Thursday, March 26, 2009

I'm all a-Quiver

How many times in a given day do you hear the word "quiver?" I'm guessing if you are like me, you don't hear that word much at all. I would imagine that if you are like me, you could count the amount of times you hear that word in an entire year on one hand.

Well, the past 24 hours I have heard that word 3 times in completely unrelated episodes.

1. I bought a book at Wal-Mart with the title Quiver. I didn't really pay much attention to the title, and lest you think I bought some tawdry romance novel, let me put your minds at rest. This is an action/suspense kind of novel. I wouldn't really recommend any of my tender hearted readers buy this book for reasons I will not disclose on my semi-family-friendly blog. Of course there are multiple reasons for this title. 1. Because one of the characters dies accidentally from a bow (get it, quiver?) from a shot fired from his son (get it, quiver full?) and because there are scary parts (get it, scary, quivering?)

2. Then while I was listening to NPR radio in the morning (I am a recent convert and wish I could pledge some money to this little gem as right now they are having their semi-annual fund raising drive) when a story came on about a movement mostly in the midwest/south area called "Quiverfull." This movement is embraced by conservative evangelical Christians who believe that God will give them as many children as he wants to give them, that children are a gift from God, and therefore, they do not believe in birth control including natural family planning and sterilization. Of course, they get their name from the scripture in Psalms. I really do like this scripture by the way.

3. I was testing Mack on his spelling words and lo and behold, quiver!

What are the chances people? I find this all very interesting and am all a-quiver! with excitement.

How many times have you heard quiver this week? You may count my blog as one source, but other than that, how many?

Monday, March 23, 2009

Vitamin Water

I've seen this stuff around but I've never tried it. Sounds kinda icky to me, If I want water, I'll get water.

But today I was in the mood for a different flava, besides plain ole water. So I opt for a Vitamin Water. I picked orange-orange which is enriched with C and calcium. Now, if I haven't told you this before, I'm starting to get a little worked up about my age and that I need to be making sure I'm getting the right kinds of vitamins and nutrients into my body. Also, with the lapband I'm supposed to pay close attenton to my fiber and my protein intake (which, lately, I haven't been).

I picked the C/calcium combo because I don't get a lot of citrus in my diet and because I don't have a uterus I am at risk for osteoporosis from lack of calcium. Soooooooo.......

I start drinking, and hey! it doesn't taste too bad. I'm thinking I'm liking the VW. Then I think, the VW cannot taste this good AND be low-cal. And, as I look at the nutrition info, I discover that Lo and Behold, I am correct. This dang VW is 2.5 servings, 50 cals each. 125 calories for water. I know this is considered a semi-low-cal snack, and I eat dessert far more often than is necessary so why am I griping about my low-cal water option, you ask?

Because, dangit, I DO NOT WANT TO BLOW MY CALORIES ON WATER!

Do you ever feel like you just cannot win? If I am going to lose weight, do I pretty much have to sacrifice flavor all together?

I've tried the protein water by Special K, not bad, not super high cal, but doesn't taste that great either. I've tried the Weight Watcher mix-ins for water, again, very low-cal which pretty much equals very low-taste.

I think I'll just suck it up and deal with the 125 calorie water and be glad I didn't choose the 273 calorie Snickers (how did she know that?) or the 160 calorie Gardetto's (that is one serving, and we all know I wouldn't stop at 1 serving).

The VW will do just fine today, and I'll stand proud that I made a better choice.

Speaking of random things: Do you ever feel that you want to go back to the days when you didn't think about calcium deficiency, bowel movements, hormone replacement, and high cholesterol?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Gardetto's/Man haters

Gardetto's: Have you ever had this stuff? Ok, the better question is....who HASN'T had this stuff? I love it. I love the pretzels and the rye crackers the best. The large sesame doo-dads I can live without, as well as the bumpy crackers that look like a tall, thin snowman.

I went to the convenient store this morning on my way to work (6:40 a.m.) and decided I would want something salty later today and I grabbed the Gardetto's. I don't usually buy them because let's face it, those things are LOADED with fat and calories. I wasn't really caring today because my weight loss, or lack thereof, is getting me down. And, what does a big girl do when she is depressed about not losing weight? She eats.

So it's 8:45 and I think, what the heck, I've been awake since 5:30, I can break open the Gardetto's. I eat one or two and then LOOK at the crackers. No rye crackers. Um....what? Upon closer inspection I find that I have purchased the "Special Italian Recipe."

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

This gets me even more depressed and makes me want to throw the entire package that I purchased for the outrageous price of $1.99 away. Not a bad idea. But then where will I find salty happiness? Phooey.

On another note: As you know, I am currently training new employees at the office in American Fork. This office was formerly used by MANY transcriptionists in the past who were here pretty much all day every day and decided to make this place their home away from home. Many of those ladies have gone to another facility but some left behind what I have dubbed "Man-hater signs."

The first sign reads: A fool and his money are a great date.
The second sign reads: Any woman looking for a husband never had one.

Now, why the heck did these signs make the cut when the office was cleaned out recently? I sit in an office at one end of the hall and the trainees are at the other end of the hall. These two signs are prominently displayed on a shelf on the wall between the two offices. I have to get up repeatedly throughout the day to read reports at the other end of the hall so I have to walk by these signs OVER and OVER and OVER. Allllll daaaaaay looooong.

I'm pretty sure the owner of these signs has forgotten about them, so can I throw them away? Would anyone be offended? Because frankly, I'm offended by those signs.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

11 Long Days

The title here refers to the fact that I have not written anything AT ALL for 11 long days. My poor readers. Are you still out there? There are two reasons for my abscence.

1. I have been going IN to work A LOT. We have been training new employees and this requires a lot of time. I go into the office and basically play musical chairs while I hop from chair to chair and listen to the reports they type. I listen, read, and critique. I don't mind this. I like going into work now and then. I like getting showered and dressed in the morning rather than some time in the late afternoon. I like seeing and being around other people during the day. I do not, however, like driving all the way to American Fork or getting home between 6:15 and 7:00 every night. My poor latch-key children. Starting next week I will only do this 3 times a week or possibly 2, depending. This will be good, as my poor kids need their mother. They just don't know it.

2. H. and I went on a vacation, yes we did. We went to California, Carmel to be exact. Have I mentioned how much I love it there? We left last Wednesday and returned on Monday. I spent a significant amount of my time on the porch. I read, sunbathed the parts of my body that I was willing to show (face, arms, lower legs), read, and slept. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The porch on that house is probably my most favorite place in the world. Is that odd? It's not my house and I don't really care for golf, but I love that place. Love, love, love it.

When we went to church the locals asked where we were visiting from and I replied, Payson, Utah. Then I promptly added, "yes, the grass is greener here." They got a kick out of that and I spoke only the truth (as I am prone to do at church). The green of the grass was amazing and contrasted beautifully with the blue of the sea and the sky as well as the whites of the puffy clouds.

A couple of golfers made passing comments. One was, "People actually live here?!" My reply, "I'm just a guest." Harold didn't like that. He felt like I should just play it up and dismiss the man with a wave of my bejeweled hand (did I mention I got some sweet silver/coral jewelry in Monterey?). I also purchased sunglasses (my really cool ones from last year broke, poo!) and a scarf (orange, of course). I can do a fantastic Jackie O. impression now with my scarf wrapped around my head and neck and my sunglasses on.

A caddy asked about the owner of the house, informing me that his mother and the owner "used to" go to church together. I know the owner still goes to church, so maybe the caddy's mother is either a. dead, or b. inactive? Just curious. When I asked about the location of the church the caddy hemmed and hawed a bit. He was either a. inactive himself, or b. anxious to get back to the high-paying golfers who are ultimately tied to the caddy's financial future.

Some more fun facts from our trip:
1. Did you know my mother (my parents went with us and we had a great time together) can go to bed around midnight and not get out of bed until 2 p.m. the next day? I didn't know that either.
2. Garlic fries are indeed considered a destination in my travel book.
3. When you go down a pier or wharf looking for a restaurant you will most certainly not get much to choose from other than fish. I knew this, but I was hoping....
4. The wharf restaurants in Monterey employ people to put the squeeze on potential buyers by harassing said hungry hunters to eat at their establishments. Also tied with #4, a piece of cheesecake included in the meal pretty much means the smallest slice of cheesecake known to man.
5. Rosine's restaurant in Monterey rocks. They have yummy food and the LARGEST desserts EVER, of which I feel I am a good judge based on my cheesecake experience from #4.
6. H. likes pens so much he will spend as much on a pen as I will on a bracelet and a ring.
7. Giving gifts at church is a nice idea. A man came up to me and handed me a pen. I thanked him and made a joke about this being my door prize, and he did not respond. Then he pulled out a small figurine of a resin building labeled, "Museum" and gave it to my father. Then he handed me another pink pen, so I handed the original pen down to my mother. Later Harold was gifted with a brand new green calculator. The man was sweet and we watched as he gave out gifts to quite a few people at church that day.

All in all, a good time was had by all, and getting back into the grind is a harsh kind of reality. But, as I reminded Harold, it is our reality that allows the fantasy every now and again.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Super Sad Ring Update

I got a call today from Bags that Fit and they will not be able to get me the ring I ordered. Apparently size 9 is just too darn large...story of my life. I'm so sad I could cry. I've been online and I went to every single store in the Provo mall that sold jewelry. No one has a ring like it. The nice lady offered to refund my money via a check in the mail and I agreed. Then I called back and told her to just get me a size 8 and I'll make do. A size 8 will fit on my pinky. How sad is that? I wanted a ring finger ring. Dang, dang, dang.

If I can somehow jimmy rig the rose part off the ring part, then I'll find a size 9 band on which I will attach the rose. Crossing my large fingers.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Purses

For years and years I never carried a purse. They were bulky and annoying and why would I burden myself with that? When the kids were small I carried a diaper bag and that further cemented my distaste for large, heavy bags. After I no longer carried a diaper bag around I opted for my usual wallet only routine. At some point I got a little sloppy with my wallet. My wallets were never enclosed so when I put a receipt in there it would fold out and around the wallet edges. Add several hundred receipts and ~voila~ my wallet looked like an accountants desk at tax time.

At some point a few years ago I decided I would carry a purse. A small, fit-my-wallet-and-keys-and-possibly-a-mint-or-two kind of purse. And, if I was only going to carry around one purse I needed it to "go" with my entire wardrobe. Brown it was. I've been carrying around a brownish purse for some time. Yet, over the past year or so, I've started looking around at other purses. I see cute pink purses, orange purses, red purses. I don't like the ultra slouchy purses no matter the color, but a largish purse would fit my frame nicely and a bright color would make me all kinds of happy.

I've started having purse envy. The problem with this new-found lust for a portable life carrier is that purses cost money. I often find myself at the mall, walking around JCPenney (they tend to have some really great sales), looking at the purses, and though they are on sale for $20 or so I just cannot bring myself to spend that kind of money on a fashion item. I mean, I don't tend to spend that much on a pair of pants. Purses are not a ~NEED~! Are they?

I went to a purse party last night held at a super cute boutique store in Lehi (who knew?) and took my daughter with me. We perused the little store and were eyeing all kinds of loveliness. Purses of all colors, soft salmon, bright orange, the perfect red. A few gorgeous greens.

Problem: All purses ran in the range of $100. No-Can-Do! I came this close to calling H. and asking for a budget, hoping he would be his usual super-nice self and tell me to buy whatever I wanted (probably knowing deep down that there was no way I would decide to add a pricey little number like that to my wardrobe).

Instead I bought S a cute little pair of earrings ($10) and myself a ring for 8.50. Don't get me wrong, my ring is super, duper cute. I love it. It is a little cream-colored open rose on a sterling silver base. You don't actually see the base, it just looks like the ring is sitting atop my hand, adorning me with femininity and floral loveliness. Thank goodness the item in the store I thought was the ultra-cutest was also the cheapest! And my ring looks so nice with my fingers painted a deep wine color. I do have to wait for the ring to get shipped to me because they were out of my size...Boo!...but I am now awaiting my new arrival with great anticipation as I look at my ugly brown plastic-ey purse that still holds my wallet, keys, and a few mints.

Monday, March 2, 2009

The Blue Lemon

On Friday H. and I went on a date night with Matt and Julie. As Matt and I were emailing back and forth, trying to decide what to do for date night, Matt suggested we eat at The Blue Lemon. He had heard of the restaurant through a coworker. I found the website and looked around a bit and decided it sounded fantastic. I was totally up for something new. Do you ever feel like that? Like you just cannot go to Cafe Rio one more time, even though you love it? I was in that kind of a mood. Matt suggested we check with the spouses to make sure they were ok with the food shift. Matt got everything cleared with Julie and I emailed H. with a weblink. He emailed back and said he was a-ok with the new place.

As we were driving to M&J's place I said, "I'm surprised you were ok with a new place, especially since the website said they were 'healthy.'"

H: What?

Me: Well, it said they were "healthy without sacrificing flavor."

H: Oh no! Do we have to go there?

Me: Dude, we already agreed. Didn't you read the website?

H: No response, other than the guttural noises.

So we drive on up there with H. complaining all the way. We get inside and the place is new and clean and has a real sharp new-agey kind of feel to it. Plus, who doesn't like a place called the Blue Lemon. The name alone makes me happy. I dig lemons (if you haven't been reading this blog for very long). So The Blue Lemon is intriguing.

The restaurant is set up so that you grab a menu, walk through a line, order, get a number and then grab a table.

H. takes one look at the menu and starts to grumble all over again. He wants to leave.

Me (very angrily): We are NOT leaving. I am hungry and you agreed to come here!

H: Walks up to the cash register, starts questioning what they mean by "vegetable medley" inside of the chicken alfredo and proceeds to order the alfredo.

We get our drinks, sit down, and this is what I hear from Harold....complete and utter silence for the next 10 minutes.

I apologize, I say I shouldn't have made him eat here. I know he looks forward to date night and eating something yummy...etc, etc.

More silence, then the martyr thing starts up.

H: It's fine, don't worry about it....

(Interesting note: Their plastic cups are made from corn and are 100% compostable, I thought that was pretty cool! The funny thing was, we were waiting for our cups to disintegrate. I mean, how many licks does it take to make a hole in my corn cup?)

The food comes.

Harold's is cold on the outside and lukewarm in the middle. Mine wasn't exactly warm either but it really did taste super yummy. As did Matt's and Julie's. The three of us were really enjoying our meals while we hear drop-dead silence from the fourth member of our party.

We had finished our meal when the guy in charge, Chef Ramsay (as Julie was calling him because he was yelling at his crew in the kitchen), comes to take our plates away and asks how we like it. I explain that my sweet potato fries were really limp and not warm at all, but that they tasted good. He explains that they do not deep fry their "fries" and they are working on the food heating issue and scampers away, after saying several times the phrase, "rock and roll!" I could have done without his superiority complex/attitude. Dude, you have a new restaurant here, why aren't you trying to make this right? I don't need free stuff, just a small apology and a sincere request to have me return again would have sufficed.

Guess who will never eat there again? Definitely H. But maybe Julie and I could take a swing by another time? I think we should have a cup licking contest.

As a side note: The bistro was separated into two parts with only a small partition dividing the restaurant portion with the cafe portion. The cafe portion serves dessert. When we tried to order dessert with our dinner we were told that would be impossible. We would have to order dinner, sit and eat, then go to the other side of the place to order dessert, find another table in a new, different section and eat. What the?

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Baptism

Thanks Julie for the shout out. I had a great time playing at the baptism. I have finally arrived at a place in my life where playing Primary songs has become super fun and not very stressful. Yay!

Happy Baptism Day!

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