Confessions

I have a confession to make.  I never thought I'd say this, but: 

I love my Kindle more than I thought I would.

I knew I'd like it, but it never seemed to be something that would change the way I read.  I mean, I read a lot of books.  The Kalamazoo Public Library was heaven for me.  Oh, how I miss KPL!  Free books!  Lots and lots of free books!  Online holds and renewals!  Drive through return boxes!  New releases!  Hot picks! 

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh right, the Kindle.  Anyway, you can see my love affair with books and libraries is a sure and epic thing.  So I thought, well, the Kindle will be neat, and all the cool kids have one, and I could order my books from Amazon.  But I love looking at a book, flipping through the pages and even - yes, I admit it - sneaking ahead to read the ending.  But I don't really like paying for books and at the rate I read, it can be expensive.

Case in point:  Last year, I read  88 books.  (Please don't make me tell you how I know the exact number of books I read last year.)  But, let's pretend that I bought them all in paperback at $8 each.  That would have been  $704 in books alone last year.  And some of those were new releases and would have been in hardcover so therefore more expensive.

But with the Kindle, I can get free books, or cheap books.  For instance, these Amanda Hocking books I've been reading are no more than $3 each.  And there are lots of free ones.  There are specials, where you can find books for $5.  The book I'm reading right now, "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet", which has been on my list for a while, was one of those $5 books.  I have yet to pay more than $5 for a book (and I have to want it pretty bad to even pay $5).  And I have 58 books on my Kindle right now.  I think I have enough reading material to keep me busy for a while. 

The best part of the free or cheap books is that if I don't like them, then I'm not really out that much money.  But if I do like them, chances are the author has other books available that are also inexpensive. 

So yes, I do like my Kindle.  It's not as much of a financial drain as I was afraid it would be.  (Though if you wanted to send me Amazon gift cards, I wouldn't argue one bit.  I might even use it to buy a book that's over $5!  GASP!)  It is helping to curb my "skip ahead and read the ending" habit.  And since we STILL don't have a library here, it's filling a void for me. 

Right now, Mitch is saying "Void?  Are you suggesting you have a book void?  Look at the bookcase!  Look at the bag of books you bought at a library book sale!  My goodness woman, you HAVE BOOKS!"

To which I must reply, "Hush now, dear.  I'm reading my Kindle."

Things on Thursday

-- Sorry for the absence of real posts here lately.  As you all know, life sometimes gets in the way of the stuff we really want to do.  Here's what's been going on:

-- Jacob is home today (again) with an ear infection.  He says it hurts again this morning.  Luckily yesterday, the ear ache didn't interfere with his ability to play Xbox.  Thank goodness.

-- We had conferences last night.  Everything is good, of course.  The school system here is different and my kids are about a year ahead, so it's been an easy transition.  Sara's teacher is giving her 5th grade math, which keeps her challenged, however, I do worry what she'll be doing in 5th grade.  She is going to test for an accelerated program for 5th grade, which would involve changing schools.  I'm hoping she gets accepted.

-- Jacob was accepted to the accelerated program for middle school.  His teacher told me last night there's another test he'll have to take in the spring to see what math class he'll be in. 

-- Mitch's beer making adventures are going fine, I guess.  I'm staying out of the whole thing actually.

-- My neighbors are moving out at what can only be described as an ALARMING RATE.  I'm trying not to take it personally, but if I see one more family doing the midnight move-out, I might need therapy.  On the upside, if anyone wants to move out here with me, I know a lot of rental houses that are available.

-- I listened to a man at Chuck-A-Rama (a buffet place) last night talking to his son.  They had quite the conversation about Muhammad Ali and boxing in general.  The problem was his son was about 5 years old and had no idea what his dad was talking about.  Now I bet, if he'd started a conversation about Spiderman and Transformers, that kid would have been all over that.

-- I've been working at the school since mid-November and I still don't know when I get paid.  It's once a month, I know that for sure.  I even asked one of the other playground ladies and she didn't know either.  So I just keep checking the bank account and one of these days, I'm going to be surprised by money.  Hopefully, it will be soon.

Ten on Tuesday

For Catrina who suggested this a while back. 

My 10 Celebrity Crushes

1. Christopher Meloni, aka Elliot Stabler from SVU.  I know, you're all like "Whaaaaat? That's surprising!"
2. Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs.  To be clear, it's Mike's voice I like.  I could listen to him talk all day long.  Even if he was just reading the instructions on how to program my TV remote.  (Useful and sexy!  Wow!)
3. Rob Lowe - because sometimes you don't outgrow that 13-year-old teenage girl crush.
4. Ed Hochuli
5. Magglio Ordonez
6. Roger Federer
7. Martin Sheen - another man with a great voice. 
8. Ben Affleck
9. Sendhil Ramamurthy
10. Kirk Acevedo

So there you have it, Trina. 

Maryann's Monday Madness

You know what to expect.  Mostly, though I hope that sometimes my answers surprise you.

What's your favorite midnight snack? Pretzels

Do you eat junk food everyday? Have you seen me?  Clearly, I eat junk food every day.  Sometimes, twice a day..

What is the one, single food that you would never give up? Cheese.  I had to once for a few months and I thought I was going to die.

What's your favorite movie? Close Encounters of the Third Kind

What's your favorite food? Chimichangas

What do you think is the most useless class in high school? Health.  If you manage to get to high school and not understand how your body works and how babies are made, you are beyond hope.  They start that stuff in 5th grade, folks. 

What's your favorite day of the year? Thursday

Do you like soda or pop? Soda

Do you shampoo first in the shower or soap? Shampoo

Wet the toothbrush or brush dry with the toothpaste? Wet the toothbrush, apply the toothpaste and wet the toothbrush again.

Pen or pencil? Pen

Have you ever gambled at a casino? Oh, here we go.  No, I've never gambled at a casino.  Go ahead family, let's hear the disbelief. 

Have you thrown up in a car? Yes.  On about hour 1 of the drive from Cedar Rapids to Florida.  My brothers were not impressed.

Do you scream on roller coasters? No, I laugh.

What's your most missed memory? My memories.

When did you go to your first funeral?  18, I think.

Where did you go on your first airplane ride?  I don't remember, but I'd guess it to be Florida.  We flew there every year when I was little to visit my grandparents.

Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day? Nobody really, but I have long, ranting conversations with all of you in my head.

Last thing you bought? Milk.  Ugh, that's pathetic.

30 Interesting Facts

The challenge is to write 30 interesting facts about yourself.  Well, I'll give you 30 facts, YOU can decide if they are interesting or not.  (But don't tell me if you decide on not.)

1. My favorite color is purple (duh).
2. I have two brothers and two (half)-sisters.  Now, those people are interesting.
3. I love watching most sports on TV, but especially tennis and football.  And baseball.  And pool.  And gymnastics.  And basketball.  And the Olympics.  But not golf.  And never soccer.
4. I have an irrational fear of horses.
5. My favorite drink is Dr. Pepper.
6. I'm a night-owl.
7. I check Amazon.com's deal of the day every single day.  Seriously.  You never know what awesome thing you didn't know you needed is on sale.
8. I have now erased 3 different "interesting facts" that I'm afraid make me look paranoid or completely mental.
9. Make that 4.
10. The thing that turns me off someone the most is intolerance.
11. Since moving to Utah, I've developed this thing where I only park in a space that I can pull through.  I don't know why I developed this, but now I don't even think about it.
12. I love strawberry milkshakes.  Unless there's banana.  And not from McDonald's, because they taste like coffee.  Which leads me to...
13. I don't like coffee or tea.
14. I could spend all day in Office Max, looking at notebooks and pens and cute paper clips and folders and calendars, and oh my goodness... 
15. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
16. I am left-handed.  But I don't feel crippled by it.
17. I played the clarinet in high school.  I wasn't very good.
18. I played volleyball in high school.  I wasn't very good at that either, but I could serve and being a left-handed server was a big thing for some reason.  So I played a few varsity games.
19. Since we're talking about high school, for sophomore English class we had to write a paper about Romeo and Juliet.  I put it off till the last minute (of course) and turned in my paper with my introduction paragraph and then wrote something along the lines of "I couldn't finish this paper because I had a really hard time understanding this play".  I got a D.  Why I didn't get an F is beyond me.
20. Those are all the high-school confessions you're getting out of me here.
21. I've never skied and have no desire to do so.  I really have no business living in Utah.
22. I have a Twitter account, but haven't tweeted since January 2.  It's too much pressure and I don't really see the point.
23. I've lived in this time zone for almost 6 months, and STILL can't remember that the news comes on at 10 PM.
24. I've never had a pedicure.
25. I don't like ham.  Unless it's in an omelet.  Which is funny because I really don't care for eggs except in omelet form either. 
26. I once had a co-worker tell me "Wow, you're a really good speller!"  Which is definitely a few steps down from being called pretty or funny.  I don't think it's even as good as being told you have a nice personality.
27. I like to cross-stitch, but I don't do it often enough.  I made stockings for my kids and for my brother's kids.  I already have the pattern for their new baby, who is due in March.
28. There are 19 blogs that I read nearly every day.  I only know 7 of these blog writers personally.  The rest I've been reading for so long that I feel like I know them.
29. I hate buying socks.  When I need to buy new socks, I usually end up throwing out several packages before I find some I like.  The reasons I don't like them range from too tight to not soft enough to wrong height.
30. I've been working on this list for almost two days.  I clearly like to make things more difficult than they need to be.

Maryann's Monday Madness

Yeah, I know it's Wednesday.  What can I say?  My friends are calendar challenged. :)

What song always makes you happy when you hear it?  Jose Cuervo

What was your favorite sitcom growing up?  Roseanne, Growing Pains

What favorite food puts you in a great mood?  Chimichangas! 

Who's the funniest person you know?   I only surround myself with funny people so it would be tough to pick the funniest.  And I've recently met a lot more funny people.

What was the best vacation you ever had?  Our trip to Disney in 2009

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?  Mitch

What is the first thing you notice in the opposite sex?  Facial hair

What's your middle name?  Elizabeth

Ten on Tuesday

I can't do a Ten on Tuesday today because we had yesterday off so today seems like Monday.  And I do Maryann's Monday Madness on Monday and she hasn't posted that yet this week.

So see, it's not my fault. 

I Live for the Weekend

Saturday.  Now that Mitch is working weekends, the kids and I are pretty casual on the weekends.  Today, for instance, went something like this:

8:00 AM - We're all awake.  Sara and Jacob are reading books in Sara's room.  I let the dog out and catch up on what's new on the Internet since I went to bed 9 hours ago.

9:00 AM - Kids playing video games.  I'm trying to figure out whether or not to go to the end of the driveway to get the paper in my pajamas and slippers.  I don't want my slippers to get wet, you know.

9:30 AM - My mom calls.  Kids announce they want to go to Target to spend the $9 million in gift cards they got for Christmas.  I tell them no Target until their chores are done and retire to my room to talk to my mom while they clean.

10:00 AM - I shower.  Kids are still doing chores.

10:45 AM - My dad calls.  Not since my birthday have both my parents called me on the same day.  Weird.

11:10 AM - We leave for Target, via the Asian Buffet (yes, that's its name) for lunch.

12:30 PM - Return home with new video games.

1:30 PM - I take the dog for a walk.

2:00 PM - Dana calls during the walk.  I'm sure she's impressed by my level of out-of-shapness as evidenced by the heavy breathing caused by trying to walk and talk at the same time.  Or she was flattered.  She's at least kind enough not to mention it.

2:30 PM - I setttle in to watch football and update my calendar.  Sign Sara up for school testing and order her some birthday gifts.  I laugh hysterically at the Steelers misfortune.  Because I hate them.

4:30 PM - Mitch is going to call any minute to say he's on his way home.

You know, when you spell it all out like that, it LOOKS like we were busy.  At least the house is clean.

Church of the Poison Mind

There are things I don't talk about.  There are A LOT of things I don't talk about.  But mostly what I don't talk about is religion, politics, and sexuality. 

Why?

Because those are issues that are sure to cause debate, no matter where and when the subject comes up.  I have my opinions, I have my beliefs, I have my choices, and I don't see the need to explain myself to anyone else.  I'm also huge believer in letting others live their own lives as long as they are not causing harm to themselves or others.

We don't agree on political candidates?  If I like you, I really don't care.

You're gay?  I'm married so no one should be hitting on me anyway.  And please don't hit on my husband.  It just confuses him.

Religion?  I go to church.  I know what I believe.  I'm glad you have your beliefs.  But please don't belittle the beliefs of others because they aren't the same as yours.

You'd think since we've moved to Utah that this would be referring to the people here.  But it's actually not.  Maybe because I don't really know that many people here yet.  But in my experience of living in many different places, I've found that there are places where people tout their religion and use it to exclude others.  They use it to hold themselves over others.  They use their religion to say "I'm sure you're a decent enough person BUT you don't go to my church so you're not good enough for me."  They take every opportunity to say "You don't believe what I believe so you're clearly wrong."  They take situations and conversations that are not at all about religion to point out how devout they are.  I myself would rather see religion in action, as opposed to hearing it in words.

I'm glad you have your religion.  I'm glad it helps you.  Because if you need to use your religious beliefs to prove to yourself that you're better than other people, well, then you need all the help you can get. 


The highest result of education is tolerance.  - Helen Keller

Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.  - Thomas Jefferson 

Ten on Tuesday

A list on imdb.com lists the top 250 movies rated by their users.  Here are 10 of them that I've never seen.

1. The Godfather
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Schindler's List
4. Fight Club
5. The Matrix
6. Taxi Driver
7. WALL-E
8. The Shining
9. The Pianist
10. Aliens

That's not to say that I've seen the others on the list.  These are just 10 that it seems like I should have seen at this point in my life.

Maryann's Monday Madness

You know the deal by now.

How big is your bed?  Queen

What music are you listening to right now? No music, except the background music on "Hoarders"

What are the last 4 digits in your cell phone number?  7937 - and you wouldn't believe me if I told you how long it took me to remember that.

What was the last thing you ate?  A bowl of bran flakes with bananas.  Needless to say, the dinner I actually made was yucky and we threw it out and ate cereal.

Who was the last person you hugged?  Jacob.  It was a sneak attack hug where I got him while he was playing video games, but it still counts, right? 

How is the weather right now?  Cold and 9 degrees.  9 degrees.  9 DEGREES. 

Illinois Friends

Check out this post from my friend Maryann's blog  Illinois Silly Laws.  Most of guys break enough laws that you know about, I wouldn't want you to break any of these unintentionally.

Friday on My Mind

Sorry for the absence, folks.  I can't believe it's Friday already!  I thought this week would drag, especially after having 2 weeks off, but actually, it's seemed to just fly by. 

It was good to get everyone back to school, including me.  Sara stayed home on Wednesday with a bit of a cold and a sore throat, but she slept most of the morning and went back to school on Thursday.  It's been inside recess all week due to the snow on the playground being covered in an inch of ice, so while I feel sorry for the kids, I'm very happy to be warm while I walk around patrolling classrooms.  The kids are in their classrooms by themselves so I basically just roam the halls, poke my head in rooms and tell kids to stop running, stop throwing things, don't yell, get out of the coatroom.  It's to the point where Jake ran into the kitchen last night and I automatically said "Don't run please" in my school voice.  Scary.

Mitch started his weekend shift this week.  He will be working Thursday through Sunday, 10 hours a day.  Of course, he had to go in on Monday to do something and then Tuesday night they called and asked if he could come in on Wednesday, so it hasn't been real yet.  Or real great for him, since he'll only have one day off this week and next Monday and Tuesday he needs to go to the Guard and make up the weekend he's missing.  But it keeps him out of trouble, right? 

I signed the kids up for baseball and softball this morning.  I had to watch a 20 minutes video on "setting a good example" and take a quiz afterwards in order to get a secret number that I needed to register them.  I hope this is a good system.  Milwood Little League was so well run, I don't want to be disappointed.  They don't have a Little League here, and I did an Internet search on "youth baseball in Utah County" and the one I'd been looking at was the first hit.  They have a nice complex with about 7 or 8 fields, so I'm guessing it's a serious thing.  We'll see.

Sara and I are going to the University of Utah Gymnastics meet tonight.  We're very excited.  I'll probably leave way too early, as I often do, especially being Friday night.  But we'll find some place for dinner before and I'm not 100% sure where the building is so it should be good.  I'm sure I've driven past it on the way to the Children's Hospital there, since we drive right through the campus. 

Okay, I'm off to work now.  I'm hoping that the overcast look that has erased the mountains out my window is due to poor air quality as opposed to snow.  The kids have to stay in for poor air quality days, too.

Maryann's Monday Madness

You know the drill by now.  Thanks Maryann for recovering from your sickness long enough to do this!

Have you ever gone cow-tipping?
No.  I'm not a big fan of hooved farm animals.

What's your worst pet peeve?
People who make stupid sounds just to make noise.  Jacob does this and it drives me crazy.

What's your favorite horror movie?
Ummm...I can't even think of one.  I don't like horror movies.  The last one I saw was Saw and I only saw 20 minutes of that.  That was more than enough.

Do you do dance crazy when no one is looking?
I may occassionally dance, but I don't think it qualifies as crazy.  Okay, maybe it does.

Do you like to sing in the shower?
No, I talk to myself.  Of course, I talk to myself everywhere so I suppose it's not that special.

Whats your favorite colour?
Purple.

Do you like baths or showers?
Bubble baths.

Do you blow dry your hair? or just let it dry on its own, or towel dry?
I let it air dry for about 20 minutes or so and then blow dry it the rest of the way.

At the beach would you rather play in the sand, or play in the water?
I'd rather be at the hotel pool. in a nice sunny spot, not too far from the bar.

Do you think people should eat the fish they catch, or just let them go?
I like to eat them, and if you're not going to do that, you should just let them go. 

Blog Promo

My friend Catrina has started a blog - she even named it after me!  I'm pretending it's because she loves me so much, not because she's trying to blame me for something I talked her into once again.  After 25 years, you'd think she'd realize that I rarely know what I'm doing, but I always love for my friends to follow along with me.

So check out her blog - she only has one post so far - but maybe if she gets enough peer pressure, she'll post more!  (She's a sucker for peer pressure.  See above paragraph.)

Her blog is here:  http://nancyknowsbest.blogspot.com/

See the name?  That's because she loves me so much!  Or something...