lewis' foot on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but he got me back by raising his arms right before we went around a sharp corner and thus sliding into me and squishing me against the cart wall. Touche.

*The Blue Bayou stopped serving key lime pie. Their key lime pie was the only reason we even went to the Blue Bayou! Also, I learned that I don't like creme brulee.

*We had to leave.

When all is said and done, I don't really have much to complain about. It was a ridiculously awesome, fantastic - nay, fantasmic! - trip that we will remember forever and tell our kids about when we can't afford to take them to the park, just to rub it in. I'm sure there were even more great things that happened on the trip, but this is a mighty satisfaction list, isn't it?

This Is Why We're Like This

"I'm really glad we park next to a Lexus. Cause anyone who is going to break into a car will break into a Lexus before a 4runner."

"I wish we had a motorcycle to ride around the country on. But I want a bus more."

Lewis said both of those things as I drove him to Home Depot today. They were a nice reminder of why I married him.

All or Nothing

Last week, my nephew Max did something for me. I don't remember what it was, but I do remember that I offered him a dime for doing it.

Tonight, I remembered I owed him that money. But all I had were quarters, so I decided to give him one of those instead. He got really excited when he saw the money and grabbed for it eagerly.

But then his mom said, "That means you have to pay two pennies for tithing."

Max thought it over for a minute, and then handed the quarter back to me and said, "Never mind." If he was going to get money he most certainly did not want to have to give any of it up. I tried to explain to him that he would still have 23 pennies left over, but to no avail. He wanted it all or he wanted none of it.

Basically, I can't wait to have kids. It'll be great. Just great.

Tying Up Some Loose Ends

Dear Laura,

Here is the picture of our new table you requested . And also one of the pathetickness of our broken table.

As you might be able to tell from Lewis' body language, it was a really long, tiring, and eventful day. When we have the time/resources/ know-how, we're going to reupholster the seats. I'm thinking a brown and green striped fabric or something to match our towels.

We stored our broken table on our neighbor's doorstep until we got around to moving it (it's heavy!). Luckily, no one lived there, or they would be mad! I know I would, anyway.

Love from,

Alyssa

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Dear Holli,

This is the nightie you gave me at that bridal shower. I can't decide if I like this one better, or the one from my previous post. Alls I know is that I need to keep this one in good repair for the next Hirschi relative to wed. So far so good. Actually, I think this picture is the only time I've ever put the nightie on, and it was taken just last night!

Obviously, I am a hottie hot hot. Although it's a shame my hands got cut off. They were jazzy.

Love from,

Alyssa

*************************************************************************************

Dear EFY Boys,

If I can not only smell but be overwhelmed by your cologne from twenty paces behind you, you're wearing too much. Also, Axe? Tag? Acqua Di Gio? Really? Show some originality, please.

No love from,

Alyssa

Mobility Photography

The thought occurred to me today that I have a whole slew of random pictures on my phone that I don't really do anything with. I mean, probably the only time I've ever uploaded pictures from my phone to the introwebs (or anywhere) was for the April snowstorm debacle. And I'm sure no one wants to relive that.

But I've got some pretty awesome photos on my phone. Well, they're okay. In any case, I'm going to post them here, mostly because Facebook doesn't offer mobile services for T-mobile (I know, right?).

I've divided them into two categories:

1. Pictures others have taken of themselves.

I leave my phone on my desk alone for ten minutes, and this becomes my wall paper.

Something similar happened here. Although the background offers no clues to this picture's origin.

This next one was from Lewis trying to be cute. Or something. Either way, it was while we were in bed and I did not want my picture taken. That sounds dirty.

I think this one speaks for itself. Clearly, it is the reason I married Lewis.


This is another one that magically appeared as my wallpaper when I left my phone on my desk. I think this one is Lew's caller ID picture now.


And then one of me, that I took right after I got this phone, before I let myself go and also to tell my friends that I finally joined the 21st century and got a camera phone.


2. Pictures of people/things I deemed worthy.

Misprints in the Daily Universe.


Celebrations.

Evie.


Nature.


Weirdies.


And, of course, my own personal sexiness. Like the nightie?


Enjoy!

The Saga of the Table

This past weekend, most of my immediate family stayed with Lewis and me. To be a gracious hostess, I decided to make breakfast for everyone on Sunday morning. We were up rather late the night before, but we were going to church at nine, so I dragged myself out of bed super early to cook up some waffles and delicious buttermilk syrup.

Our apartment isn't very big, and the kitchen is the second smallest room in the place (second only to the bathroom). Due to this fact, we have rather small kitchen table. Luckily for us, the table came with two leaves, so we could expand it for company. So, while everyone was getting ready for church around us, Lewis and I began to do just that. We successfully pulled the table apart, laid the two leaves in place, and while we were in the process of pushing the whole thing back together... it died. Right there as we were holding it. Instead of sliding shut nicely, the metal runners buckled and the whole thing caved in. Lewis and I just stood there, holding our respective halves, staring at mess the catastrophe created. Table leaves and runners in a mangled heap on the floor. Small bits of the linoleum top strewn about. Lewis, chewing his lip, trying not to swear in front of my parents. And we just stood there. And stared. I don't think I spoke for about ten minutes.

Of all the furniture, the dining table is one of the most essential. And ours just broke.

My dad came and helped us piece the metal runners back together. Was the operation salvageable? We took the leaves out of the equation for a tiny table is better than no table at all. However, as we attempted to recreate the original, the whole thing caved in on itself again. #@$%.

Still not speaking, I finished making breakfast, a process which was complicated greatly by the loss of the table. Not only is the table used for eating, but with a grand total of two very small counters in our Wymount kitchen, the table is also a useful tool for food preparation. But I did it and everyone ate off their laps, except for Evie, who ate off of Cassie's lap.

There was a chance that the table could be fixed, but probably not for very cheap, and not with any of the tools we had then. But we still needed a table. We were going to have a big family dinner later that day, and as much as I adore all of my family members, they are my family members and hence, like me, so we all spill occasionally. And I really like our couch, so... we needed a table to eat from!

Luckily, Lewis' parents came to the rescue and lent us a couple of folding tables. A square one to prepare food on and a longer one to eat off of. Fantastic!

So, the short-term problem was solved, but the long-term one was wide open. We can't keep the folding tables forever. At about 8:30 that night, Lewis and I begin our ksl.com and craigslist search. We needed something cheap and not ugly, although that criterion was somewhat negotiable.

About twenty minutes into our search, the table was found. 54 inches long, a few scratches, but in otherwise good condition. Came with four, high-backed chairs and a more reliable-looking leaf. Sold.

The only issue was, the table was in Midvale, which is a good forty minute drive, and the selling family is going on vacation today (Monday) and wouldn't be back til Saturday. And it was 9 o'clock at night. But we really needed a table!

The seller was really nice, though, and said, no problem come on up tonight! So we did. And we managed to get not only the table into the car, but also all four of the chairs (we thought we would have to come back for those another time). And now, even though I am exhausted from getting up at 6:30 am yesterday morning and going to bed at 12:30 am last night, we have a table! And it looks nice!

In the end, the whole thing is pretty funny. Our table broke! I was pretty darn furious at the time, though...

The Blessed Email

I love getting email. I really do. Not junk so much, but genuine email that concerns me personally. That being said, there is one email I absolutely dread: the Account Activity Email from BYU. Why does this email suck so much? Because it means I owe somebody at BYU more money.

This unholy email is as follows:

"Dear BYU Student/Employee,

You are receiving this email because you have had recent activity on your BYU financial account.

If you wish to review your account, please login to Route-Y and click on School, 'My Financial Center', and then account summary.

Sincerely,

Brigham Young University
Student Financial Services"

Yeah, I bet you are sincere. You sincerely want my money.

I've received this email a lot lately, especially with it being spring and summer terms and all. This email comes when tuition is due... when I fill my prescription... when it's time to pay health insurance... when I borrowed a fifty cent calculator at the testing center... all the time!

So, as far as I knew, it was business as usual yesterday evening when I opened my email inbox and found the Account Activity Email innocently sitting there waiting for me.

"Oh great," I thought. "What do I owe them now?" And then I thought, "No, really, what do I owe them? I thought I had already got this email for everything in my account now..."

Sufficiently curious, I followed the email's instructions and logged into My Financial Center. And saw a negative balance.

What the what?

As it turns out, this dreaded email brought glad tidings on this day. Turns out, instead of taking more money away from me, BYU decided to give some back! That's right, nerds, I am the recipient of a half-tuition scholarship for summer term.

Lewis was sitting next to me throughout the entire exchange with my computer and decided it was in his best interest to check for himself. Sho nuff, he got one too!

The moral of the story is, C's may get degrees, but it really does pay to get A's. Literally.

Pimping My Crib

It started on Thursday night. It was late, and we were really tired, but instead of going to bed like normal people, Lewis and I decided to move around the furniture in our bedroom. As we shifted things around, we got to talking about how we could make our whole apartment more appealing. And that's how the chain reaction began.

We...

...went through many of our belongings and filled up several large boxes to take to DI

...reorganized our closets and second bedroom

...moved our dresser into our second bedroom

...bought a giant mirror to hang in our bedroom

...bought a 2x4 and cut it into 8 1x1s

...grabbed some oops paint from Home Depot and had one of Lew's co-workers change the colors to brown and green to match our bedroom colors

...painted the 1x1s brown and green

We will...

...switch around our living room so you see our super-sweet couch when you walk in, rather then the TV

...hang the 1x1s in a checkered pattern above our bed, so it kind of looks like a headboard

...hang the mirror up

...paint our kitchen chairs (maybe)

...keep on improving our apartment. Errybody will be jealous of it.

I would post some before and after pictures, but the before pictures will all be blank walls and messy areas, so that would be silly. I still might post some after photos, though. Who knows, really? Pretty much, though, it's going to be the hottest spot on the block. Well, the hottest spot at Wymount, anyway. If only they would let us paint our walls...

Post script: when we were cleaning off our nightstand, we found a crisp 20 dollar bill (quite crisp, really). Basically, it was the best feeling in the world, especially since we just paid a bunch o' bills.

Lew, Lu, Luck

On Saturday night, Lewis made a promise that he would be nice to me for the rest of the weekend. If he broke that promise, he would have to be punished. The punishment would be that he has to make me dinner for seven nights.

On Sunday morning, he broke that promise by throwing a pillow at me.

Last night we had linguine with chicken and broccoli and Alfredo sauce. Today the leftovers are my lunch.

You should be jealous of how lucky I am.

Feliz Dia de Mother!

You know that song they sing at the end of "A Muppet Family Christmas" when all the Sesame Street gang and Fraggle Rock chumps are there? The "Happy Holidays" one? Well, when ever I say "Happy Mother's Day," I hear it in my head to the tune of "Happy Holidays." It's weird.

Welcome, dear readers, to the goings-on of my head.

Anyway, I wanted to give a shout out to all those madres out there cause, basically, y'all are the bomb-diggity. Especially my mom. For shiz, yo.

But seriously, as far as moms go, mine is the bee's knees. She's always been there for me, ain't no mountain high nor valley low nor river wide enough, baby, to keep her from getting to me. The wonders of the interwebs help cause they allow us to speak on the phone whenever we want.

Here are 10 things that make my mom cooler than yours:

1. She's ridden an ostrich.

2. She raised four kids, and when they were almost all grown, went back for one more. He keeps her young.

3. She let me skip school to go to the movies with her cause she didn't want to go with just Joseph.

4. She knows more about Star Trek than anyone I know. That's important now, cause of the new movie being so awesome.

5. Her dessert fetched the most out of anyone's dessert at our "Pay-for-Girls'-Camp Dessert Auction."

6. She says Joseph is the king of multitasking, but I think I know where he learned it from. She catches up on her reading while she does her hair and make-up. I still haven't figured out how.

7. She's a great example to me of service. She just cares about peeps.

8. Her favorite character in Star Wars: Episode 1 is Darth Maul, because his make-up looks so cool. Her favorite character in the Lord of the Rings is Legolas, because he's dreamy. Orlando Bloom is just okay.

9. She can read "Fox in Socks" faster than anyone. No, really. Try and challenge her.

10. She loves her family so much. You think about the most you've ever loved anyone and add a billion. That's how much she loves all of us. And you can take that to the bank.

Happy Mother's Day, Momsie. I love you lots and lots. And lots.

Of course, I can't close a Mother's Day post without also mentioning my mother-in-law. This is the first Mother's Day when she's been my mother-in-law, after all. You know how people complain about their mothers-in-law, like, all the time? Take, for example, the mom in Everybody Loves Raymund. Well, my mother-in-law is nothing like that. You'd think that, with a mom as awesome as mine, I'd have filled my quota as far as mothers go and I'd end up with a crappy mother-in-law. This is not the case. Pretty much, my mother-in-law could beat up your mother-in-law.
No, really. She's the best. She takes such good care of Lewis and me. All the time. She lets us come over whenever we want. Really. One of my favorite places to hang out is at my in-laws' house. How many people can say that? More than anything, she wants to see all of her children succeed. She loves and cares about all of them so much and just wants the best for them. That's something you can feel, not just know.

Moral of the story? You should be jealous of me and my super sweet moms.

Things I Learned at Lagoon

1. Disney has not yet noticed that Lagoon ripped off one of the lines from Pirates of the Caribbean for their Terroride.
2. If you are bleeding from the head profusely, you should sit down.
3. Teenage girls who leave the line right before getting on the free fall Rocket ride will be made fun of by complete strangers.
4. Funnel cake doesn't really change its shape during digestion. Just its color and viscosity.
5. I don't care if Kanye and Paris wear them. Shutter shades are stupid.
6. When you go to check out the pair of tigers Lagoon has in a cage for your viewing pleasure, they roar at each other in a menacing fashion, and almost get into a real cat fight, you will worry when you come back and they are gone.
7. The first aid station gives out band aids with Taz on them.
8. Lagoon really ought to properly train their employees on the credit card machine before leaving them to man the ice cream shoppe on their own.
9. If you are dumb enough to go on the Rattlesnake Rapids in 40 degree weather, you deserve to be shot by a 25 cent water pistol. Lagoon should understand this and make sure their 25 cent water pistols are in good repair.
10. It's rather pathetic when your hands are so cold that you turn mood rings and necklaces black. I could only get my old mood necklace to go black when I put it in the freezer.